On the Jig today ... (or rather yesterday, as it is now finished and tested and ready for redelivery back to it's owner) One Linn Sondek LP12 / Ittok / Goldring.
Just in for a once over and service ... This 'Black Ash' mid eighties deck is in pretty good condition for the year .. the Black Ash versions tend to age very badly, as the black stain wears off, to show bare white ash underneath. This deck though has only had a single owner and seems to have had a pretty easy life.
With a service like this the main thing is to retighten everything which has slackened off over the last 30 years (this deck has never been serviced before) So a complete strip down and clean to start ... some of the parts were extremely loose, the arm rest lock nut was four turns clear of its biting point .. .and all the tonearm bolts had a full turn spare. Very little actual wear was apparent .. the main bearing had the standard wear dimple, but nothing too drastic. Arm bearings were spot on, with no sticking (which is unusual) .... The Valhalla board though is on its way out, with visible bulging to the main caps - perhaps 12 months of useable life in it, at which time we'll recommend fitting either a Hercules board or a Heed Orbit.
Whoever had originally set this deck up had done it in a bit of an odd way ... not anything that would effect the sound ... just things that an obsessive like myself needed to put right .. The arm cable was dressed awkwardly and the retaining clip had been fitted upside down .. they had also used earlier compression nuts on everything, rather than the Nylocks, which would have been standard on a deck of this age.
So after cleaning up the mains plug and fuse and leaving the cartridge sitting my trusty AT637 for a couple of minutes to clean it up .... time to give it a listen
These early LP12s always make me smile, a lovely warm punchy sound that seems to manage to pull the rhythm and soul out of even quite ropey recordings (of which I have many) I was quite surpirised how well the Goldring coped ... As the owner admitted, it is getting on a bit ... but it managed to play the, slightly overblown, kick drum and bass guitar rhythm on Richard Thompsons ' I misunderstood ' without cracking up .. .it did show a slight tendency towards 'end of side break up', which may be a sigh of its suspension starting to age .. but generally, it sounded great ... so much so actually, that I listened to far more 'test' tracks than I intended too :-)
If you need you Sondek / Rega / Roksan/ Pink Triangle / Gyrodek servicing - give me a call on 01270 580734 (Philip)
See our site at:-
http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk
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