How to Upgrade Your Turntable
Introduction As the owner of a record collection of several thousand carefully chosen and well loved LPs, I am delighted to find that in the year 2001 the vinyl LP survives, and that turntables, turntables, arms and cartridges are still made, sold and enjoyed.
I am surprised but pleased to find myself under pressure from enthusiast customers to write a booklet about how to get the best out of the medium. Distilling 30 odd years of experience into a few pages of useful help is no easy task! I’ve made it easier for
Ten years or so ago when we discontinued our range of RATA cartridges, and Grace and Supex were no longer made, I was sure that the LP was dead. The market for turntables, turntables, arms and cartridges is certainly much smaller than it was, but reports of its death were greatly exaggerated.
myself by confining the scope to the essential things you must get right in order to be able to relax and enjoy your records. This is not a history of the turntable, an engineering guide, a physics textbook or a comprehensive ‘all you need to know’ book. It’s a practical ‘do-it-yourself’ guide in the familiar f amiliar Russ Andrews Andrews style.
The Mains The importance of upgrading the mains cable to your turntable or its power supply cannot be emphasised strongly enough. enough. The performance of any turntable is greatly influenced by mains noise, distortion, harmonics and RFI. The electrical perturbations are converted into mechanical noise in the motor which is transferred to the platter and then the record, is picked up by the stylus and becomes confused with the music signal. The noise masks low level information, detail, phase relationships etc to the detriment of the music in areas such as soundstage, 3dimensionality, rhythm and timing. Clearly then, big improvements can be gained from removing, or even just reducing mains interference. Replacing your lead with one of our PowerKordss is an essential step in getting the best out PowerKord of your turntable. Upgrading your distribution block and mains cables to your other equipment will also improve your whole system and our Silencer and Purifiers will remove mains noise and harmonics. Checking the polarity of your turntable main supply is also very worthwhile; it ensures that the smallest electromagnetic field (EMF) is generated. Strong EMF seriously seriously degrades sound quality.. Use the Elfix to minimise EMF by ensuring that the quality mains ’polarity’ is correctly connected. For more information about the mains request your FREE copy of ‘The Power & The Glory Glory How to Upgrade Your Mains’.
T h e ow e w r & T P o r h e G l o or y
H o w t o U o U p g r ra d e Y e Y o o ur r M • W h y M a y m m a i i n i ns ns q s q u ua a li l i t • W h a a t t y t y m a y m at y o ou c t t te u c a e r r s s a n d n d o o • W h e er r e t e t o s o s t t a ar r t t • U p g r ra a d e d es r s r a c o at os t e e d f s t & t & d d f o r d d e r d i if e g r re f f i c e e e o cu l l t o f u f i i m y t m p r , ro v o ve e m me n nt t
R u s ss s A n d r e r ew s w 3 r rd d E d i i t t io n
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The Classic PowerKord™
The Turntable The basic elements of any turntable are: the motor, (separate motor power supply if it has one), the main bearing, the platter the suspension (motor or subchassis) if it has some and the plinth. Whatever the operating principle of your turntable, it must achieve its minimum acoustic feedback, maximum dynamic range, minimum ‘wow’ and ‘flutter ’, maximum speed accuracy, correct cartridge alignment and tracking pressure to give its best musical performance. If any part of the turntable/arm/cartridge turntable/arm/cartridge combination is worn, damaged or faulty you are wasting your time trying to set up the whole combination properly. So before you do anything else, check that your turntable isn’t suffering any of the following faults.
Motors Motor problems are usually quite obvious; it will either be noisy or it won’t go round or run at the right speed. Replacement is usually the only option unless it is a Garrard motor where refurbishment is available from Lonicraft or Martin Bastin. Technical and General also stock spare parts for a number of different makes of turntable (see page 6 for full names and addresses).
Power Supplies External motor drives or power supplies are now common on many turntables and are prone to failure. The original manufacturer is usually the only source of repair or replacement.
Main Bearing The main platter bearing is the weak link in any turntable of any type. Its design is critical and wear is inevitable. Wear occurs at the bearing point and the sides where it runs through nylon or phosphor bronze bronze sleeves. Have it checked for wear and make sure it has the right lubricant in the right quantity. Garrard main bearing refurbishment is available available from Martin Bastin.
Suspension Turntables like the Linn LP12 with a suspended subchassis are rarely prone to failure, but the springs get tired and need height adjustment to restore correct levelling. Linn dealers can supply upgrade sub-chassis, bearing and spring kits. We have an information sheet on how to correctly set-up and service an LP12, available on request. Solid plinth turntables like the Rega Planar and Roksan Xerxes have the motor suspended on rubber bands, the bands age and need replacement every few years to maintain optimum performance.
Plinth Every turntable needs a strong, rigid plinth or the sound will be soft, soggy and unfocussed. Check the corner joints to make sure there is no movement due to dried-out glue. If it has a plastic plinth, fill the cavities between the stiffening struts with ‘Plastic Padding’ body filler. This will both stiffen it and dampen its resonances. It is also very worthwhile replacing replacing your original equipment feet with Oak Cone Feet. Most turntables are fitted f itted with rubber feet which increases the time smear and changes the balance of the sound to a slow boomy bass heaviness (see also p7, Turntable Accessories). Use three Oak Cone Feet rather then four. Three feet are more stable, they prevent micro rocking, couple your turntable to its stand more effectively and improve timing, musicality, bass performance and 3-dimensionality.
Platter The correct choice of mat is very important (see page 7) in the final performance.
Cartridges and their Maintenance In the past, a wide variety of types of cartridge have been available, each requiring different matching or loading to the preamp. Fortunately, there are now only two types available commercially: the moving coil (MC) and the moving magnet (MM). I include in the moving magnet category the Decca which is, strictly speaking, a moving armature type, but its output level is such that it is used into a moving magnet type input circuit in a preamp.
Moving Coil (MC) Cartridges These have become the favourite cartridge of choice for the serious Audioph ile There and the thebest marketing positionAudiophile they hold. areprices goodcharged reasons reflect why the moving coil cartridge can sound better than the best moving magnets but when they cost no more to make them the 10 times higher pricing can only be explained by market positioning. That said,
the design effort that has gone into MC cartridge means that there are very many good ones and a few of outstanding performance. Radio Pick-up
There is a big disadvantage to using MC cartridges, however, apart from the price. They have extremely low output levels, from as low as 75mv (microvolts) to 240mv, with 200mv being the most common. This is about the same output that you can get from a typical FM radio aerial, which is only a piece of bent aluminium rod stuck up in the air! If you live near a transmitter you could get a lot more, so it is not surprising that it is quite common for a moving coil input circuit to pick up and demodulate radio stations at levels that drown out the sound from the LP. Some input circuits are more susceptible to this problem than others but any steps taken to kill the radio station by modifying
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capacitors) degrade the sound sound the circuit (usually with ceramic capacitors) quality. It is essential, therefore, to prevent radio pick-up getting into the preamp in the first place. That is only one of the reasons why correct earthing of the turntable, the arm and the tone arm lead is essential, see page 5. Even the best techniques though don’t always eliminate the biggest culprit, Radio Moscow, when the atmospheric conditions favour good radio reception. The Cartridge Body
The MC cartridge body hides a large magnet yoke that sits behind the coils at the back end of the cantilever. It is covered by a thin neoprene dust sheet, but fluff and slivers of metal and other ferrous debris collect on it and can cause problems. I’ve seen quite large slivers of metal bridge the gap across the yoke hole to the cantilever, causing severe mistracking. It is a good idea, therefore, to conduct an annual inspection of the yoke area and cantilever and remove any debris that has built up. Use a piece of BluTack ® squeezed out into a point to pick off individual bits of metal. The slivers of metal come out of of the LP groove walls, having having got into the vinyl when scrap LPs were ground up to be reused in new records. Yes, Yes, LPs made since the oil crisis in 1973 contain both new and recycled vinyl, complete with the old record record labels and metal from the blades of the grinder! Now you know why some Audiophile record companies specify ‘Virgin Vinyl’ and charge a higher price for it.
