Cutter head adapters, stylus adapters, and RIAA pre-emphasis

[jesusfwrl]

A study in mono: Accessories for monophonic cutter heads.

We recently worked on a few projects involving monophonic cutter heads. We basically had the heads and needed to test them, but no suitable stylus and only an AM44 available as a lathe.

One of the heads came with electronics, but the other one did not, so we had to put together a setup for driving it.

Step 1: Mount the mono heads on the AM44 suspension.

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For this, we had to machine special adapters. These are screwed onto the monophonic head and feature the round mount to fit the AM44 suspension unit.

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Blog Post: https://agnewanalog.com/blog/2018/10/25/lab-report-cutter-head-mounting-adapters/
Product Page: http://agnewanalog.com/products/mountingadapter.shtml

I can supply adapters to fit almost any head to any lathe, as long as there is enough space for it. Machined out of real aluminum, not 3D-printed. The adapter thickness and geometry is precisely calculated to make the mono head interchangeable with the Caruso head, without readjusting the suspension unit!

Step 2: Figure out how to fit one of our existing styli to these mono heads.

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As I mostly cut stereophonic masters, I have 320 and NSH-2 styli around, with a miniature taper shank. Vintage mono heads require a long cylindrical shank.
Super glue..?
Gaffer tape...?
No. Machining some tiny stylus shank adapters out of an aerospace aluminum alloy.

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This is basically a shank that will fit the usual mono heads, with a taper seat on one end, which will take a taper shank stylus (Transco 320, Adamant NSH-2, MyShank 320, Vinylike diamond, Souri diamond, etc).

Blog Post: https://agnewanalog.com/blog/2018/10/13/lab-report-making-cutting-stylus-shank-adapters/
Product Page: http://agnewanalog.com/products/stylusadapter.shtml

Step 3: Now that the mono head is mounted on the AM44 and has a stylus fitted, we just need something to drive it with!

A 1950's Cadillac Eldorado ...?

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Ummm...no... I meant cutting electronics!

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Many people already have a power amplifier lying around, so why not make use of it?

So here we present the Agnew Analog Reference Instruments Type 710 Pre-Emphasis and Cutter Head Protection Module!

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You can hook up your audio source (DAW, DAC, CD player, tape machine, circuit-bent casio toy keyboard, or anything else you like) or signal processing chain (equalisers, compressors, transfer consoles, etc.) to the 710, and connect this to your existing power amp, and it will drive your cutter head in style!

Blog Post: https://agnewanalog.com/blog/2018/10/26/lab-report-type-710-pre-emphasis-module-prototype/
Product Page: http://agnewanalog.com/products/710.shtml

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Happy cutting!

[sat159p1]

That's actually great thing! Do you plan to produce simple stereo inversed RIAA circuit only?

[jesusfwrl]

Thank you.
Yes, we can also offer a simple stereo unit. That would be the Agnew Analog Type 712.
It would essentially be two type 710 units on one box, without the protection fuse section.
Please email info@agnewanalog.com to discuss technical details and pricing.

Best wishes,
J. I. Agnew

[tragwag]

love this post, funny and super informative, thanks Jesus!