dbxdx5
Super Member
Back in May I bought a working Perpetuum Ebner PE 2020 from CL for $95. Well, it was working. Pretty quickly, its fortysomething age became apparent. My experience working on turntables? Very little. Compounding matters is the fact that most people in the U.S. either don't know how to work on these or won't work on them, in part because of the Rube Goldberg complexity of the automatic functions: In addition to automatic start and stop, it also has an automatic record-sizing mechanism and a feature that will prevent the stylus from dropping when there isn't a record on the platter. Oh, and did I mention it can also be used as a changer? 
Here's one photo of the underside mid-restoration:
But fate smiled on me. Thanks to the luck of finding a parts table and the incredibly generous help of two members of dual-board.de in Germany, I was eventually able to get the PE 2020 sorted out. These guys walked me through disassembling mechanisms that were frozen from hardened grease, guided me in fabricating and then installing not one but TWO steuerpimpels (for vertical and horizontal movement of the tonearm), helped me as I partially disassembled said tonearm and juggled the 14 loose 1 mm bearings that seemed like liquid mercury to these novice hands, and just generally exercised saintly patience when I had a meltdown (I threatened to throw the whole table in the trash). After a little last minute help with a wiring issue from Kevin at KAB and a new plinth made by AKer 4140, it's ready for public viewing. Please be gentle! You'll notice that the top isn't perfectly level--I need to find the right size shim to compensate for a little spring sag--and it could use a bit more TLC in cleaning up the aluminum. Oh, and I'm currently using a new Shure m97xe with a Jico SAS. The sound? Very, very good (in another thread I mentioned that it comes quite close to my Beogram 8002 with MMC2 and beats it in some areas). It's also very quiet during operation--I can't hear any rumble from the rim drive. :thmbsp: It also has a number of nice features for the time, including VTA adjustment on the headshell/cartridge carrier, anti-skating, four speeds, pitch adjustment, a meaty 7.1 lb zinc platter, and a "Four-pole induction motor SPM 4/15 with minimum stray field and central suspension and vibration dampers" (per the service manual).
Like I said in the subject line, it's not perfect, but it's good enough for me.
Here's one photo of the underside mid-restoration:
But fate smiled on me. Thanks to the luck of finding a parts table and the incredibly generous help of two members of dual-board.de in Germany, I was eventually able to get the PE 2020 sorted out. These guys walked me through disassembling mechanisms that were frozen from hardened grease, guided me in fabricating and then installing not one but TWO steuerpimpels (for vertical and horizontal movement of the tonearm), helped me as I partially disassembled said tonearm and juggled the 14 loose 1 mm bearings that seemed like liquid mercury to these novice hands, and just generally exercised saintly patience when I had a meltdown (I threatened to throw the whole table in the trash). After a little last minute help with a wiring issue from Kevin at KAB and a new plinth made by AKer 4140, it's ready for public viewing. Please be gentle! You'll notice that the top isn't perfectly level--I need to find the right size shim to compensate for a little spring sag--and it could use a bit more TLC in cleaning up the aluminum. Oh, and I'm currently using a new Shure m97xe with a Jico SAS. The sound? Very, very good (in another thread I mentioned that it comes quite close to my Beogram 8002 with MMC2 and beats it in some areas). It's also very quiet during operation--I can't hear any rumble from the rim drive. :thmbsp: It also has a number of nice features for the time, including VTA adjustment on the headshell/cartridge carrier, anti-skating, four speeds, pitch adjustment, a meaty 7.1 lb zinc platter, and a "Four-pole induction motor SPM 4/15 with minimum stray field and central suspension and vibration dampers" (per the service manual).
Like I said in the subject line, it's not perfect, but it's good enough for me.
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You're right about so few making them over here. One thing I discovered along this journey is that the Fisher 501 is a rebadged PE 2020, though even the 501s are relatively scarce.