Moving Magnet (MM) Cartridges There is no doubt that these are generally inferior to MC types (with the exception of the Grace F-9E), but many are capable of excellent performance used in a good arm. The main advantage (other than price) of an MM cartridge is the replaceable stylus assembly, extending the life indefinitely. Therein, however, lies one of the weaknesses of the MM. Many provide no solid, tight location or fitting for the stylus assembly, allowing micromovement and loss of signal definition, clarity and information. This problem can be overcome in many cartridges by glueing the stylus in with a small drop of superglue. You lose the advantage of a replaceable stylus (unless you are successful with a superglue softener!) but the benefits often outweigh the loss of replaceability.
no effect on it. Supex once had a stylus cleaner that worked superbly but is no longer available. At the time of writing we have a stylus cleaner fluid that works effectively but we haven’t sorted the packaging out yet so be patient!
Demagnetising Yes, the cartridge becomes magnetised, increasing distortion, reducing dynamic range, soundstage and bass. The Benz MC Demagnetiser ABCD-1 works superbly, reversing the degrading effects of coil magnetisation. magnetisation. [The Benz MC Demagnetiser Demagnetiser costs £199 (ex VAT VAT £169), £169), and works equally well on MM cartridges.] How copper coils become magnetised I don’t know, but perhaps it’s the magnetised iron filing dust from the vinyl that causes the problem. Anyway, if you want the best performance from your expensive MC cartridge, demagnetise it regularly - even weekly if you use your turntable every day.
Cartridge Alignment* There are many different designs of alignment guage available. The aim of most of them is to position the cartridge in the headshell so that the cantilever is perfectly aligned when the stylus tip is 63.6mm and 119.5mm from the spindle; at these points distortion figures should be at 0%. If correctly aligned at these points distortion levels will not exceed 1% (+/-) at any point along the guage. Although it is traditional to align the sides of the cartidge with the parallel crossline on the alignment guage, it is, in fact, the stylus tip and therefore the cantilever, cantilever, that need to be aligned. If the cantilever is in a straight line from the centre of the cartridge, this makes the alignment task much easier. However, the stylus tip end of the cantilevers of some cartridges may incline towards the inside edge of the cartridge after a while, perhaps because too much ‘bias’ has been applied in the past to counteract the natural tendency of a pivot arm to be pulled inward to the centre of the record. If this happens to be the case, then try and align the cantilever (rather than the cartridge) with the crosslines on the alignment guage. We recommend the Polaris Cartridge Protractor designed by Martin Bastin. It is accurate, effective and very easy to use.
Stylus Replacement
A manufacturer’s direct replacement replacement may not be the best investment. Diamonds and cantilevers on MM cartridges are usually markedly inferior to those on MC cartridges. cartridges. A company called the Expert Stylus Company (see page 6) specialises in fitting their own extremely high quality line contact styluses on boron cantilevers. cantilevers. Through Expert we are again able to supply replacement stylus assemblies for our old Russ Russ Andrews Andrews RP Series of cartridges. They are supplied on an exchange basis - send us your old stylus assembly plus £65 (ex VAT £56) and we will send you a replacement ‘Expert’ stylus assembly. assembly. It doesn’t matter whether your cartridge is an RP20, RP40 or RP70, the replacement is the same - a line contact, equivalent in performance to the RP70.
Stylus Cleaning Keep stylusagent clean.inFluff is easily blownbuilds or brushed mouldthe release the record groove up on off, the but stylus into a hard black lump that causes mistracking. The black gunge is not easily removed because very few cleaners dissolve it. Alcohol and those snazzy little vibrating cleaners (careful!) have
Polaris Cartridge Protractor
Cartridge/Headshell Cartridge/Heads hell Tightness Don’t be tempted to overtightened the bolts. Beyond ‘nip up’ tightness all you do is damage the cartridge body. I’ve seen some very expensive cartridges wrecked this way.
