Ariston RD 40
A brilliant turntable. This one with an Ortofon MC20 cartridge. The arm is the one that it most likely came with, the Jelco SA 750 D, and the whole lot works very well together. The base is not original, the turntable can just sit on a flat surface but is better on a base, I have it sitting on a piece of marble (stone composite?) on rubber feet. There is also a record clamp as part of the original turntable, you can see it sitting to the left front next to the suspension leg.
When I found this turntable it had been a little neglected, it was out of alignment, it needed the suspension feet adjusting; the little knob on each pillar can be turned to set the correct suspension height. Remove the platter and you find the motor and pulley and also a spring that keeps the platter centred against the drive belt tension, this needed a little adjustment.
The more I listen to this turntable the more I like it, it betters so many other quality turntables; I have tried quite a few cartridges and found the arm "likes" many/most of them, it is very tolerant, the damping fluid makes the use of higher compliance cartridges possible without other changes such as lighter/heavier headshell (the Jelco's higher mass means it should ideally use a lower compliance cartridge).
Anyway it's set up now in a relatively small room, a little too close to speakers I would have thought, but suffers no feedback problems at normal listening levels, it sounds amazing even without a cover.
UPDATE: decided to give it a bit of a tidy up. I have disassembled and polished the three pillars and readjusted the suspension and cleaned it and now after adjusting the arm to suit the cartridge I'm now using most of the time... a Stanton 881, the whole combination sounds wonderful.
When I found this turntable it had been a little neglected, it was out of alignment, it needed the suspension feet adjusting; the little knob on each pillar can be turned to set the correct suspension height. Remove the platter and you find the motor and pulley and also a spring that keeps the platter centred against the drive belt tension, this needed a little adjustment.
The more I listen to this turntable the more I like it, it betters so many other quality turntables; I have tried quite a few cartridges and found the arm "likes" many/most of them, it is very tolerant, the damping fluid makes the use of higher compliance cartridges possible without other changes such as lighter/heavier headshell (the Jelco's higher mass means it should ideally use a lower compliance cartridge).
Anyway it's set up now in a relatively small room, a little too close to speakers I would have thought, but suffers no feedback problems at normal listening levels, it sounds amazing even without a cover.
UPDATE: decided to give it a bit of a tidy up. I have disassembled and polished the three pillars and readjusted the suspension and cleaned it and now after adjusting the arm to suit the cartridge I'm now using most of the time... a Stanton 881, the whole combination sounds wonderful.