Magenta TT10, Adjusting Instructions

Page 1: ...ADJUSTING THE MAGENTA TT10 TURNTABLE ...

Page 2: ...en the most expensive turntable cannot fulfill its promise the best possible sound reproduction PREAMBLE Why not have a turntable next to your CD Player in your set up The sound of records can be enlightening records are authentic and records can be fun Compared to the modern digital formats the analogue LP record with its signal engraved in a vinyl disc may look poor at first glance However do ne...

Page 3: ...in relation to compliance Choose the right preamplifier to match the impedance and or capacitance of your cartridge Make the necessary adjustments Carefully position your loudspeakers in the listening environment Follow your taste and ears Go to live concerts of classical music and jazz There you will find that high end does not exist in reality only realism Do not take the PA set up during a live...

Page 4: ...al construction that is bolted to the stone wall of the listening room These supports should be level See to it that the turntable is perfectly level also This is essential to minimize wow and flutter It is also a prerogative for the proper functioning of the phono cartridge and the arm Only if the turntable is level the down force and bias side thrust can be adjusted correctly LEVELING THE TURNTA...

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Page 6: ...usting is done by unscrewing the tips of the cones the base of the motor and the third feet is fix so all adjustments should be referred to the motor base The motor is suspended to avoid vibration transmission to the main frame VERTICAL TRACKING ANGLE INITIAL ADJUSTMENT Check whether the arm and the head shell are parallel to the record Most manufacturers of cartridges take care to mount the tip a...

Page 7: ...vot It is important that the tonearm is free and can have movement to the sides up and down If the base is not level properly you might have problems with the arm elevator or restrictions the movement AZIMUTH ADJUSTMENT Now check the cartridge seen from the front It should be perpendicular to the record This is easily checked using a small mirror A precise way of measuring the azimuth is by using ...

Page 8: ...er from the front with a magnifying glass The cantilever should be perpendicular to the cartridge body The tip should be in line with the cantilever It is a good practice to take the small art director s magnifying glass with you to the shop and insist that you check before you pay A needle tip which is out of line can not read the stereo groove Just to be sure ...

Page 9: ...amond of the cartridge does not completely mimic the path originally made by the cutter head Use the gage supplied with the turntable and the instructions in it or in the next paragraphs you will find interesting information OVERHANG When using a radial arm there is practically at every instance a tracking error which results in a time difference between the signals of the left and right channel J...

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Page 11: ... correct position of the arm in case you add an arm to a motor unit Many times one encounters a tonearm which is not built according to the findings and theories devised by various technicians researchers and mathematicians One famous name in this respect is that of American engineer H G Baerwald But even if the data of the arm are not according to the findings it is possible to find the best posi...

Page 12: ...tracking error Place the cartridge over the 120 9 mm line with the needle tip precisely at the crossing The cartridge s body should be parallel to that line Now lift the cartridge move it and place it over the 66 mm mark Again the needle tip has to be placed exactly at the point where the lines cross you need to turn the platter a little by hand Then at that point the cartridge s body should again...

Page 13: ...r because in a shorter groove length the same info has to be engraved as in the outer groove Add to this that most of the time very loud passages are engraved and you will understand that optimal tracking has to be near the end of the record But only then if the angle is not too much elevated on other spots The template below can tell you what the measure of lateral tracking angle in degrees is Do...

Page 14: ...can save this drawing and print it and enlarge it so that the distance between A and B is 15 cm Not all arms were built with the optimum geometry in mind especially those which have a fixed mount So in certain cases it can be necessary to shift the cartridge in the head shell a little This means that you are changing the lateral tracking angle and possibly optimizing the geometry of the arm This c...

Page 15: ...rce and side thrust which can be completely different from the values of the original cartridge DOWNFORCE VTF Apply the amount of down force Vertical Tracking Force as indicated by the manufacturer of the cartridge Never use a downforce that is too light Not enough downforce is generally more detrimental to the record groove than a downforce which is slightly too heavy Each time after adjusting th...

Page 16: ...ADJUSTING THE MAGENTA TT10 TURNTABLE BIAS OR SIDE THRUST ...

Page 17: ...many designed the gramophone record and he engraved the signal in a lateral or horizontal movement The combination of these two systems made the stereo record possible In order to give both the left and right channels the same technical parameters this combination of lateral and vertical engraving was turned 45 degrees The contact of the diamond tip to both walls of the groove should be the same d...

Page 18: ...t channel In order to neutralize this force and to give both groove walls equal pressure it is necessary to compensate this effect by applying a counteracting force at the other end of the arm passed the pivot BA The force to be applied is called side thrust compensation or bias compensation It is done by means of a pending weight or a magnetic force A linear parallel tracking arm does not need th...

