ELAC Miracord 40A...

[Chopsrr]

Been away from here for a little while. A LOT of crazy stuff has happened in the past few months. With my old Technics integrated amp pooping out on me, then the holidays, buying a '91 Mazda MX-5 which I've been devoting time and money on, then very sadly, my mother passing away last month unexpectedly which could have been completely avoided IF the doctor did what he was supposed to do... but I'm not going to get into that here. I will say that he'll probably be loosing his license soon though. So I've been keeping my father company as well as helping with stuff around the house, etc, etc...


Anyway, back on topic...

As for the Technics integrated amp replacement, I now have a 1950's Baldwin tube amp that's been converted over to stereo, then I did a total recap on it minus the bypass caps. I also rolled all the tubes in it several times until I got the optimum combo that I like and works well with the NHT 2.9's. It uses two 5U4 rectifier tubes, two 5751 driver tubes, and a quad of Russian coin based 6N3P-E's which are equivalent to 6L6's. This is good for a very solid 23 watts or so.

Since the Baldwin is just an amp, I needed a good preamp that had plenty of inputs including a number of phono inputs. Enter the highly acclaimed Accuphase C-200. This thing has inputs out the ying-yang including two phono inputs, one MM and one MC, both of which have adjustable gain as well as load matching on one of them, is in mint shape inside and out and sounds excellent. I replaced a couple of resistors on the power supply board, then replaced all eight of the various power supply and filter caps. Both units have been operating flawlessly for the past couple of months and sounds much better than the Technics ever did.


Anyway, remember that Elac 50H idler wheel I bought a while back? Well I got it in the mail and it looks brand new. However, under closer inspection, the center hole is much smaller than that of the 40A, so I wasn't able to use it. So I'm still on a search for a replacement idler wheel. I've tried sanding the original one down some but it didn't seem to do much good.

I really want to get a new or replacement idler wheel for this Elac Miracord 40A so I can start using it again with zero noise and the current idler wheel is the only thing making any noise on it. It's find when the music is at a normal level, but gets annoying on quiet passages.

Any ideas on where to find one?

Here's a few pics of the "new" gear...

The caps that replace the two large multi-section aluminum caps on top of the amp...




Before...


After... (only 6 new caps shown)

[mhumphries]

Just unpacked my Miracord 40a after many years. It is in great shape.

Same model number as your but different arm lifter. This is the factory walnut base and dustcover you mention... https://picasaweb.google.com/1095273878 ... urntable02

[mmeaney]

Hey, I have this turntable as well! Someone was throwing it out, so I figured I might as well take it. Mine's in great condition, but it doesn't work right now. When I plug it in, and put a record on it, it starts spinning, so I press the 12" button, and the arm picks up and moves over to the record. That's all fine, but it only plays music for about a second before it picks the arm back up and moves it to the cradle. I'm not pressing stop, it does this on it's own. Then it moves the arm back to the record, plays it for a second, then moves it back again to the cradle.
If you look at your 4th photo of your most recent post where you can see the bottom, it's hard to see, but the large gear on the left has a space in it, and when that space comes around, the smaller gear to the right of it falls into the space and they both stop spinning, while the record still spins. That's when the arm isn't moving. For some reason though, on mine those two gears won't stop moving for more than a few seconds.

Anyone know of what might be wrong and what I could do to fix it? I'd love to get this turntable working.

[Alec124c41]

My bet is on old, gummy lubricants.

Cheers,
Aec

[mmeaney]

My bet is on old, gummy lubricants.

So would I have to clean the old lubricants off, and re-lubricate everything? How should I go about doing that? What lubricants would work? Like, white grease? Or is there a specific lube for turntables?

[Alec124c41]

What lubricants to use depends on where you use them. White lithium grease is good in some places, light machine oil in others. Anything is better than the glue old stuff becomes. Just keep it all away from any rubber.

You can probably get things unstuck without disassembly using isopropyl alcohol or WD-40 and Q-Tips, and paper towels.

If you turn it upside down, rest it on 4 pop cans (not diet pop - aspartame is poison.)

Cheers,
Alec

[mmeaney]

I'll give that a try, thanks.

Maybe I missed this in this thread, but does anyone know when these turntables were made? I did a bit of digging, but I couldn't find any specific dates. Looking through these pages on the ELAC website: http://wegavision.pytalhost.com/elac.html I didn't find anything about the Miracord 40A specifically. It appears they were made some time in the mid to late 60s. Which is what I would have guessed anyways...

[record_nut]

This is a great table. I have been using a 40H for 30 years. The only difference is the counterweight. Forgive me if I missed it but it is imperative that you disassemble the motor, thoroughly clean (I prefer cotton wadding) the shaft and the brass bearings until they shine and re-lubricate with any weight pure synthetic motor oil. It will not gunk up. Failure to do this will result in motor failure.

No ground is necessary. If you have hum, remove the headshell and clean the contacts on the headshell AND in the arm. I find that a q-tip with Brasso works great. You may also need to gently bend the contacts on the headshell out a bit. You will fall in love with this machine. I keep 9 different cartridges mounted in differen headshells. That arm looks massive but it tracks amazingly well. I use everything from Grado signature to an old Shure M3D. I find that an Empire 108 is best for most older records in good shape.

If you wish to consider a more modest upgrade. I have a spare walnut base.

[Chris Angel]

Monsieur Nut du record, does your spare base also fit the Elac Miracord 50HII? I recently purchased one in excellent condition but it has a horrible plastic base. I would like to build a massive plinth similar to what Lenco owners are using for their idler drive turntables. I have not found anything; a template for example, to assist in that endeavour. A nice quality wood base may be the best I can hope for; if yours will fit and I can convince you to part with it. Please advise.

[Gowestyoungvinyl]

Hello, don't want to hijack the thread but have a quick question.

i have just picked up an ELAC Miracord 750, which currently doesn't run... definitely a motor prob as some dampness has gotten into it... shows some rusting.

I am trying to clean it up but have come to a snag on removing the spindle in order to separate the spinning motor from the base (sorry do not know all the tech terms)

any ideas on removing the spindle and cleaning the motor, thx

[Brekko]

Hello everyone. I'm very new to this so please forgive my lack of knowledge, it seems Ralph Cramden just entered a Stephen Hawking convention. I don't have a hot clue what TT language is, but I'm willing to learn and I could use some help. I have recently decided to resurrect my vinyl collection that's been in storage for 25 years. I recently purchased a Elac Miracord 750 II to aid in this venture. I know nothing of this TT aside from it looking the "vintage" I wanted in the ad photo's. It played my test album beautifully (Audience-House on the Hill), but I did notice that-again, forgive my lack of terminology-when the arm is lowered using the up/down switch, the needle contacts the album and then skips back about 3/8" before playing. This can't be good for the needle or the vinyl, and I need to fix it. It doesn't do this when the needle is placed manually. The TT has several adjustments, all of which I know nothing about, so I'm hesitant about making changes without knowledge of the function or the implications. If anyone can teach a newbie about this TT, how to service, make adjustments, maintenance, etc., I would greatly appreciate the help. Any links to manuals etc. would also be appreciated, or even some photo's with arrows so this dummy learns what the different parts are. Eventually, I would like to replace the plastic body with a nice wooden one, although I'm concerned about adding even more weight to an already heavy TT. Is this recommended, or should I avoid this? I really don't care much for the plastic. Thanks for the help.