Tonearm, yes tonearms for record players.

[Hiten]

I tend to prefer the Townshend solution, but getting a cartridge with minimal damping is a problem, Decca/London perhaps, or the Shure solution which has limitations of its own.

Townshend looks like good solution. I once attempted a rather crude (probably laughable) 'Tuned Mass Damper" attached to the front of the cartridge. Details here. It was a regular fuse one finds in amplifier. It was filled with oil and small ball bearing and soft springs. But the experiment was futile because of lack of any measurements or calculations to tune the mass or frequency at which the whole contraption would excite.

Regards.

 

[JeffS7444]

The fanciest turntable was a Linn Sondek LP-12, Valhalla mods, Ittok arm, Audio Technica high output MC. Everything tuned to perfection by the skilled lutist who sold it to me. I think that was when I first realized that inner groove distortion was not going away. It was another 20 years before I finally realized it was a hopeless task.

Given how extreme the hobby can be, I'm surprised that no one has sought to revive the 78 RPM microgroove record, or proposed disks recorded with constant linear velocity (CLV) just like video disks of yore - might lower linear velocities in the inner grooves be the real cause of much "inner groove distortion"? I have an old 78 mono record on the Audiophile label which has very good sonics, though playing times are short enough that you might as well just stand next to the record player. But longer play times and increased linear velocity (albeit not constant) ought to be achievable if the 16" disk format were revived. 78 RPM, 16" stereo microgroove disks, now there's an idea...

 

[Robin L]

Given how extreme the hobby can be, I'm surprised that no one has sought to revive the 78 RPM microgroove record, or proposed disks recorded with constant linear velocity (CLV) just like video disks of yore - might lower linear velocities in the inner grooves be the real cause of much "inner groove distortion"? I have an old 78 mono record on the Audiophile label which has very good sonics, though playing times are short enough that you might as well just stand next to the record player. But longer play times and increased linear velocity (albeit not constant) ought to be achievable if the 16" disk format were revived. 78 RPM, 16" stereo microgroove disks, now there's an idea...

There was the 16" transcription disc:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_transcription#Transcription_discs
The problem with all [almost] spiral grooved discs is that there is a 60% reduction in energy from lead in groove to deadwax, so that all spiral grooved discs [save for the vanishingly few that played from inner groove to outer groove] have a sonic decline from start to finish. There isn't anything that can be done about that, linear tracking does not address the issue.

My 78 of Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" was one of the best sounding, most dynamic discs, I've owned.

 

[sergeauckland]

There was the 16" transcription disc:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_transcription#Transcription_discs
The problem with all [almost] spiral grooved discs is that there is a 60% reduction in energy from lead in groove to deadwax, so that all spiral grooved discs [save for the vanishingly few that played from inner groove to outer groove] have a sonic decline from start to finish. There isn't anything that can be done about that, linear tracking does not address the issue.

My 78 of Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" was one of the best sounding, most dynamic discs, I've owned.

I have two BBC 16" transcription discs, which were used in days gone by to send programmes to the Empire, especially to stations where maintenance was likely to be poor, and record players were felt to be more reliable than tape. They were in use certainly until the 1970s, if not later.

They are 33 1/3 RPM, microgroove mono, and each side plays for 30 minutes, so two half-hour programmes could be sent outon one record.

In spite of what many audiophiles might think, 12" pickup arms were developed not for any sonic reasons, (less tracking error or whatever) but simply so that they could get over a 16" transcription record. Sadly, I haven't got any way of playing them, but I did at one exhibition ask an exhibitor with a 12" arm to play one, it wasn't very good.
S.

 

[Robin L]

I have two BBC 16" transcription discs, which were used in days gone by to send programmes to the Empire, especially to stations where maintenance was likely to be poor, and record players were felt to be more reliable than tape. They were in use certainly until the 1970s, if not later.

They are 33 1/3 RPM, microgroove mono, and each side plays for 30 minutes, so two half-hour programmes could be sent outon one record.

In spite of what many audiophiles might think, 12" pickup arms were developed not for any sonic reasons, (less tracking error or whatever) but simply so that they could get over a 16" transcription record. Sadly, I haven't got any way of playing them, but I did at one exhibition ask an exhibitor with a 12" arm to play one, it wasn't very good.
S.

I worked for a year at Ray Avery's Rare Records, Glendale, California. 1977-1978. They really did have rare records, Edison Cylinders, piles of Acoustic 78s of opera and 16" transcription discs from [mostly] the armed services. Ray Avery did a lot of transcribing of those discs, frequently taking Big Band concerts and sucklike, turning then into LPs on his own labels. Sound was as good as most other recordings from that era.

 

[mhardy6647]

I've seen a tech note somewhere, I believe from Shure, that tells you what viscosity of silicone oil to use for the damper. My samples that I've tries thus far have all been good.

No idea where that would've been, but a good place to look, I'd opine, would be https://www.vinylengine.com/library/shure.shtml
(in case anyone's really interested... and FWIW)

 

[anmpr1]

I've seen a tech note somewhere, I believe from Shure, that tells you what viscosity of silicone oil to use for the damper. My samples that I've tries thus far have all been good.

The trick would be getting the right amount of silicon on the two hinges, and none on the surrounding body. One way could be to dip a sewing needle or toothpick in the gunk, and then carefully attempt to layer or coat a bit of the oil on the hinge mechanism.

 

[Angsty]

Regarding tonearms, I just saw yesterday that Jelco has closed for good due to coronavirus, obsolete tooling and an aging workforce. Another respected tonearm manufacturer bites the dust.

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/tonearm-manufacturer-jelco-covid-19-victim

 

[Phorize]

Am I right in thinking that Jelco manufacture OEM for ortofon and other brands? Its a shame, the end of an era really.

 

[anmpr1]

Regarding tonearms, I just saw yesterday that Jelco has closed for good due to coronavirus, obsolete tooling and an aging workforce. Another respected tonearm manufacturer bites the dust.

According to the Web announcement a lot of it was due to problems in the supply chain. That sounds like a reasonable explanation; we see that across the board in other industries. Tooling? Could be. Machines wear out over time. Their skilled work force is said to be older. Old folks (and those already ill) should probably stay home anyway. So that too is understandable.

Am I right in thinking that Jelco manufacture OEM for ortofon and other brands?

The first I ever heard of them was reading somewhere that they made the old Koetsu arm. The last few Ortofons were Jelcos. I think it's a long list for them.