Yamaha GT-2000 Turntable Social Group

[brunomarcs]

I got to say my setup has never sounded so good. I'm not looking to replace any gear at the moment.

Originally I thought I didn't like these new speakers I picked up about a month ago (b&w 802 series 3). (Posted complaints on speaker forum)This is the first time playing an LP in several months because I've moved all my gear to the other side of the room and didn't have an outlet, Well now I have 12 using a new Furman it 20 i conditioner, and have only my amps between the speakers. I've built two 10" deep 2' by 4' boxes stuffed with 703 and rockwool and what a difference they've made.

this new rack I made isn't gonna cut it and back to the drawing board for what'll be my 3rd rack.

I've also installed some watt gate evo 350 outlets, if that's the right #s, how do you remember all the different crap you buy.
So I am looking to upgrade any type footers and pc's and either lengthen and or shorten my interconnects and get them off the floor.

 

[Mark B]

He doesn't have a gunmetal cast source! Or at least I don't think he does. Stainless and copper yes. I have a company in New Orleans that can get a stainless blank the size we need for 450. This was before the covid shutdown. Of course you'll need a good machinist to handle it after.

Artisan Fidelity fabricated GT-2000 platters in stainless steel and copper for me. They can fab a platter in gunmetal just as easily. Contact Christopher Thornton if you're interested.

 

[brunomarcs]

He's told you that? He's buying a blank of stainless or copper or brass, but I couldn't find anyone to cast gunmetal in the world. Yeah everything is cast I get it, gunmetal was used to make cannons 500 years ago and probably not used much. Cattail foundry only uses cast iron and laughed at me. This is why the few of these yamaha platters left are astronomically priced.

 

[hellrider77]

The term "fabricated might also imply that it is lathe machined.

 

[Tekniknissen]

The term "fabricated might also imply that it is lathe machined.

Yes I would say the steps are:
1.Centrifugal casting then
2. Lathe machining and then
3. Sanding the surface depending of the result from the latheing
4. Last step time consuming polishing to get the shiny result of the surrounding surfaces of the platter.

The raw casted items looks dull and very "bad" with a surface that looks almost littlebit corroded and miss coloured. Been there done that sort of.
I was thinking of starting a separate thread of my never ending project to make my own platter and feet but since the question popped up here again I just put in some teaser pics here for the moment.
Raw casting of platter.

Rings for original rubber feet. The left one is from the lathe machining and just sanded littlebit at the last 10mm at the bottom. The one to the right is almost completely done for the polishing.

All 4pcs completed. The scratches seen in surface is reflections from the scratches present in the sink where those rings were put for display.

Since a two pieces solution was the most economical for me I will make the platter with an inner part and an outer ring. Inner part up in my dads old lathe:

Spinning that raw casting for first time. Now fast forward a half year or so in time:
Well this is inner platter part before polishing. Some more work and then:

OK then fast forward to the final result of the outer ring also:

Sorry but haven't had time yet to merge these two pieces. Need to mill out some material from the backside of the inner part before putting them together so no more pics for the moment.

Casted aluminiumbronze / gunmetal was ordered from a company in UK that had production in Turkey (if I remember correctly). PM me for details if interested so I don't hang anyone's company out here.

 

[brunomarcs]

That's what I'm talking about. Beautiful work!!!! So you were able to purchase a gunmetal casting which I understand is interpreted differently on the makeup of alloys? From turkey. Yes indeed

 

[Tekniknissen]

That's what I'm talking about. Beautiful work!!!! So you were able to purchase a gunmetal casting which I understand is interpreted differently on the makeup of alloys? From turkey. Yes indeed

Yes pretty much so. I was searching for centrifugal casting and found this company in UK that I got in contact with. Then we set up the outer dimensions and they custom casted 4pcs to me. Two tubes with different sizes I needed for the feet and for the speed indicator. Then they casted one big ring and the inner platter for me. The best would obviously be to cast the correct shape in a casting mold in the first place but that is a costly process to start. Besides that I wanted a monster platter with outer ring to be alot more than the original platter of "only" 33mm thick. This ring is some massive 54mm thick. I will cut out material on the inner platter instead so the final weight will match YGT-1s 18kg so the bearing in the motor won't be killed. Besides this Aluminium Bronze is slightly lighter than Gun metall. Gunmetal also have slightly different proportions of the alloys with some higher proportions of copper which makes it littlebit more "gold coloured" than my aluminium bronze. Here is the difference:

