A great way to embrace Vinyl...

nooshinjohn

Micro Sekei turntable on the 'Gon.

I have no affiliation with the seller.:)

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtabl&1276207175

Tony M

Looks great.

hearingimpared

That is one beautiful TT. Plus the seller is throwing in extras that you normally won't find with a TT at that price.

nooshinjohn

It won't last long, that's for certain. I hope someone here grabs it because it is a beauty.

billbillw

I'm sure its already spoken for. Good deals like that on the Gon are usually Gone before you can even bother to send a message.

Polkersince85

Those are nice tables. I have a DD-40, BL-51 and my beloved BL-91L.


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hearingimpared

Polkersince85 wrote: »

Those are nice tables. I have a DD-40, BL-51 and my beloved BL-91L.


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That BL-91L is a beautiful table. Is that the one you got from at thrift shop for like $5?

Polkersince85

^ Yep, worth every penny, too. I normally don't spend that much on audio but I splurged on that one.


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hearingimpared

Polkersince85 wrote: »

^ Yep, worth every penny, too. I normally don't spend that much on audio but I splurged on that one.


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LMAO!:eek:

tcrossma

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Micro Sekei turntable on the 'Gon.

I have no affiliation with the seller.:)

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtabl&1276207175

Thanks for the heads up on this. I contacted the seller right after I saw this link, and I'm soon to be the proud new owner. I've been wanting to give vinyl a shot for a while now, so I'm pretty excited about it.

Now I'm just going to have to figure out what to do for a phono pre...

nooshinjohn

Congrats! that is a great score and I am happy to have turned you on to it.

Pics or it didn't happen.:p:D


Let me know what you think...

John

Polkersince85

The arm is probably worth what you paid for the whole unit. I saw just the top part of my Max 282 arm go for good money recently. Congrats.

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/auc.pl?anlgtnrm&1270604971


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hearingimpared

tcrossma wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up on this. I contacted the seller right after I saw this link, and I'm soon to be the proud new owner. I've been wanting to give vinyl a shot for a while now, so I'm pretty excited about it.

Now I'm just going to have to figure out what to do for a phono pre...

Nice snag!!! Again that is a beautiful TT and an incredible way to enter into vinyl.

tcrossma

I'm now in the market for a phono pre to go with my new table, and have a couple questions for you guys.

First, the seller stated this about the IC's from the table:

The interconnects from the unit have been upgraded to Kimber copper wiring, and only extend roughly 8" from the unit, just enough for a clean connection to a small phoho pre-amp!!

Q: So what kind of a connection does a TT take? Would these be easily replaceable with something longer, or are they hard-wired to the table?? If they are not easily replaceable, the 8" isn't going to reach a phono pre unless the TT sits on top of it (I assume that's less than ideal), or unless I use a small little pre like the seller mentioned that can sit right next to the table.

Q: I've kind of had it in the back of my head to keep an eye out for a Jolida JD9 to use with this. I don't know if it's the best choice or not, but it's within my budget ($500 tops) and seems to be pretty well liked. There's one on EBay right now that isn't going too cheaply, but it comes with extra tubes of some kind. Do the extra tubes make it worthwhile, or better to pass on this one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230459770540&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Q: Anybody have a suggestion on a good phono pre (<$500)?

Thanks!

nooshinjohn

Jolida is a good choice. Rogue Audio also makes a decent one...

I think I would jump on this one.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preaphon&1275065337&/Rogue-Stealth-Mc/Mm-low-noise-

billbillw

Probably best to keep the upgraded cables and have a phone preamp close by. As far as a phono preamp, what type of cartridge do you see yourself with? If you want flexibility to add a low output MC cartridge, you should look at a solid state preamp that has adjustable loading and gain.

Some that are very flexible and commonly recommended are the Musical Surroundings Phonomena (there is an older and a newer version) or the Monolithic PS-1 or PS-2. The Monolithic are better if they have the upgraded stand alone power supply. I think a few members here have been happy with the Dynavector P-75 as well.

hearingimpared

billbillw wrote: »

Probably best to keep the upgraded cables and have a phone preamp close by. As far as a phono preamp, what type of cartridge do you see yourself with? If you want flexibility to add a low output MC cartridge, you should look at a solid state preamp that has adjustable loading and gain.