Cartridge Pins/Headshell Leads ProGold™ is ideal for cleaning and enhancing cartridge pins and headshell leads. DO NO NOT T , however, spray it anywhere anywhere near a cartridge. It could possibly damage the plastic body or the coil dust cover. My advice is to spray the ProGold™ onto a cotton bud and use that to clean the pins. Don’t forget the headshell pins at the other end of the red/white/blue/green red/white/blue/g reen leads, or the arm cable plug and phono plugs. The effect of ProGold™ on all these gold plated contacts is nothing short of amazing. Remember to use only a little and to clean it off effectively too. ProGold™ Contact Enhancer
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Vertical Alignment Alignment (Azimuth) (Azimuth) of the Cartridge * It is essential that, when in play, the stylus sits in the record groove at 90º to the surface of the surface of the record when viewed from the front of the cartridge ie. with the walls of the record groove groove cut at 45º, the stylus should work centrally within the groove and not slope to one side or the other. To check the alignment of your cartridge, cut a piece of card about 3” (75mm) square. Out of the middle of the top edge cut out a section, at right angles, the width of the cartridge. With the base edge of the card resting on a record on the platter, platter, check that the sides of the cartridge align with the sides of the section that has been cut in the card. It is, of course, essential that the cut-out is strictly at right angles to the base. Alternatively, Alternatively, you could use a small protractor in a similar way. If the cartridge is not sitting in perfect vertical alignment, use any azimuth adjustment that might be provided with the headshell (not so common with more recent tone arms). If there is no azimuth adjustment, place shims under the appropria appropriate te side of the arm base where it is fixed to the tone arm board. If this is not practicable, it may be necessary to resort to placing paper or plastic shims on the appropriate side between the top mounting face of the cartridge and the underside of the headshell. If the cantilever and stylus are noticeably out of line perpendicuarly with the cartridge, the options are either to adjust the azimuth as suggested above or have the stylus or cartridge replaced.
Cartridge Tracking Weight (stylus pressure)* When setting the tracking weight, err on the side of keeping the tracking weight as low as can be justified. Although most tone arms provide some sort of scale for setting stylus pressure, many of them are fairly rudimentary and it may be found easier to use a separate stylus pressure guage (preferably of good quality). You You are seeking sufficient stylus pressure to tension the cantilever, so that inside the cartridge, the magnets, coils, etc, are correctly aligned in the appropriate fields. To fine tune the tracking weight, choose a record thought to be a good guide for fine tuning - one which has usually sounded good in your system, but not one of your favourites, as you will be giving it some wear in the fine tuning process. Avoid recordings which have been heavily processed and employ electronically
created sounds. Instead, choose one which has a straightforward voice and a small range of acoustic instruments. If there is room around the spindle, ensure that the record is revolving centrally on the platter. platter. Play the record a few f ew times, each time slightly increasing the stylus pressure, until a point is reached where the timing of the music seems right, the sound is well balanced and has not ‘closed in’, and the bass is full but not over-dynamic over-dynam ic and ‘one-note’. Until the ear had become attuned, this process may need to be repeated or even started afresh from a lower tracking weight. Having found a seemingly reasonable setting, listen to what happens when the stylus pressure is both increased and reduced, to check that you have found the correct point. If the stylus pressure is noticeably outside the recommended range for the cartridge, reassess the sound and the set up the turntable. From season to season, it may be necessary to adjust stylus pressure, following changes in temperature and humidity. Higher pressure will be needed in cold connditions.
Anti-skating or ‘Bias’ Adjustment* As a result of friction between the record surface and the playing stylus, a force is exerted which pulls the stylus inwards towards the record centre. This unbalances the tracking of the inner and outer walls of the record groove and can, in extreme cases, cause the stylus to skate across the record. Anti-skating Anti-skating or ‘bias’ adjustments are used to apply a counter-balancing force away from theforce centre the sides recordofso that the stylus tracks with equal playing onofboth the record groove. The use of these mechanisms is difficult because the correct setting varies according to tone arm, cartridge and tracking weight. Moreover, some tonearms have no scale on the ‘bias’ mechanism to guage how far one has adjusted it. Initially, use a setting equivalent to around 0.5gm less than the initial tracking weight. If no scale is provided, a setting a little above zero should initially be used. When the right amount of ‘bias’ has been set, it should be possible to lower the stylus into and out of the groove of a revolving record without there being any noticeable pull on the cantilever to one side or the other other.. *Our thanks to John Rogers for allowing us to quote from his booklet “How to Set Up & Fine Tune a Turntable” in these sections.
