Some Empire Turntable History

I am using it on a 589, and I can get the desired 33.3, but I must really tilt the motor a lot using the knob. I even carved a shallow groove on the inside of the base wall to ensure the bottom edge of the motor doesnt accidentally touch it and resonate. It would be nice if the belt fit so it didn't need such an adjustment in order to achieve 33.3.
I think what one of us might have to do is get the true-speed belt for the Rek-o-kut that we now know works perfectly on the 208/298/398 and shorten it to try on the 488/498/598/698. From what I remember the belts between the two series were identical in width and thickness, just the length was different.
 
Is shortening even feasible? I haven't ever read or heard of doing it.

I think what one of us might have to do is get the true-speed belt for the Rek-o-kut that we now know works perfectly on the 208/298/398 and shorten it to try on the 488/498/598/698. From what I remember the belts between the two series were identical in width and thickness, just the length was different.
 
Yes go with the Grado Green. I hear a lot of good things about it. Just wanted to make sure it will attach from the bottom and be a good fit for my Empire.

There are only a few non standard mount cartridges. The P-Mount is just a plug in, mounted by the cartridge pins. A bad idea in my book.
 
Is shortening even feasible? I haven't ever read or heard of doing it.
Yes. I did it once or twice to a stretched out OEM 208 belt. What I did was I "pinched" the excess so the tip of my thumb and forefinger was where the belt should be joined, then put a drop or two of crazy glue in that area and bonded the surface there. After it dried and set, I trimmed off the excess "loop" enough so that it didn't hit anything as the belt turned, but not so short that I couldn't reglue if it came apart. Worked very well.
 
Although my 35" 208,298,398 Empire belt from Esoteric provided accurate speeds I decided to order the 38" Rek O Kut version from Esoteric just to try it out. I emailed Mike beforehand to ensure I could return if it didn't achieve the correct speed, which he agreed to. Well it arrived today and it gives the same results as the 38", both 33.33rpm and 45rpm are spot on. Go figure. I guess I now have a spare.
 
There are only a few non standard mount cartridges. The P-Mount is just a plug in, mounted by the cartridge pins. A bad idea in my book.
What do you think about the AT440MLB will it sound better and will it mount onto the 698 head shell?
Thank you for your help.
 
I bought the grommets, regular belt and the capacitor from esotericsound. The grommets and belt work OK, the capacitor doesn't need to be replaced, but all he did was buy them from grainger for ~$3.75 and resells them for ~$12.75. It's a Proline capacitor with part number PB040E000A440AAGR. A 4uf 440VAC capacitor.
 
New 398 III Owner Cable Question

I just bought a 398 with an ADC XLM cart. When I first tested it, I noticed a lot of static if the cables were disturbed. I'd like to replace them, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to solder splice into the old 5 pin connector. Has anyone done this with good results?

Older post, but I re-did the tonearm wires on my 980. I had to because after a year or so of constant use I started getting terrible ground loops. When I took the arm apart the tonearm ground wire was brittle and broke off in there. Replaced the wires and drilled some holes in the back with these RCA connectors so I could get rid of that 5-pin cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TAR6YMC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I still had some issue with moving the tonearm you could hear some static noises. It ended up being I forgot to have the tonearm ground somewhere.

For my ground I just added a wire to one of the mounting nuts on the tonearm on the underside and also attached the tonearm grounding wire to the same nut and the problems went away.

I don't have any pictures posted here of my 208 yet (will do so soon). But a bit of history... I'm 28 now and back when I was about 16 I worked at a grocery store with some kid whose grandfather was selling off his audio equipment and we got into talking about turntables one day. So I bought this 298 for about $150. It was missing the tonearm rest (finally found one) and back then I did a few somewhat silly mods to it such as: cutting up part of a thick turntable mat for a spacer for the tonearm base for possible rumble reduction (if it makes a difference I have no idea, I may remove this "tweak"), pitched the original mat and 5 pin cable (something I now deeply regret), I also used red bearing grease for the platter bearing (something I should probably un-do). I also appear to have lost the 45-rpm pop-up adapter and the original counterweight. I ended up using a counterweight from junk turntable and used some spacers to make it work. Last year, I bought a 98 tonearm just to get that weight from it and bored it so it would fit on my 980 and this works well, though the 98 weight is longer.

When the turntable started having the tonearm problems I put it away for years (which explains why the adapter and counterweight went missing) until about 3-4 years ago when I got laid off and finally had some time to sit down and start fixing some of my projects.

For years, I used a Sony PS-8750 direct drive, but it never compared to the sound of this Empire 298. My empire seems to be a bit more biased in the treble, which is good for rock music. Either way, it's a great, sturdy, well-built table and it's a very simple turntable that is relatively easy to service. I hope to find another one someday at a reasonable price as a back-up unit.

Regarding the red bearing grease goof up from my younger days, the bearing is still in good shape on the platter and it seems to have been working fine like this for years. Should I un-do this? If so, how do you remove the plastic on the bottom of the spindle holder? I would imagine I should some how get that out and flush the grease out with some acetone, brake cleaner, or some other solvent, but just clean the plastic itself with alcohol. Is this plastic piece replaceable? It looks like using 0W20 synthetic or a similar low weight high quality oil can be used. The only thing I've ever noticed is during needle drops you can hear the bearing a little bit, but it's never bothered me all that much. I also just recently replaced the grommets and noticed no difference in sound quality, though they were deteriorated and the bushings were sticking to the grommets.
 
I do have some pictures, forgot I took some earlier this year:



The Empire runs into a transistor HH Scott LK-60 and Heathkit AS-10 speakers. Sounds very nice to me. The Scott has been recapped (though one of the tone controls appears to need a new ceramic cap or has a dead spot in one of the pots as the bass balance is a bit off but resistance test point measurements, bias, voltages, etc. are all within spec).

I also repainted the motor cover with some paint leftover at work (I work in an auto-body shop) but the colour match is off. I'll have to try and find something more suitable one of these days and re-do the whole thing... But first I want to find someone to make a proper decal for the logo. Not really interested in redoing the wood. I think it looks OK.

Unfortunately, if you look on the 980 tonearm the lift on the headshell is snapped off. It's always been this way, but it's taught me how to drop very carefully. Either way, I love this turntable!
 
I bought the grommets, regular belt and the capacitor from esotericsound. The grommets and belt work OK, the capacitor doesn't need to be replaced, but all he did was buy them from grainger for ~$3.75 and resells them for ~$12.75. It's a Proline capacitor with part number PB040E000A440AAGR. A 4uf 440VAC capacitor.

Just to clarify that was WW Grainger, not G Grainger.
 
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Update: I went ahead and purged the red bearing grease I put in there previously. Cleaned it out with some starting fluid solvent (all I had laying around) and used paper towels with a long skewer stick to clean any residual crud out of the race and the platter bearing itself. Flushed the race with some water and forced dried the water out. Afterwards I got the 3-in-1 Motor Oil (SAE20) and put about 5 drops in the race and put some on my fingers and rolled it around the platter end. Seems to work very well. The bearing isn't as loud as it was previously on needle drops.

I saw a previous discussion on here about using the 980 aftermarket headshells and that people were reluctant to try them because the dimensions and pin staggering layout looks off. It does work just fine on the 980 arm. So if anyone needs one, or wants an upgraded one you can order it with no problems. The contact springs work well and the plastic is a sturdier material than the original.
 
I also noticed that my cup/race previously had some sort of hardened goo on it. I guess for damping purposes? I was thinking of putting a thin layer of RTV there if that's the case. Any suggestions?
 
Great info here. I'm wondering: Is anyone familiar with the Empire turntable that has a solid wood base, and a solid wood dustcover? This is not an after-market custom cover and/or base - it's original. I have seen no reference to this anywhere. Mine is in beautiful, like-new, condition. I found the turntable for $10 at an estate sale about 15 years ago. I can post pictures if anyone would like to see it. Is this solid dustcover rare/unusual? It matches the base.
 
Great info here. I'm wondering: Is anyone familiar with the Empire turntable that has a solid wood base, and a solid wood dustcover? This is not an after-market custom cover and/or base - it's original. I have seen no reference to this anywhere. Mine is in beautiful, like-new, condition. I found the turntable for $10 at an estate sale about 15 years ago. I can post pictures if anyone would like to see it. Is this solid dustcover rare/unusual? It matches the base.
Please post pictures, though it's almost a certainty what you have is a custom base and cover for the turntable, as Empire never made a model like you describe.
 
Sorry - it's an Elac Studio 3100 now that I checked - I know it's not in the same audiophile sphere, but I have my '68 Thorens TD-125/Shure v15vXMR for the truly critical listening - cherry. Beautiful all around. Was there any relation between Elac and Empire? I'll post pictures later.
 
Perhaps I overlooked some information on the previous 74 pages on Empire Turntables.
But what is the difference between a (plain) 698 and a 698 Troubadour.?
Same with the 598.
Thanks for replying my question as I dont know if a own a 698 or a 698 Troubadour .
Pictures can be provided.
 
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