Schiit Sol Turntable Review - Episodic.

Discussion in 'Vinyl Nutjob World: Turntable and Related Gear' started by purr1n, Sep 10, 2019.

  1. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Wow, just like Christmas, waking up to some unexpected nice comments here! I guess it's the ultimate compliment if you want to build one like it, so here's yer info, @NationOfLaws :

    Materials:
    • Butcher block platforms: 18" x 24" x 1-1/2" Edge Grain cutting board in their "premium walnut", 7 boards @ $162 ea. - $1,134.00
    • Wood Legs: 1-3/4" x 1-3/4" clear premium walnut, 7.5 ft., sold at $12.44 per linear foot - $93.30
    Milling, finishing, shipping:
    • 1/16" radius roundover edge milled on all edges (except leg ends that are glued to platforms)
    • Drilling of bolt holes and dowel holes in boards and leg pieces
    • Hexagonal cutouts on boards (exc. base platform)
    • Acrylic urethane finish on all pieces (I used the flat or "dull" finish)
    • Milling the dust cover groove (they actually comped me on this! but expect to pay about $125 or so)
    • Total milling/finishing: $610.00
    • Shipping: Fedex Ground to LA $122.75
    Other parts:
    • Acrylic dust cover (5-sided box, 1/4" thick) $156.29 (ShopPOPDisplays.com)
    • Dayton Audio ISO-4C Isolation cones, $29.95, set of 4. (Parts Express)
    • Penn-Elcom rubber cabinet foot, 1.7" dia. x 0.75" H., $0.67 ea. (Parts Express)
    • Hardwood Dowels, 1/2" x 2", four (cheap)
    • Bolts, 1/4" bronze joint connector bolts, 90mm, $0.59 ea. (Baltimore Hardware Co.)
    • Titebond glue, about $8 (your hardware store)
    If you're calling them, you'll probably talk to Emma in the sales office. Mark and Tim are the guys who actually crafted the pieces - I have to say, they are pretty amazing. Just make sure to talk to Mark or Tim directly, when the work is being done. Hey, tell 'em Chuck from Santa Monica sent you!
     
  2. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Hey @Thad E Ginathom , thank you for that! Just FYI those cones are adjustable, you just turn the knobs to raise or lower them, so it's easy to level the table.

    Ha, you noticed my Little Bear phono stage - I expect some laughs about that! Good point about the heat produced by the tubes. Actually I don't think it's much though, and the room is temperature controlled, so I guess I'll risk it for now.
     
  3. ripblade

    ripblade Acquaintance

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    That's real purdy alright. Looks like it cost more that the table! :D
     
  4. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Whoa! I don't even dare to add that up. But beautiful solid wood furniture is not going to come cheap, and custom-made in a fairly exotic wood... but hey, it's beautiful.

    good :)
     
  5. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Yeah, @ripblade I did hate paying for it. You could probably make one just as good using oak planks and doing the work if you have the tools. My skills do not extend very far beyond spreading glue, swinging a mallet and wielding a power drill.
     
  6. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Btw let me know if you're going to do this and want to see my plan for it.
     
  7. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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  8. ripblade

    ripblade Acquaintance

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    Not bad for a drill wielding mallet swinger lol
     
  9. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    I take it you approve, sir. So then, I have successfully masked my skill deficits. My work is done here. But I'll be back with pics of the finished piece, er, in a week or so when the parts get here...

    https://imgur.com/a/LKtYKX8
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2020
  10. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Yes, it is beautiful. I love good wooden furniture, audio or not. Including speakers. Just so long as people don't start making bogus claims about sound! Mind you, if your furniture makes you happy, then everything will sound better :)

    For LPs, I'd subdivide more. I am fussy about keeping them vertical. Or was, a decade or so ago when I was playing them. But, even in storage, they are still upright.
     
  11. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Hey thanks! Yeah, I considered having more dividers but couldn't figure out how to do that without the design becoming too busy.

    And right, I have been on a site where people will insist that using anything besides maple for a platform is not good enough. They are already laughing at my 67-cent rubber feet and advising me to spend a few thousand on proper footers. I can't figure out whether I'm being trolled or they are serious. These are also people who will argue which multi-thousand dollar power conditioner is the best. Mine was only a hundred forty and I mainly got it for the outlets. I wonder if they're right. Am I missing out??!
     
  12. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    I like you - you seem like good people and you don't contribute to the noise we try to stamp out. your posts are good stuff so far. The best advice I can give you for that line of thinking is that it depends. It depends on what your preferences are, it depends on what your financial tolerance is, it depends on your ancillary gear, it depends on how much you're willing to trust your own ears over measurement fascists, and it depends on how much you trust the the listening notes/reviews on places like SBAF. It depends almost entirely on how much time you feel is worthwhile endeavoring to experience good music, in the spirit of sharing your experiences with others in an honest way that's bias-cognizant.

    There are people here with $5k cartridges, $10k power conditioners, $5k cables, etc... its just that around here they tend to live in the wood work, which I greatly appreciate the more time I spend here. Lurk Moar, Be Cool is kind of the motto for randos. Have you read the Andro thread from start to finish? that's a good way to learn how this here drinking hole works.

