Yes, a quick shot here and I will report back later. Right now I've been focused on listening with my mono setup (rear arm) and due to an unfortunate incident I'm dealing with new arm, headshell, headshell leads etc. It is sounding very good but I'll report back a bit later after I've spent more time with the stereo setup-only the armboard changed on that so I'll be able to assess the changes brought about by change in armboard much better by listening on the stereo side.
hi andy give him time, he will be back , their is a pair of rega ones done that have now gone to their owners,, Tad12 and vince of Aos, i wait to read what they will put ,, the work involved is a lot more than first thought , as you can see , blake has left some of the brass weights out ,due to the 2 arms being of different weight , the rega version has 12 brass weights it is 30mm thick , and weighs about 600grams, ,this may change ,, so the board will be 35mm thick and only 10 weights , it depends on the cartridge and the height of the original armboard , , so if the armboard height is 40 mm you have to use the spacers ,,, on blakes his are 30mm and that leaves enough room for cartridge adjustment ,, pete
Hi Andy: After being thrilled with Pete's suspension, as I know you and anyone else who has it in use are as well, I was really curious when he came up with the new armboard design. I'd experimented years ago with various types of shelf materials (glass, tempered glass, corian, MDF, baltic birch, etc. and also acrylic. I found that the best sounding support for my table (even using a Target Wall Shelf and replacing the stock MDF shelf in that) was a constrained layer shelf that I put together using a base piece of baltic birch with a thin layer of neoprene sheet on top of that, followed by a top layer of extruded acrylic upon which my table sits. Would have gone acrylic on the bottom layer at the time but it was pricey and many years ago when I did not have an excess of cash so stuck with the baltic birch there. So when Pete came out with the acrylic armboard I thought there was a very strong possibility it would be a winner and decided to take the plunge. Things didn't go absolutely smoothly for me (long story-problems on my end unrelated to the board(s) and then a glitch with one of the boards I bought but I've been up and running for a week or so now and can confirm that the new boards are very, very good. Much more focus, clarity and retrieval of detail along with improvements in musicality and tightening and extension of bass. Everything is just more fleshed out. The new board reveals the original Michell board to be a bit congested and dynamically challenged by comparison. There is also a real sense of composure in complex passages with big dynamic swings; you can simply hear much more of what is actually happening in the performance in moments like this as opposed to hearing much more of a mish-mashed "blend" of sound. It's a cliche but backgrounds are blacker. And surface noise is further reduced. I ended up buying some extra thick (3.2 mm) grungebuster dots from Herbie's Audiolab that have adhesive on one side and cutting them down and attaching them to the underside of the armboard(s). Still have to get the nylon bolts cut down to use those. I was previously using the Michell tonearm decoupling kit and frankly, had to strain to hear any positives with it. Definitely not the case with these, although they are much more expensive and not really cheap. But they are worth it. With two arms (and armboards) the bang for buck has not been quite as big as the suspension upgrade but that may not be the case for single arm users. A really worthwhile upgrade and I could not go back to the stock armboard. Have to admit that the "look factor" is also quite nice as well. I wish that I could have tried out a wood laminate top armboard as well that Pete has been working with but increasing the thickness would have run me into a bit of trouble in terms of setting VTA/SRA. In any event, I am very happy and would highly recommend. Once you go here, you will not go back. It's a very noticeable & worthwhile improvement. It's hard to believe what Pete has been able to wring out of these tables.
Thank you blake, as you can see on blakes there are missing brass weights, well as blake has two arms thay needed to be balanced ,, also the arms are a different weight to each other , we left the weighs out inorder for blake to balance the arms, whih he has done , one arm is heaver than the other ,so he has 11 brass weights spare , The Rega version having all 12 fitted,, also they will have some spacers ,it is not what i wanted ,but as all cartridges are different , if the boards are too thick ,the cartridge vta will be off, At this moment all the boards are 30mm thick x114 mm diameter ,,, rega one is about 610grm ,, add the rega arm it will be about the 1.01 kg , michell says not to exceed 1.1kg or you will over balance the chassis , These are not as cheap as i would of liked,, due to the machining costs ,brass, etc ,, and only made by true point and can take 5 weeks, from order , they are made to order ,like the suspension , not kept on the shelf ,, i dont have any try before you buy ,, as they cost me just as much as he askes for , the design i did ,, all the work is done by TruePoint audio and engineering ,, so they take all the payment which i am happy for them to carry on doing ,,i am not involved in the machining of this or any other product now , but get to test every one where possible, This means i have time to do the next part of this deck , one that will be exclusive, out of acrylic ,a platter to match the armboard , and have a flat belt and new pully ,, all in the pipe line,, you may ask why , as michell already make the orbe platter , it was purly because i want to see if there is a difference , i will insert the weights off my gyro into the base , so you will still see them, it will be about the same mass as the orbe platter but frosted, use the same bearing and have a cork mat ,, and about 44mm thick , that is next year , the acrylic alone is 200 with out machining cost , so i expect it to be near enough the same price as the orbe platter , may be less, if i can get the acrylic price down , atb pete
Thanks Blake, sounds like Pete is on to another winner here! Would love to compare a ‘Truepointed’ Gyro against some big hitting TTs out there, looks like Truepoint will be getting-a call when l am back from holiday. Blake any pictures of your support you mentioned?