Tone Arms The correct choice of tone arm for a particular cartridge has, in the past, been fraught with technical difficulties: high compliance compliance cartridges, low mass arms, high mass arms, unipivot arms, parallel tracking arms etc. For me, the arrival of the Rega RB300 (and now also the 600 and 900) and the SME IV and V has swept away all the difficulties. The Rega arms are affordable, versatile and beaten on performance only by the stunning SME arms. After correct geometric alignment of the cartridge in the head shell has been achieved, the most common causes of distortion and mistracking are excessive stylus pressure and incorrect vertical tracking angle. The two are obviously linked because changing the pressure changes the stylus rake angle (SRA). The
stylus rake angle must mirror the original cutting angle for optimum tracking and minimum distortion.
Tone Arm Alignment The principle that armtubes should be parallel to the record for a correct vertical tracking angle (VTA) relies on the assumption that the cutting angle of recording and stylus rake angle (SRA) of the cartridge are the same. In practice this is obviously hardly ever the case. SRA is often set too high and this this means reducing it by lowering lowering the VTA of the arm. With the arm tube parallel to the record, the back of the arm must be lowered so the arm slopes down
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towards the pivot, a drop of 3-5mm usually achieves the best VTA.. The only way to get it right, of course, is to conduct VTA listening tests using a record typical of the manufacturing age of the bulk of your records. Ensure the room is at 20/24ºC (70/75ºF) and therefore the turntable at room temperature. The Rega arms suffer from lack of height adjustment, but if you are using it with a Garrard 301 or 401 we stock the Armony Arm Base that solves the problem and allows you to set the correct VTA.. With other turntables you can use the RingMat Support VTA System that provides a RingMat and a set of spacers to fit beneath the record to achieve the correct SRA. Set the tracking pressure to the cartridge manufacturers suggested minimum (commonly 1.5g). Set the arm height much too low and do a series of listening tests, gradually increasing the height until a ‘sweet spot’ is reached. At this point: bass will be at its cleanest, tightest and deepest; treble at its most extended and sweetest; and female voices will have least distortion and sibilance. As you increase height past this ‘sweet spot’, voice sibilance and treble becomes hard, and bass becomes over dynamic, over punchy and lacking deep, clear extension. The sound becomes very ‘Hi-Fi’. At the ‘sweet spot’ everything drops into focus, you know it’s right. You can now experiment with tracking pressure, maybe increasing it slightly to secure tracking. Then fine tune the VTA again, lock up the arm tube and enjoy!
Bearing Wear Bearing wear is the most common problem encountered encountered with tone arms. Damage can be caused by excess pressure inflicted when fitting a cartridge. Unless you take care not to use the arm pivot point as a lever whilst tightening the cartridge screws, you should remove the arm from the armboard after cartridge alignment before doing the final tightening of the cartridge screws. I always use an Allen key and small headshell screws spanner, and lever one against the other to achieve good tightness and
ensure that the force doesn’t go down the arm. Even if you don’t damage the bearings whilst fitting your cartridge, the vibrational energy from the cartridge whilst playing a record travels down the arm and causes wear at the bearings. High output, stiff cantilever cartridges like the Decca put the most energy into the armtube and bearings and so do most damage. Bearing ‘rattle’ sounds like cartridge mistracking, so bear that in mind if your arm is more than 3 years old. Rega and SME have an exchange policy rather than a bearing repair service, giving you a new arm at lower cost.
The Headshell Make sure the headshell is very tight on the armtube, especially if it is a detachable headshell. Any looseness looseness here is worse than loose cartridge screws in its ability to degrade the sound. Remember too that you can alter the cartridge azimuth at this interface.
Tone Arm Cable Original equipment arm cables leave a lot to be desired! Even the very best are just bits of screened cable that are quite unsuitable for this application. They generally sound hard, splashy, noisy and have a one-note thump bass. Being screened cable, they are really good at injecting RFI into the disc stage, the last thing you want there. The disc stage is a sensitive amplifier designed to accept the incredibly low output from a cartridge. In the case of most MC cartridges that’s about 200 microvolts, similar to the output voltage from an aerial! No wonder it is common to hear radio stations in the background when you listen to LPs. If you are lucky and the arm cable is detachable with the standard five pin socket, a massive upgrade is available to you in the KIMBER TAK or RA-TAK RA-TAK arm cables. I believe that Kimber’s cables are unrivalled in their ability to deal with the problem of RFI. Their unique woven cable design is very effective at cancelling RFI and rejecting further RFI pick-up.
