The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

The first VMS70's had the gray case but the slide and VA box were VMS66 green. The Master Cutting Room lathe which is now a Korean turntable was bought off the floor of the 1971 AES show and looked like I describe. They were supplied with a VG66 drive package and an SX68 cutter head.

I've got a question regarding past history of our lathes.. Last year, I acquired a Grundy assembled vms-70. I regret not having asked Al directly where exactly it came from. Bonati mentioned some were from Sterling and others from Masterdisk. Does anybody care to comment or add some knowledge about...

opcode66 wrote:The lathe is called a VMS70 but it wasn't produced and sold until 1974. Possibly that is where the confusion comes from. Some parts

The VMS70 was introduced in 1970. The SAL74 was introduced in 1974.

I have a lead on a JH110-M, which is sitting in storage in the building next door. The Studer transport would be preferable, obviously. However, the 110-M's flutter is not much higher than the stock ATR-100, according to the spec sheet I saw. Next door is a powerful incentive. It makes a nice pairi...

Lookin' good Andrew! Is that an A80 preview deck you have?

The parts in question are remnants. There are a bunch of CPU cards and some extender cards. When I bought the complete DisComputer lot from Sony (this is my stuff, an orphan box made its way to the shop) it wasn't enough to make a complete system. It was enough to make a few partial systems. If you ...

Yes, I don't think they were installed on LS76's. They were on normal Scully's and I remember seeing one installed on a VMS70 from CBS Holland. The box in question is almost entirely the CPU cards. No interface cards, chassis, ect. It looks like parts waiting for more systems to be built.

Isn't that what the trimmer pots on the PS66 are for??? Most cutting consoles had Preview Offset. This is more convenient and more repeatable than tweaking the programmer. The MDS-70 also has Preview Offset in sum/difference as well as L/R which is very handy. The MDS-70 is a companion piece to the...

Paul, are you saying that the lathe itself (not the amp rack) will have to be fed 220 no mater what? Yes. These I am assuming are the different taps for the 110 motor. According to the schematic I have there is only a single set of motor taps. You need the motor voltage to match the lathe transform...

For the VMS, I think that the transformers have taps for 110V and 220V I am fairly certain you are correct. A quick check of the schematic could verify this. The drive racks have a switch for different taps. The lathes were supplied for a single voltage. You also have to have the correct motor as t...

I think Clint has a 60Hz motor for it so the line frequency doesn't need to be changed. That makes it MUCH easier. I'd say just run a 220 line. If it's domestic power it should be easy as the service enters the house at 220VAC. If it's commercial power it is probably three phase with 208 per leg. Th...

A Y cable should work fine. To figure it out you have to calculate the load impedance as Andrew outlined. Then you have to look at the drive capability of the source (tape machine) and see if the source can drive the load to the necessary level with acceptable distortion and frequency response. A go...

I recently cut one of these. I did in on my Neumann VMS66. I figured out how to automate it so I can't be of much help. I tried doing it manually but was less than successful. At 20LPI it would be easier. I was at about 200LPI. I won't elaborate on my technique as it took a long time and a lot of ma...

The only difference between half nuts on all the Neumann lathes I've seen is round or rectangular. Both work on all models assuming there is the same sleeve type. I have seen both types of half nut on different models. I think the rectangular ones are the earlier version. My guess is that at some po...

I use an uncoated 14" lacquer blank to cover the turntable. I asked Apollo for the aluminum blank.

Or is it that it sacrifices iteself, rather than wear down the more costly leadscrew threads? I think that's it. Since you can engage and disengage the half nut you wouldn't want to drop a metal half nut on metal threads. I believe the VMS80 has a metal lead screw nut. It can not be disengaged. The...

I'm in for a round one. Did you do the reverse engineering measurements? How were the threads measured?

That is standard on the SX-68/74. There is a mount that holds it in place. The frame of the cutter head is tapped to accept a screw which holds the mount which in turn holds the tube in place. I doubt the assembly would fit the Ortofon. Have you checked with the Ortofon guy to see if he has any that...

piaptk wrote:can you fix it once you find out what it is doing?

No.

piaptk wrote:
So, my question is, is there an easy(ish) way to prepare your stereo files in mono to minimize the effect of phase cancellation.

The simple answer is no. It is inherent in the audio. The only way to solve it is to cut a stereo record.