CC23000 Gunmetall have the following proportions:
Cu 84-86%, Pb 5%, Fe 5%, Zn rest (~5%).
Density is approximately 8.6kg/dm3

Aluminium bronze CC333:
Cu 80%, Al 10%, Fe 5%, Ni 5%.
Density is approximately 7,6kg/dm3

I have the original YDS-3 and that one is slightly more gold coloured so it's a pity I selected the "wrong" alloy but it is still close enough for me. This company I ordered from can cast the correct alloy also with the higher copper content. I was not sure from the beginning which alloy I should use since gun metal have 8.6kg/dm3 and aluminium bronze 7.6kg/dm3. Since 7,6 is almost the same as 7,7 for stainless steel I thought this should be close enough since Mark B had good result cloning the shape of the original platter into SS with approximatelly correct 18kg weight. That's why I hesitated to go with the heavier GunMetall for my project.

 

[brunomarcs]

I doubt I could afford such a custom cast piece as you've purchased, Especially since I got a price on a ss blank of the proper size, it was almost peanuts at a local vendor!!! I remember you mentioned before why it was two pieces instead of one you had made. Pictures of your lathe would be very welcome.

 

[Mark B]

He's told you that? He's buying a blank of stainless or copper or brass, but I couldn't find anyone to cast gunmetal in the world. Yeah everything is cast I get it, gunmetal was used to make cannons 500 years ago and probably not used much. Cattail foundry only uses cast iron and laughed at me. This is why the few of these yamaha platters left are astronomically priced.

I discussed various metals with Christopher, including gunmetal, aka red brass (C23000 brass). You might want to contact him.

 

[808_state]

Yes I would say the steps are:
1.Centrifugal casting then
2. Lathe machining and then
3. Sanding the surface depending of the result from the latheing
4. Last step time consuming polishing to get the shiny result of the surrounding surfaces of the platter.

The raw casted items looks dull and very "bad" with a surface that looks almost littlebit corroded and miss coloured. Been there done that sort of.
I was thinking of starting a separate thread of my never ending project to make my own platter and feet but since the question popped up here again I just put in some teaser pics here for the moment. View attachment 2178971
Raw casting of platter.
View attachment 2178980
Rings for original rubber feet. The left one is from the lathe machining and just sanded littlebit at the last 10mm at the bottom. The one to the right is almost completely done for the polishing.
View attachment 2178998
All 4pcs completed. The scratches seen in surface is reflections from the scratches present in the sink where those rings were put for display.

Since a two pieces solution was the most economical for me I will make the platter with an inner part and an outer ring. Inner part up in my dads old lathe:
View attachment 2179041
Spinning that raw casting for first time. Now fast forward a half year or so in time:
View attachment 2179046Well this is inner platter part before polishing. Some more work and then:
View attachment 2179051
OK then fast forward to the final result of the outer ring also:
View attachment 2179058
Sorry but haven't had time yet to merge these two pieces. Need to mill out some material from the backside of the inner part before putting them together so no more pics for the moment.

Casted aluminiumbronze / gunmetal was ordered from a company in UK that had production in Turkey (if I remember correctly). PM me for details if interested so I don't hang anyone's company out here.

Simply gorgeous!

 

[Tekniknissen]

I doubt I could afford such a custom cast piece as you've purchased, Especially since I got a price on a ss blank of the proper size, it was almost peanuts at a local vendor!!! I remember you mentioned before why it was two pieces instead of one you had made. Pictures of your lathe would be very welcome.

It was not so bad priced actually. I calculated the weight of all goods and with all tolerances set to maximum it would be 27kg. Included the shipping cost it all went in to a budget slightly less than what you pay for a half GT-2000 in standard condition. That's half the price of what they used to ask for the YGT-1 for some years ago (not that sky rocket 6000$+ price they ask nowadays).

