Michell My Belle! Customer Upgrades His Gyro Turntable With Michell Techno Tonearm

Christmas arrives a little early for one of our customers as he has treated himself to a new tone arm on his Michell Gyro turntable. He had an ageing Rega RB300 previously installed on the turntable that was starting to become troublesome. With our advice the customer chose the obvious choice, the Michell Techno A tonearm in black to match the existing finish of the turntable.

Michell Gyro with new Techno A arm fitted

At the same time we have also removed the old acrylic plinth and lid giving the deck a much slicker look and feel. This was achieved by adding the Michell Gyro Spyder kit as shown below. The old deck is dismantled and the feet are removed from the plinth and threaded on to the new Spyder.

Michell Gyro Spyder kit

Techno A arm unboxing

New arm mounting plate

The old arm mounting plate needs to be replaced as it is the single mounting point plate. The new mounting plate is seen fitted in place above. The new three point mount all ready for the new tone arm.

Tonearm mount from top

Techno A arm fitted

Next we need to fit the cartridge to the tonearm. Our customer decided to go for the Rega Ania MC cartridge as shown below.

Rega ANIA MC cartridge during fitting

Rega ANIA MC cartridge

Now we need to adjust the height of the tonearm to make sure the vertical tracking angle is correct for the cartridge installed. This is achieved by the clever Michell thread at the mounting of the arm. In this case no adjustment was needed so the three mounting screws can tightened to fix the tonearm in place.

Tonearm height adjustment

Michell Techno A arm Scallop counter weights

Two different weight scallops are supplied depending on the weight of your cartridge. In this case the larger of the two has been used.

Scallop counter weight in place

Checking tracking force

Above we are checking the tracking weight using Project Measure IT stylus balance gage.

Ready for the first play

Cue up ready……”drop the needle on the record”

Michell HR power supply + Nytech CDP122

Above is the is older Michell HR power supply (this has now been replaced with a more modern looking box and case work) alongside the Nytech CDP122, our weapon of choice at the moment when it comes to supplying moving magnet or moving coil setups.

Final pic of the completed setup

Thanks to Steve for his permission to blog about his latest audio upgrade. In the pic above we have the front of his home cinema setup. The classic Pioneer plasma, Arcam AVR550, REL S3, Oppo UDP-203 & the now discontinued Bowers & Wilkins 683S2 teamed with the HTM61S2 center speaker. He finishes off his surround system with two B&W M1 speakers on the rear and B&W CCM665 in the ceiling for Dolby Atmos, creating a very impressive 5.1.2 system. Michell Techno A arm and Rega ANIA MC cartridge is available from all branches of Audio T.

Michell Engineering turntables are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brentwood, Cardiff, Manchester, Southampton, Swansea

Thanks for reading: Hefin, Nick (blogger) and Kerrin Audio T Cardiff.

The Vinyl Countdown! Mike our Resident Punk from Audio T Manchester Delves into his Record Collection

In this months blog Mike Hennessey from Audio T Manchester gives the inside track on his vinyl collection. Be warned, some of the cover art may make you feel a bit queasy.

Rega Brio Rega RP8 Rega Ania

First Record I Ever Bought? NOFX - Pump Up the Valuum

Technics SL-1210GR

It’s pretty fitting that the first record I ever bought was a NOFX album. As you will see, I’ve bought a lot more since then but back when no one wanted records, this would have been purchased in 2000, it was easy enough to pick up the coloured first pressings from NOFX.

Oldest Record I Own? Mary Poppins soundtrack. 

Rega RP8 Quadraspire Soundstage

This one I inherited from my Grandad when he passed away. It came inside a Ferguson Stereogram, fortunately, not something I had to listen on. Unfortunately, at some point during a house move, I have managed to lose the bulk of the records I inherited, which was mainly Ella fitzgerald, Perry Como and The Seekers. Not exactly my taste in music but losing records is never a good thing, especially when they have sentimental value.
 
Most Interesting Record? Pizzatramp - Blowing Chunks.

This was released by TNS Records back at the end of 2016, the record was shipped in January 2017. Delivered in a hand painted and numbered pizza box, containing the album on green vinyl, a screen print of the album artwork and a slice of pizza. 

I varnished the pizza to preserve it. Here it is 1 year on.

Most Collected Band? NOFX

54 records, not including CDs or compilations.  36x7”, 2x10”, 16x12”. 12 Albums, 1 Bootleg, 2 splits, 8 EPs, 31 Singles including a 12 part set.

Most Valuable Record?
This one is tricky really. Not being the kind of person to part with records, any value attributed to them is purely academic. Unless of course there is something I need to buy! I’ve used the Discogs and Popsike websites to try and value what I have. I’ve included a selection as values vary depending on where you look and what extras you still have with the record et cetera. This just gives an idea of the records that have the highest priced sale on the two websites mentioned above.

Everything Everything - ARC Sold for £127 on DIscogs, £122 on Popsike
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Take a Break £147 DIscogs, £135 Popsike    
Mad Caddies - Just One More £295 Discogs, £151 Popsike
NOFX - HOFX £99 Discogs, £161 Popsike
NOFX - Liberal Animation £175 Discogs, £145 Popsike
NOFX - War on Errorism £101 Discogs, £135 Popsike
NOFX/Rancid Split £125 Discogs, £122 Popsike
The White Stripes - De Stijl £111 Discogs, £130 Popsike

Smallest Amount I’ve Paid? 29p. 

Rega Planar 6

Wild Cherry - Self Titled/Band Aid - Do they know it’s Christmas? 12” single. 
Both were bought on the same day from a charity shop on Hillgate in Stockport and both cost the same amount. Wild Cherry had no sleeve and has been sadly lost, which reminds me, I must keep an eye out for another copy.

Any Unusual Sized Records? - Dropkick murphys live on a five.

I’ve only ever encountered one unusually sized record. At the time I bought it, I don’t think I realised it was unusual. This is just two live tracks on one small record.

The Last Record I bought - Sonic Boom Six - Cardiac Address / Stand Out Riot - Gentlemen Bandits

Cardiac Address was a Pledge Music release from Sonic Boom Six, used to raise funds to get them to the Vans Warped Tour last year, it took a while but the 10” record finally arrived in January 2018.

Technics SL1210GR

Gentleman Bandits is a re-release from TNS Records, although it is the album’s first time on vinyl. This wasn’t bought by me but as a present from my wife for Christmas.

I also have at least 3 records currently on order that were purchased after Cardiac Address but I don’t have them yet, so they can’t count. They are, The Bennies - Natural Born Chillers, Harker - No Discordance, Marmozets - Knowing What You Know Now. 
Let’s face it, I’ll probably buy more before I finish this blog. 

Most Out of Place? Young Love.

Michell Gyro SE Ortofon 2M Blue

This is a compilation album of love songs. I bought it for a communal Valentine's dinner with friends at university. And that’s all I have to say about that.
 
Record I Should Own But Don't? Guns N’ Roses - Live Like A Suicide

Guns N’ Roses are probably my second most collected band, so it’s a surprise to me that they haven’t appeared in this until now. These are seemingly always available but I’ve never had the funds and the opportunity at the same time. The worst part is, my brother who doesn’t own a turntable, does have a copy. Framed on his wall. Sacrilege! Although, he did bring it in to the shop for its one and only play in his possession.

Thanks for reading! Rock on...vinyl!