Linear Tracking

Most likely a Technics SL series LT turntable. I was just researching it.

Patched into a small system:


Nando.
 
That video may be private or removed.

It doesn't go there if I am signed in either.
 
Last edited:
YouTube capped my video as they thought I might be profiting from the music.

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Nando.
 
Rabco had a good design for the Harman/Kardon ST-6-7-8 group of tables. I hated the SL-8E arm, ugly as a corpse blown from an explosion, and if I recall, ran on "C" cells.

The Rabco arms on the H/K tables used a rotating cylinder which was tracked by a tire in the carriage at the rear of the arm, as the arm deviated from 90° the tire played "catch up" against the cylinder. Purely mechanical, very reliable, and SIMPLE! The arm was a bit fiddly to setup and required a lot of baby sitting to get it just right. Reaction time was sluggish as compared to an electronic tracking system.

I like those, I had an ST-8 and an ST-7, but the big drawback for me was that the tonearm was the headshell- no quick exchanges of carts were possible. Adjustment of VTA had to be done by inserting shims between the cart and the mount, and overhang on LT tables really MUST BE ABSOLUTELY ZERO for perfect reproduction, and cart dimensions from stylus point to mounting holes will vary.

Although there was a pitch control, the speed seemed to drift more than I like.

Despite this, I keep looking for a good condition ST-8 from time to time.
 
MarkWComer said:
Rabco had a good design for the Harman/Kardon ST-6-7-8 group of tables. I hated the SL-8E arm, ugly as a corpse blown from an explosion, and if I recall, ran on "C" cells.

The Rabco arms on the H/K tables used a rotating cylinder which was tracked by a tire in the carriage at the rear of the arm, as the arm deviated from 90° the tire played "catch up" against the cylinder. Purely mechanical, very reliable, and SIMPLE! The arm was a bit fiddly to setup and required a lot of baby sitting to get it just right. Reaction time was sluggish as compared to an electronic tracking system.

I like those, I had an ST-8 and an ST-7, but the big drawback for me was that the tonearm was the headshell- no quick exchanges of carts were possible. Adjustment of VTA had to be done by inserting shims between the cart and the mount, and overhang on LT tables really MUST BE ABSOLUTELY ZERO for perfect reproduction, and cart dimensions from stylus point to mounting holes will vary.

Although there was a pitch control, the speed seemed to drift more than I like.

Despite this, I keep looking for a good condition ST-8 from time to time.
Click to expand...

I had an H/K table for a while - I found it needed too much fiddling, so I moved on. My current "daily driver" is a Sony - direct drive, P-mount, linear tracking, and I'm happy with it, given that it's plinth is plastic.
 
Lazarus Short said:
I had an H/K table for a while - I found it needed too much fiddling, so I moved on. My current "daily driver" is a Sony - direct drive, P-mount, linear tracking, and I'm happy with it, given that it's plinth is plastic.
Click to expand...
Yeah... the "fiddling." it's endless with that sucker!

I'm probably doing some future research for when the Pioneer craps out, and that Mitsubishi looks mighty pretty!
The Pioneer is marvelous... Love it until death!
 
MarkWComer said:
Rabco had a good design for the Harman/Kardon ST-6-7-8 group of tables. I hated the SL-8E arm, ugly as a corpse blown from an explosion, and if I recall, ran on "C" cells.

The Rabco arms on the H/K tables used a rotating cylinder which was tracked by a tire in the carriage at the rear of the arm, as the arm deviated from 90° the tire played "catch up" against the cylinder. Purely mechanical, very reliable, and SIMPLE! The arm was a bit fiddly to setup and required a lot of baby sitting to get it just right. Reaction time was sluggish as compared to an electronic tracking system.

I like those, I had an ST-8 and an ST-7, but the big drawback for me was that the tonearm was the headshell- no quick exchanges of carts were possible. Adjustment of VTA had to be done by inserting shims between the cart and the mount, and overhang on LT tables really MUST BE ABSOLUTELY ZERO for perfect reproduction, and cart dimensions from stylus point to mounting holes will vary.

Although there was a pitch control, the speed seemed to drift more than I like.

Despite this, I keep looking for a good condition ST-8 from time to time.
Click to expand...
I was checking out the HKs on eBay, a 7 and an 8 nice looking but that whole headshell thing not good. But hey, they were proud of the people o put this on the 7.s-l1600A3GYI7V0.jpg
 
They had those vertical linear tables with a cassette deck and tuner at our ELI'S Records and Tapes store in the mall in the early 80s (Sharp?) Nope, Mitsubishis. The place also had Clarion, Pioneer and Alpine car audio and a demo booth. Damn, the 80s were something else.
 
Wheel-right said:
What's your favorite cartridge that you use on this beauty Mark?
Click to expand...
I’ve been using an Audio Technica AT440MLa, but I’ve also had an Ortofon Super OM30 and a Shure M97xE.

The Ortofon was tricky to counterbalance due to the low mass, I had to make a different counterbalance with casting resin and lead pellets. The Shure had nice body to the sound, but seemed a little vague in the upper frequencies. The Audio Technica seems a bit on the bright side with regards to the mids and highs, but has a good punch in the bass.

Both the Ortofon and the A/T seem to be a good choice for this. When they were shipped, the PL-L1000 (PL 8000/II) came with two counterbalances to account for low mass carts, but since I bought it used, all the extras were missing.

I’d love to get my paws on a V15 Type III...
 
Wheel-right said:
What's your favorite cartridge that you use on this beauty Mark?
Click to expand...
Actually, I originally had the PL version of this ‘table back in 1985, I find it hard to remember what I didn’t have mounted on it! The Ortofon Concorde 30 looked the coolest (but that was when I had the accessory counterweight). Pickering V15/ATE-4 was nice and warm, but the conical point didn’t do well with HF in the inner grooves. I used that mainly for the 12” 45rpm singles.
 
I use the Shure V15 III on my Dual 1229Q changer. Nice vintage cartidge.

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Nando.
 
On my Pioneer PL-630 I use a Pickering XSV/4000 cartridge. Another classic worth trying.

DSC06304.jpg

Nando.
 
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