My 'nearly' new PT Too

[jammy395]

Na, I much prefer their Mixers, think they use the same drive as the KP-1100.

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[antonio66]

Can't win with you Jammy.

[antonio66]

Well I received the Rega arm rewired and with his external cable just over a week ago from J7, I also had the arm tube foam fill and the stylus clean. I purchased a couple of washers although only one was needed since it's 3mm thickness, which has raised the arm to the perfect height. These cost 20p each, the Rega shims are £8.50 Since DQ had removed his baseboard I thought I'd do the same so the arm wire just exits through the base of the tt, much better and easier than the way it was previously done, that I described earlier in this thread. Well how does the tt sound now? In one word fantastic, I cannot stop playing vinyl at the moment. It is very difficult to compare the PT Too to my previous LP12 since it was sold 7 months ago and only heard through different systems, but I'm pretty sure tonally the PT is better and I definitely prefer the tighter bass. To put things into perspective I sold my Linn and have purchased all the system listed below for the same price (excluding headphone set up) and the cartridge was transferred over from the Linn. One very happy bunny.
My thanks to all the help on here especially DQ and Zebbo.

[_D_S_J_R_]

The PT always a better performing deck, just the early ones were not so well made and fell apart alarmingly regularly (you'd have seen it if yours was an early one, as the sub chassis' looked as though they were hand cut with a hack-saw (they probably were)). I'm not getting into further arguments, but I'm worried about the tonearm cable just hanging out the bottom, if that's what you're describing, as the (from memory) soft suspension may be all too easily affected and bypassed. A stick-on tie-pad and a carefully adjusted small cable tie is all that might be needed, but hey, you're enjoying music from your records again with the deck as-is and that's ALL that counts at the end of the day

[zebbo]

Welcome to the PT club !

[Daniel Quinn]

Hanging down , should not exert any influence on the sub chassis , unless the cable is twisted or connected to the phono stage in such a way as to exert a force . As long as it is free it will not cause a problem .

I suppose it is feasible that a hanging cable will weigh more that a tied cable , but that will simply mean a slight suspension adjustment .

[antonio66]

Thanks for the comments regarding the exit of the tonearm cable. The tt is on a sideboard, (I have concrete floors and live alone) and exits the tt between the top of the sideboard and bottom of the plinth. I removed the four rubber feet from the baseboard and attached to the 4 corners of the plinth and there was just enough room for the cable to exit. I have not pulled the cable tight so imagine the cable bends on the top of the sideboard. Hope this makes sense. I did have to make an adjustment to the suspension, the washer I used was quite heavy, but I checked the platter with a spirit level and all seems well, in fact better than before. J7 said I should check the bearing, I did my best using a torch, really did not know what I was looking for, but I couldn't see anything broken. The platter spins perfectly quiet so I guess all is well. Listening to Pink Floyd - Pulse and it sounds stunning. I cannot imagine what the Anniversary sounds like.

[Daniel Quinn]

That sounds fine . If you want to anal about it , you could hot glue the cable to the side board at a convenient point , making sure there is sufficient room from the glue point to the arm not to cause any tension . Thus the cable is effectively fixed to the side board and cannot move and the cable from the glue point to the arm is effectively fixed and cannot at a later point exert and influence on the suspension .

Clean the bearing with isopropyl alcohol . If original it should be a red sapphire . Once cleaned , you should [possibly with a magnifying glass ] be able to see the sapphire , it as a recess were the ball bearing sits . There should be no signs of wear [ discolouration ] or cracking .

when the platter turns check there is no up and down movement .

when replacing , use oil to lubricate . I have used olive oil , sunflower oil , bike oil , lithium metal oil and current high grade motor oil from pound land . I am bugered if any of them sounded different .

And when replacing , never let the top bearing with platter attached , crash down on the bottom bearing you will smash the sapphire .

if the bottom bearing is well lubricated it should slide down slowly , but keep hold .

[zebbo]

Thanks for the comments regarding the exit of the tonearm cable. The tt is on a sideboard, (I have concrete floors and live alone) and exits the tt between the top of the sideboard and bottom of the plinth. I removed the four rubber feet from the baseboard and attached to the 4 corners of the plinth and there was just enough room for the cable to exit. I have not pulled the cable tight so imagine the cable bends on the top of the sideboard. Hope this makes sense. I did have to make an adjustment to the suspension, the washer I used was quite heavy, but I checked the platter with a spirit level and all seems well, in fact better than before. J7 said I should check the bearing, I did my best using a torch, really did not know what I was looking for, but I couldn't see anything broken. The platter spins perfectly quiet so I guess all is well. Listening to Pink Floyd - Pulse and it sounds stunning. I cannot imagine what the Anniversary sounds like.

That's how it starts !! I went from an Export GTI to the Anni and I would say that the Export did approx 80-85% of what the Anni does. I would expect the PT Too to be maybe a little better than the Export. Basically the Anniversary does everything you're listening to now with a bit more weight and authority. They are pretty sought after items so there is a premium to pay for that too.

[Daniel Quinn]

The difference in price between an Anniversary and a PT was at the time not as steep as it is now . You are generally looking at £2000 for a second hand anniversary . Personally speaking , I would not now pay the differential . The money could be used more effectively I think .

But that is probably because I bastardised mine and I am a heretic