Hi Andy. You're referring to the shelf I created? Difficult to get any pictures of it without tearing everything down. But (from the bottom up) it is essentially a cut to size piece of 1/2" or 5/8" baltic birch with a piece of 1/8' neoprene sheet laid on top of that and then a 3/8" piece of extruded acrylic placed on top of the neoprene sheet. In the photos of my table above, you can see the sheet of acrylic (it is smoke black) underneath my table in the Target Wall Mount. My thought initially was to brace and glue the 3 pieces together but never did get around to it. As you probably know the floating shelf in a Target Wall Mount sits on 4 upward facing, leveling spikes at the corners, so I attached some metal discs on the underside of the baltic birch where those spikes are making contact with it. This was by far the best shelf material that I experimented with under my Gyro in the Target Wall mount of the 7-8 that I tried out. Phenolic was a reasonably close 2nd-it is pricey and very heavy. Rather than toss it, I've moved the phenolic into my standard 3 shelf Target floor rack to replace the MDF shelves in it.
Hi Andy , just a quick note,, Truepoint just make upgrade parts for the michell gyro , there will Never Be a Truepoint Gyro ,, the Gyro belongs to Michell ,, as such,, you have to becareful and honest to say who makes the parts,, in this case it is Truepoint, i Talked to Michell over this a while ago, they are not pleased when some one put Michell Arbord /Suspension /or Feet with out clearly stateing in the advert who made them first , so the Petets pylons made by truepoint,, a replacement upgrade for the Michell Orbe /Gyro oem springs is acceptable, to Michell , But not a michell armboad made from acrylic ,, made by truepoint ,, they do not like the J A Michell name used first in any upgrade they have not made,, hence the Truepoint Gyro will never Happen , although they will make upgrad parts if you want them for any Turntable, They make parts and repair turntables as well, mainly pink triangle , it was the only reason i chose them because Truepoint precision engineering make audio upgrades ,, i have no other connection with them ,, the platter is something i talked to Jonathan nye about ages ago ,i was going to buy the orbe platter ,just could not afford it ,asked about a gyro platter with out the weights and that was expensive when you had it machined so the weights went through the second platter which would of been glued to the underside of the first , all would of looked out of place, i have had the idea of this platter for a long time,, with the acrylic being about the £100 before Truepoint machine it ,, i wanted 60mm acrylic and could not get a sensible price for the blank , to get arond that the platter will be 44mm thick , with the weights inserted into the base and protrouding about 16mm , you will still see the gyro design but in clear /frosted acrylic ,, all using the rest of the Michell parts,, but i will not call it a Truepoint Gyro , it will always be a J A MICHELL GYRO ,, pete
Hi all i have had a new platter made of acrylic which still needs the weights instering into the platter ,they should hange down by 10 -15mm , so not completly finished , again it has been made by truepoint engineering and audio in the UK , i have yet to pick this up and drop the wights off , to look like the wights have been frozen into the acrylic , it will also increase the mass of the platter , the outer part is the same as the orbe , with no groves in site , pete
i have to clean this before use, , the speed is slightly over by .1 so i need to adjust the HR power supply , i also have a double pully of Tarzan to try , i still wnat to put the michell gyro weights into the base of the platter to help hide the 15mm gap , between the base of the platter and the chassis and keep the look of the gyro , you should be able to see the weights as if they have been moulded into the acrylic but frosted, which is 48mm thick , i will weigh it later and get back , pete
tonight i have been playing this platter , all i can say is gob smacked, i was listerning to kate bush 50words for snow , there were extra parts of the music , that i had not heard befor came through in spades, Rodger waters RADIO KAOS , which i have listerned too for at least 10 years ,,yet even that had parts that i had not heard or were muffled, with the Highs notes reaching new higs, although the platter is not yet complete i want to get the 6 weights insterted into the base , so the 15mm gap you will see the weighs insode the platter but hanging down by the 15mm , to keep it as near to the gyro as possible , at this moment it weighs 4.17 kg , with out the weights , more mass than the std gyro , but 400grams less than the orbe , if i get the weights inserted it will be about 5.5 kg , so roughly 1 kg heavier than the orbe platter , i was concerned that their might of been more rumble off the bearing but their is not ,, yes it is on the Pylons i made, along with the armboard and skate board feet , Tarzan is a good chap , one of the best , who gave me a double pully , that will be replaced with a tripple or quad pully next year , i think the platter and the pully is the end of the tweaks for now, or is it ??? with thoughts of an armpod,, made out of delrin and stainless to finaly get rid of any microphoney issuse for every one , that is on the drawing board , using the 3 holes in the chassis as location only , it will be tested several times, before any pictures will be taken , pete
fitted and running last night note the home made cork mat , at this moment , which is going to be replaced with a acromat 5mm , this sounds so good , i dont want to take it off the platter , the gold looking huw in the center is the bearing shouled through the platter , i still have to have it drilled and tapped to take the 6 weights the look i am after as well as the mass, the gap at the bottom is about 15mm ,
You can read what I made of the Orbe Clamp upgrade when I installed it earlier this week here: Should I upgrade to a Mitchell Gyrodec SE Turntable? Highly recommended and not at all expensive.
