Raising HiFi (Optical Blog)

Inner groove distortion is down to cart tracking angle and the discrepancy between the linear cut groove and the replayed arc with none parallel groove walls.

It's not a speed issue per se, it's a tracking error issue, that doesn't exist on linear arms.

Found a plinth for the SP10 which fell into the 'acceptable' pricing strategy via eBay . . . .

It looks more sturdy than the lower range (and standard) SP10 plinths, not quite sure what it is exactly, most likely ply but its heavy.








How bad is my phone camera by the way?! I had phones in the early 00's which took better shots!

The zebra-wood wouldn't have been my first choice but with some varnishing it should make it look a bit less 70's drinks cabinet veneer . . . .

Unfortunately it has a hole pre-drilled for a 10" arm, of which there aren't too many about for a reasonable price. Might have to fit an arm-board to it, which I don't really want to do if I'm honest. I'd rather find one that just fits how it is. I don't really have enough experience with TT's to know if fitting an arm-board is worth the hassle or if I should persevere with the search for a 10" tonearm . . . .

Comments, suggestions, criticism . . . all welcome!

Chris, if you are serious about getting the best out of you vinyl playback get a Blackbird arm with the new magnetic bearing.
You can have a 10 inch made to fit.

You want to get an air bearing linear tracker for it.

So the plinth I've purchased is a bit basic, it's fine but I though I'd try and make it look a bit more exciting and the SP10 platter deserves to be shown off a bit rather than just looking like it's been bolted to a piece of 2x4.



I'm not a huge fan of the Zebrano-wood finish but I though with a stain and some gloss to get it shining, it should look a bit better.



Here she is with the stain.

















It wasn't looking too bad I thought, until I went to apply another coat . . . . oh dear, it was highlighting quite a few little imperfections in the grain and also reacting a little bit with what was possibly a very thin layer of varnish already on the plinth. I had assumed it was just untreated bare wood as the previous owner hadn't used it, but maybe a coat from the factory or something else was in fact the top layer.





Sand it back down!!



Haha, 2 hours later by hand . . . .











Okay back to where we started (actually no you could now tell this was bare wood now and it looked all the better for it).





Having a look around I quite like the contrast between the Zebrano wood and a plain piano black. Most plinths seem to have a black top and wooden sides (for the SP10 at least) . . . so I thought I'd do something a bit different.













Stained the top to bring some colour out of the grain, light sand and another coat of stain. Decent contrast of grain and wood now. Tape that off and gloss black the sides.



Light sand between coats but not so much as to lose the grain which can still be seen in certain light.



One more coat of gloss black and left to dry overnight.



I'm just glossing it up a bit now with some clear lacquer, again with light sanding in between.





Hopefully be dry by this afternoon and I can get a pic with the SP10 sitting inside!





Might not be everyone's cup of tea (in fact I kinda hope it's not!) but it's actually turning out pretty much how I hoped, which is not something I always manage to achieve with the DIY 

I'm not much for zebrano either, especially on big things like speakers, it's just too 'busy' but I know a lot of people go nuts for it.

Doing the sides gloss black is a good move, if it were me I'd do the whole thing gloss white though.

Thanks all

A couple more better pics here showing what I mean about the grain on both the top and the sides.





When the light hits it you can really see it but if the lights dim it looks smooth and un-textured.

It's turning out to look quite unique I think, which I like.

Last coat of gloss going on now so hopefully dropping the SP10 in soon . . . . although really I should leave the last coat to dry and harden for 24hrs . . .

Oh absolutely not.

Yeah, there's absolutely no chance I'm going to rush the last bit now, especially having sanded it back to bare once already! 

Looking neat Chris well done

Hindsight is a wonderful thing Chris, however we all can say similar thoughts especially as you have never ventured done this route before, if you decide to produce another one you can impliment what you feel you have picked up while making this one.

Its the joy of human nature, we never never stop learning (thankfully).

This week I have come across some particularly 'average' circuit board work and no matter how careful or what removal system I used (Infered pre heaters and hot air stations) I ended up with pulled through hole issues. Now I have quite a few tricks to rescue the situation, however even a few of them were beyond my ability.

Bit or tinted black shellac to build up a fade to the edge, would look lovely

What black gloss did you use Chris?

Cheers Chris. Looks good. I asked as I have a couple of projects that need doing.