My Hudson TT protractor disc result.

Tony M

I finally got around to looking at my Perspex TT closer.

Before the Protractor exam on the Perspex, I had been looking at the spring tension the past few days.
I first thought the belt had shrunk and tightened on the platter. I emailed Pro-ject and sent pictures of my concern. They replied they had a belt they thought would work...34.00.

Before I ordered it, I took the original belt off and the platter moved into better position on it's spring supports by a small bit but not centered at all. I saw the screw-like notches on the top of the supports and thought...Might as well turn this one and see if it does anything...



IT DID!
It has an off-center plug under it. Turning the screw spins the spring in an orbit.

The spring centered itself just right. I imagine the previous owner never knew this could be done. I centered the other 2 support springs positioning today too. No need to buy a belt just yet!

After that, while a storm blew through, I got my Hudson disc protractor out to check the cartridge alignment. The original owner had the cartridge turned inward pretty much. I aligned it and then checked the inner spotting position. I just had to turn it back a touch. The turntable is level, supports centered and the cartridge set-up well enough for me.

I've NEVER known how to set up a cartridge before. I knew there were devices to show the measurements but I just never bought one until last Christmas time.

I now have to check my Technics SL1400-MK2's cartridge position...
I just remembered I have that Pioneer PL-560's cartridge to check out too.

The Perspex sounded pretty good before. I'm thinking it has to be better now.

Clipdat

Nice Tony, glad you were able to get it sorted. Play that Blue Man Group vinyl on it now to see how it sounds!

Tony M

Great first choice recommendation.

I'm taking way too much time putting together 3 systems back onto those middle-wall racks.

I unhooked and moved EVERYTHING off of them 4 months ago to add a rack and to put the 3 racks on wheeled platforms.

jdjohn

Very cool, Tony So is there a cam, of sorts, in the spring shaft to help center each post? The engineering of different turntable designs fascinates me.

Did you get the white acrylic disc from Hudson Hi-Fi, with strobe markings on one side, and the two-null-point protractor on the other?

Tony M

jdjohn wrote: »

Very cool, Tony So is there a cam, of sorts, in the spring shaft to help center each post? The engineering of different turntable designs fascinates me.

Did you get the white acrylic disc from Hudson Hi-Fi, with strobe markings on one side, and the two-null-point protractor on the other?

There's a cam that fits down into the spring just a 1/2 inch I guess. Yep... that slot on it's top has got to be for centering the spring in it's mounting cup. There's 3 of them. All adjust. I'm liking this turntable even more now.

The TT was super sensitive to vibrations before. I hope leveling it, spring centering and cartridge alignment reduces that susceptibility to external vibrations.

Last Christmas or there about, I saw a sale on Amazon or eBay for the Hudson disc.
It was cheap...BUT... I didn't see in the ad that the strobe on the other side is missing... Oh well. It was about 1/2 price.
I did have a friend use his I-phone to check it's speed right after I got it home. His idea to check it, and the phone readout was like 33.33--- or there about. It was steady too.

jdjohn

I must say it's a little disappointing that Pro-Ject would try and push you towards a new belt as their first thought. I can't imagine a belt being so tight as to move a platter off-center. If they had taken the time to note the model of your turntable, maybe they would have suggested checking those cams FIRST.

Now with a properly isolated suspension, hopefully footfall issues will be behind you.

After setting proper VTF and VTA, the only trick to aligning with that disc is to remove any anti-skating force first. If not, the stylus will tend to slide towards the edge of the record. Just don't forget to re-apply anti-skate when done

Tony M

jdjohn wrote: »

I must say it's a little disappointing that Pro-Ject would try and push you towards a new belt as their first thought. I can't imagine a belt being so tight as to move a platter off-center. If they had taken the time to note the model of your turntable, maybe they would have suggested checking those cams FIRST.

Now with a properly isolated suspension, hopefully footfall issues will be behind you.

