Schiit Sol Turntable Sneak-Peak

Discussion in 'Vinyl Nutjob World: Turntable and Related Gear' started by purr1n, Jul 19, 2017.

  1. Ruby Rod

    Ruby Rod Facebook Friend

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    The height of the pivot point has a huge amount to do with the stability of a unipivot arm. Too low in relation to the center of mass of the arm, and it goes wildly unstable. Too high and the tracking force changes excessively on warps. Naturally this one is perfectly placed. However, in the interest of being a tweaker's delight, notice the pin that places the pivot point near the center of the ring is not part of the ring itself. It's adjustable... for those that feel an irresistible urge to mess with stuff they probably shouldn't.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
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    Thank you for explaining the design of the tonearm. When I played with the Sol turntable, I noted certain pecularities of the tonearm in the back of my mind: the shaft attached at a higher point on the ring and the headshell slots being parallel to the shaft. I didn't think much of these elements (probably dismissed them as "accidents" during the CAD process). So it seems that all of this is for good reason. Doing a thought exercise in my head, visualing how the parts align and work, it all comes together! The design is absolutely brilliant and certainly accounts for why I felt the arm was so stable for a unipivot. The unipivots I deal with on a daily basis are "wobble city" in comparison.

    Also, I would like to thank for your phono cartridge alignment generator program. I am cheap, and this has saved me $250 or so from not purchasing audiophile grade cartridge alignment protractors. Other vinylheads should take note:

    http://www.conradhoffman.com/TemplateGen.zip (works in Windows 10 too).

    Now what needs to happen next is that @schiit should provide a standalone version of this tonearm, perhaps mounted on a L bracket with a height adjustment that can be fastened to any turntable with platter thicknesses up to a few inches. The vinyl world sorely needs affordable high performing stuff.
     
  3. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    Have you used the antiskate program as well? That looks quite useful too.
     
  4. Decomo

    Decomo Almost "Made"

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    Oh... I just wish that program is compatible with Mac..... I have not used PC for over 5 years now... :(
     
  5. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

    Pyrate BWC
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    https://www.codeweavers.com/products lets me run ARTA on a Mac. Might work for this Windows app as well?
     
  6. Ruby Rod

    Ruby Rod Facebook Friend

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    My compiler isn't Mac friendly, but many people have reported the template program works fine with Wine on a Mac. I have an anti-skate page that may be of use, but no program as not much to calculate.
     
  7. Decomo

    Decomo Almost "Made"

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    Thank you very much. Good to know that there is an alternative solution. I will check both Codeweavers and Wine. Thank you again.
     
  8. energizerfellow

    energizerfellow Friend

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    I certainly wonder on the 3-phase motors as well. Something like hall effect sensor driven by teeth cast/machined into the underside of the platter driving a PWM VFD controller for a 3-phase AC induction or DC brushless motor seems so obvious that somebody surely would have done it by now. With a belt-drive turntable you would be able to get away with some dirt cheap brushless RC model hobby motor if you drove it slow enough, right? Plus with the teeth on the underside platter, you could easily get single-digit degrees of rotational readouts, if not absolute positional data if you varied the tooth pattern (this is how the crank position sensor on your car's engine works). You can also do 33/45/78 RPM without having to change belt pulleys. Cheap little pancake motors and lighter platters become an option at this point too.

    edit: Anybody else use that single ball bearing design? I could swear I took apart some turntable back in the 80s with a bearing that looked just like that. I want to think a bunch of direct-drive tables?
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2017
  9. Ruby Rod

    Ruby Rod Facebook Friend

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    There used to be some wonderful DC tape deck motors that were smooth, balanced and perfect for turntable use. High quality and inexpensive. Unfortunately, nobody makes them anymore. I wouldn't put the feedback on the platter, but on the motor. Use a cheap printed optical strobe target and photo sensor, plus a simple PLL circuit. Let the belt decouple a heavy platter, rather than get the belt involved in the servo loop. Been there, done that, works great.

    I've seen some RC motors that look like really good candidates for turntable motors, but they're designed for huge torque and high current consumption. If one could get them wound with coils more reasonable for what we want to do, they might be killer motors. Lacking that, the expensive Maxon or similar motors seem like the best bet.
     
  10. Chris F

    Chris F Boyz 4 Now Fanatic - Friend

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    Funny you mention the Maxon DC motors as they are used in the Kronos tables in a configuration almost as you describe it.

    https://www.maxonmotor.com/maxon/view/application/The-perfect-record-player

    The final trick is to have an iron fisted power supply for the motors so you get the response and fine control you need. Kronos does this with supercapacitors (SCPS) and it absolutely makes a big difference.

    My experience going from the Sparta to the Pro suggests to me that the drive system has a huge impact on the sound. DD has the control advantage but suffers the flaw of the motor directly coupled to the platter. Belt lacks the control but is decoupled. The best solutions minimize the weakness inherent in each system.
     
  11. energizerfellow

    energizerfellow Friend

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    The cheap solution I can think of would be to use a PCB-mounted 3-phase pancake motor where you can have everything you need right there. I'd imagine you could simplify the electronics quite a bit if you put a switched-mode PSU, motor, pickup, and controller all on 1 PCB. There's got to be any number of Chinese suppliers who could provide just the motor portion to mount on an in-house PCB.

    Inside of a floppy drive:
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...edia/File:Floppy_drive_spindle_motor_open.jpg

    Here's some random examples from AliExpress:
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3-P...Generator-DIY-Motor-3-24V-AC/32794587828.html
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pc...drive-Can-Be-Reversed-Double/32791349130.html

    The perfect hobby motors appear to be quadcopter and helicopter motors as the windings are fixed and the magnets in the housing spin. This should make mounting and getting speed readings easy if you can find something with the right KV rating. Getting timing info off the housing should be easier than a small generic industrial 24V BLDC motor?

    Example:
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/RCt...or-for-Quadcopter-Multirotor/32630223678.html
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2017
  12. Ruby Rod

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    Those are interesting! I hadn't thought much about brushless, but probably the way to go. Something else I've done, having a lathe handy, is to make the pulley into a fairly heavy brass flywheel. Not sure about the brushless, but it really helps the simple DC tape motors.
     
  13. ductrung3993

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    Any updates on when these would come out guys?
     
  14. Decomo

    Decomo Almost "Made"

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  15. powermatic

    powermatic Friend

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    HFN: What‘s your take on network enabled audio?
    JS: Oh, an expensive computer with no screen, you mean?

    That actually made me 'lol'.
     
  16. Decomo

    Decomo Almost "Made"

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    JS definitely has great sense of humor. :)
     
  17. Decomo

    Decomo Almost "Made"

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    This is quite a long summer waiting Sun coming up (SOL)...
     
  18. Forza AudioWorks

    Forza AudioWorks MOT: Forza AudioWorks

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    Yes, indeed. But this is something to look forward to for sure. Brushed aluminium turntable deck? Yes please!
     
  19. loki993

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    Yes I've basically curtailed all vinyl upgraditis to wait an see what this ends up being and costing when it comes out. Im really hoping that for a budget minded person that wants decent sound but doesn't want or cant responsibly sink thousands into a TT setup this hopefully could be the last TT I buy.
     
  20. roscoeiii

    roscoeiii Acquaintance

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    Turntable world has become a very competitive space. Lots of great options new and used at almost any price point. Very curious how Schiit's Sol will distinguish itself...
     

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