sony ps-x6 versus sony ps-x50

[deburgess]

Is a sony ps-x6 dd tt pretty comparable to a sony ps-x50 dd tt?

Is it possible/practical to upgrade an x6 to an x7 (or an x50 to an x70)? I.e., is it worth while to rewire the tonearm on an x6? What is the advantage of a carbon fiber tonearm? Is it possible to insert a carbon fiber tube into a tonearm? Is it possible to swap a tonearm from a broken x70 to an x60?

thank you very much,
don burgess

 

[Strawman]

That's a lot of work to try and mod a decent product to begin with. My first "real" TT was a PS-X4, the very bottom of the line, but with with a Shure V-15 type III, she gave some of the higher end units a run for their money. All the turnrtable has to do is reproduce the sound faithfully, and depending on you budget and talent, you can go wild. Sorry if this is more of an editorial than an answe to your question, I'm sure some of the uber TT guys around here provide much more guidance for you, just wanted to welcome you aboard. :yes:

 

[Jon S]

just wait for the X7. I prefer the X7 over the others. It's a simple tonearm, not microprocessed controlled which makes it more massive and complex. If processor controlled arms were so great, you would still find them around.

 

[absolon]

How much satisfaction do you get from DIY projects? If the process isn't more important then the result, just buy the X-7

 

[dshoaf]

Is a sony ps-x6 dd tt pretty comparable to a sony ps-x50 dd tt?

Is it possible/practical to upgrade an x6 to an x7 (or an x50 to an x70)? I.e., is it worth while to rewire the tonearm on an x6? What is the advantage of a carbon fiber tonearm? Is it possible to insert a carbon fiber tube into a tonearm? Is it possible to swap a tonearm from a broken x70 to an x60?

thank you very much,
don burgess

Sold and serviced the X5/6/7 series just before I went into computers in the late 70s. Here's answers to your questions:

* Upgrade X6 arm to X7? *Could* be done if you've got a donor table but I'd suggest you *not* attempt it. There's lots of mechanical adjustments you'll need to make as it goes back together. You'd have to remove the entire arm mechanism not just disassemble it from above. Do not attempt to dink around with the arm's pivot mechanism - you'll never get it back right - experience speaks.

* Rewire the arm? You *could* but there are a couple of things you can do without going to all that trouble on the X6. You should consider replacing the cables that exit the table. They're soldered to the tone arms wires on a small board that's easy to get to from the bottom of the table. I'd suggest you not replace to the tonearm wires unless there's a clear break. I never saw that as a problem back when they were produced. Again, you risk too many other problems attempting to do so.

* Carbon fiber tone arm? Carbon fiber was the material de jour with the leading Infinity Black Widow being one of the more famous arms with this feature. Frankly, I never saw that much appeal for it, sonically.

Never had a -X50 so cannot comment on differences but I loved my -X6 was a solid table that I miss very much. Not as nice as my VPI HW-19 TT/RB-900 arm, mind you. I bought an -X6 recently for my son's system and it still worked quite well for its age.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

David

 

[deburgess]

Thank you very much for your very helpful replies.

David,
Thank you for your suggestion of replacing the connection cables. Let me push this issue a little further. Is it possible to replace the tonearm wires so that there is no solder connection between the tonearm wires and the connection cables; so that the tonearm wires and the connection cable to the preamplifier is all the same conductor? I have seen this idea in advertisements for new cables, and it makes sense to me because it would reduce the signal to noise ratio at the source by removing a solder joint. On the other hand, does a good solder joint add noise to the signal?
best,
don burgess

 

[Jon S]

there's probably more solder joints in your amp to worry about than your turntable then.....