British Expats - Electrical question

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Re: Electrical question

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steerpike (Post 12266494)

The different frequency (50 vs 60 Hz) may or may not affect the motor speed (depends on the type of motor) but most high-end turntables from the good old days used strobe markings on the platter to help you set the correct rotary speed. Those strobe markings were designed to 'stand still' when at the correct speed in 50 Hz or 60 Hz lighting. I THINK my old turntable had both 50Hz and 60Hz markings. So the issue isn't motor based but lighting based.

My turntable had the markings but also a light post at the side (like the one in the photo). So it was that light that you tuned the platter to not ambient light. Not sure if the input frequency would affect that light or not (but I assume it would)?

Re: Electrical question

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheepdip (Post 12266667)

Pretty sure that light is fed directly by the AC source, and thus, will 'blink' at the two different freq's based on where you are.

Re: Electrical question

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steerpike (Post 12266494)

.... As for the whole Hi Fi thing - I'm with HDWill below; I think it's largely a marketing thing and people really can't tell the difference. .....

While I understand the viewpoint of you and HDWill, there is a quality difference between a $5 transistors radio and the reference speakers in a commercial recording studio, and in between there is a spectrum of quality, with cheap brand "hifi" gear producing a sound not much better than the cheap transistor radio, and home "reference" hifi component systems that cost more than some new cars. I think the only question is where the law of deminishng returns kicks and spending more isn't worth it. IMO in the current market around $500 per component is definitely worth paying, $1,000 probably isn't.

That said, if someone has $20,000 to blow on high end hifi I wouldn't criticize them for it, because I would happily blow that much or more on a car that I really don't need and objectively speaking it still only gets me from the same A to the same B, and back again. :lol:

Re: Electrical question

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steerpike (Post 12266702)

Pretty sure that light is fed directly by the AC source, and thus, will 'blink' at the two different freq's based on where you are.

Make sense and as said before, the two sets of markings on the platter (well 4 actually, the two speeds at two frequencies) were for the two frequencies.

Re: Electrical question

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 12266710)

Yeah, it's all a matter of what bakes your cake :).

It seems to be a pretty common tendency for we humans to 'nerd it up' on something, whether it be cars, audio, computers, opera, or whatever. As long as the person realizes they are getting pleasantly obsessed for the sheer joy of it, I'm ok with that. It's when the person behaves like there is no other way anyone could possibly live that annoys me!