Useful Addresses Lonicraft Audio 4 Big Lane Goose Green Lambourne Berks RG16 7XQ Tel: 01488 72267
Expert Stylus & Cartridge Co. PO Box 3 Ashstead Surrey KT21 2QD Tel: 01372 276604 Fax: 01372 276147
Martin Bastin 225 Tettenhall Road Wolverhampton W Midlands Midlands WV6 0DE
Technical & General PO Box 53 Crowborough East Sussex TN6 2BY Tel: 01892 654534
Further Reading “How to Set Up and Fine Tune a Turntable” by John Rogers (Contact Ringmat Development)
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Ringmat Developments PO Box 200 Brentwood Essex CM15 9FB Tel: 01277 200210 Fax: 01277 201225
Turntable Accessories Turntable Mats
Record Cleaning
Over the years, a wide variety of turntable mats have been marketed, each claiming vast superiority over the original ribbed
My favourite cleaning machine is the expensive Keith Monks, but Moth
rubber mats manufacturers supplied as original equipment. I found them rather unconvincing with the exception of the Linn LP12 felt mat (Linn started with a rubber mat). I wasn’t surprised at the improvement because using a felt mat was the first upgrade I made to my first record player (a Philips Disc Jockey Major) in 1959 at the age of 13. Felt is great but do stick it down to the platter, or it and the record will ‘creep’ as it plays. Use double sided tape, not glue as it will soak through the felt and wreck the performance. If you are sceptical about the ‘creep’, just stick a small tag (a cut off piece of self adhesive label) on the record, the mat and the platter, line them up before starting the turntable and watch them move apart as the record plays. If the record is moving with respect to the platter, at what speed is the record actually being played?
Marketing and Nitty Gritty make good low cost machines too. Needless to say we have a record cleaning system in development (I know I’ve been promising it for years) and we’ll let you know in ‘Directions’ when it is available.
Turntable Stands The influence of the turntable support you use on the performance of your turntable is absolutely immense. As you know, we recommend our Torlyte™ Turntable Stands or Torlyte™ Platforms for turntables.
Ringmat Developments has introduced introduced a turntable mat that is a remarkable improvement improvement over rubber or felt on most turntables (yes, including the LP12). It brings better bass, cleaner treble, better soundstaging and lower lower surface noise. I highly recommend it. The Ringmat is available separately or as part of the Ringmat Support System that also contains record spacers to allow you to optimise VTA VTA for any record you play, or to set a good general setting that suits most of your records. Ringmat
Static Electricity: ReleeS® The degrading effect of static electricity on the performance of a record is enormous. The static biggest culprit is lift the acrylic lid. The charge can the arm slightly and reduce tracking pressure. If you dust the lid with the pickup on a record you can lift it right off the record!
ReleeS® Spray
Treat both the inside and the outside of the lid with ReleeS ® for best results. Treat Treat also the plinth, armboard, armboard, tone arm, rubber mat etc. (Don’t spray any near the cartridge!). Remember also to treat the tonearm cable with ReleeS ® - it really works.
Torlyte®Turntable Stand
o n n s i i o o n s t i t F i r m F i i r r m a t a d a d n d m u n e m u n o u t Y Y o o u u r r H i H i - F i- F i S S y s y s t t e F o u p p p o o r r t u p t o S S u o u w t o H o w H o d y o h o u l d y h o
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For full details you should read our booklet ‘Firm Foundations - How to Support Your Hi-Fi System’ which discusses the issues surrounding equipment support and the reasoning behind the development of Torlyte™ .
Oak Cone Feet The degrading effects of rubber feet are very obvious on turntables. The reasons are set out in ‘Firm Foundation Foundationss - How to Support Your Your Hi-Fi System’ and the rule of 3 feet versus 4 feet explained there works on turntables too. Use either two oak cones at the front and one in the centre at the back, or vice versa depending on your own preference, or the dictates of your turntable stand. Our small Oak Cone Feet are a direct replacement for the small rubber feet on the Linn LP12 and other similar turntables, but with all other equipment the larger the Oak Cones used, the more effectively Oak Cone Feet they couple your turntable to its support and the bigger the improvement in the sound.
