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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    BTW, anyone reading this who is more expert than me about using an acrylic base for a turntable, please comment! I've read in another thread about how one's choice of materials for a base can affect the sound quality. I'm all ears, ha ha. Wouldn't want to pay for a nice acrylic base just to find that it'd mess up the sq.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The Sol has a lightweight frame and doesn't have spike feet so it won't couple well. I really see no need for a special base other than something that is sturdy, high mass, or less prone to vibration.

    It's a sub $800 TT after all. The money spent on an acrylic base can be put toward a better cart.

    This is what I did for a base: glue a bunch of 2x4s together and sand down. I've used this base for the Sol, a VPI TNT 3, and the cheap Drop-AT seen here. Yes, it weighs a ton.
    IMG_20200417_122512.jpg
     
  3. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Sounds like you have a lot of experience with this - thanks for the input!
     
  4. Puma Cat

    Puma Cat Friend

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    I've found a good maple board to be the best platform for TT's that aren't designed like Regas. A great platform for a Sol for folks that are not inclined to be do-it-yourselfers is a rock maple platform from ButcherBlock Acoustics. 78 bucks. And, it comes with a set of anti-vibration pads.

    https://butcherblockacoustics.com/c...-audio-platform-1-thick?variant=8836739793011

    I've not found granite to be an ideal material as it can be pretty ring-y.
     
  5. Cow Dog

    Cow Dog New

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    Sounds like a good idea, thanks Puma Cat! I see they make one that's 19" x 18", which is the size of the dust cover I'm considering - now I just need someone to create a rabbet-joint around the top to fit the dust cover...
     
  6. frederick184

    frederick184 New

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    My Sol came with the Grado Opus 3. No hum whatsoever. I swapped it out for a Zu Audio DL-103 Mk II. Now I’ve got hum. Tried connecting a ground cable between Sol and phono preamp. That made the hum worse. Any ideas?

    Colin
     
  7. SuperRoo

    SuperRoo Acquaintance

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    My Nagaoka MP-110 has hum during silent passages at loud volume. I read that it might be cartridge specific issue.
     
  8. ripblade

    ripblade Acquaintance

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    Have you guys eliminated the possibility of motor rumble getting through to the plinth? I Had this problem, but it took a Shure M44-7 to discover it.
     
  9. SuperRoo

    SuperRoo Acquaintance

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    The Sol is on a 2" maple butcher block isolated with Isolate IT Sorbothane from the wood 4 drawer file cabinet below. The motor assembly now weighs over 6 lbs and it totally separated from the butcher block. I think it is from my choice of cartridge.
     
  10. ripblade

    ripblade Acquaintance

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    I traced it to the umbilical, but you're using a remote switch, correct?

    I don't know what to suggest. My MP-110 didn't hum.

    Check the wiring. Make sure the power and signal cables are far apart; make sure the phono pre is well isolated, etc.
     
  11. ohshitgorillas

    ohshitgorillas Friend

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    Mine is finally set up and good to go. A bit of a jury rigged job on the leveling for now, I am building an adjustable platform to go underneath the granite/stall mat combo.

    Even the stock AT cartridge sounds glorious. Dead silent, perfectly clear, very clean. I will run with the stock cart for a while but eventually replace with my Ortofon 2M Bronze. Brilliant and attractive work by Schiit Audio, as usual.

    IMG_20200426_131821_815.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2020
  12. ripblade

    ripblade Acquaintance

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    That's one rockin' setup! Literally....that granite is gorgeous!

    The clips are still bunched up against the back of the shell, I see. Guess they didn't get my memo to shorten the pipe at least 3mm. Oh well....
     
  13. ohshitgorillas

    ohshitgorillas Friend

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    Thanks! I am pretty proud of that granite slab--and if you look back a few pages, my insistence on finding a leveling solution that left the table sitting directly on the granite should be more understandable. I'm actually a research geologist, that slab came from the Town Mountain formation of Central TX... lots of buildings in Texas were made with that stuff. During my PhD, a friend of mine snagged that from an abandoned quarry during a field trip he was hosting, and gave it to me when he moved a few years later. I held onto it for two years waiting until I had a suitable place to put my turntable such that it could sit on that granite. I only regret that I didn't go back for two more polished slabs to set my speakers on...

    I am still very enamored with this turntable but I would like to speak to my one gripe: the anti-skate mechanism. I am not a huge fan of the hanging weight-style anti-skate, I prefer something continuously adjustable. Especially for an unconstrained arm like the Sol's, the hanging weight is prone to swinging like a pendulum which can translate into some wobble in the arm.

