Elac PW620U Help Needed

by **Alec124c41** » 14 Feb 2009 04:55

For a decent phono preamp at a reasonable price, check Phonopreamps.com. If you want to spend more, Cambridge Azur 640P is excellent.

Cheers,
Alec

by **jonathan75** » 14 Feb 2009 05:07

Thanks again Alec. This project of listing to my grandfathers old 78 recordings he did before he died keeps getting more expensive.

by **Alec124c41** » 14 Feb 2009 05:25

He was a musician, I presume?
Alec

by **jonathan75** » 14 Feb 2009 15:38

He always wanted to go on the club circuit but never did. He did however record his songs at commercial recording booths on old 78 acetate records. There is only one copy in the world of his songs and my brother has them. Years ago when my brother was going to film school he used their turntable to copy the records to MP3 but no attempt was made to clean them up. So the recordings you hear on the website link sounds bad at times. Some of the records have cardboard that stuck to the surface. We need to find a way to remove the stuck cardboard and not damage the record. Here is a link to a dedication my brother created for my Grandfather giving a story and background, you can also listen to his songs here.

http://irvinggushin.com/home.htm

Click on His Music at the bottom to listen. Then while on the music page you can listen to the music in Real Audio format or download the MP3's at the hear link under the Real Audio logo.

http://irvinggushin.com/mp3.htm

Enjoy,
Jonathan

by **bastlnut** » 14 Feb 2009 16:04

hallo,

i took a look at your video, you need to balance the tonearm and set the tracking force and anti skating.

the weight on the back of the arm is used to balance the arm....make it float level with the platter.
make sure the cueing lever is down.

this is for setting the tracking force.

this is for setting anti skating.

tracking force (VTF) is given by the cartridge maker, and the anti skate should be about the same as the tracking force.
this should do it for you, hopefully.

regards,
bastlnut

by **jonathan75** » 14 Feb 2009 16:43

So I guess I need to wait until I get my headshell, cartridge and needle in next week. Because right now it is missing that weight. Hopefully after that it will drop down. Because right now the lever will drop but the end of the tone arm does not, even with the weight all the way forward. I just can't imagine that the cartridge is that heavy but I am new to this. Thanks for explaining the settings to me. I ordered a user manual on eBay so that should help also. I will scan it and submit it to the web site after I get it.

by **bastlnut** » 14 Feb 2009 17:13

hallo,

you need to turn the dial on top of the tonearm to create tracking force.
turn the dial now till the tonearm will go down at the front.
you can simulate the weight of a cartirdge by putting a nickle or some weight (5-10g) on the headshell.
you will need to turn the ring on the base of the tonearm to create anti skating force.
might as well make sure the thing works now so you will not destroy a needle if something goes wrong.

regards,
bastlnut

by **jonathan75** » 14 Feb 2009 17:36

Thanks bastlnut, I taped a nickle down and did the adjustments. I have to have it set all the way to six to get it to drop but it did drop. The moment of truth will be when I get the parts next week. I still need to find a phono amp. I read someplace that there is a phono amp designed for 78's? Not sure if I am going to need to get that one or not. Just hope not since they are so expensive.

by **jonathan75** » 14 Feb 2009 17:41

Found one that is $50 dollars off. Does this one seem good?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/BBE-FJB-200 ... 1155721.gc

or this one

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Nady-PHP-3- ... 1322226.gc

by **jonathan75** » 14 Feb 2009 17:56

Or this one?

http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... rySA-10001

by **bastlnut** » 14 Feb 2009 17:58

hallo,

good to know that it works!

as far as a phono stage is concerned, take a look at this one
http://www.needledoctor.com/Needle-Doct ... e-Archival
it is for 78's as well as LP's.

regards,
bastlnut

by **jonathan75** » 14 Feb 2009 18:10

I just wonder if one can really tell the difference when using a preamp that changes the equalization curve for 78's?

by **nat** » 15 Feb 2009 01:11

That sled and the cartridge actually weight a fair amount, compared to the rest of the arm -- without it the arm won't drop unless you actually remove the counterweight. But you have one coming, so that's solved.
If you are doing nothing but 78s, I'm not certain that you need the standard equillization curve, but you may need a bunch of options. There are older preamps with AES and other curves, but they may require looking for a while. I wouldn't bother with an expensive preamp to begin with -- you could look for one of the old transformers that was used to step up the voltage of magnetic cartridges to use into a ceramic cartridge input -- they were cheap, and Radio Shack sold them by the bazillion. Once you have found out what's what in the world of 78s, then it might be worth spending big bucks.

by **jonathan75** » 15 Feb 2009 02:18

Thanks for your input nat. That is really good to know since I have had to set it so high to get the arm to drop even with a nickle taped to it.

Nat do you know of any examples online with a picture of the old Radio Shack preamp you are referring to? It may help in my search.

Is this the one your thinking of?

http://homepage.mac.com/perrin/realistic-1.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/perrin/realistic-2.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/perrin/realistic-3.jpg

Thanks

Elac PW620U Help Needed

Thanks

Irving Gushin