kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
The GeoDisc has been great for me. I've double checked it a few times with a two-point protractor and it's always spot on.
MoFi UltraDeck / StudioDeck Owners and those interested
- Thread starter AnthonyI
- Start date
displayname
Well-Known Member
Thank you both! I think I'm going to email the shop where I originally purchased the Ultradeck and see what he'd charge to do it as well. Honestly, if he'll do it for under $100, I might do that for pure peace of mind.
ablakey
New Member
Decided to install an Audio Technica AT33Sa on my Studiodeck last weekend. Super happy so far compared to the Studiotracker cartridge it came with. Possibly the best money I've ever spent on an upgrade! Listening to things again and getting chills down my spine. Not an overly analytical cartridge. It has life to it and casts a huge soundstage. Best I've ever heard my vinyl sound!
The only issue I had installing it was the azimuth adjustment screw would not loosen and the supplied hex wrench just spun when I tried to loosen it. So I went and got my set of hex wrenches and went one bigger size than the one supplied with the turntable. After a lot of force it finally loosened. Now it won't stay tight. I have to tighten it after every few records as the head comes loose and if I grab the handle on the headshell it will move throwing off the azimuth. So I keep having to tighten it and readjust the azimuth. Being a shibata stylus the azimuth needs to be rather precise so it's frustrating to say the least.
Guessing the screw is stripped, but not sure if it came from the factory stripped. Given the trouble I had getting it to loosen initially I kind of wonder.
In any event I've emailed Mofi and I guess I'll wait for them to respond.
The only issue I had installing it was the azimuth adjustment screw would not loosen and the supplied hex wrench just spun when I tried to loosen it. So I went and got my set of hex wrenches and went one bigger size than the one supplied with the turntable. After a lot of force it finally loosened. Now it won't stay tight. I have to tighten it after every few records as the head comes loose and if I grab the handle on the headshell it will move throwing off the azimuth. So I keep having to tighten it and readjust the azimuth. Being a shibata stylus the azimuth needs to be rather precise so it's frustrating to say the least.
Guessing the screw is stripped, but not sure if it came from the factory stripped. Given the trouble I had getting it to loosen initially I kind of wonder.
In any event I've emailed Mofi and I guess I'll wait for them to respond.
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Betelgeuse
Member
I absolutely love my AT33PTG/II. Glad to see another AT33 + studiodeck user. Break in was very short for me, not much change since new but there definitely is an "opening up" period over 20 hours or so. Absolutely sultry sounding with nice detail and good bottom when called for. A great tracker too!
I also found that raising the back of the arm about 2mm or so really brought out some nice detail. I've read elsewhere the AT33 likes to be a bit "tail up" and mine seemed to be no exception.
Input impedance makes a difference as well. I will need to see what I settled on (200 or 470 ohms - as I recall these are my options above 100) but it needs a bit more than the 100 ohm recomendation otherwise its a bit boomy to me.
Wish I could help with your azimuth issue, but I remember it being REALLY fidgety to adjust as the joint moves when tightening. Did you receive two hex wrenches with your table? I don't remember which one it took but if you needed the large instead of small, I could see where that would lead to problems.
I also found that raising the back of the arm about 2mm or so really brought out some nice detail. I've read elsewhere the AT33 likes to be a bit "tail up" and mine seemed to be no exception.
Input impedance makes a difference as well. I will need to see what I settled on (200 or 470 ohms - as I recall these are my options above 100) but it needs a bit more than the 100 ohm recomendation otherwise its a bit boomy to me.
Wish I could help with your azimuth issue, but I remember it being REALLY fidgety to adjust as the joint moves when tightening. Did you receive two hex wrenches with your table? I don't remember which one it took but if you needed the large instead of small, I could see where that would lead to problems.
ablakey
New Member
So far it's been a fantastic choice. The treble started out pretty hot and running through Klipsch Forte IVs it was very pronounced. About 12 hours in now it's mellowing a bit on the treble side and the bass is becoming more pronounced. I'm running mine through a step up I built using two vintage Newcomb TR 100 microphone transformers. It steps it up 20:1 at about 130 ohm into a homemade EAR834 phono preamp. Then from there a Rogue 99 preamplifier>Rogue Atlas amp. It's certainly the cleanest/crispest setup I've had. I think I paid than $700 with a Music Direct discount code so not a bad deal considering it has a boron cantilever. The soundstage it throws is huge! Was listening to Love Deluxe by Sade last night in awe at the soundstage. Needless to say I'm very pleased!
MoFi has been responsive thus far to my inquiry regarding the azimuth adjustment screw so I'm happy about that. Will see what the final decision is hopefully soon. He just needed to check and see if there was any reports of production issues with that part and what a solution may be. Would hate to have to buy a new tt for something so silly. Anyway, will post back when I hear. It's really the only issue I've had with the table other than the tonearm lift doesn't want to drop sometimes.
Thanks for the tip on tail up. I'll try that also!
It was 99% sure is was the UltraTracker that I ordered. (I assume) rebuilt into a MasterTracker body.
I feel like I updated the thread since that initial post, but in case I didn't. It was mistracking in about 6 months of fairly heavy play. That's an elliptical....which is what I said it sounded like. The lifespan pretty well confirms that for me.
When it went, I changed it to a 750SH. I like it fine. I wish I had a granular capacitance knob on the phonostage....I've got two sets of RCA cabling that's lower cap than normal...one it's a touch brighter than HD digital...one is a touch more rolled off (lower treble--see how the AT 500 engine reacts to capacitance changes)....be nice to use one of the other and vary the cap at the phono stage to in between.