An extra bonus of treating with ReleeS ® is that less dust is attracted to the turntable and so less gets onto the record.
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Featured products Mains Cables - see p2 YellO Power Cable from (ex VAT £22) £24.95 (1m) Classic PowerKord™ from (ex VAT £43) £50 (3ft) High Current PowerKord™ PowerKord™from from (ex VAT £102) £1 £120 20 (3ft (3ft)) “… KIMBER KABLE has miraculous miraculous mains conditioning properties, cancelling high frequency noise by virtue of its special inter-woven construction… The more more PowerKords™ you use, the
Elfix Polarity Tester - see p2 (ex VAT £17) £19.95
better it gets.” Jimmy Hughes, Hi-Fi Hi-Fi Choice, Oct 2000.
The Silencer - see p2 (ex VAT £34) £39.95 “Inexpensive, easy to use, very effective… enhances depth and clarity, giving a deeper, broader soundstage with increased dynamic Hughes, Hi-Fi Choice, Oct 2000. range.” Jimmy Hughes,
Polaris Cartridge Protracto Protractorr - see p4 (ex VAT £4.95) £6.00
The PowerBlock - see p2 From (ex VAT £298) £350 “… capable of making a fabulous difference to clarity and stereo imagery that needs to be heard to be appreciated. Brings out the best in your system; system; makes makes a difference difference that can’t can’t easily be obtained by other means.” Jimmy Hughes, Hi-Fi Hi-Fi Choice, Oct 2000
Tone Arm Cable - see p5 RA-TAK RA-T AK (3.3ft) (ex VAT £85) £99 TAK-C AK-Cu u (3.3f (3.3ft) t) (ex VAT £250) £294 TAK-H (3.3ft) (ex VAT £358) £420 TAK-A AK-Ag g (3.3f (3.3ft) t) (ex VAT £500) £588
ReleeS® Spray - see p7 (ex VAT £17 £19.95 “This is far less fiddly than the last antistatic CD product, the Statmat, and about ten times more effective. It does everything Russ says; it’s like upgrading to a better CD player. But then Russ Andrews has got accessories sussed. That’s why ReleeS® will walk off the shelves.”
Ringmat - see p7 (ex VAT £40.50) £47.50 The Ringmat Support System from (ex VAT £97.50) £115 “The last item I bought from you was the Ringmat support system, this was really ‘the icing on the cake’ as far as my system goes.” Mr D Pullin, Port Talbot.
David Vivian, Hi-Fi Choice Dec 98
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Torlyte® - see p7 Torlyte® Platform (ex VAT £103) £120 Torlyte® Turntable Stand (ex VAT £409) £480 Torlyte® Speaker Stands (ex VAT £852) £1000 Torlyte® Shelves from (ex VAT £196) £230 Torlyte® Base Units (ex VAT £350) £400
The Power & The Glory HowtoUpgradeYourMains
• Whymainsquality matters • Whatyoucan do • Where to start • Upgradesratedfordifficulty,
cost°reeofimprovement
Russ Andrews
Oak Cone Feet (sold in sets of 3) - see p7 Mini Feet (ex VAT £11.10) £12.95 Small Feet (ex VAT £12.80) £14.95 Large Feet (ex VAT £17.00) £19.95 Jumbo Feet (ex VAT £21.30) £24.95 “I bought the cones and suddenly the sound quality improved dramatically. In ten years of CD development the biggest increase in sound quality has been made by changing the feet… I have to say they are the second most costeffective upgrade I have ever carried out. The first was finding the right right position for the speakers.” Mr M Steele, Middlesex.
Armony Arm Base - see p6 (ex VAT £42.50) £49.95 Fi rm
‘The Power & The Glory - How to Upgrade Your Mains’ FREE!
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Fo u n d at t ii o n s How to Support Your Hi-Fi System ● Whatshouldyou
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Russ Andrews
3rd Edition
Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd., Windermere Road, Staveley, Staveley, Kendal, Cumbria, LA8 9PL. www.russandrews.com E-mail
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