anyone heard of Unamco Engineering TT?

[absolon]

Ran across one of these recently - a huge belt drive turntable with a straight arm and a headshell the size of a box of matches. It's an oddball so I've tried looking it up but can find very little info other than it is a '70s Swedish made unit and at least one person thinks it rates on par with Rega.

Sorry, no pics; it's at the used record store where I trade gear and I don't want to clue the owner in to my interest until I've set out my bait.

Anyone ever used one?

 

[absolon]

One more try before it fades away.

 

[mrGrosvenor]

Hi,

Could it be this one ?
This should be a Unamco T-1 Record player, made in Sweden

regards
Grosvenor

 

[absolon]

That sure looks like it.

Do you know anything about them?

 

[absolon]

Went back for another look to confirm it is the T1, and it is. It is a manual, two speed belt drive table, the base is about 14" by 22". The aluminum platter sits on a 2 1/2" high by 6" diameter flywheel on which the belt runs. The bearings are great; it spins for 20 or 30 seconds with just a hand push. The table and arm are mounted on a very soft suspension under the deck and move together.

The arm appears to be a thin "T" shaped beam and has both a rotating counterweight and a sliding weight on the arm similar to a balance beam scale. I'm not sure how it works as the scale for the weight is marked 0 at the headshell and about 2.5 grams near the pivot. The antiskate is the weight on a wire system but adjustable on two looms. The tonearm lift is unusual and and incorporates a pin which serves as the arm lock. Headshell is about 1 1/4" wide by 2 1/4" long and cartridge is 1/2" mount.

The condition is a bit rough and he wants $95 for it. I'm very tempted, but I'd sure like to know a little more about it first.

Edit: Just found an Audio Asylum thread that mentions not only the TT, but the store here in Nanaimo. The table has been there since 2002. Apparently Unamco was bought by Thorens and the T1 became the Thorens 125. Hmmmm?

 

[absolon]

Can't resist an oddball

After it turned out the TTS 3000 with PUA-286 was going to cost me $625 to land here and doing a little more research, I went back and bought the Unamco for $80.

It is entirely possible this was either a predecessor or a clone of a TD 125. It has the same heavy belt-driven two part platter system, the same soft three point suspension, a similar double loom antiskate as the tonearm illustration on the Thorens Dept site index page, a boxy headshell and the same controls in similar locations, though the Unamco's are mechanical linked. It is a transcription TT with a long arm, 11 1/4" from pivot to stylus as with the PUA-286. The stylus force adjustment is unusual involving setting a sliding weight at the desired pressure then floating the tonearm with the counterweight. Once the sliding weight is zeroed again, the adjustment is set.

The condition is better than I expected and entirely restorable, except for the dust cover which is cracked. The motor creaked a little on first startup, but ran smoothly and silently after and the platter appears to come up to speed quickly. I haven't hooked it up yet as I'd like to check it over first and lube it, but so far, I'm quite pleased :yes: . I'lll post pictures later.

 

[absolon]

Here are a couple of pics.

Arm is a rectangular section tube. Sliding weight is butted up to the headshell and markings on the arm are a scale of 0 to 2.0 grams.

 

[2DualsNotEnough]

Pretty table!Nice deal,methinks.
Jimmy

 

[absolon]

Thanks. I like rare items and this one seems like a quality build too. If the arm turns out to be reasonably good I'll be very pleased and if not, I'm not seriously out of pocket.

 

[absolon]

A little more info:

The turntable was designed by Claes Sandels. He ran a company called Audio Stockholm that among other things imported the French ERA turntables to Sweden. When ERA went out of business, Sandels designed this one and sold it under the name Unamco which he had been using for a line of mixers. The suspension is a direct lift from the AR turntable and it appears the platter, with most of it's weight in the outer rim, may be a lift from Thorens. The tonearm was considered unusual for the time because of it's length and though not on par with the SME 3012, is nonetheless considered a good one. According to Josef Svalander, who has something of a reputation in vintage audio circles in Sweden, it is a "great turntable" and he is able to supply a fresh belt. Another Swedish gentleman who owned one of these also suggested the table is very tweakable in the manner of other suspended chassis units and provided a few suggestions, one of the more unusual of which is to replace the belt with one made from recording tape.

Anyone know when ERA went out of business?

 

[absolon]

Got the machine up and running for a short test with a V15-IIIHE and am impressed so far in spite of an out of adjustment cartridge. Runs very silent even with volume up. I couldn't dial in the cartridge due to too-short tonearm wiring resulting from a very poor repair to the cartridge clips in the past. Wouldn't be a problem but the tonearm wires are glued inside the tube and can't be shifted. It will be an interesting repair. :scratch2:

Tonearm post is mounted with a tapered brass cylinder which mates via friction fit to plastic cylinder mounted on the subchassis. Tonearm is removable with a slight pull, but otherwise solid in the mount. Brass cylinder is mounted to tonearm post via threads and provides VTA adjustment. Headshell is a friction fit on the rectangular tonearm tube. Tonearm is light and very freemoving but due to soft suspension and high mass of platter not sensitive to footfalls or other disturbance. It took a rap on the plinth to make it skip when tracking at 3/4 gram.

The top deck is 1/8" aluminum plate and would likely benefit from damping. Suspension works well but will need some adjusting to level out the table. The platter assembly probably runs better than five pounds. The turntable was designed to be easily opened up for adjustment, a few screws and the back panel of the base is removable and the top deck and workings slide out of the rest of it. A replacement base will be very easy to fabricate, probably going to use paduak.

WAF is very low: "That big dirty thing sitting up there........."

 

[absolon]

Big dirty thing turned into the big red thing.

Rewired the tonearm, replaced the interconnects, , new belt, got the suspension sorted out, got the arm bearings properly setup and built a new padauk plinth adding about 8 lbs to the unit. Have yet to glue the crack in the dust cover, but when mounted backwards, the damage isn't visible.

It is a fine turntable, dead silent and not at all susceptible to vibration. Very well mated to the V15-III until I broke that. Trying to decide between replacing the Shure stylus or going to an MC cartridge, will depend on what I can get a good price on.

Any advice on a good MC cartridge for a very light arm?

 

[Mark B]

Sweet tt! You've done a great job with it. :thmbsp: