Oracle Delphi mk1 Quick Restoration

[Ant]

Ta ali, im quite looking forward to it. See how long that lasts

[Ant]

Pic of the oracle with the Tabriz and the VM750sh on it

Oracle delphi mk1 roksan tabriz vm750sh by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

[Ray P]

Looking good Ant.

When do you start your new job?

[Ant]

Monday morning, went and did a recce run this morning to the sheffield office because i didnt know how to get there, wont be based there, that will be at templeborough but thats where the training facilities are and where the kit will be issued
Wouldn't do to come stumbling in late after getting lost on the way....

I also need to sort my work space out at home too but i have got while next friday to do that

[Ray P]

New job is for the environment agency, should be interesting, one week to go before i start.

So, Ant, how did the first day go?

[Ant]

Went fine ray, going into my office tomorrow to do some more kit setup and training, seems to be, on first impressions, a fairly slick operation and a decent buch of people

[Paul Barker]

Monday morning, went and did a recce run this morning to the sheffield office because i didnt know how to get there, wont be based there, that will be at templeborough but thats where the training facilities are and where the kit will be issued
Wouldn't do to come stumbling in late after getting lost on the way....

I also need to sort my work space out at home too but i have got while next friday to do that

I had to cover someone at Thames Foundry when I worked at Ford Woolwich Plant. Oh no it was when I had to do two weeks at Dagenham Engine Plant.

So did I reccy it? Optimism of youth, I was 21. So a Ford ferry goes from Belvedere day one arrived at Belvedere to watch ferry sail across to oher side, so drove round arrived mid day near enough. So you would expect day two I make sure I catch it? Nope same view of ferry , same drive round, same boss on other side.

How I kept that job I dont know. But sooner or later the Ford moto, last in first out applied, and I was redundant. Me a culpa. Learn from my mistake Anth

[Ray P]

Went fine ray, going into my office tomorrow to do some more kit setup and training, seems to be, on first impressions, a fairly slick operation and a decent buch of people

Good to hear that Ant. I should welcome you to the ranks of the 'lazy civil servants' as defined by the likes of the Daily Mail, and the like, in response to lots of us working from home.

[Ant]

Did a bit of playing around with the oracle yesterday.
I was puzzled when i tried it originally as to why it sounded so inconsistent and frankly abit crap with the sme on it, and why conversely it sounded good enough for me to buy it with the tabriz on it. It has bothered me for quite a while, because logic says the sme/dynavector combo should have been 'better' than the tabriz vm750sh combo.

So why?

I took it to bits again to see if there was something fundamental in the rebuild that id done wrong, or something i could point at as to what was going on.

I also downloaded a copy of the original manual to look at the setup instructions. I found a paragraph in the suspension tuning section that explained it.

It mentions a completely different set of suspension springs that need to be put in to allow it to use specifically a fidelity research fr64, which is what steve s has (had?) and explains that the standard springs are suitable for low to medium weight arms, but doesnt say what a low or medium weight actually is.

Apparently the fr64 with a damper thing on it is pretty heavy at around 2.5 pounds which is somewhere around 1.3 kilos, and thus needs a set of stronger springs which were available for it. The sme is of a similar weight. After looking at the colour codes while i had it to bits, the springs in mine are the ones it would have had as standard.....

Bearing in mind that it came set up for a 3009, and a tabriz is of a similar weight, this is probably why the tabriz sounds as it does and the 309 was rubbish. Far too heavy for standard springs

The specific set of springs that are recommended in the manual for heavy arms, are nigh on impossible to get. I spoke to peak hifi who have stopped doing the oracle maintainance kits with springs in, and didnt have any of the ones i wanted either.

So, the 309 isnt suitable for this particular mk1 oracle. Thats fine, the sme can sit there for now, and ill put it on the jbe whenever i decide to get round to it.

