Power supply to BSR UA8 deck

[toshiba tony]

The TC8 being re-manufactured, that will please a lot of people, I don't know why the originals failed, was it a drying up of the crystal elements within the cartridge? I know nothing lasts for ever but I have had a number of crystal cartridges giving up, were crystal microphones as troublesome?

[Vinylrecords]

Yes there are new mono tc8 carts on ebay. Not stereo ones though, at least not re manufactured ones

[leslie5555]

The crystal absorbs moisture and turns into a gooie mess.
Although the BSR X range hardly ever suffer from moisture they must be made so as to be fully sealed to keep it dry

[Vinylrecords]

Originally Posted by Techman

It must have been kept in the warm and dry.

I've actually had two of the 'S' version of this cartridge in full working condition just recently.

It looks like someone is re-manufacturing the TC8, so if it looks very clean then perhaps it's one of the 'new' ones.

How do you rate the stereo separation on the tc8s?

[Michael Maurice]

The separation has nothing to do with the turntable, at least not at this level of deck.

Its the cartridge that determines the stereo separation. Again at this low fi level I doubt it would make a difference.

[Techman]

It's the TC8S cartridge that he's asking about.

I've looked into these cartridges quite deeply and there's been a number of lengthy discussion on them in the last several months, so I'm not going to repeat all the pages written on the subject again, so I'll leave you to use the 'forum search' function to find all the discussions.

Basically, they're a good old cartridge when they're working, but "mechanically" the construction is the same as the TC8 mono only version, which leaves their stereo compliance as something very doubtful. There's an actual 'stereo' stylus available, but mechanically it's identical to the mono version, the only difference being the tip diameter. Many dealers will sell you the mono stylus anyway, regardless of whether you ask for the stereo version, some have even listed both types with the same part number, although I've noticed recently that the worst offenders have now stopped doing this - they must have been reading what I've been saying about them!

So, in essence, the 'S' version of the cartridge will decode the stereo channels of a stereo record, but what it does to the grooves is very much up for debate. It'll be better with a genuine stereo tipped diamond stylus, but don't play cherished stereo pressings with one.

[david freeman]

Hi
I have at least 50 stereo records from the 1960’s, kept in pristine condition from new, but played many times on a Dansette A35 Stereophonic with a TC8S cartridge at about 7 gms stylus pressure.

50 years on, most of these records play well on my hifi system with an Ortofon 2M Black cartridge with no lack of stereo separation and only mild treble stridency and surface noise.
My view is that these cartridges were not as bad as their reputation suggests and that record wear is more a function of careless handling than poor cartridge performance.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by david freeman

and only mild treble stridency and surface noise.

You've summed that up exactly, David.

What you describe is the damage caused by the TC8S cartridge. No, it's not that bad, but depends on how much you treasure your records. Just about all my old records have been played with all sorts of old cartridges, including a BSR TC8S and they're still VERY playable, but if they'd only ever been played with an expensive magnetic cartridge, then they'd definitely be better. It doesn't personally bother me, but I still feel duty bound to warn others of the possible small amount of damage that has got to be caused by the construction of particularly the metalwork of the stylus used in the TC8S. You can't get away from it, you can argue the point until the cows come home, but the TC8S stylus has EXACTLY the same non flexible metalwork of the 'incompatible' mono version - regardless of anything to do with the cartridge itself. And this is exactly the same situation regarding the Ronette and its various copies.

Remember, we're all getting older, so any apparent record damage is not being picked up by our ears the way it would have been when we were much younger.

[Vinylrecords]

I have myself played modern stereo records on a mono TC8 cartridge, and not noticed any major difference to the audio. Most of my early stereo albums were played extensively (100's of plays) on a TC8 in the late 60's, and to this day they still sound good on a magnetic cartridge through a decent stereo system. Of course, records were made of tougher stuff at that time I suppose. No doubt a modern softer stereo pressing would be eventually compromised.

It would be fascinating if someone could attach a miniature camera to a TC8 and which afforded a close up view of the stylus tracking the groove. Any 'ploughing up' would surely be visible in slow motion.

[Edward Huggins]

It's physics - that Mono tip is the over-sized for the stereo groove. It's simply that. It does not take much imgination to work out that it grinds and mis-shapes vinyl of any weight or age. Also there is really no such thing as a "softer" pressing. What's that?

It beggars belief that people seem to have difficulty in understanding all of this.