After a long search, I finally found the active crossover box that was made for my speakers by Linn. I hooked it up last week, and it sounds, on the whole, better than the Naim active crossover I have been using. Better low end, better channel separation and imaging, slightly better in the high end. The system sounded nice, restrained and polite with the Naim crossover, but with the Linn crossover, it really perks up. Still smooth and pleasant, just a little more detail. But the bass, oh my god the bass.

So my Naim Naxo 3-6 crossover and matching HiCap power supply are up on Ebay now. The good news is the Naim stuff is significantly more expensive than the Linn, so I should come out ahead on the deal. The bad news is now I have an all Linn system, which is boring to look at. The Chrome Bumper naim stuff is my favorite look and i will miss those two weird inscrutable black and silver Naim boxes....

Next steps: 5 year plan: 1) Stand alone DAC to improve on my digital sound quality. 2)New phono preamp to improve my analog sound quality. 3) New preamp. 4)The LP-12 goes in for updating. 5) Cartridge will die/wear out and needs replacing. That is gonna hurt, since I lost my cheap gently used cartridge hook up.

I inherited an Empire 208 turntable, circa 1961. Anybody have any experience with these?
It's missing the counterweight, cartridge, and stylus. The old mat is rumpled and the belt is loose.

It's dusty but gorgeous. Cool wooden plinth. I'm just not sure I need to own and maintain a turntable this old.
I'm wondering if I should just try to liquidate it, as the person who gave it to me could use the cash.

Then again, I might already have a cartridge that fits, a new belt doesn't cost too much, the motor seems to be working fine, maybe I should invest minimally and see how it goes? Maybe sell it after it's running again?

Teacher's Pet wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 11:31 am I inherited an Empire 208 turntable, circa 1961. Anybody have any experience with these?
It's missing the counterweight, cartridge, and stylus. The old mat is rumpled and the belt is loose.

It's dusty but gorgeous. Cool wooden plinth. I'm just not sure I need to own and maintain a turntable this old.
I'm wondering if I should just try to liquidate it, as the person who gave it to me could use the cash.

Then again, I might already have a cartridge that fits, a new belt doesn't cost too much, the motor seems to be working fine, maybe I should invest minimally and see how it goes? Maybe sell it after it's running again?

This is a big heavy "mass loaded" style old fashioned turntable, along the lines of the old Lencos, Garrards, Thorens, etc. The tonearm is garbage, so if it is missing parts, I would replace it and you could have a decent sounding TT. You may, however, find that there are parts out there if you search hard enough.

If the motor turns smoothly, the platter turns smoothly (check to see that the bearing is oiled) and you can find the right sized belt for it, it is a lovely old record spinner.

I have seen pictures of these with all sorts of tonearms. You have to build an adapter plate to bolt onto the chassis where the existing tonearm is, but otherwise should be pretty straighforward.

This guy strips them down and re-makes them into a modern hifi record player:
https://www.analog-engineering.net/ae2008.htm

motorbike guy wrote: Fri Oct 14, 2022 7:07 am

Teacher's Pet wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 11:31 am I inherited an Empire 208 turntable, circa 1961. Anybody have any experience with these?
It's missing the counterweight, cartridge, and stylus. The old mat is rumpled and the belt is loose.

It's dusty but gorgeous. Cool wooden plinth. I'm just not sure I need to own and maintain a turntable this old.
I'm wondering if I should just try to liquidate it, as the person who gave it to me could use the cash.

Then again, I might already have a cartridge that fits, a new belt doesn't cost too much, the motor seems to be working fine, maybe I should invest minimally and see how it goes? Maybe sell it after it's running again?

This is a big heavy "mass loaded" style old fashioned turntable, along the lines of the old Lencos, Garrards, Thorens, etc. The tonearm is garbage, so if it is missing parts, I would replace it and you could have a decent sounding TT. You may, however, find that there are parts out there if you search hard enough.

If the motor turns smoothly, the platter turns smoothly (check to see that the bearing is oiled) and you can find the right sized belt for it, it is a lovely old record spinner.

I have seen pictures of these with all sorts of tonearms. You have to build an adapter plate to bolt onto the chassis where the existing tonearm is, but otherwise should be pretty straighforward.

This guy strips them down and re-makes them into a modern hifi record player:
https://www.analog-engineering.net/ae2008.htm

If it is an old idler wheel table be wary as if those sit unused for too long the idlerwheel will start to distort and develop a flat spot and will not spin the platter at a consistent RPM.

Hey, I finally got my turntable/receiver/speakers all set up, and it sounds great! I thought I would fuck up changing the belt and the stylus, but I didn't. Thanks to everyone who gave an amateur audiophile like me suggestions on what to get in this thread.

I can get a good deal on a Rega P3, but it has no cart, what would be a good cartridge to pair with the P3 that doesn't break the bank?

Owen wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 10:24 am I can get a good deal on a Rega P3, but it has no cart, what would be a good cartridge to pair with the P3 that doesn't break the bank?

Considering you're about to get a Rega P3, I think you may have to be more specific on what doesn't constitute as breaking the bank ($50? $100? $500?). I realize you can get turntables way more expensive than that, but also much cheaper, too.

There's some good chatter earlier in this thread about relatively good, inexpensive cartridges (http://premierrockforum.com/viewtopic.p ... 52#p799352), but these might not be as good as what you're looking for.

Owen wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 10:24 am I can get a good deal on a Rega P3, but it has no cart, what would be a good cartridge to pair with the P3 that doesn't break the bank?

buy the best Audio Technica MM cartridge you can afford. You can't go wrong.

motorbike guy wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:32 pm

Owen wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 10:24 am I can get a good deal on a Rega P3, but it has no cart, what would be a good cartridge to pair with the P3 that doesn't break the bank?

buy the best Audio Technica MM cartridge you can afford. You can't go wrong.

Went with the AT VM540ML. Excited for it to arrive.

I have one of those almost brand new on my faulty project debut that I need to remove and install on my other current production turntable. We can compare notes!