Schitt Sol Turntable

[Soniclife]

I just can't abide a TT that costs what the Planar 10 costs and doesn't allow for cartridge azimuth adjustment.

You can use shims. My arm is 2mm higher because of my fat dynavector cart.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I bought a vintage Michell Gyro SE for about $900 (it's made of metal!), then spent more updating it to current specs and adding an SME M2-9R.

As you said, the Michell looks great.

And despite the fiddling of getting the suspension bounce right, it's pretty solidly built with cast metal parts.

In case anyone doesn't know about this TT, gawp at this <https://www.michell-engineering.co.uk/michell-gyro-se-turntable>! Like the LP12, it's still being developed.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Mine looks like a very simple device, and it is, and I could have bought a second hand SME deck from a friend at the time for basically the same money, a deck I'd listened to a lot, the only thing I had to consider was how to say no politely.

Interesting. I've never heard an SME TT. What was the problem?

 

[AudioSceptic]

You can use shims. My arm is 2mm higher because of my fat dynavector cart.

Are we talking azimuth or VTA?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Mitchell look like one of the few companies that have not been jacking the price up over the years.

IMO they could double their prices and they wouldn't look out of line with the market.

 

[Soniclife]

Interesting. I've never heard an SME TT. What was the problem?

It sounded flat and boring, but not in a good way, the CD player had a lot more life. You do get a lot of metal and engineering for the money though.

 

[Soniclife]

Are we talking azimuth or VTA?

VTA.

 

[Soniclife]

It sounded flat and boring, but not in a good way, the CD player had a lot more life. You do get a lot of metal and engineering for the money though.

It looked like this his deck.

 

[watchnerd]

Isn't there something wrong with a device costing that sort of money that needs such adjustment? ;-)

If cartridges were perfect devices with no variances in how the stylus and motor are lined up, nobody would need such a thing.

But they're not, so there you are.

 

[watchnerd]

You can use shims. My arm is 2mm higher because of my fat dynavector cart.

Shims don't fix azimuth.

 

[Soniclife]

In case anyone doesn't know about this TT, gawp at this <https://www.michell-engineering.co.uk/michell-gyro-se-turntable>! Like the LP12, it's still being developed.

Like the LP12 it needed it .

I never liked the LP12, I did hear one that had been slightly modded that sounded excellent. The gyrodeck always seemed very close to excellent when I heard it, but I never wanted to own one. Another friend had one.

 

[watchnerd]

In case anyone doesn't know about this TT, gawp at this <https://www.michell-engineering.co.uk/michell-gyro-se-turntable>! Like the LP12, it's still being developed.

That's what I have, but in silver, and with a different arm.

(see my avatar photo)

 

[Soniclife]

Shims don't fix azimuth.

Sorry didn't read that correctly. Do any fixed headshell decks allow this.

 

[watchnerd]

Sorry didn't read that correctly. Do any fixed headshell decks allow this.

Not that I know of, which is one of the reasons I don't buy fixed headshell tonearms.

Plus the inability to swap carts easily and to adjust effective mass via headshell changes.

 

[DSJR]

Way off topic, but the Gyro SE doesn't sound as stable as the *current* LP12 let alone other 'oil rig' types out there. Beautifully engineered though but shite suspension which is almost impossible to get stable and wow used to be an issue (it is ever so slightly in an LP12, but it gives the music a certain 'swing' to it, even witht he very top tricked out one with Kandid cartridge and fancy supply)!

Detachable shell tonearms have a major weakness at the headshell joint. I suspect though, that careful headshell choice and a solid MC cartridge (which seem less inclined to transmit vibrations into the arm) may mitigate the real issue there. Solid almost 'one-piece' arms like the Regas seemed to be very fussy on mounting board materials in the single-nut fixing versions, but following Frank Dernie's thoughts earlier here on AOS (my respect for lesser Garrard decks has shot up since), I'm sure the current three-screw tripod fixing method allows a touch of decoupling if said scrrews aren't tightened within an inch of their lives See, after fifty years messing around with bloody vinyl spinners, I'm still trying to learn different thought processes and see how that fits with current experiences...

 

[watchnerd]

Detachable shell tonearms have a major weakness at the headshell joint. I suspect though, that careful headshell choice and a solid MC cartridge (which seem less inclined to transmit vibrations into the arm) may mitigate the real issue there.

Like all things analog, pick our poison.

Do you want superior rigidity and fewer contact points, but with less ability to adjust?

Or vice versa?

Personally, I find the choice of cartridge, and getting it properly aligned from all vectors, to be the biggest impact on the "sound" of a turntable, which shouldn't be surprising given cartridges are transducers.

I like having the flexibility to run everything from old Ortofon SPUs to modern MCs, and every era in between.

Plus I use mono carts on mono LPs.

For people who can pick a single cartridge for life (or at least for many years), fixed arms can be fine.

On a personal level, I also much prefer mounting carts when I can remove the headshell to do it, but I have big meathooks.

 

[watchnerd]

Way off topic, but the Gyro SE doesn't sound as stable as the *current* LP12 let alone other 'oil rig' types out there.

Well, I don't know what you've heard (or imagined you heard), and whether it was well set up, but here are the Platterspeed measurements of my Michell Gyro SE. I've since upgraded to the more adjustable power supply, which let me dial in the speed better (it was a tad fast below):

So, in terms of being "stable", those deviation numbers are *slightly* less variable (but basically in the same ballpark) as the Rega Planar 10 measured by Stereophile. It's also more accurate than the Rega originally came from the factory (clocking slow at 3121 Hz) before the reviewer adjusted it:

https://www.stereophile.com/content...b3000-tonearm-apheta-3-phono-cartridge-page-2

Modern Technics direct drives will beat both the Michell and the Rega in this regard.

 

[AudioSceptic]

It sounded flat and boring, but not in a good way, the CD player had a lot more life. You do get a lot of metal and engineering for the money though.

That's what some reviewers said when the first one came out. I particularly remember Martin Colloms saying something like that, but he was one of the many who used an LP12 as their long term reference so it wasn't clear whether it was just a preference for the "tuneful" Linn. FWIW some said the same about the SME V vs other "super" arms, i.e. the SME sounded flat and boring.

 

[AudioSceptic]

If cartridges were perfect devices with no variances in how the stylus and motor are lined up, nobody would need such a thing.

But they're not, so there you are.

Should that be acceptable for a "precision" device costing into the thousands of €/£/$? I mean, aren't they supposed to be resolving movements of the order of wavelengths of light (I leave aside the absurdity of lack of geometric standards).

 

[AudioSceptic]

Shims don't fix azimuth.

They can, if you use use small ones (washers or spacers) between cartridge and headshell on one side.