Dual Fans, What's Your Plinth Philosophy?

There is plenty of beautiful granite left from my G.F.'s porch renovation. Can you even imagine working with such a hard material?
A mint Dual 1219 on a reddish-grayish granite base, with a rough, kiln-fired finish. This would be the pinnicle of my turntable collection.

Seth
Forever Analog and Covered In Parrot Poop
 
I really think a heavy solid plinth made from whatever material you choose to use will benefit any idler driven turntable. Not just the Lenco, 301/401, 124 and ROK variety. I'll report on the results of my Garrard Type A project when completed. If it improves the sound on this humble vintage idler, than I'm sure the Duals would also greatly benefit sonically. I'd love to get a Dual 1219 in the future and do this plinth rebuild. I bet it would rock!

Steve D.
 
circlesky73 said:
Dumb a** question, but is the gravel still in the bags? Sounds intriguing... :thmbsp:
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Yessir, it is. Five sandwich sized baggies, with a pound of pea-sized gravel put in each, flattened, and taped shut. I used cheap bags rather than Ziplocs so I could make them as small as possible. Placed on the bottom of the interior, making sure that no bags foul any mechanisms, means none at all under the motor. The bags end up about 1/2-3/4" thick, max. Surprising how much heavier five pounds of rock feels in a cheap TT base.

I also put very thin strips of Blu-Tac under the platter to stop it ringing when tapped. Nice and dead now. :yes:
 
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marble...... hmmmm

I'd check out your local stonecutter, as in gravestones. The idea of a marble plinth intrigues me also for the 701 i've had for thirtytwo years.
 

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My 1019 has the all wood UA base that's pretty highly regarded. It's more than sufficient. I've had Duals with the plastic base UA base and was not impressed. They're junk. The tables are good, though, and benefit greatly from a better base. Many of them will fit into the older bases and I suggest to anyone with one of these Duals to consider this tweak as it will make a big difference in its sound - at least it did with my old 1245.

My old 1219 had a same vintage Dual base and it was much better than the same vintage UA bases. Mine had the front panel drop-down with storage for two cartridges with inserts, a single play and multiplay spindle, and a 45 adapter. UA sold a similar base but the European version was nicer. The current owner loves it.
 
Here a couple of pics of my 601 on a oak stained base I made for it to replace the "fancy" plastic base it came with!!

The interior is 2 pcs of mdf cut out to the Dual base pattern separated by block spacers. The sides are oak boards and the space between the interior boards are packed with clay. Never weighed it, but it is much heavier than the plastic one!!

Sound wise, I would say I like it better! But it's pretty hard to a/b it now!!!


Gerry
 

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My family Dual 1009 came with the original (?) factory plinth and cover - exactly the same as the one depicted by Stereofisher.

The plexiglas panels with wooden side panels are really nice and distinctive and create a totaly different image.

I never tried anything different than that, but did try different combinations with it.

Like removing the 3 spring suspensions and firmly resting the chasis on the plinth. Or using a high density foam flange between the chasis and the plinth.

I found that the suspended chasis didn't work well unless the plinth was resting on a very solid piece of furniture or on a wall mounted shelf. If not, then the stylus would pick up any minute vibration from the wooden floor (in a concrete building) and mistrack.

But, once on a solid shelf, with the lid closed, it would not pick up anything, even from the speakers firing against it at 10ft.

The only thing I would try - and will eventually - is to dampen the inside of the plinth with added mass. The panels aren't very thick and the internal volume inside the plinth is larger than some small monitor speakers. That has to be a weak spot.
 
I just picked up a piece of 1.25" bullet proof out of the bank. It is two feet by six feet. Now I am thinking of making my plinth out of it.
 
