Re: Project Debut SB - am I doing something wrong, or just expecting too much?

Mike G wrote: 
Problem 1: Motor noise. I can hear noise from the turntable motor
during very quiet passages - this is more obvious on LPs than on 45s.
The noise is only audible when the record is being played, so it's
evidently being transferred from the motor to the stylus through
vibration.


I'm not familiar with this deck; does it have any kind of
suspension? If so, are all the separate suspension parts
free to operate or are they bound anywhere?

What kind of noise is it? A rumble? A buzz?


Removing the Debut's lid reduces the noise slightly, but not much.
Incidentally if I remove the platter and put my finger on the motor
assembly I can feel it vibrating a little bit (like an electric shaver
or similar); I'm not sure if that's normal for the Debut.


A little vibration is to be expected from a synchronous
motor. A lot is not.


Problem 2: Needle sticking. Many of the LPs I've played on the Debut
have a point or two where the needle "sticks" - and these are all
clean, undamaged and relatively unworn records. 

What do you mean by 'sticks'? Do you mean the stylus jumps
back? (Or forward?) If so, this is a problem. Stop playing
records you care about until you've fixed it.

Check that the wires leading out of the armtube are dressed
correctly.

There is a specific path they should follow from the
armtube, into a loop in free air and onto a mounting
arrangement of some kind -- a solder tag board for
example, where they're connected to the output phono
leads. The armtube wires might be kinked, the loop might
be flattened or a wire might be touching something
nearby -- maybe the base of the deck, where you won't
see a problem because it only arises when the base is
fitted; or the wires might be twisted together too
tightly or too loosely. Any of these can cause a little
resistance at particular points in the arm's travel, and
that damages vinyl.


Could this possibly be an anti-skating or tracking weight issue? I did
set the anti-skating and tracking exactly as described in the
instruction manual, and I also checked the tracking weight with a
little plastic Ortofon stylus gauge. I checked the azimuth and
alignment for good measure. Still, there may be something I'm missing.


Work out how the anti-skate mechanism works. Check that it
operates smoothly in all arm positions. If it's a spring,
check that it doesn't bind at any point. If it's a weight
on a fishing line, check that the fishing line doesn't have
a kink or visible bend in it and that it runs smoothly.
Check that it's connected up to the right mounting position
and hasn't hopped off somewhere in transit.

It won't be the tracking weight.

Is there any play in the arm bearing? (Careful how you check
this!)


Problem 3: 78rpm operation. The main reason I bought the Debut Phono
SB, as opposed to the cheaper Debut, was the ability to play 78s (with
the optional OM78 stylus). 

However, there are two problems with the 78rpm speed: firstly, when
the turntable motor is switched on, the heavy main platter "skids" and
jiggles about on the plastic subplatter for a good second or two (even
more so if a 12" 78 is on the platter, as these are fairly heavy!)


Start the platter by hand! Your belts will last longer this
way... My deck has a 10kg platter -- it's asking a bit much
for a wee belt driven by something derived from a clock motor
to drag that around so I always give it a spin by hand, and
don't stop it to change records.


Secondly, when moving the belt from the 33/45 pulley to the 78 one,
it's very difficult to get the belt in the right position so that it
doesn't immediately slip back to 33/45 when the motor is started.
Admittedly, this may just be me being a clumsy idiot, but I live in
hope that there's a proper knack to it ;-)


Again, starting it by hand (gently) might help align the belt.

Let's know how you get on. I'm interested in getting a 78rpm
deck too, and it'd be worth knowing if this deck turns out
to work well.

Regards,
Nick
.

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