neals g99

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Ant
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#1 neals g99

Post by Ant »

Neal left his 99 and Hadcock gh242 with me at this years Owston to put in a nice plinth for him.
Brief was, well... brief. Simply to have a walnut veneer finish and to accommodate the Hadcock. With a small proviso.
His original plinth had the 99 raised up from the main deck by 10 mm as the Hadcock has been rewired and the rewire was causing problems getting the arm height low enough for the cart due to the route the much thicker wiring had to take.

Rather than raising the deck, I lowered the arm instead into a rebate cut into the plinth, to make it a neater install.

The 99 needed no work at all, it was all pretty much pristine anyway so I left it alone.

The arm is mounted on an arm board with an offset mounting hole so that rotating the board give an amount of adjustment for lining up the cart which the Hadcock doesn't have with its fixed mounting holes.

I cut the front right corner off the plinth as I thought it looked abit boring, so it has a curve at the arm side.

It's fitted with a set of oak cone feet, I got these off dave brook when I took his Lenco due to the fact that I couldn't get outside with the lathe due to several days of inclement weather. These can be changed for something else if needs be

ImageDSC_0577 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

cheers ant
Last edited by Ant on Wed Aug 09, 2017 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ant
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#2 Re: neals g99

Post by Ant »

few more pics
ImageDSC_0575 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0580 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

ImageDSC_0579 by anthony cresswell, on Flickr
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Neal
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#3 Re: neals g99

Post by Neal »

looks stunning Ant, great work!

just need to arrange a date to come up and collect!

I'll let you know.....
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Ant
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#4 Re: neals g99

Post by Ant »

glad it fits the bill Neal, whenever's convenient for you
cheers ant
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Ali Tait
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#5 Re: neals g99

Post by Ali Tait »

Nice job as always Ant.
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Mike H
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#6 Re: neals g99

Post by Mike H »

Shoddy! :D (X infinity quadzillion)
 
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Dave the bass
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#7 Re: neals g99

Post by Dave the bass »

Mike H wrote: Wed Aug 09, 2017 4:14 pm Shoddy! :D (X infinity quadzillion)
...+1

Ha! Gotcha.

Top work Ant, like.
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#8 Re: neals g99

Post by IslandPink »

Cooolio !
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#9 Re: neals g99

Post by SteveH »

Very nice work Ant.
Neal
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#10 Re: neals g99

Post by Neal »

Collected my G99 from Ant yesterday, he's done a sterling job on the plinth, many thanks mate. Great finish and a neat plaque on the rear!

Spent this evening setting the Hadcock up, boy is it fiddly, I'd forgotten just how sensitive it is. I'll double check it again tomorrow before having a listen. Put my Goldring reworked DL103D on it so will be interesting to see how that combo sounds.

Also nipped over to see Steve and have a chat and a bit of listen to his system, great sound IMHO. It works well in his room, very even presentation, it just played music fronted by his NVA amp and phono stage. The next incarnation of his 'speakers should be very interesting!

Image

Image

Image

Image
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Cressy Snr
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#11 Re: neals g99

Post by Cressy Snr »

That G99 looks good with that Hadcock arm on it....veeery nice. :D

Was nice to see you yesterday Neal. Glad you liked the sound of the speakers when listened to in a real room setting.
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#12 Re: neals g99

Post by Ant »

No probs neal, hopefully the extra adjustment from having the offset mounting plate will make it a little easier to set up.
Plan was to set it up by starting with the base position set so that the bearing pin is at the standard mounting distance using a jig or a steel ruler. If you loosen the Allen bolt that secures the bias guide arm so it drops out of the way, it will make this alot easier. I made a jig a while ago for marking up arm mounting positions by marking up a rod of hardwood for the correct s/p lengths. Then using the pillar drill, drilling a 6mm hole in it for the spindle, ( so it sits on the dome on top of the spindle and self centres) and a 2mm hole at the required distance away. Then put a 2mm drill bit through it for marking. For the hadcock theres no need for this as its pin sticks up out of the base anyway. Its currently got 211mm, (linn) 214mm (mayware) 222 (rega) and whatever it was for the hadcock ( i forget). Once the bearing pin is in the right place the jig will just drop on.

Most carts should line up pretty well, but some may need a little adjustment by rotating the base either clockwise or anti clockwise so it squares up on the null points.

I found that hadcock an absolute pig to set up, when I started on the arm im building I wanted something easier to set up.

Cheers ant
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#13 Re: neals g99

Post by antonio66 »

Yet another lovely plinth Ant. You're a lucky man Neal, enjoy.
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#14 Re: neals g99

Post by Neal »

Cheers guys. Managed to escape my domestic chores this afternoon and had another crack at setting up. I'd got it wrong last night, so hours later it's up and running although I'm not happy with the treble. Needs tweaking, it sounds close to mistracking like the stylus is not secure in the groove. Midrange and bass is great, it's got that 103 sound but with better detail...I've upped the VTF and it's better but I'm not 100% happy. I've probably made a rod for my own back as the last time I used the G99/Hadcock was with a Kontra B on the front end and it sounded sublime to me. I may be just experiencing the cartridge as it should sound...

Thanks for the ideas Ant, think I'll make up a jig as suggested to get the pivot to spindle distance just right.
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#15 Re: neals g99

Post by Ant »

is it lining up with the null points on the protractor?
it might want some headshell weight if its the same compliance as the normal 103, im not sure if the hadcock is a low or medium mass arm
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