On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:03:42 +0000 (GMT), Jim Lesurf
wrote:

I have recently intercepted an ancient turntable/arm that was on a free
parabola that would otherwise have terminated in a skip. :-)

The turntable is ye anciente Garrard 301. But although the arm looks
familiar to me I can't recall what make/model it is! Looked though various
old magazines and books I have, but not yet identified it.

I've put some pics on the page

http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/temp/arm.html

Can anyone identify the arm? And does anyone know of a user or setup manual
for it on the web?

FWIW The turntable rotates, but the arm looks to be in a condition
somewhere between FOBB and FUBAR. The (plastic?) grip that should hold the
lift and bias is fractured. And the arm is business-end heavy even if I
remove the headshell and move the weight back as far as I can. Although
this may be because I don't know something vital about the setup due to
lack of a manual! So any info welcome.

Looking at the arm, names like micro-seki and audio tech come to mind, but
none of their models I've found in references are the one in the pics, so
my mind may be playing tricks here...

If I could get the arm working I could at least check out the turntable for
rumble and speed stability, etc. Then decide if it was all junk, or worth
fitting some other ancient arm for experimental purposes.

Slainte,

Jim


I have a similar one in the loft and like wise I don't know the name.

The counter balance on mine is set up after mounting the shell and
cartidge by firstly setting the rotating scale to zero, in line with
the mark on the shaft top, and then unclamping the weight and sliding
it until the arm is balanced. The weight is then reclamped and the
dial rotated until the scale reads the recommended weight for the
cartridge. (On some similar designs the weight and dial rotate as a
unit).

The anti-skating weight arm should rest against the peg protruding
from the side of the pick-up arm. These should be kept very clean as
it causes friction.

Hope this helps

John

In article , John Evans
wrote:

The counter balance on mine is set up after mounting the shell and
cartidge by firstly setting the rotating scale to zero, in line with
the mark on the shaft top, and then unclamping the weight and sliding it
until the arm is balanced. The weight is then reclamped and the dial
rotated until the scale reads the recommended weight for the cartridge.
(On some similar designs the weight and dial rotate as a unit).

Is there a conterweight missing in the photos? I managed to decouple the
scale from the weight that is present. But found that there was still a
physical limit to how far I could move the weight - and this wasn't
sufficient to lift the arm even when the headshell was removed!

Slainte,

Jim

--
Change 'noise' to 'jcgl' if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:48:38 +0000 (GMT), Jim Lesurf
wrote:

In article , John Evans
wrote:

The counter balance on mine is set up after mounting the shell and
cartidge by firstly setting the rotating scale to zero, in line with
the mark on the shaft top, and then unclamping the weight and sliding it
until the arm is balanced. The weight is then reclamped and the dial
rotated until the scale reads the recommended weight for the cartridge.
(On some similar designs the weight and dial rotate as a unit).

Is there a conterweight missing in the photos? I managed to decouple the
scale from the weight that is present. But found that there was still a
physical limit to how far I could move the weight - and this wasn't
sufficient to lift the arm even when the headshell was removed!

Slainte,

Jim


Sorry - mine is only similar and not identical. The counterweight on
mine is shorter than yours so presumably of greater mass.

However, looking at the photograph,and having worked with various arms
over the years, it looks as if yours is complete. Can you take the
weight off completely? If so is there anything limiting the movement?

regards

John

(I'll be away for a few days so won't be able to keep up to date with
this.)

In article , John Evans
wrote:


However, looking at the photograph,and having worked with various arms
over the years, it looks as if yours is complete. Can you take the
weight off completely?

No. It won't move beyond a given point.

If so is there anything limiting the movement?

Yes. But I haven't yet determined what.

The end of the counterweight is open, and there is a large slotted bolthead
inside. I did think this was the end-stop. But when I tried altering this
it had zero effect on how far the counterweight would move - so far as I
could tell. Reluctant to adjust too far in case I was doing more harm.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Change 'noise' to 'jcgl' if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:53:38 +0000 (GMT), Jim Lesurf
wrote:

In article , John Evans
wrote:


However, looking at the photograph,and having worked with various arms
over the years, it looks as if yours is complete. Can you take the
weight off completely?

No. It won't move beyond a given point.

If so is there anything limiting the movement?

Yes. But I haven't yet determined what.

The end of the counterweight is open, and there is a large slotted bolthead
inside. I did think this was the end-stop. But when I tried altering this
it had zero effect on how far the counterweight would move - so far as I
could tell. Reluctant to adjust too far in case I was doing more harm.

Slainte,

Jim

Jim. Since the principal object of the exercise at the moment is to
see if this is all worth the effort, how about putting in any old
cartridge and adding any old weight that will achieve balance. You can
then play a few records and decide whether to go further with it.

d

In article 49707b4a.14321859@localhost, Don Pearce (Don Pearce) wrote:
On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:53:38 +0000 (GMT), Jim Lesurf
wrote:


Jim. Since the principal object of the exercise at the moment is to see
if this is all worth the effort, how about putting in any old cartridge
and adding any old weight that will achieve balance. You can then play a
few records and decide whether to go further with it.

Yes. That is what I'll do if all else duly fails. But I'm not in a hurry,
so am willing to take the time to see if we can diagnose and fix the lack
of ability to adjust first. :-)

FWIW I'm currently distracted, playing with ports of FFmpeg, lame, etc, to
experiment with sound codings. So am just giving the ancient arm/tt
part-time interest for curiosity.

If I really wanted to use an ancient tt/arm I'd probably go for the
technics SL10 with an old SME and another V15/III. I doubt the 301 will be
worth much fuss, so just investigating to learn. Might be pleasantly
surprised, but I suspect the turntable has also had a hard life...

Slainte,

Jim

--
Change 'noise' to 'jcgl' if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

John Evans wrote:

The counter balance on mine is set up after mounting the shell and
cartidge by firstly setting the rotating scale to zero, in line with
the mark on the shaft top, and then unclamping the weight and sliding
it until the arm is balanced. The weight is then reclamped and the
dial rotated until the scale reads the recommended weight for the
cartridge. (On some similar designs the weight and dial rotate as a
unit).

Just like the Ortofon RMGs work.

Graham