After setting proper VTF and VTA, the only trick to aligning with that disc is to remove any anti-skating force first. If not, the stylus will tend to slide towards the edge of the record. Just don't forget to re-apply anti-skate when done

I was able to send them that picture up above in the original inquire too. I think I sent them a couple or more pics.
They've only made 2 Perspex Models I believe. Mine...obviously the old model.

I thought the exact same thing! I would've spent that 35 and shipping was going to be extra too, and still have that same problem. But I wouldn't know until I took that original belt off and saw that the platter was still pulled to the left. I went with my gut and removed the original belt...to really measure it and also 2nd, to see if the platter moved to the right.

I'll check the vertical alignments when I get myself a known little 90* angle something. I'm sure I have a thousand of that device in one form or another. I have some super thin little plastic washers to use if needed.

I did a lot of yard work today so nothing new on any set-ups of which one will have this Perspex plugged into it.

I was thinking about my Pioneer A88X integrated lately...hmm

jdjohn

Tony M wrote: »

I'll check the vertical alignments when I get myself a known little 90* angle something. I'm sure I have a thousand of that device in one form or another. I have some super thin little plastic washers to use if needed.

I just eye-ball it myself. I look for the top of the headshell to be level with a record on the platter. This normally means the tonearm is level, too, but it's really the headshell that counts.

Azimuth I just eye-ball as well, but I always examine the diamond mount with a loupe first. The diamonds are not always mounted perpendicular on the cantilever, so sometimes you actually need the overall cartridge/headshell azimuth to be off visually in order to get the diamond touching perpendicular. Luckily that is rare, but it can happen.

I'd love to see some closer pics of your Perspex in action

Tony M

Thanks for your advice.

I forgot to look at the needle's angle to the record position. Thanks.

I want to look at my Technics and pioneer TT s too. I AM getting antsy to see how off the needles are on all my TTs.

Instead of doing something with my stereos today, I felt pretty good and I went outside and chain sawed on those last 2 stumps, well 3 (I forgot about a very short one) to be done with that huge project. . I'm almost done! One more stump trunk to go. The neighbor came home and he parks right beside where I was about to finish. So...I had to abort. I don't want one of these rock-hard pieces slamming into his beautiful truck side panel!

So I'm about to get to work on those systems and more organizing in that front room. I gained about 9 sq. ft. by selling 4 tower speakers last Wed...

I ALMOST went out there last night to organize and decide what electronics is going in what rack and what's going to be hooked up to what speakers.

It's going to happen very soon. I'm about completely done with the yard and the decking boards I need to buy will have to wait till the price comes downs. If the price of decking boards doesn't come down this fall, I might go ahead and buy them anyway...

I'll try post some picks in this thread pertaining to that Perspex and what I hook it up to.

Tony M

Well, the Grado Gold cartridge on the Perspex looks great being parallel with the surface of the record too. I'll find out how it sounds soon.

Now last night I put the Technics SL1400 MKII back into the rack it came out of. I got the Hudson disc out and checked the Denon DL-160 (?) cartridge alignment. WOW...spot on! I just remembered I printed a paper protractor from the Needle Doctor's website YEARS ago and aligned it. Pretty sure I did.
No wonder records sounded fantastic on this TT & cartridge. Seriously, records sound GREAT. I have always played records through Polk SDA-SRS2s. NAD Integrated or that Carver Sunfire 600x2, which is now back in Cali or Seattle. The Denon cartridge looks parallel to the record surface too. The 2 needles look positioned nicely.

I didn't use the Hudson protractor on the Pioneer PL-560 yet. Maybe after-awhile. It's so EASY to check alignment. I'm not a perfectionist for the most part anymore so I can accept "close enough" now.

Tons of fun racks.

Tony M

I put the Hudson disc on my Pioneer Pl-560 and wow again...spot on. I must've used that paper protractor on this one years ago also. I had to have.

Now to get these bad boys playing!