    Second, the hook of the nylon wire attached to the anti-skate weight is supposed to sit on its post at the height of the unipivot point on which the arm is resting, so as to not pull/tilt the arm... but mine never wants to stay put; anytime I move the arm to put it on a record or put it back to flip/swap albums, the nylon wire hook slowly slides up its post. This specific issue would be easy to resolve: a single notch in that post if you're satisfied with your cartridge and know where that point will be for perpetuity, OR a post that is threaded instead of smooth, which would allow the user to adjust the weight's string to the proper height if one wanted to adjust the arm's pivot height.

    Last but not least, I'm not sure that the 'blank record' method advertised by Schiit is actually accurate, since a blank LP doesn't have any inner-groove forces to counteract like when the needle is in a groove. With the stock AT cart, the arm was most stable on my blank LP with the heaviest of the weights, but when I tried to use this to play music, the arm kept sliding back away from the center of the LP just trying to cue it; once it was on the record, it sounded notably less clear than with less weight... this was clearly too much. The middle weight, which I've settled on, slides pretty quickly over my blank LP as to suggest that it is too light, but sounds the most clear and coherent to me while playing music.

    I'm no expert on turntable engineering, and there is likely a very good reason that Schiit went with this anti-skate mechanism... after all, they spent years in R&D with this table. Maybe it was just one way to keep the price low, although personally I'd have paid a little more for a continuous anti-skate adjustment. Maybe this was the most ideal way to go, or maybe it's outright impossible to have an unconstrained unipivot arm with continuous anti-skate adjustment and this was the only way to go. I still consider this turntable an absolutely brilliant release by Schiit, and have no regrets at all about my purchase... I am a very satisfied customer. Sol is, without a doubt and by leagues, the best turntable I could afford. Hell, until Sol's feature set was announced, I never thought I'd own a turntable half this well-designed... this post is all just to say that for everything it does so right, it isn't quite perfect.
     
  14. SuperRoo

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    I posted this on another site. I can mail you some if you want to give it a try.

    [​IMG]
     
  15. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    ^ How does that provide any anti-skate? You are tying the line to the azimuth adjust. From the arm to the arm. By doing that, you will be also screwing up VTF.
     
  16. SuperRoo

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    Sorry for the confusing pic. This is probably a better one.
    [​IMG]
     
  17. Inoculator

    Inoculator Friend

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    Not a Sol owner yet, but have been following closely so when the time comes, and my budget allows, I can kick my Pro-ject to the curb (or the office setup).

    I am curious if anyone has tried just ditching the anti skate weight all together on the Sol and seeing what they think? My local shop hates this type of anti skate setup so much that they suggest skipping it all together. (Of course I have floated that opinion by a lot of other people at this point that highly disagree).
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    LOL, that makes more sense!

    One thing to keep in mind is to make sure the line is level from the hook on the arm to the fulcrum point on the hook from the base. May have to adjust those rubber things accordingly.
     
  19. ripblade

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    You noticed it, too? The thread sliding up the pole is an easy fix. I used bits of wire insulation to limit the movement of the thread, and someone else found O-rings that fit. It was suggested to the Sol team during the beta that they include O-rings for that purpose, but I guess they felt it wasn't necessary.

    The real issue with the AS approach is the line over the hook causes an instability in the arm's balance that affects azimuth dynamically. Any off center record will cause the thread to saw back and forth over the hook. Any friction at this joint will cause the thread to stick (stiction), continually destabilizing the azimuth on an ongoing basis throughout the record. The result is a smearing of the timing cues in the music at best, and out right distortion and mistracking at worst. This is partly what makes it difficult to determine which weight to use is the correct one.

    I've spent the last 4 months working on a solution that would keep the superb clarity and definition of the arm but provide correct compensation. I designed a pulley that clamps to the bar supporting the hook, and use common sewing thread to hang the weight over the pulley. (I initially attempted a sliding weight attached to lever on the pulley, but this needed more work, so it is not presently in use.). This worked much better for ellipticals and microlines but not so well for conical, which have reduced tracking ability owing to their shape. The answer to this was a different attachment point on the arm.... another pulley clamped to the bearing itself. More experimenting is needed, but early results are very promising.

    My current arrangement doesn't provide continuously variable AS, but the smallest weight gives good behaviour on set down and solid tracking over warps and scratches at VTF of 1.8g.

    I've said this before: antiskate on a unipivot is very challenging, to the point where a number of arms are designed without it. It's a credit to Schiit for providing one for those who want it, .but it's too simple to bring out the full potential of what the arm is capable.
     
  20. SuperRoo

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    Sounds very promising, please keep us in the loop.
     

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