Pics of the lathe will come but I think I start another thread so we don't bloat this thread with some too off topic pics maybe.

 

[808_state]

Thank you guys for bringing so much beauty and excitement to this thread. For those that would shower us with ugliness I would ask you to please refrain from doing that here and instead take your frustrations out on Twitter or Reddit. Sometimes things move at glacial speed, other times they move in leaps and bounds. Whatever the case we're all about the "next level". I don't mind if a mod deletes this but it had to be said.

"I don't like things that are ugly." -Morrissey

 

[jblnut]

I just wanted to drop in after 14 weeks of no GT2000. I finally got my Kontrapunkt back from VAS and the gigantic and tremendous sounds are once again emanating from my records. I have enjoyed getting lost down the nearly infinite Qobuz rabbit hole, but there is something really comforting and familiar when you get 'that sound' back.

You know what I mean and you know it when you hear it. And whatever it is, the GT has it. BOY does it have it ;-)

Jblnut

 

[mrtim6]

Artisan Fidelity fabricated GT-2000 platters in stainless steel and copper for me. They can fab a platter in gunmetal just as easily. Contact Christopher Thornton if you're interested.

Hi gang! My GT-2000X has been in storage since end 2019, fortunately I’m moving next month into a new house with a purpose built room for music. Hopefully I’ll be up and spinning in May (fingers crossed) I’m jonesing bad for some vinyl playback. I’ll post some photos & impressions of the big X once we settle in.

Thanks again Theo for taking the time to explain your isolation experiments with your GT-2000 in the other thread really interesting reading.

Mark I was wondering if you ended up with a preference sound wise between the custom made copper and stainless steel platters?

 

[mrtim6]

You have been globetrotting and come home? Shoot me a conversation if you feel inclined.

I’ll be in touch soon great to hear you’re well and still contributing to this forum.
I know a couple of members were asking about YOP-1 I stumbled across a Japanese YouTube video of a DIYer with GT2K which may be of interest.

 

[808_state]

I’ll be in touch soon great to hear you’re well and still contributing to this forum.
I know a couple of members were asking about YOP-1 I stumbled across a Japanese YouTube video of a DIYer with GT2K which may be of interest.

"Mr. Niyodo"...this guy literally drove halfway across Japan to purchase a GT-2Kx, made two or three videos about his journey and then nothing about the table. I was so excited to hear his take on it. I really hope it still worked out for him and he's saving it for later.

 

[808_state]

What was his take on it?

That's just it...no take! He makes an epic journey and then nothing, nada, なんでおない! As if it never happened.

 

[triplelatte]

I’ll be in touch soon great to hear you’re well and still contributing to this forum.
I know a couple of members were asking about YOP-1 I stumbled across a Japanese YouTube video of a DIYer with GT2K which may be of interest.

I just built something similar to this for my GT. Not quite as fancy as I don't have a digital display or dual outputs.

Using some pics I got a awhile back from @ateal of the unit he has (or used to have), I bought the same 24v 0.5a power supply and some Neutrik 3 pin XLR connectors from Mouser, and put it all in a spare, way too large chassis from a yet-to-be decided project. Doesn't look like much but works just fine. Speeds are rock solid @33.35 and 45.03RPM (using the RPM app on my phone), and the brake engages when I shut off the table.



If anyone is interested in building one, parts are:

1x Cosel PBA10f-24 power supply
1x Neutrik NC3FP-1 (XLR Female Receptacle)
1x power switch
1x Chassis of your choice (preferably with the power socket already cut out)

I'll be rebuilding this into a smaller chassis that is on its way, and will likely replace the power supply with a smaller, cheaper, slightly higher output Mean Well RS-15-24.

 

[triplelatte]

Is that a switch mode supply?

Yes. I thought about adding a filter in between the supply and the output jack, but given its not in the signal path I doubt switching noise would be an issue.

 

[brunomarcs]

I'm looking for a new cartridge for my GT, I have around 2 grand or slightly more to spend. I'd like to try a soundsmith design? What do you say guys? I'd also want it to be compatible with both ya-39 and the 407/23 ta's if possible?