Good grief! I dread to think what life would be like if I had to put up with that as well!
Well,while getting to the bottom of my elusive dash warning lights for front and rear fogs, this came through the postbox.
It’s a copy of the original service manual for the music centre! Had to get it from Germany but it’s exactly what I wanted There’s a full parts list with it but I’m not convinced I’ll be able to order anything direct from HITACHI
Still, it’s good to have one of these to hand. Re ongoing 12" woofer issue on the LEAK 2060’s, I’ve bought a pair of “as new” aftermarket replacements as a temporary solution. Paid £20 for the pair and collected them earlier today. 8ohms 20 watts from a Japanese company called TTC, can’t find anything out about them online. I’ve replaced the faulty sandwich speaker with one of these and it sounds fair. Will do the other one as well, at least they will be matched.
Barrie
Couple of pics of those big woofers
They are in almost new condition, a bit of a bargain!
Barrie
When I bought the Hitachi SDT-7785, it came with two original Hitachi cartridges, both mounted in Hitachi head shells the one fitted to the tone arm works perfectly and sounds good to my ears, not that it’s any sort of recommendation
Anyway, the replacement stylus is a DS-ST104, I need one for the second cartridge. I’ve searched, they are available but not the cheapest thing, £25-35 typically. I’ve found that the Audio Technica ATS12/12E stylus is a perfect replacement for it and it’s only £14. I guess, at the time, Audio Technica were producing their cartridges for other manufacturers under brand names?
It’s obviously a low end generic cartridge but more than adequate for my needs at this time. Will give me two fully working original cartridge/stylus set ups
Barrie
They were producing for Pioneer back in the early-mid 1980s
I wouldn’t be surprised if the turntable itself was an Audio Technica deck as they supplied those to other (Japanese) audio companies too.
In my various searches, apparently SANYO at the time had the same (or similar) turntable? Marketed by HITACHI as the unitorque direct drive and allegedly unique to them? Who knows, I certainly can’t remember, even though I was around at the time
Barrie
Just a few of the compatibilly for this stylus!!
Akai AFN 2, APN 5, Audio Technica ATS 10, 11 ATS, ATS 12 e, VM 8-7 D CEC MC 12 S, Columbia / Denon DSN28, Crown XA AM 2, AM XA 86, AM XA 90, AMXA 5 General S 100 L, Hitachi DSST 26, DS 104, Kenwood N 32, N 33 ST, N 41A, Mitsubishi 3 D 40 M, NEC LP 7000 D , Onkyo DN 27, DN 32, Sansui SN 43, Sanyo 35 VD, VD, Sharp 36 ST ST N 20 D, RP 203 H, 202, 213, 703, Technics STY STY STY / National Panasonic EPS 30, EPS 34, 35, 35 ED, Teletón DST 17, Toshiba EPS EPS N 14 DY, N 52 DY, N 53 DY, N 59 DY, Victor / JVC DT 31, DT 31 B , Has 11 TD, TD 11 B and Yamaha 6500 and the following cells: Audio Technica AT 10, AT 10 L, AT 11, AT 12 E, AT VM 8, CEC MC 12, Columbia / Denon JM 12 Hitachi VFS 260, 261 VFS, VFS 261 E Kenwood V 32 V 33, V 41 A, Mitsubishi MAG 3, Onkyo OC 27 V, OC 32 V , Sansui SV 43, Sanyo MG 35 V, 36 V MG, Sharp C 950, VM 8 H, Technics / National Panasonic EPC 78 EPC 78 ED, EPC 82, Toshiba C 260 M, 29 M, 52 M, 53 C C C, C 59 M, Victor / JVC MD 1014, MD 1014 B, 1001, 1001 B, Yamaha CG 6500 DM DM.
I guess Audio Technical were quite busy at the time.
Barrie
Hi Bettabuilda.
Hope you don’t mind me saying, but I would advise not scrimping on the replacement stylus. The stylus is the first link in a Hi-Fi system and it has a very significant effect on the sound quality. It doesn’t matter how good the rest of the system is, if the stylus is poor quality you will not be able to realise the full potential of your system. There is a definite pecking order in the quality of stylus types. From worst to best this being: Spherical, Bonded Elliptical, Nude Elliptical and best of all “line contact” styli such as a Shibata profile. The greater proportion of the cost of a cartridge/stylus assembly is the stylus itself. Cartridges are relatively cheap (unless you go to really high end “moving coil” cartridges).
As with most Hi Fi equipment such items follow the law of diminishing returns. Personally I would not consider a spherical stylus as being Hi-Fi and the minimum standard you need would be an Elliptical stylus of quality, preferably from the original manufacturer of the cartridge. There are plenty of cheap generic copy Elliptical styli on the market, which from previous personal experience are very poor. The compliance of the stylus mount needs to match up with the cartridge and the tracking force. A poor stylus will spoil your listening experience and could potentially wear out your records much quicker. I would say that to get a good return for your money you need to invest at least £50 in a good quality Elliptical stylus. Please accept my apologies if it sounds like I am trying to teach my Grandmother to suck eggs so to speak.
Cheers.
Absolutely no apologies needed thank you for your advice! My knowledge on all matters HiFi related could probably be written on a grain of rice or possibly a pin head
I do just love tinkering and getting these old set ups back to working condition, providing they are able to be resurrected easily enough. This current music centre is a good example of that
The stylus I’ve bought is an Audio-Technica ATS-12 and is a bonded elliptical 0.7mm type. It’s going on to a HITACHI branded Audio-Technica AT-12 MM cartridge which is the set up I’m currently listening with on the other working cartridge. I’ve mentioned before but the budget is quite a limited one
However, one day, I’m going to treat myself
The most I ever paid was with the AIWA AP-2200 deck for a GOLDRING E3 and stylus, I paid all of £73 for that, new, from Richer Sounds.