Thought I would flag this up though I've seen it mentioned before, just can't recall where. Noticed there was a little too much play in the platter which turned out was due to the screw, which locks in the bearing, working itself loose. No big deal. Dismantled the deck, changed the oil, dusted down, and set it back up, except that perfect bounce was gone and took a while to dial back in. The startling thing was how much better the bass is, lots more of it and tighter. Can't get over the fact I hadn't noticed before, but I guess the changes had taken place over an extended period of time. I am now looking forward to my new Hana EL arriving which will allow me to rest my Sumiko evo B P special which is excellent on the Gyro. Anyway it is something to watch out for, though I'd say most of you already do. May the spin be with you this Christmas and a Gyro new year to one and all.
Not really a design flaw, more like a design feature to encourage regular maintenance! That said the platter locking washer gas never worked loose on my Gyrodec in, what, nearly 25 years. It is always tightened finger-tight and comes apart with fingers only.
Not referring to the indented washer holding the platter in place, but to the screw locking in the housing for the spindle which you access from under the plinth and which would require fingers of vice like strength to release if you could get at it in the first place. However I agree with you it's a pretty good excuse to tinker with things and in my case got me out of some last minute Christmas shopping as my wife, on seeing the Gyro dismantled on thr kitchen table, agreed it would be best if I got on with fixing what appeared to be a significant problem. Felt like a rat, but the pell mell of the mall leading up to Christmas is more than I can bear. The odd white lie helps a guy survive.
Maybe I misread your post? You were referring to the screw under the platter assembly that holds the bearing in place working loose? I was thinking of the platter locking screw on top. Never had either work loose but the point about an excuse to tinker remains valid, as you have so ably demonstrated!
Hi Andy i have not had time to try it , i dont like the orbe clamp ,if you overtighten it you end up moving the deck , slacking the belt off , i just use a puck /oyaide shw and adjust the weght i need at the time , with the platter now sounding very good , althought it still in not finished until the 6 holes have been drilled and tapped to take the weights off my odyssey platter , the bearing has been tightened up on the chassis with the use off a 2p coin,also found that the Ceramic bearing is the same as used on my mates project signiture 10 TT , he has a trick that, when he uses a brush on the LP he goes from the out side in and touches the bearing /clamp with the brush it removes any static before you play a LP , and yes it does seem to work , merry christmas and a happy new year to every one on the Forum , pete
A belated Merry Christmas to all Michellists on the forum. @ gwernaffield l reckon that the True Point Pylons and twin belts would be a major upgrade...tried the twin belt with the standard spring suspension and there was several improvements, however the Wow and Flutter was unacceptable..... with the Pylons could be on to a winner.
I was told to remove one of the belts by John Michell himself (earlier versions came with two belts and a double pulley). He added the extra belt to keep a well known reviewer happy (Martin Colloms) who wrongly thought it improved wow! At the time he edited the Hi-Fi choice small format magazines (Hi-Fi choice turntables). Before the current monthly magazine started. I remain sceptical about using two belts on the deck in any form.
well i have changed over to 2 belts today , how ever the problem seems to be getting 2 belts the same size, from michell, i have got 3 all meant to be for the gyro all different lengths, one by a couple of mm and the other about half a mm , i expect the out come to be worse on the Wow as one belt slips against the other , i will order 2 new belts again and see what happens, only then i will know the outcome, and yes all the belts are new one is the latest spec , to replace the one that was too long , lol
