Schiit Sol Turntable Review - Episodic.

Discussion in 'Vinyl Nutjob World: Turntable and Related Gear' started by purr1n, Sep 10, 2019.

  1. TomNC

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  2. SuperRoo

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  3. oneguy

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    I’m using the Pro-ject Speed box. I can’t manually dial in the RPM but I use that same app to display RPM and fine tune the distance of the motor from the turntable until I get to 33.33
     
  4. nlitworld

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    I just picked up the Music Hall cruise control, and I have to say it's a little bit of a mixed bag for me. Speed stability and precise RPM was equal or better on my old-school hack of 3M masking tape on the platter (6 taught rotations) but the sound is better now that there's no electrical connections running to the circuit board of the Sol. All in all not a waste of money, but it leads me to believe there's still more tinkering to do.

    I tried the rubber belts supplied by Schiit, I tried a string (liked the sound but couldn't dial in speed) and I've tried both pulleys and settings on the Cruise Control. Currently using 45rpm pulley and setting cruise control to the correct speed and fine tuning with belt tension. 33.33 w/ 0.07 wow, where before it was 0.08, and the 45rpm is 45.00 with 0.08 wow so same as before. I do need to adjust motor/belt tension more between changing speeds now though.

    Here's the kick though, with removing any power going to the circuit board, the sound is considerably better than before. I mean DSOTM already sounded great, but the little details are there 10x over it seems. Just a much more fleshed out sound where you can hear a lot more of the layering and soundstage than before. All things considered, that alone is worth the price of admission.
     
  5. SuperRoo

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  6. nlitworld

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    SuperRoo, how are those feet working? Are they leveling feet or isolation? I finally put mine on nobsound springs a little bit ago and it still weirds me out that it is so precarious placed atop them, but it does sound nice.
     
  7. SuperRoo

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    I just built this new version Monday. They now both level and isolate. I used Isolate-It Sorbothane washers (0510001-50-12) in this version. I've added about ten lbs of steel plate hidden under the platter making my setup weigh 19 lbs. The stock TT is like 10lbs. You may want to use something softer in that case.
     
  8. nlitworld

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    Talk about the full custom treatment. I just used the double-stack method. Still using the computer motherboard standoffs glued to stainless ball bearings on top of silver dollars with sound deadening pads glued to the underside now on top of springs.

    [​IMG]

    Now, when you weighted yours down, were you weighting the platter or the plinth? Any sound improvement or more so for stability purposes?
     
  9. SuperRoo

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  10. nlitworld

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    You should call that tt Barry Bonds cause it's obviously a roided out heavy hitter.:D Did you weld those pieces on or glue them? Was there any effect on sound?
     
  11. SuperRoo

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    I glued them in place. It certainly didn't hurt and I like to think it did but I don't have golden ears.
     
  12. oneguy

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    @SuperRoo what’s the purpose of the foam under the pulley?
     
  13. SuperRoo

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    That is a steel disk to add ballast to the motor. Just a scrap I had in the shop.
     
  14. JackG

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    How'd the AT33PTG/2 work out?
     
  15. JackG

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    Your masking tape hack has been working great for me as confirmed by my KAB SpeedStrobe. And removing the A/C from the pod was one of the first things I did but I can't recall much about the sonics as it's been a long time. I did it for the convenience of adding a remote outlet so I didn't have to use the switch.
     
  16. SuperRoo

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    I did the remote switch too. I wish I had the chops to completely remove the pod . Rewire the tone arm directly to some removable female RCA connectors. So I could still swap out tone arms with hard wired RCA connectors connected to each one.
     
  17. JackG

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    If I had the chops to re-wire, I'd also love to bypass the connector/pod and add RCA to the existing wire. Wouldn't leave much slack but I could make it work with positioning of my phono stage.
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2021
  18. SuperRoo

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  19. oneguy

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    I got sidetracked and bought some headphones instead…[​IMG] My friend whom I normally buy through (because his wife has a Japanese credit card) was in the states and I got the itch to try some new headphones.

    I also picked up a Freya+ last month so it was kind of an expensive month.

    I still plan on getting the new cartridge. I just haven’t thought of the new timeline. I plan on getting a pair of Tyr’s when they come out so I need to start planning on that $3k expenditure.
     
  20. toddrhodes

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    I just got my Sol back up and running this weekend. Was battling a ground noise for what seems like ages and finally I tried something else on the phono preamp I was using - it can also act as a line stage for one other SE line source - and bought a new phono preamp. Didn't put a ton of thought into it but ended up picking up a Musical Fidelity X-LPS and upgraded X-PSU for it.

    Also put on a new Audio Sensibility cable, double shielded RCA, and from what I can tell, the noise is so far diminished as to not be a factor anymore. Only spun one record as I was busy most of the weekend but it was excellent, as I remember.

    I did find something a little odd. The AS cable is directional so I assume the floated the shield at one end. I actually get a tiny less noise if I run it "backwards."

    Regardless, I have missed vinyl and Sol, specifically. Nice to have it back to a place I can use it.

    Oh, something else that I found - my phono cable is actually microphonic? The Audio Sensibility one. I don't know that I ever tried tapping the old cable but for whatever reason, I can tap on the A/S cable and hear it through the speakers. Not sure if that's normal or what. I also created a new foundation for it in my room. I had these landscape blocks just sitting around and thought - why not try it. They're heavy and ended up perfectly level. I like how it turned out. I'm going to put something over the wood base to make it not so tacky looking, but for just trying to not waste some stuff, I like it:

    This is still the old preamp and no line stage into my amp, so basically Sol wasn't really operational here, just seeing if I could make it work in my room.
    [​IMG]
     

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