Another audio project.

[sl_1800]

I started this project over a year ago, just finished it tonight.  I built my own turntable, well I built part and bought alot of used and some new parts for it.  I built the body, plinth, from 3 layers of 1" MDF, textured and painted.  The platter, bearing, and tonearm were all bought used.  The motor, phono cartridge center weight and outer periphery ring are new.  It's a high mass belt drive design with an acrylic platter.  The entire unit weighs in at 60 lbs, the motor is 15 lbs alone.  I styled it after a VPI Aries 3 which is a state of the art turntable with a price tag to match it's performance.  And for those wondering....yes they still make record albums.

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[atomicmike]

Nice work! That looks really sharp, especially atop the stands.

I'm curious to know how the cost of building your own turntable compared to buying one.

- Mike

 

[linusab]

Nooo, I don't have time for any more projects. This is a new "must build" for Me.. Beutiful!
/Linus

 

[woodguy7]

Stunning, its like a piece of art.

 

[tms0425]

SL,

Funny, I'm seeing this in 2 places now (here and AC) and your TT looks great on both!  Sweet project and I"m sure it sounds great as well.

Tom (aka "TomS")

 

[PeterK]

I have never seen someone do this before. Very nice!!!!
If you have posted somewhere any details of the components, costs, sources, design info, please PM me or post here.
Pete

 

[butzla]

Real purdy!!!

 

[sl_1800]

Thanks for the kind words guys.  TomS I didn't know you were on this forum too.  ;D 

PeterK, do a search for home made turntables on Google and you will be surprised at the results.

As for parts and cost I just posted that on  AudioCircle

 

[sl_1800]

atomicmike, I guess I didn't answer your question about cost of building vs new.  My table was inspired by a VPI Aries 3, which fully decked out with a VPI tonearm, center weight and outer ring it would run somewhere between 5 and 6 grand.  I have about 2 grand in mine.  I'm sure the real Aries 3 is better but I don't have that much money to spend and I have the satisfaction of saying I built it.

 

[Wonderwino]

 

[Jonhilgen]

Ok, so who's gonna be first to fit one of these on a systainer?  Systainer jobsite turntable?

 

[BigHonu]

Killer job! We need a peek at you total system!  Someone who puts in this kind of effort must have a pretty nice setup.

 

[sl_1800]

BigHonu,  If you look at the first pic of the completed table you will see 3 components,

on the right, with maple face plate, Dodd Audio Buffer, which I built from a kit, vacuum tube buffer, or preamp with no gain.

left lower is my Apple Mac Mini, it plays all of my digitally stored music.  The output is via the Mac's usb to a hidden Music Streamer II digital to analog converter.

The little thing sitting on top of the mac is the 2.5" hard drive which is holding all of the digital music.

I will go work on some pics of the rest of the equipment.  Keep in mind I build most of my equipment so some looks a little ruff at this time, i.e. not finished.

 

[atomicmike]

atomicmike, I guess I didn't answer your question about cost of building vs new.  My table was inspired by a VPI Aries 3, which fully decked out with a VPI tonearm, center weight and outer ring it would run somewhere between 5 and 6 grand.  I have about 2 grand in mine.  I'm sure the real Aries 3 is better but I don't have that much money to spend and I have the satisfaction of saying I built it.

That's quite a difference! I think I might have to add another project on to my to-do list.  [big grin]

So now for the $64,000 question... How does it sound?

 

[sl_1800]

It sounds good so far but I still have a little tweeking to do on the tonearm and cartridge alignment.