Christmas came early.... big score!!

grafxdesin

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So when I woke up this morning I did my usual, make some tea and see whats happening on Craigslist. Well this morning someone posted a curb alert for a free turntable, come get it. It was not far from my house so I figured why not go check it out. When I arrived it was still there a project 1.2 still in the box and everything. What???? So i grabbed it and took it home only to find out it;s in almost perfect condition and also came with 3 cart's and works perfectly. It looks like whomever had this table before used it a couple of times. This is a day to remember for sure! Below are some pics of this table, I don;t know much about it, I had a Project Debut before and it looks very similar, earlier model? The carts I don't know much about but pics are below. Please feel free to share any info on them and if the are worth getting new stylus for and where. Pretty high on life right now!
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Nice!
Yeah, it's basically an earlier version of the Debut, or at least it is in pricepoint. Not sure what changes they made when they went to the Debut, though.
 
Can't help with any of the questions but just wanted to say

:jawdrop:

congratulations on a beautiful new toy. Merry Christmas!
 
So that's who got it. Well done.

Saw the listing but I don't ever go for a curb alert.

Appears to be an Empire 2000E/I a bonded elliptical with low tracking force, 1.5 gram or so. Get em looked at and see if you can use them. Hard to wear out that many.
 
I am looking for a list of replacement stylus for the Empire and for the ADC, the carts look good but the stylus look worn out or bend. I would like to buy new one for them so I can hear what they sound like.
Cheers
 
those cartridges

If the stylus is somehow still good, the real find is the Empire. The LTD 750 has a line-contact diamond and other goodies. Top of that particular line. If you've ever heard of the 600 LAC, you're looking at essentially the same thing, just more colorful. If the stylus is cooked, you're not completely out of luck, but the original styli have been out of production for many years, hard to find, expensive, bla bla, and so we turn back to the ADCs.

They're probably based on one of the QLM bodies, but the styli are private-label, aka house-brand, so no published info unless a user guide's tucked away in there. But the bodies are good, basically the same as the XLMs from an earlier generation, if my guess is correct. Some, not many, very good original ADC styli are still available, and depending on how big the coils are inside the bodies, those styli will match up nicely. Or they may not.

So if you have or can borrow a modern digital ohmmeter, measure the left and right channels and we can tell you if there's an original top or near-top ADC stylus that will work with those bodies.

Or you can just buy the $17 (shipped) JICO 4108-DET from thesoundofmusic.com and call it close enough.
 
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I believe the stylus is cooked, but I could be wrong, below is a picture. I have not tried to pay it yet.
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How do you use a digital ohmmeter and measure the left and right channels? I have one but have no idea.
 
I had that table for a few years. Very good basic table. I have since upgraded, but I did
enjoy it.Bought new for $300
 
I believe the stylus is cooked, but I could be wrong, below is a picture. I have not tried to pay it yet.
IMG_20141214_213345_zps0d9c2bb2.jpg


How do you use a digital ohmmeter and measure the left and right channels? I have one but have no idea.

Yup, that's bent. Maybe not cooked and you might be able to coax it back to center. However you might not want to trust it due to unknown age/use.

As for the cartridge measurement, you simply use your meter on each channel to see if they have a circuit. Red to Green and White to Blue. The actual ohm reading isn't critical as long as there is one and the 2 sides are similar. Expect to find a few hundred ohms, and a difference of a few percent isn't important.
 
grafxdesin said:
I believe the stylus is cooked, but I could be wrong, below is a picture. I have not tried to play it yet.
Thinwall aluminum tubes usually kink if they're seriously bent, and I don't see a kink. In fact, I don't see much if any dirt or corrosion either. Both encouraging signs. Since playing friction will pull a point-to-the-side cantilever straight-- usually-- I'd give it a try on a record you use for testing or something easily replaced if the absolute worst happens. If you have a 30x or so hand magnifier you can check to make sure the diamond is still there and whether it's clean or not.

I have the feeling it'll be fine. If somehow the rubber ring that holds the cantilever on target has taken a set over the years because of the way it was packed away (or for some other mysterious reason), we're working on a fix for that.

Tracking force should be 1.25g to 1.5g max [not quite: see post 21, below]. Set the antiskate to a gram (or whatever setting best makes the cantilever point straight ahead on a moving record); that's close enough for testing.


grafxdesin said:
How do you use a digital ohmmeter and measure the left and right channels? I have one but have no idea.
The ADC bodies have a Left-Signal (LS) and Left-Ground (LG), and a corresponding Right-Signal (RS) and Right-Ground (RG) arrangement. You'll see the RS, RG, LS, LG terminals labeled on the back of the cartridge.

Take the stylus off the cartridge. Fewer accidents that way.

Set your meter to the nearest click to 2k ohms (2,000 ohms). 1k is good enough if that's what you have. Touch the probes to one another and you should get a reading of 0.00 ohms, or close to it. Now touch one probe (doesn't matter which) to the RS terminal post and the other probe to the RG post. You should get a steady reading of anywhere from about 425 ohms, give or take about 20, all the way up to about 825 ohms.

I'm hoping for your sake that the body(s) will measure either 625 or 825, because those bodies are by far the easiest to get styli for, assuming you want a cartridge whose treble is not slightly elevated. This is not an exact science; you can be close and still get good sound, but some people are very sensitive to hearing more treble than they expect, so I'm conservative in my recommendations.

Then check the left channel, of course. The channels should match within about 30 ohms. Measure all three ADC bodies and pick the one whose channels match best, but don't throw the other bodies or styli away.
 
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OK so I got around to testing these carts tonight ad playing them. First the Empire. When my multimeter is on 2000K it reads 1090 on one side and 1120 on the other. It plays very low when hooked up to my MM phono stage. Much lower than any of my other carts. Does this mean the stylus is toast?
The ADC's, both tested 390 on each side. Seems low but right now it is playing with a K8 replacement stylus on it. Sounds really nice.
So with this info what stylus could I get to work with these carts? Both
Cheers
 
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