The engineers of the dust cover should have been fired !!!
Try to find a dust cover that doesn't have a crack on the back where it would hinge up!! VERY POOR DESIGN--- Not thought out ---all the weight rested on the last half inch of the dust cover when it was upright. And it CRACKED..............over time.
James
 
djnagle said:
I just picked up a piece of 1.25" bullet proof out of the bank. It is two feet by six feet. Now I am thinking of making my plinth out of it.
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Now that's an idea!

If you make it about 7 inches tall, you could have LED lights and a mirror on an angle under everything so you could watch the gears and linkages move!

Like those cars at the auto show tipped up so you can see all the chrome underneath.
 
Think I saw one jacked up on the last episode I saw of "pimp my dual" though up here it would be "pimp mon dual" I think
 
I had a walnut base made for my 1229; big improvement over the stock base.


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Divotdog said:
I built a mahogany base for my CS-622 (not a real good TT to start with), it came with the cheesy plastic plinth, the new plinth made a noticeable difference, less rumble and background noise, not to mention it was considerably better looking. :thmbsp:

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I plan to do that to my 506 sometime. I just cut down some big apple trees, I'm thinking some of the limber will go there.
 
Ok,I'll jump into the fray here. I am going to salvage as much of the wood from the freight train size cabinet that my 1002F came in. As it had a Nordmende radio in it,the cabinet must be made from wood gathered from the Black Forest,right? BTW, weighed the TT by itself.....a very healthy 12 pounds. With plinth, maybe oh,20-25 pounds. I like the idea of some gravel.
 
Off the springs?

illinoisteve said:
I always appreciate a good pun. But before I lubed the bearings on my 1229, it's motor could have used a fan mounted underneath. A lot of us Dual fanatics seem to spend time underneath those plinths, like automechanics on creepers.

Seriously, that does raise another question in the MOD-ification area, anyone doing any customization along the lines of fans, lights, pennants, fuzzy dice, or other idiosyncratic features or decorations? (Com'on, confess. We won't tell anybody.)

I also like the look of those thick-looking (how thick and weighty they are actually I don't know) slanted European Dual "bases" (I didn't know what a plinth was until about 2 months ago, but I thought my furnace had one). Has anyone tried to ad some substantial thickness (more than veneer) to the lightweight United Audio wood bases? Perhaps by gluing some wood onto the interior sides where it would not interfere with any of the works or access to them?
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Although it's an old thread I'm lifting it up because was in a search for the very same questions, and couldn't other but just lolled to the above.
When I got tired of my Dual 510 'Federung' came up with the idea to rise the main unit on those three 'Transport safety screws'. I know Dual orthodox fans could go bananas now :D but that's just the test as the springs are obviously not good or doing well anymore. The both left springs are weak, especially the lower one that supports motor, so the whole unit does not 'swing' properly. Neither is easy to put it in the level.
Playing with these three safety screws I can level it pretty easy, and what is more interesting they are not hanging down freely in the box (like bells). OK, those are 'transport' screws but since it's a keeper I really don't need them for that purpose. These screws could be used as three perfect legs, with the proper base of course. I put three rubber pads at the moment, just to see how does it work and play. So, it will certainly take some time before I figure out how to modify the plinth, and finally get rid of the plastic bottom. New RCA and power input I already did at the back, but it seems that was just the beginning of all mods :scratch2:
btw. does anyone know how to remove the springs completely and easily from the unit?

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If not mentioned before [this thread is 4-years-old] take note of the following.

While a 701 can sit on a sealed base, never try it with a 1019 or 1219.

Too hot.
 
Well, here's mine. I got the wood base from Bill @ Fix My Dual and while I was a bit skeptical of it at first, it proved itself by NOT being the resonant drum like the original 506 MDF and plastic base. :)

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NoTransistors said:
If not mentioned before [this thread is 4-years-old] take note of the following.

While a 701 can sit on a sealed base, never try it with a 1019 or 1219.

Too hot.
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Considering how old are first Duals this thread is still an infant :D

Thanks for the input, I sure will do the 'proper' base for my 510.

@Celt, that's the nice one, very stylish :smoke:
 
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