New toy

mrwippy

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Decided to give the SME a break for a bit and try something completely different - and this is perhaps as different as you can get without going too silly:shock:

SL-150_Nima_Gold.jpg


Technics SL150 (30 year old DD), Roksan Nima Unipivot, London Gold - but rebuilt with an extended line contact tip.

SL-150_Nima_Goldc.jpg


 

Davewhityetagain

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mrwippy wrote:

Decided to give the SME a break for a bit and try something completely different - and this is perhaps as different as you can get without going too silly:shock:
SL-150_Nima_Gold.jpg


Technics SL150 (30 year old DD), Roksan Nima Unipivot, London Gold - but rebuilt with a extended line contact tip.

SL-150_Nima_Goldc.jpg
very nice
smile.png


 

Lefty

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That is fantastic! I've just bought myself a Technics SL-1210MK2. (Changed from a Spacedeck/Nima).

I did have thoughts of keeping the Roksan and mounting it on the Technics but decided against it...

Lefty

 

mrwippy

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enbee23 wrote:

That is lovely.How does it sound?
It's only got 20 minutes on the clock at the moment so a bit to soon to really form an opinion. Also I feel there's an earthingproblem with the arm that needs looking into (posted on the Roksan forum, but I'll talk to the dealer tomorrow). But the the biggest surprise so far is the lack of any surface noise from the London - always a problem in the past when I used my Golds, so perhaps the extended contact tip was a good idea. Biggest difference from what I usually hear with the SME is the lack of drivein thebass, but it does delivera really detailed spacious top end. But, it needs to be fine tuned further and run in still and I definitely need a real set of tracking force scales - too much guess work with the Roksanfreebie provided. Oh and a mat of some kind, at present I'm using my SME strobe disc as the turntable didn't come with one (actually its a bit of a dog cosmetically but photographs well)

 

mrwippy

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Lefty wrote:

That is fantastic! I've just bought myself a Technics SL-1210MK2. (Changed from a Spacedeck/Nima).I did have thoughts of keeping the Roksan and mounting it on the Technics but decided against it...

Lefty
Yes, I was interested in your Nima, but had a cash flow bottleneck at the time! I take it you found no problems with the arm? When I touch the arm tube I get a hum (hope this doesn'tend up likethe transformer step-up project:shock:) but only when I touch the arm tube, otherwise it's OK.

 
M

murray johnson

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looks fine Mr W.

Decca's aren't reknowned for prodigious bass although I'm sure Uzzy will beg to differ. Re the hum. I had similar with the SP10 and SME arm. The arm was earthed to my phono stage but the motor unit wasn't and the two were isolated by corian. The TT psu had a two core mains lead. Adding an earth wire attached to the TT psu chassis effectively grounded the motor unit. No hum when touching the arm now.

I have a CF mat you can try if interested.

 

Lefty

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mrwippy wrote:

I take it you found no problems with the arm? When I touch the arm tube I get a hum (hope this doesn'tend up likethe transformer step-up project:shock:) but only when I touch the arm tube, otherwise it's OK.
If you look on the Roksan website, this is a well known problem with earlier versions of the Nima. It can be cured by fitting a grounded arm tube modification which Roksan can retro-fit to all Nima arms. I didn't have the problem becuase mine was a later version which already had the mod fitted.

Did you buy your second hand? If so, it's possible it could be one of the earlier ones. If you get in touch with Roksan I'm sure they'd be able to help
smile.png


Lefty

 

mrwippy

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Lefty wrote:

mrwippy wrote:
I take it you found no problems with the arm? When I touch the arm tube I get a hum (hope this doesn'tend up likethe transformer step-up project:shock:) but only when I touch the arm tube, otherwise it's OK.
If you look on the Roksan website, this is a well known problem with earlier versions of the Nima. It can be cured by fitting a grounded arm tube modification which Roksan can retro-fit to all Nima arms. I didn't have the problem becuase mine was a later version which already had the mod fitted.

