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Full Range

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An album from 1973 by an Australian band that only released 2 albums 

 

One of the first bands (Australian) to sign up with the Mushroomlabel. Also the first act to open the 1972 inaugural Sunbury Pop Festival.
 

Artist - Madder Lake

Title - Stillpoint 

 

Album ID - https://www.discogs.com/Madder-Lake-Stillpoint/release/2369925

 

66-EF9732-7-C30-415-D-BA70-36-E2-DF286-C

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1 minute ago, Full Range said:

An album from 1973 by an Australian band that only released 2 albums 

 

One of the first bands (Australian) to sign up with the Mushroomlabel. Also the first act to open the 1972 inaugural Sunbury Pop Festival.
 

Artist - Madder Lake

Title - Stillpoint 

 

Album ID - https://www.discogs.com/Madder-Lake-Stillpoint/release/2369925

 

66-EF9732-7-C30-415-D-BA70-36-E2-DF286-C

Great cover art!

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8 hours ago, AndreG. said:

Gather, all ye tinkerers!!

Thanks Paul and friends.   I will be sharing more of the story this evening.   Lets just say, my elderly neighbor Ellen had exactly what was needed :emotion-21:, and then some !  :D

 

Until later, enjoy your evening/day.

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1 hour ago, JohnJ said:

I feel the pain right with you brother @dirtmudd we both had valid reasons to put our gear away for the time being.

Can tell you the middle one will take you back a few decades!

@ Budokan  was my first vinyl purchase , than followed by Toto Hydra , and Pink Floyd The Wall...

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Good evening friends (good morning Paul).  

 

Ok, here in Music Hall, put together some photos of what NOT to have happen to your beloved turntable.    Here is only a moment after the mishap.DSCN7102.jpg

DSCN7107.jpg

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However, my good neighbor Ellen had some old audio gear that I have recently had to learn SO much about quickly.

 

Now, in the place of the Dual 506 sits this lovely B.I.C.  960 made in 1976 !   It was a nearly 3 day project getting all moving parts freed up from the grease that turned into 'glue'!  And many youTube channels showing how to restore them.

 

This one is in the same condition that I kept my Dual in and had been in her basement storage for years.  Here are some photos I just took.  Note, the centerchannel is now UNDER the TT :DIMG-0297.jpg

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Now, if ANYONE knows of the ORIGINAL manual center spindle, let me know.   They can't be found anywhere!  Ellen could NOT find it, since they used this one in automatic mode.  I can live with that, but the manual spindle finishes off that open area at the center of the platter nicely.

 

Wasn't it B.I.C. that started the belt drive craze?

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....Right after getting the 960 up and running, the ORIGINAL stylus (Shure Hi Track) was still in place.  Not knowing the actual condition, I did play a little of one LP after setting things up.  Sounded just fine, both outer band and inner most band.  But, decided to go on a hunt for a quality replacement.  Again, hard to find, although, MANY are available from China with mixed reviews for only about $25.   

 

More searching brought me to the 'Tonar' site (Japan).  So, for around $65, I just recieved this after about a two week wait yesterday.   Yet to be installed.......IMG-0299.jpg

IMG-0300.jpg

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1 hour ago, Tigerman said:

Good evening friends (good morning Paul).  

 

Ok, here in Music Hall, put together some photos of what NOT to have happen to your beloved turntable.    Here is only a moment after the mishap.DSCN7102.jpg

DSCN7107.jpg

 

59 minutes ago, Tigerman said:

Yup, she's bent...........tried to fix that, and pretty much finished it off  DSCN7113.jpg:(

https://doctordual.ca/sortable-portfolio-3/

 

 

 

https://www.dual-parts.com/product-category/parts/

 

 

 

http://dual-reference.info/Contacts/SCmain.html

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I had a BIC 960 that I bought in 1977, based on a favourable review in Consumer Reports, along with a Yamaha CR-1020 receiver and a pair of Dynaco A-25 speakers.  Not long after, I moved in with a woman who had a comparable stereo:  Technics receiver, Technics direct drive turntable, and BIC speakers, possibly the Formula 2 model.  Both of us had better-than-entry-level bookshelf speakers.

 

Her Technics turntable (I think it was an SL-1800) was totally manual, but performed perfectly.  The BIC 960 could change records (stack them, really) and I think it would lift off at the end of the LP.  However, its control and operating mechanisms were mostly rods made of what looked like thin coat hanger wire, and the belt needed to be fussed with every few plays.  I got really familiar with removing the platter, sometimes to remove the belt to clean it with alcohol, or because the belt had fallen off the platter.  The platter has a little lug on it that’s meant to guide the belt back into position after you reinstall the platter.  Hook the belt onto the little lug/spike and around the sub-platter on the underside of the platter, so it stays in place, then lower the platter onto the turntable, give it a couple of spins and the belt moves right into place.

 

The “high-tech” suspension for the turntable was 4 rubber balls, but they were too firm for the light weight of the turntable, so they might as well have been rigid.  The turntable was really light, since the plinth was just a big clear plastic tub, similar to the dust cover, but inverted, with four pieces/faces of thin veneered wood glued to it.  I later had to glue one of the faces back on.  My general impression was that this was the most minimal device you could call a turntable.

 

Meanwhile, the roommate’s heavy, solid-looking, and totally manual Technics turntable spun records, with no fuss whatsoever.  I didn’t play many LPs between the mid-Nineties and 2005, because the 960 and the Shure M91ED cartridge that it came with, and the upgrade M95ED that I installed later, seemed to add a scratch or two with every play.  I thought this was normal, because that had been my experience with every record player I’d ever used.  To get around that, I’d play each record just once, to record it onto a cassette.  This meant the LPs were preserved, and it was a handy format, plus I could play music on cassettes in the car stereo.  I gave away the BIC turntable around 2002-2003.

 

In 2005, I was determined to put together a proper stereo system, so I bought a well-used Technics SL-1400 MkII turntable with a low end Audio-Technica cartridge.  I didn’t have high expectations, but I was quite impressed with the sound, and the records didn’t seem to acquire a scratch with every play.  This was great, because I had boxes of records from the Seventies and Eighties that had only been played once.  Finally, I was hearing what I had been reading about in the hi-fi magazines for all those years.

 

The next year, 2006, I found a pair of La Scalas at the same vintage hi-fi shop where I’d found the turntable, and away I went.  In 2010, I bought a new Technics SL-1210M5G turntable, one of the last ones, and I’m still happily playing it today.

 

All that to say that you can find a much better turntable than the BIC 960, but you’re in an emergency situation, so it may serve you until you find a better machine.  Condolences on the loss of your fine Dual turntable.  That was a tragedy, but it gave you an excuse to trade up.  If you trade up at every instance where something needs to be replaced, you can end up with a pretty fine stereo.

 

Happy listening, and happy hunting!

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1 hour ago, Tigerman said:

Now, if ANYONE knows of the ORIGINAL manual center spindle, let me know.   They can't be found anywhere!  Ellen could NOT find it, since they used this one in automatic mode.  I can live with that, but the manual spindle finishes off that open area at the center of the platter nicely.

 

Wasn't it B.I.C. that started the belt drive craze?

thorens td 150 or the ar turntables

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