Devon DL-160 with Phono1

[Daniel Quinn]

I am sure DSJR will know far more than me on the specifics of this turntable , but a general rule is never transport a TT whole , Take it appear - platter , arm , bearing and pack separately .

[_D_S_J_R_]

Use the stylus guard if the owner still has it!

Remove the top platter and belt and place/pack separately. Make a cardboard shim around the diameter of the inner hub (which is 5 or 6 inches diameter approximately) and cut a wide and deep 'U' shape in it. This card is then slipped under the inner hub and should act to basically lock the suspension up in all planes as well as lift the ball bearing in the end of the bearing spindle away from the thrust plate. A couple of two inch strips several inches long placed under the hub either side of the bearing shaft works well too and for a car journey, there's no need to remove the hub as everything is better locked up the way I describe.

The SME arm is pretty tough, even the delrin? knife-edge bearings on the 'Improved' models, but if you wanted to minimise risk, the counterweight could be unscrewed off the rear boss and this together with the bias weight, could be stored separately - the bias weight can be spiralled round the outrigger too for car-transit quite safely. The smaller tracking weight 'weight' can be left in situ for a car journey and if it's removed, you risk losing a tiny spring and stud - been there and done it in the past A cable tie around the arm-rest clip (I can't explain in words how SME dressed their elastic band around the arm rest/clip assembly, but it's a doddle to do in practise and easily shown). I'll try though.. Small 1" diameter elastic band, over the black plastic arm rest assembly with one end of the band under the black arm-rest, place arm in rest anchored with its clip and wind the band around it so the free end then acts on and anchors to the raised clear part of the 'clip' thereby holding everything in place

That's about it really. Any more can be offered (via PM if you like to save forum space/sarcasm) once you have the deck at home... Hope the above helps...

Try to get the owner to supply all SME instructions, templates and protractor etc. as it helps with the arm's resale value later on. I got all of mine on eBay and keep them by still.

[tomblackford]

Wow - fantastic, thanks for all the detail - that's going to be incredibly useful. I'll print that out and take it alone. Good tip about not removing the smaller weight!

[tomblackford]

I think I managed to get the TD-150 home without trashing it. As predicted it's clearly a big step up from the project - just loads more detail and air. I was switching between Spotify (via HifiBerry) and the turntable and thinking how incredible it is that a nearly 50 year old still has the measure of half-decent modern kit.

Dare I say it, that might be me done on new gear for a little while.

Thanks to all for help and advice.