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Syncro Turntable

J.A. Michell
Rega RB300 Tonearm
Shinon Titan Cartridge

fancy turntable

The Story Behind the Fancy Turntable

    When I was going to university in Canada, I tree planted during the summers, which gave me good income and afforded me the luxury of saving up for a good stereo system so that I would have one ready by the time I graduated.

Each year I would toil hard and use my summer savings to buy another component. First a Denon tape deck, then a Rotel amp, and finally this turntable, which was my most expensive component to date and purchased during my last year of university.

After graduation I planned to go travelling through Europe for the summer, which is when I decided I liked Europe so much that I changed my plans and decided to move to Prague. Before I left for the summer I lent the rest of my stereo to a friend, but stored my prized turntable at my mother's in Vancouver. After the summer I came back to British Colombia with the intention of tree planting as much as was possible during one year, so that I could return to Prague and try my luck at venture capitalism. Since then my friend to whom I lent my stereo disappeared, and the turntable has not been used since graduation.

In all then, it has only been used less than one school year, so about 7 months.

Now my mother cannot store it for me anymore, and I've been told there is a big come back for quality turntables. So, with regret, I am now selling my prized collection. Without the rest of my stereo, which I tried many times to retrieve, it did not make sense to ship the turntable to Europe (I lived in Prague for 14 years). And now that I have moved into a bouncing blue truck to travel Europe, it makes even less sense.

fancy turntable

Speaking of bouncing, the turntable sits on three springs, as you can see in the picture to the left. The metal disk is heavier and connects to the arm so that this connected structure (refer to picture above) rocks together if jostled). Something which can be fun to show guests, as it can visible rock in a significant manner without forcing the needle to skip. But this I would show off only on rare occasions, because the needle head itself cost 300 dollars (I was told) and I did not want to wear it down unnecessarily. I was told that the arm itself cost 800 dollars.
    The reason then for the springs is to absorb vibrations from the loudspeakers and prevent them from transferring along the arm to the needle,

hence avoiding reverb and help produce the beautiful clean sound.

The thick glass encasing, suspended on hinges as you see right, then aids further in preventing the transfer of vibrations from the loudspeaker to the needle.
    To the upper left of the turntable disk is the motor (you can see the electrical chord coming out of it on the picture to the right). To this is simply attached the rubber band, which then loops around the turntable to make it spin. Above the motor are two different sized disks around which to loop the rubber band, depending on whether you are listening to a 45 or regular 30 LP. The rubber band is not shown in any of these pictures and it can be easily removed from above the motor if you wanted to regulate your own speed, 

fancy turntable

such as backwards like I did once for Stairway to Heaven for our witch burning festivities as celebrated in the Czech Republic.
    There is a felt disk for under the LP on top of the glass of the spinning centre disk, which is also not shown here.

fancy turntable

So in all, a rather simple device using high quality hardware. But simple is good when producing a pure sound.

Here's the original receipt: