An EMT 938 at last !

HiFiMART Newsletter
K

kuruvilajacob

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2011
Messages
1,225
Points
113
Location
Kottayam
Ever since I started collecting vintage turntables, I was convinced that my collection will not be complete without a EMT turntable. I am fortunate to have a friend in Kottayam with an EMT 928 and 948 and after listening to them, I was all the more determined to get one. Though my newly acquired 938 needs a lot of restoration, it spins accurately and using an arm pod with Jelco tonearm, it sounds amazingly live and puts many of my other turntables to 'also ran' position. It's reproduction of Harry Belafonte's Live at Carnigie Hall is most "alive" .The sound stage is wide and accurate. It has the ability to captivate the listener and the reproduction of the instruments is different from all other Turntables. It appears to have more space in between the instruments at the same time natural sounding even with a Shure 44-7 cartridge. The inbuilt pre amplifier needs to be restored and since I could not get connector to directly connect it to a external phono stage, I decided to use a separate arm pod. Even after restoring the built in phono, I am planning to use my 1958 SME 3012 with a new arm pod as I feel this Turntable is worthy to have such a good tone arm. I want to thank Anil for his advice and support as I had my anxious moments when the 938 reached me. i do not know if it is a Meltron EMT. There are no such marks on it though it has the scratch filters. The more I listen to it, the more I am convinced that the 938 could possibly be best Turntable in my stable.
 
Last edited:
prem said:
Welcome to the EMT club
Click to expand...

Thank you Prem. I now know why people rave so much about EMT. I am really enjoying my early days. I am looking forward to using it's own pre amp and the EMT Tonearm. Is there any connector I can use to connect it to another external phono stage and test the tonearm without disturbing the present connections ? . i have bought a denon 103 just for this tone arm. Anil, I will certainly need your help in suiting it to the stock head shell. I don't think I have the skill to bend it to perfection
 
Hi Kuruvilla

Anil would be the perfect person to guide you on how to connect an external phono stage to the EMT:)

However the EMT is likely to sound best through its own phono stage, tone arm and cartridge
 
kuruvilajacob said:
Thank you Prem. I now know why people rave so much about EMT. I am really enjoying my early days. I am looking forward to using it's own pre amp and the EMT Tonearm. Is there any connector I can use to connect it to another external phono stage and test the tonearm without disturbing the present connections ? . i have bought a denon 103 just for this tone arm. Anil, I will certainly need your help in suiting it to the stock head shell. I don't think I have the skill to bend it to perfection
Click to expand...

No problem. Happy to help. There are couple of things you can do. First make sure that the preamp board is working. If it is working, cleaning and servicing is not a big deal. Bring it to bangalore and we do that - Lizzner Electronics can help here.

If the preamp is not working, we can send the same to Germany for a overhaul and rebuild. May cost about 300-400 Euros.

The other option if the preamp is not working is use the short inside cable of EMT which connects one end to the tonearm and the other to a flat pin connector to connect to the preamp board. We can use a female flat pin connector to trap that and take a cable out for connecting to an external MM/MC preamp. This will alleviate the need to look for a suitable connector for the tonearm.

Since you have a EMT headshell, you can use a DL103 cartridge with bent pins for this. Like Prem said, the best thing is a TSD15 cartridge. My personal view is that it can come last before you set the other chain working properly.

All the best.

Cheers
 
Anil,
The stock arm appears to be pretty good condition. The up/down switch is working perfectly. I have removed the preamp board. I can bring it to Bangalore to check if it is working. I will also try to get the flat pin connector to connect to MM/MC preamp. Yes, I will not consider the TSD15 cart right now. Thank you so much Anil for your advice.
 
I managed to get a flat pin connector and connected the tonearm to an external phono stage. Since I did not have the courage to fix my Denon 103, I fixed a Shure 55 E cart and played it through my Yaqin MS 12 B phono preamp. As expected, it's playing with the stamp of an EMT . Very lively and with a solid soundstage. I know that a better cart and better phono stage can lift it's performance to higher level . BTW, I picked up the flat pin connector from an old B&O turntable which was beyond repair. It was perfect as a connector. Fixing the cartridge to the EMT head shell was quite a task. I am toying with the idea of converting a normal removable head shell to fit the EMT arm. If anyone can give me any input, that will be nice. I think it is possible though alignment may need careful attention.
 