Did you buy your second hand? If so, it's possible it could be one of the earlier ones. If you get in touch with Roksan I'm sure they'd be able to help
smile.png


Lefty
OK, that would suggest its a problem with the arm as it's a new one, so new I only sent of the warranty card yesterday! Thanks - I'll give the dealer a call in a moment.

 

mrwippy

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murray johnson wrote:

looks fine Mr W. Decca's aren't reknowned for prodigious bass although I'm sure Uzzy will beg to differ. Re the hum. I had similar with the SP10 and SME arm. The arm was earthed to my phono stage but the motor unit wasn't and the two were isolated by corian. The TT psu had a two core mains lead. Adding an earth wire attached to the TT psu chassis effectively grounded the motor unit. No hum when touching the arm now.

I have a CF mat you can try if interested.
It's been a long time since I played witha London (Decca) and I have to say the lack of bass (although it not a quantity but quality issue really and this could be arm related as well)is the least of its problems,I quite forgotten what a total pain they were to set-up :raoflmfao:. As for the earthing issue, having played around a bit with bits of wire it is the arm tube itself not being earthed, which according both Lefty and the Roksan forum it now should be, so suspect there's an internal break.

Thanks for the offer of the mat , I'll let you know in due course, the priority at the moment is to get rid of the awful spring loaded rubber feet!

 

rockmeister

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that's hideous...sorry...I'm sure you love it, but that front panel has none of the charm of a 70's washing machine. Sound? Who cares....I'd have drowned it soon after birth:)

 

mrwippy

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rockmeister wrote:

that's hideous...sorry...I'm sure you love it, but that front panel has none of the charm of a 70's washing machine. Sound? Who cares....I'd have drowned it soon after birth:)
Couldn't give two hoots how it looks - just so long as it goes round at the right speed and the bearing is OK. Just needed something to hold the arm and cartridge. To be honest I'm looking at this as a disposable item until I can decide if I want a permanent low res' second rig.
wink.png
Then the fun will begin when I start looking for another turntable as a permanent home for the Nima/London.

 

Davewhityetagain

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rockmeister wrote:

that's hideous...sorry...I'm sure you love it, but that front panel has none of the charm of a 70's washing machine. Sound? Who cares....I'd have drowned it soon after birth:)
your bias against his deck, is only matched by my anti sub stance
wink.png


 

TIU

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Looks good to me. Been round the block a few times but as you say that doesn't matter.

A quick question about TTs I didn't get chance to post in JB's earth hum thread.
47_47.gif.482d183844f69ef6dec537ae753f214d.gif


When a record is playing and I tap the plinth and the glass shelf the TT sits on, should it sound 'live'?

 

mrwippy

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TIU wrote:

Looks good to me. Been round the block a few times but as you say that doesn't matter. A quick question about TTs I didn't get chance to post in JB's earth hum thread.
47_47.gif.482d183844f69ef6dec537ae753f214d.gif


When a record is playing and I tap the plinth and the glass shelf the TT sits on, should it sound 'live'?
Depends on the volume setting, type and massof turntable. The SME seems quite immune to transmitted vibration, but this (Technics with just isolation feet) and the LP12 I had before were quite bad. At the moment I've got the Technics on alloy cones and you can hear when I alter the volume setting on my pre (click stops) which shares the same shelf, but it is better for 'footfall' noise. But in most instance I would expect to hear something if I knocked the supportor the turntable plinth whilst it was playing a record.

 

mrwippy

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Well it started off like this

LondonGoldNima.jpg


30 LP's later and the London is back in the box

londongold.jpg


and now its my old favourite

miltek2.jpg


Although the London is a thoroughly exiting and enjoyable cartridge, it really doespromote that love hate relationship - I love what it does well, but hate its weaknesses and after 60 sides I could no longer live with the weaknesses - so back in the box and on to eBay when I can get round to doing some better pics.

 

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