Some that are very flexible and commonly recommended are the Musical Surroundings Phonomena (there is an older and a newer version) or the Monolithic PS-1 or PS-2. The Monolithic are better if they have the upgraded stand alone power supply. I think a few members here have been happy with the Dynavector P-75 as well.

Ya beat me to that one Bill! You are right on the money!:)

tcrossma

billbillw wrote: »

As far as a phono preamp, what type of cartridge do you see yourself with? If you want flexibility to add a low output MC cartridge, you should look at a solid state preamp that has adjustable loading and gain.

I honestly have no idea idea. I guess what I saw myself with was the cartridge that comes with it (MM). Can you put any kind of cartridge you want on any kind of table??

One of the things I had liked about the JD9 was all of the various gain and loading options -- apparently very compatible. I don't want to buy a pre that only works well with one or two types of tables, because I don't know where I'm going to end up with this.

billbillw

tcrossma wrote: »

I honestly have no idea idea. I guess what I saw myself with was the cartridge that comes with it (MM). Can you put any kind of cartridge you want on any kind of table??

One of the things I had liked about the JD9 was all of the various gain and loading options -- apparently very compatible. I don't want to buy a pre that only works well with one or two types of tables, because I don't know where I'm going to end up with this.

Cartridges usually need to be matched to the tonearm. A general rule is heavy tonearms work best with low or mid compliance cartridges; light arms work best with mid to high compliance; however, there are lots of in between scenarios.

I haven't looked at all the specs on that Micro Seiki tonearm, but I saw that it was an S-type arm, which tend to be heavier. You would have many options for a cartridge upgrade. That Shure M97 is pretty much entry level and will probably suit you fine until (if) you commit more to your vinyl playback.

tcrossma

billbillw wrote: »

I haven't looked at all the specs on that Micro Seiki tonearm, but I saw that it was an S-type arm, which tend to be heavier. You would have many options for a cartridge upgrade. That Shure M97 is pretty much entry level and will probably suit you fine until (if) you commit more to your vinyl playback.

Thanks for the info. In that case I definitely would be willing to upgrade the cartridge at some point.

Polkersince85

From the pictures on the Gon, I could not tell which version of MA-505 arm was on there. My DD-40 has a version 1 which has RCA connectors at the base of the tonearm. Some of the versions I believe had a DIN connector at the base. He may have modified so I would just wait until you receive it before worrying about connections. The Denon D-160 is an excellent cart to use with that arm. If you got all the goodies he listed, you may be good to go. At least try it out. It may sound fairly decent.

tcrossma

Polkersince85 wrote: »

From the pictures on the Gon, I could not tell which version of MA-505 arm was on there. My DD-40 has a version 1 which has RCA connectors at the base of the tonearm. Some of the versions I believe had a DIN connector at the base. He may have modified so I would just wait until you receive it before worrying about connections. The Denon D-160 is an excellent cart to use with that arm. If you got all the goodies he listed, you may be good to go. At least try it out. It may sound fairly decent.

Great, thanks for the info. I should be receiving it tomorrow, so I'll get a chance to play with it over the weekend and will report back. I can't imaging that it'll sound great with the $20 GE phono pre that I'm getting, so I will hold off complete judgment until I get a proper pre in place.

A big thanks to everyone, I really appreciate all the help.

nooshinjohn

tcrossma wrote: »

Great, thanks for the info. I should be receiving it tomorrow, so I'll get a chance to play with it over the weekend and will report back. I can't imaging that it'll sound great with the $20 GE phono pre that I'm getting, so I will hold off complete judgment until I get a proper pre in place.

A big thanks to everyone, I really appreciate all the help.

Pics, and LOTS of them or it didn't happen, but I assume you already knew that.:D

hearingimpared

tcrossma wrote: »

I honestly have no idea idea. I guess what I saw myself with was the cartridge that comes with it (MM). Can you put any kind of cartridge you want on any kind of table??

One of the things I had liked about the JD9 was all of the various gain and loading options -- apparently very compatible. I don't want to buy a pre that only works well with one or two types of tables, because I don't know where I'm going to end up with this.

billbillw wrote: »

Cartridges usually need to be matched to the tonearm. A general rule is heavy tonearms work best with low or mid compliance cartridges; light arms work best with mid to high compliance; however, there are lots of in between scenarios.

I haven't looked at all the specs on that Micro Seiki tonearm, but I saw that it was an S-type arm, which tend to be heavier. You would have many options for a cartridge upgrade. That Shure M97 is pretty much entry level and will probably suit you fine until (if) you commit more to your vinyl playback.