Last edited:
kuruvilajacob said:
I managed to get a flat pin connector and connected the tonearm to an external phono stage. Since I did not have the courage to fix my Denon 103, I fixed a Shure 55 E cart and played it through my Yaqin MS 12 B phono preamp. As expected, it's playing with the stamp of an EMT . Very lively and with a solid soundstage. I know that a better cart and better phono stage can lift it's performance to higher level . BTW, I picked up the flat pin connector from an old B&O turntable which was beyond repair. It was perfect as a connector. Fixing the cartridge to the EMT head shell was quite a task. I am toying with the idea of converting a normal removable head shell to fit the EMT arm. If anyone can give me any input, that will be nice. I think it is possible though alignment may need careful attention.
Click to expand...

Congrats. Don't get into converting a normal removable headshell to fit a EMT diamond connector. It is virtually impossible. My suggestion is not to alter the original condition or setup of EMT with local innovations. Leave it as it is. Fit a DL103 or get a EMT TSD15 and be done with it. Not worth experimenting. Most certainly you will not get better results than what EMT has achieved.

Cheers
 
anilva said:
Congrats. Don't get into converting a normal removable headshell to fit a EMT diamond connector. It is virtually impossible. My suggestion is not to alter the original condition or setup of EMT with local innovations. Leave it as it is. Fit a DL103 or get a EMT TSD15 and be done with it. Not worth experimenting. Most certainly you will not get better results than what EMT has achieved.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Yes. I will not be doing any alterations as you and many others suggested. I am now only thinking of fitting the DL103 cart to the head shell. Especially since the EMT arm is moving superbly and tracking the Shure cart even without any anti-skate. i have ordered Sachin's phono stage for the DL 103 and I am eagerly waiting for the execution of this combination. Thank you Anil once again. i really appreciate your efforts to guide me with my EMT set up
 
I managed to get the Denon 103 cartridge fixed in the EMT head shell and it has taken it's performance to a much higher level. The present step up I am using for the 103 cart is not good enough. I am eagerly waiting for Sachu,s phono stage to arrive. I am sure the Denon 103 is going to reach a even higher level with it.
 
I am posting pictures of the head shell fitted with the Denon DL 103 cartridge. For once, I did not have to spend time aligning cartridge , check overhang etc which normally is what takes so much time and effort to get the best out of a TT. This was just fix and check the VTF. As expected, the fitting of the Denon cartridge was a special job and needed bending the pins of the cartridge and had to ensure that the body of the cartridge or the pins do not touch the head shell body.
 
Last edited:
jls001 said:
Nice!

How does the 103 sound in the 938?

You'll like the Hypnotoad LOMC phono stage. Works superbly with the 103.
Click to expand...

Joshua,
The Denon 103 is living up to it's reputation as the best ever value for money cart. It's the best sounding combination in my house with 938. The combination is better than SME 3012 and 103 combination . I am using the ifi phono now. I am hoping that Sachin's phono stage should sound even better
 
kuruvilajacob said:
Joshua,
The Denon 103 is living up to it's reputation as the best ever value for money cart. It's the best sounding combination in my house with 938. The combination is better than SME 3012 and 103 combination . I am using the ifi phono now. I am hoping that Sachin's phono stage should sound even better
Click to expand...

Just to whet your appetite, the TSD15 will be atleast few notches higher in terms of all the sound attributes compared to DL103 with EMT. It goes with out saying that the TSD15 costs multiple times of a DL103.

Cheers
 
Anil,
I have TSD15 in my wish list. Now I am planning to extract the best out of the 103. My friend in kottayam has two dedicated step up made by Denon. I will try the 103 with them and see how they compare with hypnotoad's phonostage.
 
The hypnotoad phono stage I bought from Sachin is just breaking in and I can vouch that it is real value for money and will beat most phono stages costing much more. It is absolutely silent and I am really not missing the EMT phono stage which I think is MM. The Denon 103 is very balanced and the deep base that I am able to dig out from some records is very impressive. EMTs are truly outstanding decks.
 
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers (Walnut Finish) at a Special Offer Price
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers in Walnut finish at a Special Offer Price. BUY now before the price increase.

Similar threads

R
Dr Feickert Firebird TT
Replies
11
Views
3K
reignofchaos
R
P
My new system
2 3 4
Replies
78
Views
7K
prem
P
E
EMT 948 handles
Replies
5
Views
5K
Beginner_N
B
anilva
New acquisition- EMT 927
2
Replies
25
Views
3K
Lazer25
L
T
Philips Turn Table 383 Arm Adjustment
Replies
0
Views
3K
Tanmay Singh
T
Back
Top