TD 124 Wakes Up

[jls001]

Taking off from previous discussions on Stevie's 301 thread here, I am starting a new thread so as to not dilute that thread further. I am glad to report that the idler wheel ordered from the Swiss seller finally reached yesterday in a rather outsized package. Very well packed. And boy, is the idler wheel large!

Fitted it on the TD 124 and at long last saw the platter rotate for the first time since I brought it home ages ago. Works on 33, 45 and 78 but somehow refuses to work on 16. Also, the switch needs a bit of a twist when at the 33, 45 or 78 positions to operate. So I guess this calls for a dismantle of the switch to see why it is not making proper contact.

Also, I finally unpacked the CLD baltic birch ply plinth I had received at least 3 months back. Finishing is nice and weight is substantial. Fits perfectly.

Now I am waiting for the antiskate bias weight & guide and rider weight from a seller down under to complete the package. I thought of cannibalising these parts from my Lenco but decided to be patient for some more days as they might not be a good match.

Took out the SME 3009 arm and gave it a general check up. The wires seem to be soldered correctly though the soldering is less than well done at the RCA terminations. I think I will redo the soldering. I am not as brave as Stevie to try a DIY re-wiring so I'll have to use what I have till I gather more courage, or have a better arm to play with.

Things to do:
1. Make a signal wire to connect TT out to phono stage. I already have the RCA connectors and a very nice and thin coax cable normally used in RF high-frequency applications. I already experimented with this cable on a friend's SL 1300:lol: I know it is a 50 ohm cable but I will ignore that for now as 75 ohm coax cables are too thick and inflexible for this application.

2. Make ground wire from TT to phono stage. I will use bare wire terminations at phono amp end and hard solder at TT end.

3. Fix a new cartridge (will try either M44-7 or Mx97E which I happen to have in stock).

4. Need to decide whether to mount female RCA plugs and grounding cable on the plinth. Will need to chisel away at the plinth. Already bought the materials including 2 mm thick Al plate with cutouts for the RCAs. Need to buy good quality chisels and a new claw hammer. Also, will need to drill hole to route power cable or more elaborately mount IEC male plug (already have).

5. Plinth definitely needs footers. The stock footers are 2 mm thick rubber affairs and do not inspire much confidence. Need advice here --- should I try magma's ceramic bearing footers, or should I use one of his cones designs? It would be nice to have level adjustment in either option.

6. Last, but not the least, get a better arm. Soon.

 

[anilva]

Congrats. TD-124 has been my personal favorites for a long time. I have it's sibling TD-135, same design but not such a heavy platter and with a integrated tone arm, instead of a separate tonearm board.

Extremely well engineered.

Post some pic pl.

 

[Rajiv]

Hi,

Congratulations .The TD124 is a superb TT.

6. Last, but not the least, get a better arm. Soon.

Do not be in a hurry to dump the SME 3009.It is a good tonearm.It has an easy relaxed sound.

Regards
Rajiv

 

[stevieboy]

Congratulations joshua!

Will look forward to some pics soon I'd second rajiv on the arm. It has a nice relaxed sound to balance the forward or energetic nature of idlers. No wonder they've been a classic combo for years. Footers with adjustable screws should be easily available. A Rewire really isn't that hard you should seriously consider it.

Regards


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[magma]

- should I try magma's ceramic bearing footers, or should I use one of his cones designs? It would be nice to have level adjustment in either option.

.

magma can always lend you the height adjustable brass cones or set of 3 or 4 ceraballs to try out
if you like it you can keep them

 

[jls001]

I thought of cannibalising these parts from my Lenco but decided to be patient for some more days as they might not be a good match.

I lost patience and took out the rider weight from the Lenco but it doesn't fit:lol:

 

[jls001]

Finally got the antiskate bias weight & guide and rider weight.

One doubt: the rider weight came with a spring-loaded thingie which I am assuming is for screwing down the rider weight. But I didn't get any screw - allen head or otherwise. Is a screw required?

I fixed the rider weight - it is a very tight fit and doesn't slide easily. I have a feeling it doesn't need to be screwed down at all.

Started playing the 'table like this without any adjustment and obviously is sounded like it is out of tune, though I must say it tracked even the inner grooves beautifully.

Later fitted the antiskate and the records started skipping:lol:

Reading up on the SME 3009 manual on how to adjust the arm.

Also, cobbled up a temporary footer (4 actually) from a block of hard red wood that was lying around. It was tough to saw straight with a hacksaw and the end result was pathetic. Must get myself a proper wood saw.

 

[G401fan]

Hi Joshua,

The spring loaded thingie needs to be inserted (dropped in) into the side hole of the rider weight, before you insert the rider weight into the L-shaped holder.

Using a thin stick - a ball pen refill works fine - press down the spring through the side hole, which should be facing upwards, just as you insert the side weight into the arm of the L-shaped holder. If done correctly, the spring serves to keep the rider weight firmly attached to the holder, and also easier to rotate for fine VTF adjustment.

Be careful not to remove the thin stick suddenly, in case you don't get it right the first time, as the spring effect will cause the thingie to go flying out of the side weight and you'll have a tough job finding it on the floor.

regards,

 

[jls001]

Hi Joshua,

The spring loaded thingie needs to be inserted (dropped in) into the side hole of the rider weight, before you insert the rider weight into the L-shaped holder.

Using a thin stick - a ball pen refill works fine - press down the spring through the side hole, which should be facing upwards, just as you insert the side weight into the arm of the L-shaped holder. If done correctly, the spring serves to keep the rider weight firmly attached to the holder, and also easier to rotate for fine VTF adjustment.

