Newbie Analogue Journey

I have started my hifi journey many years ago even before streaming are main stream music. CD is predominantly the format in hifi for a long time until streaming changes all that, even more so for the Vinyl record. I personally have been in digital music most of the time with the beginning of FLAC / WAV until moving into DSD. So over the years many DAC I have own with all kind of players too. Few years back, I came to experience in analogue music listening to some pretty nice turntables.

I started to research and read up on turntables. What to look out for mainly for a newbie to get into Vinyl music. Few things to consider when looking for turntables. Firstly, its the drive (motor) to spin the platter. There are 2 types, the belt drive and the direct drive. 

From picture you can clearly see there is a belt being use from the motor to the spindle. This drive and spin the spindle than on top the platter of the turntable. The advantage of this is less motor noise that might introduce into the sound. This is quite important and Vinyl is very sensitive to external noise. The disadvantage of it is the start of the spin and the time it stops spinning is slower than a direct drive.

This picture is show a direct drive turntable with the motor directly attached to the spindle. Is different from the belt drive that this type doesn't required a belt. The advantage of this will be the spin will be almost immediate for the start and stop. The disadvantage will be the noise the motor might introduce into the sound.

The next thing to look for is the speed. Mainly there are 33 1/3 or 45 RPM in speed for turntable. The thing to look for is how easy you can switch in between speed. Some turntable is very easy with just a push of a button. Some have to remove the platter and made adjustment. Example of the Rega P10 turntable with this external power supply has 2 switches to change the speed.

 Next piece to look now is the tonearm. This is very important to having a good steady hold of the cartridge while is tracking the Vinyl record. In this part the thing to think about is how easy it can be adjusted to setup the tracking force of the cartridge and also height of the arm sometimes is important to have the proper tracking. 

The one last thing and the most important is the Cartridge. Two different types of cartridge, the MM (moving magnet) and MC (moving cartridge). The different types have different gain which is important to consider for your hardware which is the phono pre amp. 

Its kind of overwhelming when I first started to read to understand all that. Put that all aside, there are many turntables this days are all ready to plug and play. Some turntables are able to even stream through bluetooth or even USB capable. Technology has change analogue quite a bit too. Out of the box many turntables are good to go and they are reasonably good start.

For me one more thing about vinyl record is all this beautiful records. This is one of the only media you can actually see the beauty as it spins. Good music is important but esthetic is pretty important too as you will be seated to enjoy the music while enjoying the beauty of your records.

 

More Mober For Linn Sondek LP12

Mober sub-platter for Linn LP12 tur table, though Cirkus compatible, I much prefer the sound when mated to it's intended partner, the Mober bearing.

In my last story about the Mober sub platter, as started with my desire for the latest Linn Karousel bearing upgrade, but the prohibitive pricing of Linn lead me to looking else where. Along came the Mober items purchased from Edmund Chan who makes these Mober products & ships out of Hong Kong. 

Doing the Mober bearing upgrade, much like the Karuosel, requires the Vahalla or Hercules power supply board to be moved out of the turn table, in to a separate external box. That means my Hercules II Gold power supply board will need a box to be housed in. Fear not, Mober has a solution in the form of a Mose kit!

In the process of reading up on the Karousel vs Mober bearing, it would seem to me that Edmund had started putting the Mober bearing in to the market 2 years ahead of Linn! However, the emergence of Karuosel has made Mober to introduce an improved version with collar mount option, compared to the 3 point mount of the previous design, as in Linn's Cirkus bearing. Competition does indeed spark innovation in this case!

Now let us go through the build pictorial:

Mober(left) bearing vs Linn Cirkus(right). Notice how much bigger the Mober bearing is at the bottom? The Mober bearing also offers collar mount, which I feel in much better than 3 point mounting, as the stress points are even out with collar mount.

The bridge comparison, left is the Mober supplied unit which came as part of the bearing package. Compared to the Linn supplied unit, notice the bearing thru hole in the center, which is much bigger diameter with the Mober unit. Also note the heavier steel gauge used, and that improved wire hold down design, which is far more rigid compared to Linn's fragile looking P-clip, not shown here.   

On the back is similar story, the Mober parts exudes quality build that Linn can only dream about!

The Mose casing to house my Hercules II Gold power supply board. This 2U design casing is aluminum extruded and finished in satin black for an overall high quality look & feel.

The back panel of the Mose box, a multi pin socket provides easy & removable wiring option from the turn table.

Even the IEC socket provided with the Mose is a gold plated audiophile grade item, Mober has put in much thought to his products!

Inside the Mose box is an added AC board for LED indicator at face plate, and rerouting all Hercules II Gold cabling requirements to the multi pin socket.

The Mose box with the Hercules II Gold power supply board fitted.

The completed Mose box, with a blue indicator at front face plate, when powered up.

Fitting of Mober bearing commence! The Mober bearing is first collar mounted on to the Linn Kore sub-chassis. This is followed by the motor & 33 & 45 rpm switch on the top plate.

M for Mober!

