Schiit Sol Turntable Review - Episodic.

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

  1. NationOfLaws

    NationOfLaws Friend

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    Is there a way to adjust the velocity that the cue lever drops the tone arm? Mine seems to drop harder and faster than cue levers I’ve used previously
     
  2. SuperRoo

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  3. ripblade

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    You can try Nyogel 774 but it's brutally expensive. That's the stuff they use in volume pots to give that silky smooth feel. Easier just to lower the lift manually. I do it anyway because I don't like the stylus skating into the record, a problem especially on ones that have the ski ramp at the edge.
     
  4. SuperRoo

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    Thanks, I'm going to give Nyogel 774L a try.
     
  5. ripblade

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    Note that I've changed my post above removing the suffix. Nyogel 774 comes in different viscosities, none of which I've tried on the cue lift. I have used the 774L on the azimuth screw to keep it from spinning too easily, which it does do.
     
  6. SuperRoo

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  7. ripblade

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    Hopefully you won't have to push the arm down lol.
     
  8. Metro

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    If it turns out to be too viscous, mix with machine oil until you get the right consistency. Probably need a lot of trial and error.
     
  9. SuperRoo

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    I have a good feeling a light coating of this will do the trick. SIG 3000 that I tried earlier is pretty darn viscous.
     
  10. ripblade

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    What didn't you like about it?
     
  11. SuperRoo

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    It didn't dampen the action enough. Only a small improvement.
     
  12. ripblade

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    Ah, ok. Are you putting it on the cam or the piston, or both?
     
  13. SuperRoo

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    TBD. I'll try them all out. It is easily reversible. I'll post thoughts on this mod.
     
  14. SuperRoo

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    I'm liking this grease. With some tweaking the lowing action is now nice and smooth. After playing around with different combos this it what I've settled on for now. The lift platform shaft piston has a fairly light coating of 767A. If you really pack it the lowering action is a little too slow. I've added some stainless steel washers for extra weight to help speed up lowering. I found the lift arm cam assembly to be too slow so it is back to plain old wheel bearing grease there. If you guys want to try some of this stuff out I can mail you some.
    [​IMG]
    I think the next mods will be replacing the washers with something cleaner looking. Then a slightly longer arm for the cam assembly. It is removable 3/16 SS rod, just pressed in place.
     
  15. Cow Dog

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  16. ohshitgorillas

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    Well, I finally took the plunge and installed my 2M Bronze on Sol. Actually, since the front of the cartridge body just needed to sit flush with the end of the headshell to be aligned, it was a lot easier than I was expecting. At least, the overhang/Löfgren parts were easy. I still have yet to try to fine tune the SRA and azimuth, and I'm going to wait until both of those are dialed in before playing with anti-skate. As it is, it sounds really really fuckin good. A major step up from the stock AT cart in just about every way, but particularly detail retrieval and dynamics. Separation may not be at its peak since I have yet to really fine tune the alignment, but it's pretty impressive for vinyl.

    Really, the whole process was a lot easier than I was led to believe... with the exception of those f'ing tonearm wires. I had such an intensely frustrating time trying to find a way to route them that didn't completely throw the azimuth off in a dynamic manner wrt the tonearm position. Right now, I think the wires are throwing things off, but it's at least a static offset which can be adjusted for.... notice how far out the azimuth nut is. I'm pretty sure the nut being out that far to level the arm means I'm doing something wrong, but the arm does show signs of tilt even if I'm holding the wires so that they shouldn't tilt the arm, so I'm not 100% convinced it's the wires at fault here. Besides, shouldn't that kind of issue always be a dynamic force? Any advice to this end would be appreciated.

    I had a late listening session last night, and I think that the combo of 2M Bronze + Sol + lightly modded Bottlehead Eros 2 + heavily modded Crack + HD800 might well have been the single best listening experience of my entire life. It was truly, absolutely magnificent. The way that a good vinyl rig images is just magical... it sounds so real and natural. Totally unlike any digital experience I've ever heard. The body, fullness, smoothness, and deep, fine details was just beautiful. I knew Sol was a good table, but after hearing the same cartridge on Sol and my old Rega P3 (RB300 version w/ various mods, including 24V motor, Delrin subplatter, upgrade counterweight, and VTA adjustment nut, all of which helped it make big strides in sound quality), I have a much deeper appreciation for how amazingly well designed Sol is. It really is just no competition. I can't imagine how any table anywhere near this price could be competitive unless one is just really strongly averse to making any adjustments or tweaks. Sure, it can be frustrating, but the payoff is just magnificent.

    I'm not 100% sold on the 2M Bronze as my final choice, and I might put it back on my Rega before putting it up for sale. I think it might be a better match for the Rega's rigidly mounted arm, even though it's already doing a fantastic job without the azimuth and SRA being dialed in, and with no anti-skate. Something a little more forgiving is probably better for Sol's wobble-prone unipivot arm, but I'm also hesitant to give up the Bronze's depth of detail.

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    PS cheers and thanks to SuperRoo for the anti-skate o-rings! So freaking helpful.
     
  17. ripblade

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    I spent a great deal of time addressing this with my own experiments. For me it's a bigger issue because I have 4 arms which I change out periodically, so having the wires get out of the way of influencing azimuth was top priority. I say 'was' because I've found a solution that works for me.

    First off, dressing them in behind the arm pillar looks cool, but is the worst possible route for them. One of the things I learned in my experiments is that in order to avoid any influence on the behaviour of the arm as it sweeps the record is to ensure it touches at only 2 points: where it exits the arm and at the plug. Achieving this is virtually impossible when it's set up as shown in the manual.

    If you watch Conrad's setup video you'll see that he routes it exiting the arm on the left, loops upward before dropping back into the plug and socket. I've tried this....it's certainly a major improvement over the suggested routing, but I was unhappy as in this direction the wire seems too long and is still somewhat difficult to ensure correct dressing when changing out arms. I also prefer to keep it closer to the chassis rather than flying in the air where it could potentially pick up noise.

    So what I do is route the wire out the right side of the arm as normal, but instead of in behind the pillar, I route it in front and below the arm, rising up to the plug with a fairly sharp U-bend just before the plug. This way I can dress the wire exactly as I need it, can see clearly if it's touching anything, and can also 'preload' the sag (by pressing the wire down where it exits the ring) after installation to reduce the sagging that eventually occurs over time.

    The weight of the wire will always influence azimuth...probably the main reason VPI has it rising straight up from the pivot...and routing it to exit on the right means that the azimuth weight needs to be set out a little farther than if the wire was routed out the left side. But this is of no consequence: what's most important is that the wire touches nothing at all at any time as the arm swings through its course in playing the record.

    Try it. Once the wires are routed in this way and you've dressed them by gently bending them into a nice, swoopy arc below the arm, tug down on them a few times where they exit the ring to preload the sag. Check again after a few sides. You'll find that, eventually, this problem will simply go away.
     
  18. yotacowboy

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    A couple pics of how you're routing the wires would probably help!
     
  19. ripblade

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    That would be opening up a can of worms, but I'll give it a try...
     
  20. ripblade

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