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Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment.

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Old 19th Oct 2020, 7:53 am   #41
Electronpusher0
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Default Re: Accuracy of BSR turntables.

Slightly OT but isn't it amazing just how much of the vintage equipment we love depends on the accuracy of complex mechanisms, record decks (including arms) tape recorders, CD players, video recorders, film projectors etc.

Its ironic that it's modern MP3 players, phones, tablets etc that have no moving parts and should, in theory, last much longer are the the ones that are the most disposable.

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Old 19th Oct 2020, 8:08 am   #42
Ted Kendall
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Default Re: Accuracy of BSR turntables.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Herald1360 View Post
Perhaps tellingly, there's no mention of absolute speed tolerance in that data, only limits for its variability....
Precisely. The customer wouldn't have noticed without a direct comparison. Short term speed variations have always been the greater problem. Even 1960s Ferrographs drift in speed up to 3% from cold.
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Old 19th Oct 2020, 8:26 am   #43
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Default Re: Accuracy of BSR turntables.

In the late 70s my cousin was given a cheap Fidelity stereo record player for Xmas. The fitted BSR turntable always ran noticeably fast. A heavy aftermarket mat helped slightly, but the only real solution would've been to drop the voltage to the motor.

As has been said the problem seemed to be worse on the newer decks. I have a UA6 in a Black Box and a single deck in a Dansette popular and neither of these sound wrong, whereas on my cousin's unit it was very noticeable.
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Old 19th Oct 2020, 9:15 am   #44
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Default Re: Accuracy of BSR turntables.

I think this isn't so much an engineering problem as one involving human psychology.

The devil in me would suggest fitting a nice turntable with a variable speed function so that the customer could set it to suit their taste

A Garrard 301 or 401 would need space for an arm so there might not be room, but was the HF4 variable speed?

I guess an external turntable wouldn't be acceptable, so that rules out the Transcriptors hydraulic reference and the LP12+Lingo.

Should be fun when they see the prices.

Seriously, If it's not a bad case of golden memory syndrome (I suspect it last played long before the era of smartphones and MP3s), I think they were used to hearing the thing playing slower with it partially seized with thickening grease. Possible ways back would be re-greasing with something like Rocol Kilopoise or adding a weight to simulate an autochanger stack full loading the bearing.

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Old 19th Oct 2020, 10:00 am   #45
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Default Re: Accuracy of BSR turntables.

4HF was variable speed courtesy of a rheostat in series with the motor.
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Old 19th Oct 2020, 10:54 am   #46
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Default Re: Accuracy of BSR turntables.

is his MP3 accurate? Some of the MP3's I have here have obviously been ripped from records, and on one of them I can actually hear someone typing in the background. Some MP3's ripped from CDs can introduce timing errors too, putting in tiny pauses or stutters that weren't there in the original performance. Just sayin!
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Old 19th Oct 2020, 1:01 pm   #47
Ted Kendall
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Default Re: Accuracy of BSR turntables.

Another instance of the common fallacy that digital is better because it's digital...
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