The wire hold down clamp as seen here in white is much easier to work with, compared to Linn's P-clip design. Just lift the clamp high enough to slip the cables through, then tighten that hex key.

The finished project, with Mober's L shaped power supply board to accommodate the much bigger bearing. the multi pin cable from Mose box shown earlier is attached to this L-shaped PS board. Also seen here with tone arm cable & multi pin cable being clamped down respectively. 

An older picture for comparison, with Linn's Vahalla board in place with Circkus bearing. The Hercules II Gold board is basically a 2 speed version of the Vahalla!

And lastly the whole turn table assembly sits on the Linn Trampolin II

The finished project, with the newly Oak finished plinth. This project is like a total rebuild, and since I am at it, I also swapped the Koetsu Black cartridge to serve on the Linn LP12 turn table. 

The Linn LP12(top tier) with the Mose kit & Marantz PH-1 phono stage below deck, sitting on my Spyder rack.

The sound of the finished project is excellent from the first needle drop! The initial sound was fast and exciting, with little to no back ground noise. LP surface noise is largely reduced as well. The bass is now truly powerful and tight! The Linn finally has the bass power to rival my Kuzma turn table. No more  Linn's flabby, "mong cha-cha" bass of the old. The Mober bearing package, with it's sub platter really brings the Linn LP12 detail retrieval ability & clarity to a whole new level. The good part is Linn's much fabled mid-bass is now clean, and doesn't intrude and cloud the male vocals anymore. Treble is much extended, airy and clear like a breath of fresh air! The noise level after the Mober bearing & Mose kit installed is near zero or un-audible now. After a few days, as the 3 springs that suspends the Linn settles down, the treble begins to soften a touch, and some semblance of the Linn LP12 sound character re-emerges, but just enough to remind you that this is still a Linn LP 12 after all.

I feel the Mober kits offer very high value for money in each & every way one looks at it. The Mober kits are well made, with good materials, high quality finishing and much design details that only someone with an intimate knowledge of the Linn LP12 can think of. Best of all, the Mober kits are much, much more affordable than the Scotland made stuff, yet suffers no sound penalty or build quality. I think the Mober kits may somewhat sound a little different if compared to using all Linn parts catalog, but on the whole, Edmund Chan is a person who understands the Linn's engineering philosophy well, and doesn't stray too far from where the apple tree is. I now have much respect and high regards for the Mober kits. If you have a Linn LP12 turn table at whatever vintage, do give the Mober kits a go!

Given today's Linn aftermarket diversity, and Linn's endless catalog of up grade parts, I can tell you there no 2 Linn LP12 in the world that is exactly same anymore, after leaving the showroom! A celebration of diversity I guess.....

Facelift, Wood Plinth Refinishing For Linn Sondek LP12

My original Linn LP12 plinth in Black Ash, total strip down. This is not the first time I've done this!

Choosing my stain option, which I choose a rich shade of red laquer

 

The finished result! Beautiful......

From another angle at Ricky's workshop

This project was almost 6 months in the making. I had planned to refinish my Linn LP12 wood plinth, as I was kinda bored with the original Black Ash color scheme.

And since I am stripping everything down to do the refinishing of the plinth, I might as well do some upgrades! At the time, I was keen to get Linn's latest Karousel bearing design, but was horrified upon hearing the cost. Fear not, it's Mober to the rescue and I ended buying not only Mober's bearing design, but also the matching inner platter & out board PSU upgrade kit. All those parts came just a day before the MCO lock down in May, and Ricky's furniture workshop had to close as a result.

Ricky's workshop was allowed to resume operations by 3rd October and he went in to work on my Linn LP12 plinth straight away. After more than a week, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the result of the refinished work, as in the pictures above!

Ricky also does speaker cabinet repairs or any other hifi wooden bits refinishing as well. He is well known amongst those classic Thorens & Garrard turntable folks for supplying beautiful custom plinths. He is also a classic hifi & LP collector. So if you're reading this, that means Ricky shares your passion for good sound!

Ricky can be contacted at 019-3379357, should you require his services.  

Remote Bliss, Akai RC-G95 Remote Control For Akai GX-95 MKII Cassette Deck

 

Oh what joy it is to have finally found my Akai RC-G95 remote control, a perfect match for the Akai GX-95 MKII cassette deck. 2 weeks after getting my cassette deck, I set out to look for the original Akai remote to pair with the cassette deck.

I was looking at Yahoo Japan Auctions as that was the most likely place I could find it, but no luck. Salvation came from Ebay Germany. With one gentleman selling this remote, however he was reluctant to ship overseas, especially Malaysia. Willing buyer, willing seller but un-willing shipping?

For some reason, many Ebay sellers don't like dealing with Malaysian buyers. After 3 weeks of persuading him ship to me, he relented but wanted a premium for shipping. I agreed and after almost 2 weeks, the item arrived my door step via DHL.

What are the odds? both manufactured in Japan, then sent to different parts of the world, a cassette deck from China & a remote from Germany, finally coming together in my custody as a pair in Malaysia, to be paired for my joy!