WTB: Neumann VMS 70 or 80

[wwhoodoo]

Looking for a Neumann VMS 70 or 80. Any leads would be appreciated. In the US, but willing to consider moving a European one if it is in good working order.

[opcode66]

FYI, as ConcreteCowboy just found out, with a European VMS you would need to source an American 60hz Lyric motor for the platter. Or use some other motor... The rest of the power for the VMS is swithable by rewiring the intrenal transformer and flipping a switch or two to put it on the correct voltage.

[Greg Reierson]

I'm also looking for a VMS66 or 70. Lathe and electronics only. I have a head.

Thanks,

[concretecowboy71]

Al sold me a motor for my Euro lathe. There were not many more motors there when I picked mine up. We used a 220 volt, 60 hz motor because the 110 motor they had felt frozen. The lathe can be wired to run that way no problem.

Dietrich might have a line or one or two, you should PM him.

Prices are high right now. I got a very fair deal on my Euro lathe, but build in quite a bit for crating, shipping, customs, taxes...you get the picture.

[dietrich10]

I have 3 potential VMS70 coming my way (potentially) and two have warm homes waiting....
its so dry!

[fraggle]

oi dont take that stuff over from europe we need it here too. the us is big enough:)

[dubcutter89]

oi dont take that stuff over from europe we need it here too. the us is big enough:)

Or make a fare trade: 2 Scullys for 1 Neumann

[fraggle]

"Or make a fare trade: 2 Scullys for 1 Neumann"

thats exactly right.
we need them here:)

[dubcutter89]

and most important: stop selling lathes to audiophiles!
they are not made for playback!!!
and if everyone sells his just for $$$ there will be no new records anymore...

[concretecowboy71]

I saw a VMS 66 go to Korea to become a turntable.

It was the motivation for me to purchase a second machine.

Seems kind of sad for these machines to become that...

[Phinster]

lathes make lousy record players don'tcha know..

[Aussie0zborn]

Unfortunately the Koreans are big on lathes for playback. This was discussed in detail here : http://repforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/topic,29801.15.html but unfortunatley the photos of all these lathes in Korea are no longer linked. In any case, following the discussion will give you the idea of how crazy the Korean audiophioles are.

[dietrich10]

that thread with the photos was amazing

[Angus McCarthy]

That makes absolutely no sense... You need the big beefy machines to keep things spinning while you cut. There's little reason to have that much torque for playback unless you're cueing up discs like in the old DJ days - and even then, there are plenty of broadcast and transcription TTs out there that still serve just as well.

Sounds to me like somebody got a crazy idea into his head one day and everybody decided to follow suit without really thinking things through; the "factor of cool" don'cha know...

[maniman]

Yes , I thinking something similar , are really good TT around the world (ClearAudio , VPI , Thorens , Rega , Lenco , etc etc etc ) to sacrilege a Lathe in that way , and the really important its have a moving magnet cartridge with a dedicated pre and etc etc etc , not ? Crazy Insane people around the world.

[Serif]

For a non-contrarian, but decidedly not-anti-phono-phile perspective on this digression, I got a belt drive tt motor for repro which has better specs than the one used in the LS-76 The Lathe (MCI ASA-2500 tape machine capstan motor with a custom flat sided pulley over the ceramic shaft - two different board circuit evos). Using a massive lathe turntable for repro is great for its fly-wheeling effect. Super Fly. What makes no sense is dismantling a lathe for parts. They are very hard to come by and yet so many divers instruments are wanted all at once: Gas Flow reduction and flow metering, microscopy, dip-stickery, radius measurement (in diameters - yuk, yuk), chip suction extension tube!!!

Below, is the FFYX / MA-11 reference repro turntable motor. 0.01% RMS flutter. mounted on two Home Depot bricks. Uses LS-76 mylar belt, pulled in front of table instead of behind... The motor controller is on the black credenza, behind the microscope. For cutting, the MCI will still be used.




So, I have made available to other LS-76 mechanics (at cost) pairs of ShortyBoardz, which are simple extender boards for the LS-76 cage cards. Proper length boards would be nice, but they are hard to find and to manufacture would be more costly since it would require a nice pair of supporting arms external to the cage and the card would have to have only 22 pins but be as tall as the old-school Scully cards. My work-a-round involves using new old stock Ampex ATR-100 I/O extender boards (which are only 4/5 long as the Scully cards) and keying out the slots which correspond to chits in several (6/7) of the LS-76 cage card edge connectors. By not being as long as the card rails, the first 1/5 of the Scully card that is being extended by the Ampex card is what keeps the Scully card vertically stable. The Ampex (card) extends the Scully (card), and the Scully makes steady the Ampex. It is adequate extension of the card under test for almost every conceivable test one might need to make in situ...









- Spike Volta

[Angus McCarthy]

Indeed, Serif. When I think of "audiophile" turntables, big, external belt drives are exactly the type of system that comes to mind. There are some real beaut's out there.