Dansette Conquest Auto

[Techman]

Excuse me for possibly stating the obvious, but why are you trying to alter the speaker wiring? It's the pickup wiring that's likely to be causing the hum, and certainly not the speaker wiring, which I would have thought could be left in place - unless I've missed something earlier on in the thread and there's been some other problem with this part of the circuit.

Personally, although I agree with what Edward says about the pickup wiring, I would first try to re-do that wiring to see if I could improve on it somehow. Properly screened and routed wiring 'should' be reasonably free from hum pickup. However, Edward may have already tried this in the past and found that there was no way of stopping the hum pickup other than completely removing the wiring and taking the output of the cartridge straight to the amplifier input, which, at the end of the day (as the saying goes) is the best option for minimal hum pickup.

['LIVEWIRE?']

Donald, if you connect the leads from the cartridge to the red & black wires on the tag strip, all you then need to do is to solder a short length of wire between the red and blue wires. This connects the two channels of the cartridge in parallel, provided that all four terminals of the cartridge are connected to the tagstrip. Most BSR Autochangers of that era had four wires in the pickup arm, but two were tucked up near the back of the mono cartridge usually fitted. When fitting a stereo or stereo-compatible cartridge having 4 terminals, the two 'spare' wires must be connected to one channel of the new pickup, and the leads previously used to the other.

[DonaldStott]

Too late to Edit my Post #58 above which contains some confusing statements!

I said: -

"I'm guessing (!) that I need to bridge the red and blue wires at the tag strip and these are the ones that need to connect to the cartridge or does one of the cartridge connections need to be the screen? Doubly confusing as the black and red wires are currently connected to the existing BSR TC8M cartridge?? The screens are already bridged at the tag strip."

This should, I think, read: -

"I'm guessing (!) that I need to bridge the red and blue wires at the tag strip and leave the black and red wires connected to the cartridge. The screens are already bridged at the tag strip."

Or am I just confusing myself?

[ms660]

Originally Posted by DonaldStott

"I'm guessing (!) that I need to bridge the red and blue wires at the tag strip and leave the black and red wires connected to the cartridge. The screens are already bridged at the tag strip."

In post#53 you said you will be fitting a stereo compatible mono cartridge, you only need to bridge if fitting a stereo cartridge....The other two are spare for stereo as before.

Lawrence.

[DonaldStott]

Originally Posted by ms660

In post#53 you said you will be fitting a stereo compatible mono cartridge, you only need to bridge if fitting a stereo cartridge....The other two are spare for stereo as before.

Thanks Lawrence - the fog has cleared!

So I can simply reconnect the grey co-axial from the volume control directly to the red and black wires on the tag strip - all other connections to the rear sockets removed.

Speakers would need to be connected in parallel as a consequence?

Apologies for labouring the point but I think we got there!

[ms660]

Yes, but also be aware (if already not) that when two loudspeakers are used the wiring must be correct in terms of phasing...that's why the blue wire in the photo connects the red tag to the red tag on the loudspeakers, to that end it might be worth annotating the schematic you have to show that as a reminder if need be, just put a red + sign just above the top loudspeaker and a red + sign just below the bottom loudspeaker.

Lawrence.

[Edward Huggins]

Originally Posted by 'LIVEWIRE?'

B.T.W., what is/was the difference between the Conquest Auto Mk1 & Mk2? Reading this thread, they appear to be electronically the same thing, and very similar in appearance, too.

The Mk1 Conquest Auto was made in 2 versions. The earliest (1959) with a 2 valve amp, no pilot lamp and a BSR UA8 or UA12 autochanger. The later version (mid 1960-1963) had a one valve amp, a pilot lamp and a BSR UA14 or UA15 autochanger. So we could call it a Mk 1 A and a Mk 1 B. Both versions used the BSR TC8M cartridge.
A Mk 2 version - just called Conquest - came later c.1965/66 and looked entirely different, with just one speaker and a stereo-compatible cartridge.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by Edward Huggins

So we could call it a Mk 1 A and a Mk 1 B. Both versions used the BSR TC8M cartridge.

Surely the 'B' version being a single valve amplifier would have used the BSR TC8H high output cartridge?

[david freeman]

Hi
The single valve was the ECL82, hence a two stage amp using a TC8M cartridge.

