Michell Gyro/orbe armboard mod

[Emma Royd]

Anyone tried it yet,apparantly its for sale now,about 20quid?

[griffo104]

Emma Royd wrote:

Anyone tried it yet,apparantly its for sale now,about 20quid?

Where from ?????

[Emma Royd]

Was told by Michell it was avaliable just before they closed down for hols a few weeks ago.

[Dik Dolan]

Anymore info on this? I couldn't find anything on their website

[Emma Royd]

No its not the site as yet,but I rang michell as stated above and was told it was avaliable for £19.99.

[tkimages]

What exactly is this mod?

[CTank]

I spoke to Michell at the Heathrow show earlier today, and it's a mod to the bolts which secure the armboard to the chassis. Apparently this introduces a level of decoupling. There's also some kind of earthing involved to break a static loop, although I have no idea what this means.

I think this is a similar mod to the bluetac decoupling that was recommended on the TNT site a while ago- google that if you're interested.

The Michell rep was pretty gutted, as he was hoping to have the bolts to sell at the show, but he only had one set, and obviously wanted to hang on to that to show people.

Gullible Michell fan that I am, I'll order one on Monday, and see if it does any good.

[Emma Royd]

I presumethat the spacers are unchanged ?

[CTank]

I believe so, but take anything I say with a pinch of salt, I may have misunderstood!

[sugdenman]

I bought a mod off a guy on ebay about two months ago this sounds like it .It involves decoupling armboard with spikes resting on inverted bolts.I will see if I still have the info.

[Dik Dolan]

CTank wrote:

Gullible Michell fan that I am, I'll order one on Monday, and see if it does any good.

Same here=) Ordered one2 minutes ago.

[Dik Dolan]

The kit arrived this morning, excellent job Michell.

It's called "Armplate De-Coupling kit for SME"(in my case) and consists of 3 new armboard spacers and a small earth strap. Cost was £21.00 including postage. For the money doesnt look like much, but lets see.....

The spacers appear to be of the same black plastic type as before but with captive studs on the bottom and a small rubber O ring fitted into a groove machined into the top, and new shorter Allen bolts to bolt the armboard on with.

The earth strap fits from the bottom of one of the SME carriage bolts to the bottom of one of the new captive studs. To quote from the instructions "It is imperative that the strap is fitted as this completed the static loop".

Fitting only took a few minutes, no more losing the arm spacers down the back anymore... they screw down into the chassis via the captive stud.

I'll report back on sonics when I've had a chance to listen more (only one side of a record so far) but so far so good.

[Dik Dolan]

Another hour or so in, 4 different records tried and...

It's nice. Hard to describe but everything just sounds a little bit "better". Rhythms seem more distinct, as in upbeat music sounds a little faster, and slower moodier stuff sounds more.. I dunno...moodier=)

Voices are a little more expressive, subtle little things are easier to spot, it just sounds a little more open and detailed, more engaging.

I'd swear that the bass sounds more textured too... need to listen some more, but so far i'm impressed.

I once tried the blutak mod and wasnt convinced it was better, seemed to lose a bit of dynamics and colour but with these all seems good so far.

It's not a huge upgrade, but it IS an improvement. For 20 notes, if you have a gyro or an orbe give it a shot, you might be pleasently surprised. I think the best way to describe it is like..you know somedays your system sounds better than others? well this made mine sound like one of the good days, plus a bit =)

[griffo104]

Ordered mine this morning

[Sastusbulbas]

sugdenman wrote:

I bought a mod off a guy on ebay about two months ago this sounds like it .It involves decoupling armboard with spikes resting on inverted bolts.I will see if I still have the info.

Any pictures?

[Sastusbulbas]

Dik Dolan wrote:

The kit arrived this morning, excellent job Michell.

It's called "Armplate De-Coupling kit for SME"(in my case) and consists of 3 new armboard spacers and a small earth strap. Cost was £21.00 including postage. For the money doesnt look like much, but lets see.....

The spacers appear to be of the same black plastic type as before but with captive studs on the bottom and a small rubber O ring fitted into a groove machined into the top, and new shorter Allen bolts to bolt the armboard on with.

The earth strap fits from the bottom of one of the SME carriage bolts to the bottom of one of the new captive studs. To quote from the instructions "It is imperative that the strap is fitted as this completed the static loop".

Fitting only took a few minutes, no more losing the arm spacers down the back anymore... they screw down into the chassis via the captive stud.

I'll report back on sonics when I've had a chance to listen more (only one side of a record so far) but so far so good.

Any pictures of this too?

[Dik Dolan]

Sorry, I didn't take any pics. My camera has even worse sight than I do, so a pic of a little black blurry blob wouldn't be much help=)
When fitted they look exactly the same as the standard spacers anyway. They probably are the same, but with a small treaded stud on the bottom to screw into the chassis and a rubber O ring on the top, with a thread cut into them so the new short armboard bolts can screw into them from the top.

[Emma Royd]

Got mine this morning,will attempt to fit it this afternoon/evening/tomorrow.

[huwge]

just ordered
I am already pederson armboarded(?)
will let you know if better/worse/same

[Emma Royd]

Just fitted mine,1st impressions the sound is fuller/louder or appears to be,bass a liitle stronger/tighter and there appears to be more detail.A definite improvement to me and for £21.50 wellworth a go.

One tip put the cable tie around the arm leads 1st,then put the fixing pad on the spider ,can be awkward as I found out sticking the pad on first,blutak now holding the fixing pad to the spider.