Speed issue on a USB turntable

[piaptk]

Hey, I've got a $100 Ion USB turntable that has some wow and flutter... really only notice it on sustained piano notes, but was wondering if it is just something I've got to live with, or it is something that can be fixed...

[concretecowboy71]

Belt drive or direct?

Look for a slipping belt.

Sometimes the motors have screws to adjust the speed and those need cleaning.

[MEGAMIKE]

hi
this new wave of turn tables with combos or just the usb ones seem to me to be cheaply made and i have had this play back problem too.
wow flutter,arm picks up too early at the end and the audio is tinny .

i personaly think its the generation gap .the old skool turntable know how was explaned incorrectly to the new makers of turntables. so things like wow and flutter are not important for a machine that also has a mp3 player and cd/usb.

[monkey1553]

Piaptk,

If it's one of those Ion portable tables they can be pretty bad. I had one with bad wow and flutter that was helped quite a bit by applying some light oil to the spindle. I can't remember exactly how the thing was constructed but you should be able to lift off the platter and oil it that way. You may be asking about another Ion table but those portable ones have such a small platter that some lp's, like those ultra thin early 70's rca records actually bend enough to drag on the top sides of the turntable. Pretty hilarious.

-Michael

[blacknwhite]

i personaly think its the generation gap .the old skool turntable know how was explaned incorrectly to the new makers of turntables. so things like wow and flutter are not important for a machine that also has a mp3 player and cd/usb.

BINGO.

monkey1553, cool tip about the oil, will try - though I never use mine except when I'm crate-digging, so don't really care anymore about trying to force it to sound decent...

The problem with at least SOME, as monkey1553 mentioned, is some have cheap thin plastic turntables which have NO MASS to speak of, therefore no inertia, no flywheel action. (Apparently, no one who was designing that seemed to know that was important...) so all the flutter from the cheap DC motor makes the turntable speed flutter.

I decided a couple years back to get a battery-powered Ion USB turntable, also about $100, for record-hunting, and it has this same issue.

Solution: Add mass to the turntable. I do it by putting a thick, heavy old 12-inch 78 rpm record on the turntalbe first, then whatever other record I'm playing on top of that. Smoothes out the flutter problem perfectly. A couple of thicker heavier-weight 12-inch LP's should do the same.

[piaptk]

The 12" shellac idea is good.

This is a DJ style, non-portable turntable, and I really only use it because it will play 14" lacquers, which my 1200 won't. I use it exclusively for testing my lathe cuts after I cut them, and I have noticed multiple times where a groove will skip on the ION, but not on the 1200. But, I figure if I can get it to play right on the POS ION, then hopefully it will play alright on people's turntables when they buy it.

[opcode66]

I use it exclusively for testing my lathe cuts after I cut them

Do you not have a tonearm on your lathe?

and I have noticed multiple times where a groove will skip on the ION, but not on the 1200

How do you have your counterweight set? For testing cuts I put mine all the way back. The tonearme is overly counterweighted. And, therefore skips very easily on bad cuts.

[piaptk]

I use it exclusively for testing my lathe cuts after I cut them

Do you not have a tonearm on your lathe?

I WISH. You have one for sale????