Bill's right on the money about cartridge/tonearm compatability matching and I like your thoughts about leaving your options open on a pre amps MM & MC loading & gain options. The more options you have in this department the more of a selection of cartridges you'll be able to consider.

I have a great tonearm/cartridge compatability instruction guide and chart somewhere. As soon as I find it I will PM it to you or post it in this thread.

In the meantime here are some great links, chock full of turntable setup and tweeking info and more.

http://www.kabusa.com/setup.htm

http://www.audiophilia.com/features/cartridge_setup.htm

http://www.goodsound.com/howto/2004_05_15.htm

http://www.recordtech.com/ttsetup.htm

http://turntablebasics.com/index.html

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/guru/guru.html

http://www.turntablebasics.com/advice.html

I know there is a lot here and some of it is redundant but those links are chock full of great info concerning TTs. I especially like the Turntable Basics site. There may be that tonearm/cartridge compatibility guide and chart on that site. I can't for the life of me find the one I spoke of above right now but I will and then get it to you.

Have fun Bro.

schwarcw

Buy that Rogue it will do MM and MC. That's a great phono pre for the money!

tcrossma

I received the turntable today, and everything looks to be in excellent condition. I'm having a bit of trouble setting it up though, and hopefully it's just user error instead of something wrong. If anyone could point me in the right directions I'd greatly appreciate it.

I installed the cartridge and tonearm weight, and adjusted the balance and tracking force.

1. The platter was wrapped nicely in bubble wrap, so the first thing I did was lift the platter off the table and take off the bubble wrap. Now, does the platter just go right back down over the spindle? That's what I tried, but when I lightly rotate the platter by hand the bottom of the platter hits the table a bit and does not allow it to rotate freely. It's almost as if the platter is sitting lower than it should on the spindle. The spindle has some play in it, meaning that it is kind of sitting "down" in the plinth, and if I gently pull up on the spindle it will raise maybe 1/4", and lowers back to its seated position when I let go.

2. When I press the ON button, the platter does not spin. The strobe light comes on, so I know there is power, but nothing else happens. The platter doesn't spin nor does the tonearm raise. I'm assuming this is because the platter cannot spin freely and therefore the motor won't turn the platter.

There were a couple of parts included that I'm not sure what they are, namely two black rings (pic included). I read over the manual and did all of the setup instructions, but didn't see anything related to this.

Thanks

tcrossma

Anybody have any thoughts on this problem? I sure hope it's not broken...

Polkersince85

What do you mean that the first thing you did was lift the platter off? I hope he didn't ship it with the platter on the spindle.

Try taking the platter back off and check that the spindle is perpendicular to the table. There should be no play or wobble in the spindle. If it is, then he eff'ed it up in shipping.

The arm is a manual arm. you have to move it and lift it using the lever at the base.

Polkersince85

Vinylengine.com has the manuals for you table and arm. You may have to register to get to the library.

http://www.vinylengine.com/library/micro-seiki/ma-505.shtml

tcrossma

Polkersince85 wrote: »

What do you mean that the first thing you did was lift the platter off? I hope he didn't ship it with the platter on the spindle.

Try taking the platter back off and check that the spindle is perpendicular to the table. There should be no play or wobble in the spindle. If it is, then he eff'ed it up in shipping.

The arm is a manual arm. you have to move it and lift it using the lever at the base.

It was on the spindle, but everything was taped up and in bubble wrap and seemed to me to be pretty well packaged and shipped. Everything *looks* OK with it, but it the problem does in fact seem that something isn't level due to the fact that the platter scrapes the tabletop just a little bit.

As to the arm... so the table has a cue up / cue down buttons, but this arm doesn't support that? Is that the issue? I've already downloaded the manual (and he included a copy of the same one), and the manual mentions using the cueing buttons to operate the table. But I'm fine with it if this arm just doesn't support that.

tcrossma

Polkersince85 wrote: »

There should be no play or wobble in the spindle

There is no play or wobble, but as *can* lift the spindle straight up about 1/4". In other words, right now the spindle is kind of "sitting down" in its housing. It spins dead silent and without any apparent wobble. But it just seems that when I put the platter on it, the whole thing just sits down a little too close to the table and therefore the platter scrapes the tabletop a bit.

Is there anyway to adjust the height of the spindle as it sits in the table?