    Cheers, bud, and great rack!
     
  13. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    @Cow Dog, you are my kind of audiophile. Long may you enjoy the music. And the furniture.

    :punk: :punk: :punk:
     
  14. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Thank you, @yotacowboy, getting liked is reassuring, esp. when ur a new guy on the block. And for sure I wouldn't judge anyone for their expensive gear or persnickety audio foibles - my mantra is more like, it's only worth it if you can hear the difference, and then, whatever turns you on, right? Btw I read a few of your posts and see that you're kind of a hilarious guy with eclectic tastes, so I like that.

    Not to be dense, but how do I get to the Andro thread? Couldn't find it!
     
  15. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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  16. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    And thanks, @Thad E Ginathom for the good words. Btw I read a couple of your posts and you seem kind of technical. Are you an engineer? I'm looking for a little guidance on cables. I'm still using my Straight Wire cables from the 1980s (I know, right?) and wonder if you think I'll get any improvement in sq with a new set. And if you looked close at my cheapo phono stage, you can see I'm plugged in with the red & white rca's that came with the Sol. So I could probably do better there. Not that I have money burning a hole in my pocket...!
     
  17. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    No, @Cow Dog, I am not an engineer of any kind. My "technical" background is in systems management and messing around with stuff in Unix. Also a few years of home-hobby jewellery. But nothing engineering. We have lots of real, genuine, actual audio/electrical engineers here. But not me.

    Also I'm an anti-cable guy (might not surprise you!) If it is to spec and it works, that's good for me. Last time I did buy a few new cables, I went with Blue Jeans.
     
  18. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Yep, well, thanks, I'll probably search out that or some other value brand to at least replace my few remaining OEM wires.
     
  19. ohshitgorillas

    ohshitgorillas Friend

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    This weekend, I added a new member of the family to my vinyl rig--the Bottlehead Eros 2 phono preamp. I am upgrading from a Hagertech Bugle2 that I built myself with Vishay resistors and Nichicon FG caps. The Eros 2 uses two EF86 tubes as the input gain stage, one 6922 as the output tube, and a 12AU7 as a shunt regulator.

    They look f'ing fantastic together...
    2020-08-08 16.03.10.jpg

    Since this is my end-game, I wanted it to be beyond perfect, so I agonized over a lot of the parts selection.
    • For the power supply and shunt regulator wiring, I chose Neotech UP-OCC copper in PVC (20 awg). I made a twisted shielded pair to run from the AC inlet to the trafo and grounded the shield on the earth tab.
    • For the signal wiring and ground, I used a combination of Jupiter cryogenic OCC copper in cotton, and Duelund silver in cotton/oil (both solid core). For the ground 'strip' along the bottom terminals, I used Connex OCC 5N silver (sold bare). I also used Cardas quad-eutectic solder, which turned out to be fantastic stuff and so easy to work with.
    • I used upgraded tube sockets. For the shunt reg and output tube, I used Belton, and for the input tubes, I used some silver plated sockets. This was a dumb idea, because apparently not all socket manufacturers orient their pin layout the same relative to the mounting hardware... not a major issue, but some of the wiring is a little cockeyed.
    • For the RCA sockets, I used KLEI's top of the line low-mass silver RCA sockets. For the outputs, I chose DH Labs CM1 gold-plated copper.
    • I used matched boutique resistors for the 47kohm 2W and the 75kohm on the C4S board.
    • Awaiting a matched pair of Tung Sol EF806-S
    2020-08-07 23.25.17.jpg
    The top plate was painted glossy black. I accidentally got a spritz of silver paint (for the trafo cap) on the top plate, and the result is fantastic... a very happy accident. The wood base is unfinished, but will be stained with dark brown 'kona' and Danish oil, and also finished with glossy clear coat.
    2020-08-08 14.52.51.jpg

    The combination of Sol+Eros2 is phenomenal. This is a very distinctly tubey sounding amplifier: spacious, smooth, fluid, full, but still exceptionally clear and dynamic. The Eros circuit is dead quiet, with a noise floor way way below any background noise from the needle moving through silent grooves and no hum. The Sol was already exceptionally quiet as is. I am over the moon with the sound of this combo, except that I can now hear the stock AT cart's deficiencies (mostly restrained, somewhat recessed mids, has a hard time getting the full range of emotion out of vocals and etc), so next, I need to decide on a needle/cart combo. I have an Ortofon 2M Bronze but I'm not sure a fineline stylus is ideal for a unipivot tonearm with such a weird anti skate feature (there are no 1.75g anti skate weights that I can find).

    Speaking of... does anyone know the O-ring sizes for the anti-skate pole?

    Besides minor tweaks and upgrades, I think this is my vinyl setup's final form. It would cost so much money to upgrade from here that it's not even worth considering.

    2020-08-08 01.43.31.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2020
  20. SuperRoo

    SuperRoo Acquaintance

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    These are what I used. PM me your address and I'll mail you some if you want.

    [​IMG]
     

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