Electrical Disclaimer Description
For sale is a Townshend Rock MkII turntable, Townshend Excalibur tonearm, Decca London cartridge, Amber tube phono stage with external PSU, and RCA phono cable. Dust cover included, Silicone trough fluid included, Ecstasy Prop feet included. As detailed below:
- The Rock has been refurbished with new main bearing and belt, and runs a Merlin-style outboard motor controller which gives 33 or 45 RPM at the flick of a switch. It offers (individually set) speed adjustment with precision medical-grade lockable potentiometers. Please see the RPM app figures in the screenshots. Note, I deliberately adjust the nominal speed slightly high as I believe the stylus drag breaking effect (on belt drive TTs) slows it down a tad. 2 metal caps over the sorbothane feet are missing - you could remove the remaining one and stand it on the 3 original sorbothane feet, but I prefer (and will supply it with) the 4 'Ecstasy Prop' sprung feet, which are a good match for the mass of the turntable. The trough allows normal or 120g records without fouling. A threaded record clamp is provided should your record be warped.
- Excalibur is the Townshend flagship tonearm. Bearings are perfect. Zero play in any direction. At cartridge balance, it will float gracefully across the arc with a puff of breath. No stiction.
- Decca Londons are the F1 of cartridges, they have no cantilever, very low compliance, and I believe Jack DInsdale designed the Cranfield Rock around this cartridge. This example was bought boxed with no history, but looks pristine and sounds immaculate. The difference between how this sounds, and how my Garrott Decca Blue sounds, is pretty much volume only. Deccas are renowned for earth issues, they have a common 'earth' for the -ve channels, and the plastic mounting is isolating. I have used this cartridge with the Amber phono stage without issue, there is no hum (might be a little when you cue the tonearms and it earths through you). I will provide a short shielded RCA cable pair to connect to the Amber phono to guarantee zero hum.
- Amber phono has a remote power supply to minimise noise, but it should still be placed away from other equipment transformers. Likewise shielded cable between the TT and phono is required, I will include the short red ones shown. The phono uses matching low-hours JJ ECC83 tubes, and has been adjusted to provide an ideal 15k input load for the Decca. There is no hum and minimal noise with this combination, but if you are accustomed or expecting the deathly silence between notes of digital, you are in the wrong shop.
- Clean custom dust cover, dark perspex. hole at rear to allow longer arms should you choose to swap
Avaliable for audition.for SA buyers, or I can pack and ship at your expense.
English (US)