The chap at peak hifi also told me the belts are the same on all the models so i dont have to worry about getting a mk1 specific belt either. It needs a new one.

I cant be bothered to put it back together at the moment, but the plan is to turn up a blank arm board top section to match the bottom ring on the two part arm board, drill it for the tabriz or my unipivot, and get either of them properly mounted instead of bodged into the current sme top section..

At least i know why it woz orrible now.

[Ant]

I had a day off today in order to go to an appointment with emma, so i decided to fit the 309 onto the jbe.

Didnt actually take very long, just had to modify the arm board with an sme cutout. Having a milling machine makes these things much easier. Was nice to use some tools and do something again.

Got a little bit of a listen to it before phone calls intervened, work mobiles are a necessary evil i suppose, at least it was just a 'where do i find this' type call. I'll have a proper listen tomorrow

I got a mogami arm cable for it as it didnt have the original one, seems fine, a yannis tome one. I just could not be bothered to make one.
Im debating wether to make an adapter plate to fit over the sme cutout on the oracle arm board so i can fit my unipivot onto it. Will see

[Ant]

Having listened to a couple of records this morning, the 309 makes much more sense on the jbe. Sounds very good, basically how it should do. Nice and neutral top to bottom, no particular emphasis from the arm anywhere. the slight peak in the upper mid that has been there with evey single arm i have ever fitted to this deck is still there, that comes from the slate plinth itself.
I understand that 'analytical' or 'boring' quality that people on an internet like to wave at the sme 300 series the 4 and the 5, i put it down to the fact that the arm doesnt seem to have any extra zing, sparkle, whatever.

Oddly, it seems to have similar characteristics to my unipivot, insofar as i was aiming for a clean sound that was not there with other arms i was using when i built it. This arm seems to do that too. It sounds clean. Like the air bearing arm did, but not to the same degree. Like my unipivot does. The airprodigy was the cleanest one ive ever had, as it should be.

my favourite 'bought' arm is the audiomods series 6, a brilliant arm that i cant afford, the 309 and my unipivot get pretty close but that arm is still better. It just sounds so natural. For me anyway, but im rather happy at how the sme works on the jbe, and happy that my unipivot is in my opinion, as good as.

Need to make a new arm board for my arm for the oracle ...

Onwards!

[Ant]

Got my arm set up on the oracle. Not too difficult until i got to the last stage, dressing the arm cable. I got a mogami one to go with the sme 309, so i thought id try that one. Too stiff to dress it as i want to, it impedes the chassis bounce, should have seen that one coming.
Have to try the standard roksan one that came withthe tabriz next...

Onwards!

[Ant]

Dont appear to have a suitable cable. None of the other ones i have are any better. That was entirely predictable.
God sake

[Ant]

Put the tabriz back on it, that'll do.
Not that it will get listened to much, just for something to do. But i did get frustrated with it this time.
I also remembered to connect the extra earth wire on the tabriz arm cable to the chassis this time, might cut down on static pops, we'll see.

I really need to have a clear out of all the stuff i have, theres just so much hanging around
I might just keep the jbe and the benedict audio phono stage because i cant bear to part with the jbe, and the jvc, then get rid of the rest

Sometimes you just get tired of it

[Ant]

I but the bullet and decided to buy another arm cable with a 90 degree din plug on it, didnt go mad, just went with a 40 quid job using van damme xke silver plated stuff. Nothing fancy.
I debated on the mogami cable again, another tenner, but just went with the van damme because i was struggling to get the 309 on the jbe set up and sounding how i wanted it to. It was getting right on my tits, sounded dull and just well off what it should.
Finally worked out what was causing it, and it wasnt the arm cable, which i ruled out after some time faffing with various different things, turns out it was me not reading the manual for the arm correctly.....
So, i am now back to being happy with the jbe/309, i shall have to wait until the new cable arrives to have another play with the oracle. Doubt it will be during the week, probably next weekend now.
Gives me something to do