Comments on: DIY turntable

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:09:30 +0000

The whole point of a good turntable design is that it is acoustically dead. Good turntables have all sorts of suspension besides disconnecting the motor, because speakers can feedback into anything from the platter to the tonearm. Making turntables out of wood guarantees that this won’t happen. Good tables are a mix of thick rubber and metal. Plus, what’s the point of making a record player if need an mp3/Cd player to run it’s motor? That’s like making a steam engine out of prius parts.

By: giskard

giskard — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 02:46:02 +0000

mike, are you sure liam isn’t trying to alienate people? afterall, he’s just said that he builds his colection off the cretins throwing things away :)btw guys, note what happens when nobody gets drawn by steve: blissful silence

By: steve

steve — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 02:21:29 +0000

yea sorry guys but have been buzy but must admitt this hack is crap as for somthing heavy falling on me it already has but never mind u guys cheer me up so is it retro week or what lp record players come on we can do better than that just a matter of intrest going to upload some pics of my hacks and my family love this site . just had a right struggle with windows xp trieing to format a old tower got it in the end thoe LOTS OF LOVE STEVE THE TROLL PMSL

By: josh

josh — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 02:17:39 +0000

Liam,

“The whole point of audio engineering really is that listening to music is ENTIRELY SUBJECTIVE.”

People are paying $7000 for a power cord. $7000 for a “tweak” that they can’t identify in double-blind tests. This indicates that any improvement they think they’re hearing is entirely due to the placebo effect. They might as well give me the money and I’ll say a prayer for them and Almighty Odin will grant them a widened soundstage and a dynamic low end. The two are equivalent, and provably so. To deny that flies in the face of rationality.

There’s audiophile stuff like nice turntables and good speakers (I have several of each) and then there’s audiophile stuff like $400 wax you put on your ICs (honestly, wtf), $80 magic covers you put on your CDs and $30k power cables. No one objects to the former.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 01:10:10 +0000

liam, while i agree with you entirely, accusing people of leveling harsh criticisms, then refering to them as idiots because they threw away their records is probably not the right way to go about convincing people how awesome vinyl is. this is perhaps my biggest problem with the whole vinyl/audiophile scene. most people involved can’t wrap their heads around the fact that there are those out there for whom music does not play a huge role in their lives, and perhaps like disposable pop/aren’t willing to shell out crazy money for a nice stereo.

To quote Nick Hornby “So, yes, it’s disposable, as if that makes any difference to anyone’s perceptions of the value of pop music. But then, shouldn’t we be sick of the Moonlight Sonata by now? Or CHristina’s World? Or The Importance of Being Earnest? They’re empty! Nothing left! We sucked ‘em dry! That’s what gets me: The very people who are snotty about the disposability of pop will go over and over again to see Lady Bracknell say ‘A handbag?’ in a funny voice. The don’t think the joke’s exhausted itself?”. My point (and I think Nick Hornby’s point) being that, music is a personal thing. It’s ok to like obscure (which, for the record, dj shadow is not) music in the same way that it is perfectly ok to like mindless pop.

Music is a personal thing, and if someone throws away their vinyl, there is nothing wrong with that. Who are you to judge what they do or do not like. It is perfectly possible to like music and not like vinyl. And the ability to play it will not necessarily make you a “happy person”.

By: Liam

Liam — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:05:30 +0000

Some of you guys are making some pretty unfair criticisms…

First of all, the idea that vinyl ownership is outdated is only true if all you listen to are a few of the latest pop releases on CD. Great music is great music regardless -and great music can be found for next to nothing because idiots like you think it’s junk and throw it out/sell it! Vinyl addicts like me can build whole collections for next to nothing. And the satisfaction of owning and using vinyl, digging for old rarities, finding and loving stuff you’ve never heard of… I couldn’t do it with any other media. The work of people like Josh Davis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dj_shadow simply would not be possible without the enormous caches of vinyl that exist practically untouched over the world… huge vaults of sounds waiting to be uncovered and rediscovered. The turntable is not the best way to listen to the latest chart releases. But that’s not why we own them.

As for the audiophile thing… yes, a lot of ‘audiophile’ claims may well be nonsense, they may well be scientifically founded. More likely they are products of combinations off several higher order effects. Who cares. The whole point of audio engineering really is that listening to music is ENTIRELY SUBJECTIVE. In the same way as I do not see the same colour blue as you do, I also do not hear music in the same way you do… if a listener prefers a certain technique, for whatever reason, you cannot argue with this. It is an entirely personal thing.

Elliot, keep up the great work mate you’re doing really damn well in spite of being so busy. I love reading hackaday although more and more I do wish I would just ignore the comments button…

If you love music, the ability to play vinyl will make you a very happy person. If you love hacking, building a phonograph is a great project. I like

By: mike

mike — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:45:37 +0000

http://www.audioorigami.co.uk/FloppyProject/FloppyDIYMotor.htm

also that (posted on slashdot way way back, i couldn’t find it here) is so much cooler than this, IMO.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:16:14 +0000

patrick, the friction is fine for keeping the boxes apart, the only issue is that, when he moves the turntable, he has to properly realign them to get the tension in the thread correct. perhaps some type of removeable jig that would go between the two blocks to properly space them could be fashioned.

By: ...

... — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:52:56 +0000

interesting idea, but as stated before there were some pretty dumb mistakes (I always thought germans were good at designing stuff ;-0) like the thread drive.. And using a $1200 dac and $1000 amp to drive a fricking stepper motor. holy crap!

I think that a better hack would have been the motorcycle converted to run of biodiesel… But overall this was a pretty cool hack, I just wish it wasn’t so damn audiophiles

By: patrick

patrick — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:51:43 +0000

I think adding a threaded rod would negate the point of having a seperate box for the motor, the vibration from the motor box would be transferred to the turntable box. the friction of the two seperate boxes against the surface they’re laying on should be high enough to keep them apart, since they weigh quite a bit.

By: mike

mike — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 22:02:33 +0000

justasecond: agreed. my point was more that it wouldnt be that hard to replicate most high end turntables by using an industrial band. also, to adjust the tension correctly, he could create some sort of threaded rod assembly that held the two bases together.

with that being said, some of this guys shit is ridiculous, tube goop included.

By: pretorious

pretorious — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:52:45 +0000

no suprise that a pair of $10 cables you can DIY like these http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000967044405/ meet or beat out $15,000 cables.

By: tkniques

tkniques — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:47:08 +0000

I’d been looking for a project like this for a long time. Now if only I could find one that incorporated a direct drive so it could be used as a dj turntable.

By: jeff

jeff — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:42:44 +0000

“We are not able to provide an accurate description why the “Tube-o-lator” stuff actually works.”

“The mechanism behind the filtering abilities of this specifically designed lacquer is of electrical or electromechanical nature.”

This guy realised how much audiophiles are clueless and willing to pay for all things labeled “high-end”.

No performance measurements, no graphics, yet plenty of untested claims.

The ridiculously priced cables take the cake tho.

By: justasecond

justasecond — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 21:09:12 +0000

Mike,
But rubber bands have a frictional surface area and so can “stick” (not sure the proper term) and not slip. Thread, being round, has minimal surface area, so little friction and *large* potential for slippage. (Have you seen *anything* driven with a string as a belt?)

Oh, and tension is completely non-reproducable.