Be careful not to remove the thin stick suddenly, in case you don't get it right the first time, as the spring effect will cause the thingie to go flying out of the side weight and you'll have a tough job finding it on the floor.

regards,

I just read the manual and there is absolutely no mention of what you said above! So much for instruction manuals.

Thanks so much. I will try this maneouvre tonight.

The 3009 has so many screws to be loosened/tightened for balancing. Hope my allen key set has the right keys. I had a tough time already trying to find out the one that fits the screw that holds the vertical height adjustment.

 

[jls001]

One more query:

SME - Spare parts / Accessories

If you scroll down the above page, the part in question (Rider Weight Spring/Plunger) is shown.

Question: which end goes in first - spring end or the small metallic end?

 

[stevieboy]

Hi Joshua,

I had to get this part cos it was missing in my arm. My 3009 has it though. If I remember right, the spring goes in first and then the closed part is on top so you can push down on it while you're sliding the rider weight onto the stub. This then grips the stub and helps the rider weight not move.

The spring part is mentioned in some other literature, I think the servicing manual. I have it somewhere downloaded from the net. That's how even I had to figure out how it worked hehe.

The allen key is a single one for all. I got mine from a local hardware store here. Size is 1/16 inch

regards

 

[G401fan]

Joshua,

Stevieboy is right about the spring end, and about the allen key. If you're buying a local Allen set, make sure that it is of good quality. The machining of the key has to be accurate, else it won't work, and might even damage the inside lock if you use too much force.

When you've re-installed the side weight, it should not be slid front and back. You need to rotate it clockwise or counterclockwise for fine adjustment.

 

[jls001]

Well, basic balancing of the arm was a cakewalk.


Then came the hard part about adjusting the vertical tracking angle. I had to do it 4-5 times till I got the tone right.


Then came azimuth which is again fiddly. I realised that the cartridge mounting itself had to be redone as the cantilever seemed pointing more in one direction despite adjusting azimuth.


I think I've got it right. For now. Till the urge to fiddle some more overwhelms, that is.


Also fashioned arm lifting lever on the headshell as there was none.

Spinning Michael Buble's Crazy Love and enjoying.

Will post some pics when I figure out how to use imageshack, or when some kind soul teaches me how to do it. Anyone?

 

[Hiten]

Joshua bro,
its easy you can upload even without registering in imageshack. (But I will recommend you register) just click browse button, it will ask for files to upload, upload the file, it will give you option of links to be pasted in the forum. just copy that link, in our forum click insert image icon and paste the link.
Regards

 

[jls001]

Some pics here:
1. TD 124 Mark I with baltic birch plywood plinth in CLD


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

2. Another view:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

3. Temporary footers - wood (sal) turning purchased from a local woodworking shop. Notice the flat bottom. Need to make a rounded bottom and see if it makes any sonic difference.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

4. The SME 3009 (original) tonearm. Note the DIY arm lift.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

5. Shiny brass weights for the tonearm



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

6. Cereball Footers from magma. Great fit and finish. Three of them supporting the 'table made a non-trivial improvement in detail retrieval and imaging.




Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[jls001]

Last night the moment I fitted the cereballs, I could clearly hear a distortion in the mid bass even on the very first track of an oft-played record. But to my surprise I was able to discern a lot more details in the music, emanating from various nooks and crannies, despite the presence of the distortion.

That had me scratching my head and wondering what I had messed up while changing footers. I rechecked the levelling of the table with a spirit level and it was fine. I knew the arm balance would not change because of the lifting of the 'table to change footers. So I changed to a spare stylus which I knew is in good working condition - same distortion.

I dejectedly thought I had discovered the existence of outer groove distortion :lol: since the very first tracks on other well-loved records also had a new found distortion.

So out came the ruler to measure the overhang and what I discovered was shocking. The overhang was more than the recommended length by more than 3.5 mm. In my hurry to get the SME up and running, I had completely ignored this aspect of the arm setting. Luckily, the SME has an excellent sliding mechanism to adjust this. After adjusting the overhang to approx 17.5 mm, the music started sounding gorgeous. With the wooden footers, this distortion did not come through at all and I was blissfully listening to them.

 

[Hiten]

Joshua,
just three wood feet will be more stable and yes rounding off them will definitely help.
Also you can push thumbtack in to wood feet

which will do the same purpose as spikes. Pl. be careful while driving thumbtack in to wood, in cross veins the wood will split.
Regards

 

[Hiten]

Oh ! Forgot to add beautiful pic of a classic TT :thumbsup:

 

[jls001]

Joshua,
just three wood feet will be more stable and yes rounding off them will definitely help.
Also you can push thumbtack in to wood feet

which will do the same purpose as spikes. Pl. be careful while driving thumbtack in to wood, in cross veins the wood will split.
Regards

I am using 3 footers now though I initially experimented with 4. 3 is easier to level.

Thanks for the tip on thumbtack. It looks to be much easier than rounding off the wood. In fact I bought rough and fine wooden files yesterday to undertake this project myself, thinking I will do final finishing on a table top grinder. Do-able I think, but how good the results will be is a matter of experimentation.

 

[G401fan]

Beautiful set-up, does justice to this magnificent table.

But, are my eyes fooling me about the anti-skate thread. It appears to be attached to the wayrod of the side weight. If so, then you need to fix it over its own separate rod on the top of the arm. Maybe I'm not seeing the picture right...

In addition to overhang, you might need to zero in on the tracking angle. There are protractors that you could download from Vinylengine.com

Btw, how much did you get those Cereballs for?