Lothar
The 'Stathearn story' in this context exists in 2 forms. The first is
the printed story with that specific title, which needs to be scanned
by me and then posted. This requires the service of my eldest son to
hook up the scanner. In short, I know how to operate it, but not how
(in my complex computer systems) how to hook it up. Anyway, I'll be
seeing him next week. I have a whole pile of stuff to add to the site.
Part 2 is my own experiences as a retailer for that brand. I was quite
close to the maker and, usually with a Hadcock arm, I achieved a
decent sound. The lid was of a very high quality and was impressive
and overall the whole thing had a decent 'feel' to it. Mine were
generally well finished and bits didn't fall off.
I did have a number though that changed speed and went far beyond 78
rpm. I never had any going backwards. The rapid increase in speed,
which you might have thought would cause the arm/cartridge to hover
above the vinyl always occurred when the user reached to lift or lower
the arm. The distributor told me that certain batches of the control
panel were susceptible to the static charge on a person and/or on
their clothing and send the mechanism haywire.
As far as I can recall, all the defective panels were replaced for me.
Also, as far as I can recall, the sonic aspect which stood out most
for me and my customers was the very fast, tight and lean bass when
compared to the (then) flabby bass of a Linn Lp12.
Hope this helps.
HP
I think strathearn and Lecson both had a problem (maybe more than one,
including production problems...) in common:
They would have sold a lot more, if their DESIGN had not been so much
ahead in time (in my opinion) and it certainly was NOT mainstream at
the time!
Turntable platters had to weigh at least a ton to be taken seriously,
and most Hifi was only considered good Hifi when it was SILVER and
made in Japan!
And red dots were absolutely out, although I still think strathearn is
a perfect optical match for Lecson!
Scanner: Take your time Howard! I know only too well what some nasty
piece of equipment, not perfectly hooked up, can do to your PC system,
and NOT only to your PC system! ;)))
Thanks again!
Lothar
Which model would you recommend?
I'll upload some pics of the silver one, if I can find them, okay ?
Lothar
Found them....will take a minute
There is no such thing as a Husband Acceptance Factor.
If the boys would like to chime in at their own peril, so be it.
Those married (we're at 20 years now) will have the good sense to let it go
unexplained.
The electronics was really clever but they never got it fully sorted
and into production. There was another turntable and arm in the
pipeline, the arm in particular being very sophisticated but again it
never saw production. Indeed all they had was the slightly "toy-town"
turntable under discussion. They struggled to get this into
production and once again the money ran out. At the time there was
talk of some people having done extremely well out of the project
whilst the workers were left jobless.
There was no real attempt to sell the business as a going concern; the
government just wanted to draw a line. I went to the factory auction
where I bought a ton of really good test equipment for about 5% of its
worth. I also bought an £80,000 anechoic chamber (maybe £500k in
today's money) for £2k. By the end of the day I'd sold it to Mo Iqbal
of Monitor Audio at a handsome profit and he sold it to Mission who
installed it in their Huntingdon loudspeaker factory.
One of my better days !!!
Stan
Thanks for the details on strathearn, I didn't know of course!
http://www.vinylengine.com/library_model.php?make=Strathearn&selected_model=
SMA2
Had a look at the sma2000 pics I uploaded?
Very hard to decide whether one prefers the black or silver model!
I always loved the silver one, but now prefer the black one.....I
think.... So only solution: Get them both !
Lothar
On 17 Okt., 18:06, "John Mayberry" <emm...@emmaco.com> wrote:
> You can download a Strathearn SMA2 brochure on the Vinyl Engine at:
>
> http://www.vinylengine.com/library_model.php?make=Strathearn&selected...
> SMA2