Turntable Health Check Clinics At Audio T Reading – Our Expert Findings & Observations
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At the start of this summer, among many great promotions that we were running, we were excited to offer the opportunity for a free turntable health-check either by visiting one of our stores or by way of a courtesy home visit. Here at Audio T Reading, the response to this offer has been spectacular, with a huge number of turntables flowing through our Swallowfield showroom doors and regularly on rotation (cringy pun intended) in our service room.
But why were we offering this free check? Had we gone completely mad?
Well, to elaborate further, the acquisition of turntables for music listening remains on an upward trajectory, which is no surprise given how delightful vinyl records can sound and how pleasingly tactile the vinyl handling experience is. In a world where (almost) every interaction comes courtesy of a flat and featureless touchscreen, the act of sliding a record out of its arty sleeve and placing it down for a musical spin feels ceremoniously rewarding. However, whether a turntable is fresh out of its box, or has been living a charmed life in a muggy loft, it will benefit from some form of fettling and fine tuning, especially in the dextrous hands of our enthusiastic experts.
To give you a feel for our work and for your reading pleasure, we would like to take a moment to share some of our findings and observations from our summer turntable camp…
WHAT WAS MOST APPARENT FROM OUR TURNTABLE CLINICS?
Over the past few months of phonographic fettling, something that has really stood out is that the performance and function of nearly all of our customer’s turntables could either be subtly enhanced or greatly improved, either by way of simple tweaks such as adjusting the tracking weight on a tonearm, or by a realignment of the cartridge. In some cases, a repair or replacement of inexpensive parts or consumables, followed by the necessary adjustments and alignments, was all that was needed to restore a turntable’s operation back to optimal health.
You might be reading this right now and wondering, is there any point in bothering with a turntable inspection, especially if everything seems to play just fine and has done so for many moons? Well, over a period of time, whether it be years or even just months, operating your turntable with the set-up not quite right, or unknowingly with a worn stylus, will eventually cause damage to your precious records. And then there is sound-quality; if, like us, you place high-importance on this, then we have at our disposal a combination of objective measures, expertise, and our well-trained ears to help to get your turntable to ring out every last drop from the grooves of your records.
ISSUES THAT WE CAME ACROSS…
The number one issue that we noticed from our turntable health-checks was worn out styli. This was followed by out-of-spec platter turning speeds. Slightly bent or fully deformed cantilevers (the metal tubing holding the stylus in place) were in third place. And next on the list of issues found were misshapen or degraded drive belts. From a sonic point of view, some turntables were heard to be exhibiting an above average amount of buzz or hum, and during playback the presence of distortion or a lack of dynamic expression were indicators that prevailing issues were marring the performance capabilities of the affected decks.
Here is something that might astonish you; at the time of writing this article – with the exception of just one deck – every turntable brought into the Audio T Reading store this summer had either an incorrect or sub-optimal tracking weight setting, or incorrect anti-skate setting, or incorrect tonearm height positioning or other misplacement.
These findings came as no surprise to us as we have come to know that – over time, use, and movement – it’s natural for a turntable to fall out of alignment or deviate away from its optimal settings. This is why here at Audio T, we are open to you bringing your turntable to us no matter what time of year for a free health check – we are always happy to advise or provide reassurance by taking a look for you.
SOME FUN FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS!
Okay, for a bit of fun, here are some findings, observations and interesting turntable works that have come about from our phono clinics so far…
Want to know which turntable we’ve seen the most of? That’s the stalwart Rega Planar 3. We’ve seen these ubiquitously, most likely because of how venerable and resilient the Planar 3 is. If you’re interested in a Planar 3, it’s worth considering a step up to the Rega Planar 6 instead – it comes as standard with the excellent Rega Neo power supply and the superior vibration mitigating properties of the Planar 6 enable it to accommodate a broader range of more talented cartridges, such as Rega’s own Ania Pro or Dynavector’s 10x5 MkII, which we’ll come to…
One of the things we love most about the Rega range of turntables is how well they lend to being restored to as-new working order, regardless of their age. Key parts are consistently available and, allied to the ever-improving efficiency of servicing them, it makes the Rega decks one of the most sustainable on the planet!
Most installed cartridge? That’s the excellent Audio Technica VM95ML - it’s microlinear stylus tracks deep and true into those record grooves and it’s also highly resistant to wear. For added good news – if you happen to accidently prang the stylus, it’s replaceable.
Most impressive high-end cartridge installed? A joint winner here and, in no particular order, it would have to be the Hana ML and the Audio Note IQ III. The impressive features of the Hana ML are how beautifully crisp and extended the high frequencies are, to go with its wide-open midrange and taut bass. As far as moving-coil (MC) cartridges go, it’s a slayer of a cartridge. With regards to the Audio Note IQ III, it’s a moving-magnet (MM) design that has been given the full Audio Note treatment – trueness of tone, fullness of body, and musicality are its virtues. When we first heard the IQ III, we couldn’t believe a MM cartridge could sound that good!
Best pound-for-pound cartridge installed? Enter once more the Dynavector 10x5 MkII. The performance to price quotient of this cartridge is extraordinary. It predominantly comes as a high-output MC design, which is designed to work with MM compliant phono stages. Sound confusing? We understand – please call us and we’ll explain how it works.
Weirdest item found attached to or within a turntable? A long part-grey and part-brown hair, twisted around a sub-platter, that we suspect of human origin (we are still waiting for the lab results). Oh and melted chocolate smeared along the side of a dust cover. At least, we think its chocolate… Oh gosh!
GOING FULL CIRCLE – CLOSING THOUGHTS…
It’s been fun to receive and revitalise a number of different decks, from the simple-but-splendid Rega Planar 1, to a majestic 25th anniversary edition Linn Sondek LP12. For each of the previously mentioned issues that we came across, we were able to liaise with our customers and implement a fix. For example, fitting a new belt to an old Systemdek IIX helped to restore the platter rotation speed – as we found it was turning too slow, which was altering the pitch of the record being played and making the music sound lifeless.
Through undertaking a number of restoration projects, we have found some great turntable, tonearm and cartridge combinations, which we would be happy to share with you. And in case you weren’t aware, when buying a cartridge from us we offer free installation and alignment.
We would like to say thank you to all of our customers who put their trust in our free turntable health-check service and are feeding back that their precious decks are sounding better than ever. If you would like us to have a look at your turntable, either for some tune-up work or to resolve a possible issue, please do get in touch with us. We’ll be happy to see you and show you around our new Swallowfield store.
Thank you for reading,
Rishi, Gareth and Dan – Audio T Reading
If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.
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The products featured here can be found or enquired about at the following Audio T stores:
A BIT ABOUT OUR NEW STORE
Our new Swallowfield store is accessible via the 600 bus route from Reading town centre and is very easy to reach by road with the A33, M3 and M4 all nearby. On arrival you’ll find ample free parking right on our doorstep, and our showroom and demo rooms are all on ground level.
The picturesque surroundings here provide many places to enjoy a countryside walk, a riverside stroll, or a picnic. There are local sites of interest to explore such as the Blackwater River, Wellington Country Park, Siren Craft Brewery and a host of cute village pubs with gardens. So when you come to see us, why not make a fun day of it?
