Idler Drive and my Rek-O-Kut project

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Posted by hurdy_gurdyman [ 4.225.238.81 ] on March 06, 2007 at 09:04:59:

I've been working on a turntable project for a couple of months now. It's a late 50's Rek-O-Kut that I acquired that was still new in-the-box. I'm building a massive plinth for it and eventually will be installing an Infinity Black Widow tone arm. I had a new idler wheel made from a local machinist and am using an O- ring for rubber. The ROK turntable has an incredible platter bearing with the well made of cast iron instead of the usual bronze. The spindle shaft has a groove in it that continuously pulls oil up from the bottom to let it fall back from the top of the well, so there is always a coating of oil on everything in the bearing assembly. The massive plinth is to damp/absorb any noise the idler drive may exhibit. Here's a link to some photos I have of the project:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/the_hurdy_gurdyman/album/576460762387548586

I have an old AR-XA arm I'm using for awhile until my Black Widow arrives, which may be a few weeks yet. There is an old Shure M91E cartridge installed.

Why idler drive? Well, for one thing, I've always had more long-term pleasure out of my old Dual idler drives than out of the various belt and direct drive units I've owned, this in spite of the somewhat more rumble my Duals have (actually more of a bad platter bearing design than and idler wheel problem with the old Duals). Now I'm seeing just how far I can go with idler drive. So far, even with the primitive arm and cart, I'm getting better analog sound than I've ever had.

Here's some links to what got me started on this latest crazy binge:

(click on the link at the bottom of this page to get a PDF file with what may be the longest audio thread of all time)

http://www.lenco-lovers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=86

And continued here:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1157059532&openflup&115&4#115

That should keep you turntable addicts busy awhile and give you something to think about. I know I'm hooked on idler drive permanently!

Dave

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