Page 19: ...rd Out sockets and check the bias adjustment by playing the test with separate left and right channel signals in various modulations starting at 50 um The use of a Clamp makes it possible to choose a more precise downforce and bias as the use of these gadgets do reduce distortion already to a great extend This will result in a better adjustment and a much better signal ...

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Page 21: ...ADJUSTING THE MAGENTA TT10 TURNTABLE A correctly adjusted downforce combined with the right bias will give a pure stereo image with the least distortion ...

Page 22: ...TABLE FINAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE VERTICAL TRACKING ANGLE At left a drawing of the cutterhead of a lathe The cutter diamond moves in a complex way so both left and right signals for the left and right channels are engraved in the lacquer ...

Page 23: ...e position of the diamond In theory this movement is a perpendicular movement a but it is likely not to be a straight line b The cutter head should be positioned the correct way so that the cutter diamond operates under an angle of 20º Yet it is possible that the Cutter Rake Angle the way the cutter diamond is mounted is incorrect and the 20º are not met If all is correct the Cutter Diamond Angle ...

Page 24: ...s said the diamond tip of the cartridge has to be in the same position as the cutter diamond Only then will the signal be as precise as possible The importance of this became the more clear when theelliptical stylus was introduced C C Davis and J G Frayne mentioned this when describing the Westrex Stereo Disk System Proceedings of the I R E October 1958 Many articles by renown journalists soon fol...

Page 25: ... the same as the Vertical Cutting Angle SRA the Stylus Rake Angle This is the angle the stylus makes in relation to the cantilever and the body of the cartridge The SRA should be identical to the Vertical Tracking Angle VTA when the top of the cartridge is mounted parallel to the record s surface If the Stylus Rake Angle SRA is not identical to the VTA the SRA has to be adjusted until it reaches t...

Page 26: ...tridge can only be found by making a substantial height adjustment at the pivot or by putting a wedge in between the cartridge and headshell The best advice is to adjust the arm at its basis pivot in such a way that the best sound reproduction for most records is obtained The VTA will generally vary when playing a record which is not completely flat or is warped If there is continuous variation in...

Page 27: ...rward gives a more detailed sound If the cartridge leans too far forward the sound becomes hollow and unnatural the harmonics will suffer Especially with fine line diamond tips and the Van den Hul tip the precise VTA is of the utmost importance You have to find the best adjustment for harmonious sound which has a lot of fine detail at the same time So listen carefully In the end the determination ...

Page 28: ...way that the cartridge is leaning slightly forward than you can vary the VTA by adding a cardboard mat The idea is to mark on record cover or inner sleeve of each LP which cardboard mat has to be added Adding cardboard discs in between record and turntable mat may give an optimum VTA but will also change the contact of LP and mat and it will change the color of the sound reproduction So cardboard ...

Page 29: ... MAGENTA TT10 TURNTABLE If the platter is very high it can be necessary to add an extra base plate In case the arm does not allow varying the height at the pivot you can put a wedge between cartridge and head shell ...

Page 30: ...ults in a more or less prominent phase shift difference in time A wedge or plate will certainly translate into a so called bending mode the frequency of which is followed by its second and third harmonics and even higher This bending mode will color the sound At first hearing there may be some refinement and more spaciousness but after a while it shows all too clearly that the correct build up of ...

Page 31: ...hecked by a professional A used diamond has at its very tip very small facets that cannot be seen with the naked eye They are at the end of the tip and not on the sides above the groove as many do expect when checking a tip These facets let the tip act as a chisel that will cut the grooves especially the grooves which contain high dynamics If you play with a good tip and if down force and side thr...

Page 32: ...mbination with the appropriate mass of the arm and the appropriate down force is needed Sometimes one encounters a very old mono record from the early ineteen fifties which will sound very well when played with a crystal pick up and a downforce of even 8 gr Some old Deutsche Grammophon or Philips discs can benefit from this approach ...

Page 33: ...figuration if a standard SME type shell is used Make the correct connections for the leads Otherwise the reproduction will not be in true stereo This tone arm headshell wiring diagram shows how to Also the headphone and the loudspeakers should be connected correctly If not the rendering of the musicians in the middle of the orchestra or the jazz formation will not occur because the middle part of ...

Page 34: ...by the manufacturers A moving coil cartridge should be connected to a phono pre preamplifier which has an input impedance of at least 2 1 2 times the value of the impedance of the cartridge s coils The impedance of the input of a step up transformer should be the same or slightly higher than the value of the coils of the cartridge Check the specifications of the cartridge and the specs of your pre...

Page 35: ...e carpet and place the spikes directly on the concrete TAKE CARE OF YOUR RECORDS To get the best quality of reproduction it is imperative to take care of the records That is why records need cleaning from time to time If you do not have access to a professional Keith Monks Record Cleaning Machine which provides the most efficient way to safely clean records you can buy a DISCO ANTISTAT with which ...

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