Neumann AM131 in a newbie's hands!

[vinyvamos]

Hi folks. I have been lurking here, reading and learning for the past three years. It was ever since we realised that there was one cutting lathe here in Iceland that had been in storage for many decades. There was once one other lathe here as part of the only pressing plant that was ever here, but that all got scrapped in the 1990s (I know!!). Anyway we have now managed to remove this lathe from it's dusty tomb and we have it in storage here. In regard to how big of a project this will be, we are trying to shake off the naivety, knowing that it will be a long road of learning and work. We have already built and now run the only fully functioning analog tape studio in the country, Studio Silo (www.studiosilo.is). Here we spent five years constructing a five room facility to Acoustician John Brandt's design. So I hope the lathe will not take us quite as long

The lathe is a Neumann AM131 complete with 50Hz Lyrec SM8/3A and two MS 52H heads. It is sitting on a ZT32 cabinet strangely enough. The cutting amp is missing. The SE2 EQ unit is there as well as the vacuum pipes with chip jar etc (no vac. pump). The driveshaft from motor to turntable is also missing. We have no documentation yet except for some motor drawings from Flo. We are in no rush with this epic project, and it is two of us who will work on it. I have extensive knowledge in electronics design while my buddy has a lot of experience in phonograph setups. We are also both regularly rebuilding ancient gear. Firstly we need to completely disassemble it and clean and re-lube everything as it is all stiff right now. The motor turns freely by hand with minimal bearing rumble, but Flo has advised us to disassemble it and replace all the grease.

There also came a quantity of both 12" (~50pcs) and 16" (~60pcs) lacquers with the machine, all very old and mostly from Pyral. Storage conditions have been ok the past few years but who knows before that. I had been in touch with Mike Papas and got a lot of great advice from him, and he said that these might not be usable at all, or maybe just for some test cuts on a blunt stylus. Styli is one issue as we will need an adapter to fit anything currently available into the MS52H (right?).

Attached are some photos of the 131, currently sitting in our storage room. Any advice that you can give, especially specific to the AM131 would be very helpful in order for us to get it running in it's original state.

All the best from snowy Iceland!

Vinny

[basplin]

I don't know anything about Neumanns, but maybe get in touch with flozki (Flo Kauffman) as I know he has a ton of experience with them. I hope you keep us updated as this looks like an awesome project!

[dubcutter89]

Great find!
I have some documents about the AM131, feel free to contact if you need something specific!
Should not be too hard to get this one going - mostly mechanical stuff that if not bent or rusty just needs a clean & oil job and then it should be good again!

MS52h needles are rare (as you see in my footline I'm always searching for some - maybe it is time to do an adapter and use standard styli available...

Cheers
Lukas

[dubcutter89]

BTW - cool studio!

[vinyvamos]

Yes I have been in touch with Flo over the last few weeks and he has given me some very good advice. As for documentation Lukas, it would be great to get some wiring diagrams of the lathe, and also the ZT32 cabinet as it will just save me time tracing what is in there. Cables have been chopped that went to the power amp, probably due to the person taking it wanting the mating connectors too (GRR!).

I know I will probably re-wire everything but it is nice to know how it was meant to be.

One question; Will an SX suspension box fit straight onto the AM131?

And how does the original vacuum pump look like? Is there a modern one that many people use? What air rate/vacuum pressure is required?

[vinyvamos]

BTW - cool studio!

Oh thanks! And thanks for checking it out!