What I do like though, are all the variations of equipment and accessories available for a lot of this retro stuff, I enjoy it like I enjoy tinkering with the car
Seriously though, a couple of paragraphs here, from folk who have that knowledge and experience, is worth reading, thank you again for your contribution.
Barrie
Good choice Bettabuilda. AudioTechnica have manufactured some excellent cartridges/stylus combinations .
d
Ha, yes indeed! Not sure mine is one of them though From my unqualified research, this AT12 cartridge was used on many, many tone arms by a lot of manufacturers back in the day. To be fair though, due to its longevity and popularity, there are loads of replacement stylus available. I don’t expect my replacement to be genuine but you never know
Barrie
Doesn’t directly answer the question but suggests that the Hitachi motors and a lot of other parts may have found their way into other manufacturers products.
About Hitachi…
Unknown to many people, Hitachi (like Sanyo and Toshiba) were major Japanese tech firms that either directly built systems for other electronic companies or had Hitachi high end parts (like output transistors) inside the competitors products. Class G is just one example of Hitachi’s leadership in vintage audio technology. Power MOS FET amplifiers, R&P 3-head system cassette decks, Uni-torque turntable motors and gathered-edge metal cone speakers are just some of the others. There’s a lot more. Hitachi of Japan was one of the companies that made their own filter caps, transformers, etc…in-house. They also supplied many other famous names with Hitachi-made components (like Pioneer, Sony, even Marantz used Hitachi parts.)
Text unashamedly lifted from here -
Great stuff Paul
I have a “thing” about these 70’s Japan audio companies, at that time, they were brilliant. Unfortunately companies like AIWA, that made my mini separate systems, when bought out by Sony, became the cheap end of the market, using the name only. Certainly looks like Hitachi were very good at that time and my latest system predates my AIWA stuff by a couple of years. Just shows how designs and styles were changing. I’m actually sat watching some TV as I type this but can’t help glancing at the music centre, resplendent with its aluminium fascia/knobs and associated shiny bits
Barrie
So many labels that were once top quality are now being stuck on cheap tat. Goodmans and Wharfdale were once audiophile only but now…
Go back 10 years or so and if you bought a Panasonic TV you knew you were getting a top end product. I currently have a 32" Panasonic LED TV in the conservatory. It’s not bad at all and was surprisingly cheap. A little bit of research revealed the reason. It’s actually made by Vestel. One of the companies that produces cheap sets for anyone who wants them including the supermarket brands that you have never heard of.
If I can also suggest (assuming I am ok in this thread) - vinyl passion dust buster for cleaning the stylus. It isn’t a liquid chemical cleaner (some of those can cause harm to the cartridge), but a little pot of ‘gunk’ that you gently lower the needle onto and it cleans off any crud.
Clean needle, clean records - will protect the records and stylus and minimise any ‘snap, crackle & pop’
You are more than welcome here I will have a look out for the product you suggest, thanks. I do actually need to get sorted in that department generally as I’m listening to more vinyl now. The majority being my youngest son’s relatively small collection. Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out double album ‘Time Further Out’ being my current go to album
Barrie
Thanks Ultraviolet. I have just ordered some myself.
The manual for my Ortofon cartridge advises not to use solvents to clean the stylus tip. I am not sure whether this is because the solvent can possibly affect the elastomer stylus cantilever mounting or the bonding of the diamond stylus tip to the cantilever (mine is not a bonded mounting but is a “nude” type diamond mounting, so this would not be the case). However the amount of gunk that that the stylus picks up particularly on new records (wax release agents used during pressing?) can be surprising and just trying to clean with a stylus cleaning brush can be ineffective. As a results I have been using solvent cleaner but very sparingly. I can remove the head-shell from the arm and hold the stylus vertically so as to prevent solvent from running onto the elastomeric cantilever. A bit of a faff. I have heard of people dropping their stylus onto a piece of Bluetack but never fancied doing that myself. Anyway thanks for the great tip (no pun intended!) .
Cheers,
FirstRiderOff.
Yeah, it is the potential solvent damage to the mounting that is the main issue, but also if you are not careful, a slight slip and you can do so much damage.
I used to use a AT ultrasonic device that you carefully lowered the stylus onto - but since discovering the Dust Buster, I would recommend as the safest even if you can occasionally be a bit cack-handed.
If getting into vinyl, I would also suggest a vacuum record cleaner - Project sell a good one that is cheaper than a lot of competitors, or if you can do DIY, you can self build a Moth kit. They take space and are noisy, but could make charity shop finds playable, and also will extend the life of both your records and cartridge. I even clean brand new records before playing them!
Having been “into vinyl”* for many decades I concur that vacuum record cleaners are very useful, if not essential pieces of kit, but they do tend to be NOISY!
I’m sure my one is noisier than my household Dyson!
- When I “got into vinyl” there wasn’t much alternative. The introduction of the “Microgroove” LP by Capitol in 1948, rapidly adopted by the whole record industry, ended the era of 78rpm acetate “albums”, multiple records for classical pieces and film scores etc. with their sleeves bound together like a book/album, the acetate 78rpm “single” did last longer but canny buyers went for the unbreakable 45rpm vinyl versions and 78rpm acetate’s were dead by the end of the '50’s.