[DonaldStott]

Sorry guys - a bit of a setback!

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...98#post1195598

[Techman]

Originally Posted by david freeman

The single valve was the ECL82, hence a two stage amp using a TC8M cartridge.

Thanks for that, David. That's the way to do it with two valves in one

Regarding the broken arm hinge - monkey metal again unfortunately!

There may be a way to repair that by making a small metal plate and bolting it together with very small nuts and bolts, otherwise it's going to be a case of fitting another deck - they often come up. There was a complete record player being offered on here a while back with no takers.

[Techman]

I've just dragged out one of mine to have a close look at the part and I reckon that if it were mine that had broken, then I'd find a way of repairing it with a little plate bolted on from below and reinforced with Araldite - it won't be easy, though.

Pictures of one of mine to show what it would have looked like before the break - making a mental note to myself to be careful when handling the pickup arms on these in the future:-

[Techman]

The record player I mentioned as being offered was FOC, but unfortunately 'collection only' which is fair enough, as posting and packing something like that can be a real pain. However, in post #9 of that thread it was mentioned about removing the cartridge and dumping the rest, which would have been a great shame. It looked in the end that there may have been some possible interest in the complete unit, although if it was going for scrap it would have had exactly the part/s you're looking for - it may be worth a polite PM to the person just asking what happened to it in the end

Link to that 'offered' thread below:-
https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/....php?p=1173821

[tracypaper]

Hi.
It looks like you have a spring missing from the size selector, number 151 on the diagram.
Check the cabinet or the tower where you took it from to see if it is still there.
Gaz.

[DonaldStott]

Many thanks Gaz

I'm assuming you mean Part No. 150 as shown on the schematic: -



Not sure how the bottom lever of Part No. 84, the Selector Column Assembly, engages with the Switch Plate and springs but hopefully it will be clearer when I reintroduce the Size Selector meachanism?? Hopefully the relevant spring(s) are still in the vicinity!

Back in Post #18 above I said "No wonder that BSR called the device a 'Magidisk' selector - I still need to satisfy myself as to how this mechanism connects underneath the chassis!"

[DonaldStott]

Originally Posted by DonaldStott

Sorry guys - a bit of a setback!

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...98#post1195598

P.U. Hinge Assembly



Having done the seemingly impossible in sourcing a replacement P.U. Hinge Assembly and successfully fitting that today I went back to installing a BSR X5M cartridge but for the life of me I can't remember/work out how to reassemble these parts: -



Part A is the screw that holds the Spacer (Part 2) onto the Cartridge Housing (Part 1) - which way round and what order are these assembled?

Part B is the screw that should hold the Cartridge Mounting Bracket (Part 3) onto the P.U. Arm but this doesn't fit into the hole - it does however fit the hole in the Cartridge (Part 4) itself but this doesn't seem very intuitive?



All very frustrating ... hope someone can help?

[DonaldStott]

Found this but need someone to translate: -

['LIVEWIRE?']

That description is basically self-explanatory. As stated, these are what is known as 'compatible' cartridges -i.e. they will safely play both mono and stereo records. The rest of that means it has a single hole for fixing to the head of most autochange and single play decks (via a mounting bracket in most-if not all-cases, but it can also be mounted in a standard 0.5" headshell with two screws. These are crystal pickups having medium or high outputs, details of which should be in a 'sticky' thread about cartridges at the head of this section. However you may have difficulty obtaining a new working X5M or X5H cartridge by now

[DonaldStott]

Thanks for your response - my detailed query relates to the fact that although I have obtained a replacement BSR X5M cartridge (see pictures in my Post #76 above) I'm having problems fitting it to the tonearm?

The small screw that was used to attach the previous cartridge is slightly too large to fit the centre hole in the black fixing bracket - any idea what the diameter of this screw needs to be??

In addition, I need to reattach the Spacer onto the Cartridge Housing but cant remember the order or orientation of these parts??

Thanks in advance for any information.

[DonaldStott]

Originally Posted by DonaldStott

The small screw that was used to attach the previous cartridge is slightly too large to fit the centre hole in the black fixing bracket - any idea what the diameter of this screw needs to be??

The existing screw is a 6 BA x 5/16" countersunk Philips head - I've ordered up some 7 BA in the hope that they fit?