The Winter Solstice

The Longest Night of the Year

Today the days begin to get longer.

Tyr and Odin got some special chewies to celebrate the holiday. This variety is notable for its lightness. It’s like the puppy chew version of a beignet or a croissant, flaky and really messy. The good news is that all of the little fragments disappeared without any need for cleanup, so they must have been yummy.

First, Some Coffee

And now to work.

The Telefunken Turntable and Bluetooth Upgrade

The Telefunken I worked earlier was still not performing up to expectations. I brought the turntable back to the shop and found that the cartridge was the culprit, or at least one of the culprits. After spending some time waiting for my renewed attention, I found that the replacement cartridge didn’t fit, so I ordered one that would work.

It needed to have some material added to the inside of the tone arm to allow the cartridge to be mounted. I used a block of foam to keep the weight down, though I probably didn’t need to worry: the new cartridge looks as if it weighs less than the old one.

I put in the old cartridge one last time to determine where it is positioned relative to the bottom edge of the tone arm. At right are the wires which have already been unsoldered from the cartridge.

This was the first of a considerable number of cycles of fit-epoxy-cure. The ideal position for the tone arm is on its back, and the best way to get it there is to turn the turntable up on its side and support it with a handy box.

I’ll take a moment to put in a little plug for J-B Weld ClearWeld in the double syringe. I used to really hate double-syringe epoxies because the caps didn’t fit back on right, so I bought bottled epoxies, but these would often go bad before I used the whole bottle. Epoxies “go bad” by failing to harden as designed, and I didn’t usually figure out that the bottle was bad until after it had happened. Cleaning off and starting over was a frustrating mess.

So I was really happy to find Clearweld with the special half-twist locking cap. It’s still a little challenging to keep the catalyst from contaminating the epoxy, but much easier than any other double syringe epoxy I’ve used. Way to go, J-B Weld.

The mounting plate for the new cartridge is final in place, and I’d added new clips to the wires. In an amusing twist, the wiring colors do not match the modern standard red-green-blue-white. Instead they are red-blue-black-yellow. A little work with the continuity tester got that sorted out.

The new cartridge has a tracking force specified between 4 and 8 grams, which is huge for a modern cartridge: my usual tracking scale only goes up to 5 grams. We’re a bit over at 9.87 gm. I adjusted the tracking up and down until I got it dialed in to 6.12 gm.

I tested the turntable with a test record and used it to get the output levels correct on the little Mackie mixer. Typically a turntable needs a phono preamp to increase the signal level up to line level, but a ceramic cartridge has a higher output, so it can be used directly into a line level input. It’s still a bit low, but it doesn’t need 40dB of gain.

I also got the upgraded Bluetooth receiver dialed in. Both of these are using the mixer both to make it easy to adjust the levels so the sources match and to use active mixing to get the stereo signals down to mono.

The final test before taking it to the Telefunken for reinstallation was to put a Neil Young LP on the turntable and the Grateful Dead on my phone and routed to the Bluetooth receiver. The top scope shows the varying signal level over time. Everything looks good and ready to go.

Time For Bed

The Solstice is over, and the sun is returning. Tyr says it’s time for sleep.

Thank you all for your kindness, your patience, and your good wishes. I’m wishing you a Happy Solstice, a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a really good holiday season of whatever it is you celebrate.

This blog is always just me and the pups. My apologies to Odin… Hmm, just a sec.

There we go. Be like Odin. Find a warm place and snuggle up.

I borrowed this Solstice blessing from my friend Melody:

“May you find rest in the silence, wonder in the dark, and joy in the slow returning of the light.”