Standard measurments. The Court House Ormskirk.

Blackstar David Bowie.

It's finally arrived.

Favourit albums of 2015

My favourite albums of 2015. 

In no particular order.

Kamasi Washington - The Epic.

Anna von Hausswolff - The Miraculous.

Laura Marling - Short Movie.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete.

Kendrick Lamarr - To Pimp a Butterfly.

Bjork - Vulnicura.

Julia Holter - Have You in my Wilderness.

Prurient - Frozen Niagra Falls.

Th th that's all folks.

Irish Night at Peter Kavanagh's Liverpool.

Cornwall 2015

On holiday Fowey Cornwall.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan. 

The Italian Garden.

SCOTT Speakers

These are my SCOTT 176B speakers made in Woburn Massechusetts USA.
Bought off a friend in the 70's along with a Scott amplifier, tape deck and tuner. Only the speakers have stayed the course and the reason for that is that they are darned good. I have since partnered them with a Dual amplifier, which lasted me for about twenty years and I have them now set up with an Arcam A65 plus amp and they still sound great. But it was only when I decided to upgrade from an old but good belt drive Dual 505 turntable To a Thorens TD150 mk 11 that these speakers really began to sing.
 You don't see these speakers around very much, occasionally on Ebay and I believe the Scott company has long gone, which is a pity because these babies are good.
My next project is to change the Arcam for a Quad 33 Pre-amp and 405-2 Power Supply and then I shall find out if the Speakers are still up to the pace. More to follow on this later.... See here.

Thorens TD150 11.

Just bought a Thorens TD150 11. on Ebay. It arrived in a poor state looking like it had spent its life in a pub or iron foundry. So with a lot of cleaning and re-adjustment of various things it is now working and sounding as it should.
I will change the current cartridge which is an A&M for an Audio Technica. The phono lead and plugs will go for higher quality ones.

I also was thinking of changing  the Tandberg plinth, which is of a rather poor quality for a nice solid walnut one. For the time being I have placed a foam sheet under the plinth and that has made quite a decent difference.

Starting the refurb and replacing the plinth.

1. Firstly the aluminium top cover must be removed. It is secured by double-sided tape, but in my case it was some sort of glue. This has to be heat softened to gently release the top aluminium sheet, I used a hairdryer, being careful not to be too hasty or you will bend the aluminium sheeting. Use a thin bladed tool to help ease it off. 

2. Then with the plinth removed, I placed it on an upturned table so that later I will be able to get at the three suspension springs and adjust them to a satisfactory standard.

3. Once the top sheet is removed you can undo the 5 screws that hold the turntable to the wooden plinth.



 4.  Cleaning off the glue left on the top panel using white spirit.

Using an upturned coffee table, I was able to adjust the deck suspension springs, from below, because I was previously getting a scraping noise whenever I tried to use the 45rpm speed, due the speed changer catching the underside of the platter. Fixed.

There is a helpful guide for adjusting the suspension springs here by Tim Bailey at the Analogedept. Although I didn't follow the instructions to the letter, a bit too much attention to detail.

The new cherry wood plinth arrives.

And here it is finished, waxed and polished, in all it's glory.

And now with the new speakers. Fostex 206e drivers and handmade cabinets. Sounding fantastic.