I think I posted somewhere in this thread that it was crazy bright...that mostly went away with some break in. Now, it's so honest...that you'll have one pressing dull AF up top and some 80s pop record that makes my teeth hurt....one that's thin and bass-less down low...and another than it thunder of the gods pumping the subs. I am actually considering the nude elliptical for this cart. Snap it on for vintage pressings that were mastered FOR that....snap on the Shibata for modern stuff and less crassly mastered vintage.
So, I've found the line where actual fidelity in vinyl playback becomes a problem. Be careful what you wish for.
ablakey
New Member
So MoFi got back to me in regards to my azimuth adjustment screw that keeps coming loose.
They said I could send it in, and the whole arm would need to be replaced, which if out of warranty "could be quite costly". Or try purple or blue thread lock to see if that keeps it from coming loose. Honestly, I don't remember if it's still in warranty. I purchased it 4/25/23. If it's out of warranty I guess I'll begrudgingly try thread lock to see if that keeps it from moving and if it does hopefully I'll be able to get it to come loose if I change the cartridge. If its out of warranty and the thread lock doesn't work well then I may just upgrade to something else entirely.
Not sure how much "quite costly" would be, but as good of a table as it's been, I'm not sure I want to put a bunch of money in it. I've recently been eyeing a VPI Prime X, with a 12" Unipivot tonearm, so maybe I'll just use it as an excuse to upgrade to something new. I'll try the thread lock this weekend though and see how it goes.
They said I could send it in, and the whole arm would need to be replaced, which if out of warranty "could be quite costly". Or try purple or blue thread lock to see if that keeps it from coming loose. Honestly, I don't remember if it's still in warranty. I purchased it 4/25/23. If it's out of warranty I guess I'll begrudgingly try thread lock to see if that keeps it from moving and if it does hopefully I'll be able to get it to come loose if I change the cartridge. If its out of warranty and the thread lock doesn't work well then I may just upgrade to something else entirely.
Not sure how much "quite costly" would be, but as good of a table as it's been, I'm not sure I want to put a bunch of money in it. I've recently been eyeing a VPI Prime X, with a 12" Unipivot tonearm, so maybe I'll just use it as an excuse to upgrade to something new. I'll try the thread lock this weekend though and see how it goes.
displayname
Well-Known Member
If it’s going to require changing arms, I’d want to look into the potential of new arm options. But I agree, I’d likely move on from the table entirely. Very unfortunate that they won’t do much.
Certainly enough of a turn off to not even consider their new $6k table.
Hi @ablakey,
Just for reference, back in Oct 2021, MoFi quoted me $299 for a new tonearm. I messed up my azimuth screw by turning it the wrong way and stripped out the hex head. I took it to a shop to see if they could fix it and they couldn't, but since my azimuth was fine, MoFi said I could just use it as-is.
Overall, I've been happy with the performance of the table but it hasn't been w/o its problems (randomly shuts off, dust cover bumper fell off, and them not using a screw that's not so soft).
Good luck with it...hopefully they'll cover it under warranty!
Betelgeuse
Member
Well, that sucks. Don't know about purple threadlock but am familiar with blue and red. Definitely don't use red for this, its basically glue. I wouldn't expect issues with blue, its quite "gentle". Using either will be messy though, especially with small parts, and it needs to be cleaned off and re-applied anytime you loosen it ... a major hassle.
If it were me, I might try to re drill/tap the darned thing to maybe the next screw size. That's going to be a one way street, but maybe this is a "nothing to loose" situation.
If it were me, I might try to re drill/tap the darned thing to maybe the next screw size. That's going to be a one way street, but maybe this is a "nothing to loose" situation.
ablakey
New Member
Yeah not the happiest. For a $1,200 table, that's less than two years old, I would've expected more. Oh well I'll give thread lock a try and see if it hold it long enough to buy a new table.
HayesWeighsIn
Well-Known Member
Just tuning in here, @ablakey. That is an extremely lame response from MoFi. You get a lot of bang for your buck on what you get on their decks, but it's clear it's at the cost of poor service.
VPI can get backed up at times as they're a family operation, but I can assure you their service will absolutely scorch MoFi's. That is so lame. I'm honestly mad FOR you!
VPI can get backed up at times as they're a family operation, but I can assure you their service will absolutely scorch MoFi's. That is so lame. I'm honestly mad FOR you!
dansomeone
Well-Known Member
I'm seeing the warranty is three years, so you should be covered
Angsty
Well-Known Member
That Prime X is attractively priced. It's even a bit lower than the Super Prime Scout 21 (what a mouthful!) that Upscale Audio had been hawking.
ablakey
New Member
Thanks yeah VPI is what I'm thinking about. I tried the purple thread lock and it seems to be holding, but obviously not a long term solution.
ablakey
New Member
They closed the ticket on me. Lol I'm wondering if they have any more arms available the way they've been clearing them out.
Angsty
Well-Known Member
If you’re new to a unipivot, you may want to consider the dual pivot attachment to tame the wobble which is characteristic of this bearing type. Some people are fine with it in standard configuration.
displayname
Well-Known Member
Just a friendly reminder to grease your bearing. Quick fix to a slight speed warble we were getting. Probably would have been better for me to do it out of routine instead of need.
mindhead1
Well-Known Member
He said ‘grease your bearing’
