Delphon turntables

[Hinkkanen]

In the system thread I started earlier today I mentioned that I have a Danish Delphon G1 under restoration and promised to tell more later. Well, now is later, so here goes.

I got interested in Delphons after reading Joachim Bung's excellent book Swiss Precision, mostly about Thorens TD-124 but also about many other classic vintage turntables. I started to hunt for a Delphon and at last found one at the eBay, machinery only with no arm or plinth. There was some competition but at the end the auction ended with me as a highest bidder but didn't met the reserve. After some negotiations with the seller I ended up with the machine with the price that was not too steep. It was in good running condition, so I started planning for the plinth with a friend of mine who is trained carpenter. The result looked like this:



The picture is really a dummy since the arm is not yet really installed. It is ESL Gyro/Balance S-1000 since every Ortofon from the right era I tried to get was too expensive in the end. ESL was made by Ortofon and had the right looks and the right price and this example was also modified to take standard Ortofon/SME headshell. As to the Decca lift in the picture, I'm probably not going to use it. The table looks better without it.

This project came to standstill early last year because of the apartment house where I live went through serious renovations (plumbing, sewage, water pipes, the whole works) and I packed up most of my personal property and moved away for many months. After returning I had enough to worry about at first but a few months ago I dug up the Delphon and started to plan the finishing touches. As of now I believe it will be ready quite soon but you never can tell until you have really finished...

Then a few pictures of the project. Many of you might have seen them before since I have used them in my blog and they turn up every time when searching pictures of Delphons. First Delphon as it arrived:



Serial number plate. Note that it seems to say GS5 but number 1 is picked out with silver, so I believe this is G1. I have noticed that some Delphons I have seen in the eBay have been mislabelled as GS5's which they clearly are not since Delphon GS5 was the  flagship of the brand, a large transcription table, and I believe very rare (pictures here and here). If the plates were all like mine, then misreading is easy, whether accidentally or on purpose.



Idler wheel



Motor



...another view



...and still another



There seems to be too many wires here...





And that is not all. I have another Delphon, this one in original plinth. This is where I found it (pictures here are quite bad, lost my camera and had to do with an ancient and quite a bad one):









According to serial plate (similar to one pictured above) this is Delphon GS1. What I'm going to do with it, I haven't decided. As it is in the original plinth it might be worthwhile to restore it with a suitable original 50's Ortofon arm and and an A-series SPU but it will be expensive, something I can't afford just now.

That's about all for now. Will post new pictures when I have something new to show.

Juhani

[GP49]

The picture is really a dummy since the arm is not yet really installed. It is ESL Gyro/Balance S-1000 since every Ortofon from the right era I tried to get was too expensive in the end. ESL was made by Ortofon and had the right looks and the right price and this example was also modified to take standard Ortofon/SME headshell.

I thought something was strange, since the S-1000 in your photo has no counterweight!  I have an ESL S-1000, and I always look carefully when someone posts a photo of one.

Fortunately, yours apparently is the later version with four pins in the tonearm connector, and you were able to convert it for use with standard headshells. 

If you decide to actually USE the ESL S-1000, check its vertical pivots by balancing the arm and seeing how freely it teeter-totters.  If it looks good, all is well.  If not, remove the acorn nuts, locking nuts and pivots (they are short 4-40 screws ground to a point). Check the condition of the ball bearing races in the arm.  If the ball bearing races are OK, look at the pivots.  My S-1000 was sticky (it was worse than the tonearm on a Garrard Type A record changer) and the cause was blunt, poorly finished pivots.  If yours are like that, carefully chuck the pivot screws in a drill; then file them to a point and polish them.  On my sample, that process set them right.  Actually what I did was to make new pivot screws out of 4-40 threaded rod, but if you are careful, you can rework the original pivots.

[stiften]

Interesting to see Danish Delphons again.

I have three such restoration objects standing on a shelf - the most interesting has been used as a mobile discoteque in the early fifties:

http://pedipsen.dk/delphon.wmv

Unfortunately the turntable is the only thing left from the discoteque.

All of the shown Ortofon/Fonofilm A and C cartridges have dry rubber suspension that is no longer available, and there is no spare parts, so either they are for display only, or I will have to refine my DIY skills. My first attempt ended with an open coil...

 

I'm not sure how well these tables would perform today (when restored), although Hans Henrik Mørch some years ago made some very fine turntables on basis of the Delphon GS6. You can see some here in a Danish hi-fi forum:

http://www.hifi4all.dk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=74863&KW=m%F8rch+dacabo&PN=0&TPN=2

Regards

[Hallvard]

All of the shown Ortofon/Fonofilm A and C cartridges have dry rubber suspension that is no longer available, and there is no spare parts, so either they are for display only, or I will have to refine my DIY skills. My first attempt ended with an open coil...

 


Regards

I'm curious how different the old Fonofilm carts are from the new CG25 and CG65. Do these have the same suspension type. Though maybe Ortofon don't want to sell the suspension rubbers from the new ones separately?
Sorry for a slight OT here, but it's not that far fetched since both Delphon and Ortofon are Danish....

[stiften]

The old suspension was two small straps of natural rubber wound around the axle that holds the coil and stylus in a plastic "bridge".

The new suspension is made of O-rings made of better, modern synthetic rubber that will last almost forever if you are not too young...

Basically the old cartridges could be rebuilt, as the magnet-system and stylus/coil-system is similar (talking the C-cartridge here, the A has a wider cantilever).

But there are no parts available for DIY people, so the way to get a new cartridge is to swap the old one for a new one at the factory. Or try to DIY the old ones with rubber from for example a pipette like a Russian pen-pal has done.

I have not yet listened to such a repaired cartridge, and it will be a hit or miss getting it to sound like the original, as the suspension - soft or hard, thick or thin - contributes to the voicing of the cartridge.

I have tried to repair a cartridge but failed as I wasn't skilled enough to avoid breaking a coil. But I have only for some time lost my confidence that I will someday succeed - with better technique and tools (stereolupe).

Regards.

[zuzi]

I see photoes of new turntables from danish forum and I must say that in my opinion they look as "real turntables". Pure and simple.

[mosin]

Hi,

I never heard of a Delpfon, but what I find really interesting is that the motor suspension is a lot like the one I use in the Saskia turntable. It is amazing to me that whatever you think of has been already done by someone. I thought the nitride spindle was mine only to discover that some Australian had done it before. Then, I thought the o-rind=g dampers on the platter were mine only to discover that they already exist on yet another turntable. Oh, well. I suppose the trick is to combine the ideas, and hopefully think of one or two that you can claim as your own.

Win

[Hinkkanen]

It is ESL Gyro/Balance S-1000 since every Ortofon from the right era I tried to get was too expensive in the end. ESL was made by Ortofon and had the right looks and the right price and this example was also modified to take standard Ortofon/SME headshell.

Just a few days ago I received a nice G-type Ortofon headshell to be used with Delphon. It didn't come cheap but I needed it for the right period looks. Haven't yet decided what cartridge to use but certainly something with a round needle profile that fits inside the shell as there isn't much that can be done in the way of exact setup (recommendations welcome). I also decided to use a counterweight from 12 inch Bang & Olufsen ST/P instead of ESL's original as being black it looks better than ESL's original silver one.





Juhani

[velociamator]

Hello, I have the GS-5D version of this, with the same motor (mine is the 60-cycle version). The only issue is that the motor is noisy and vibrates, and I haven't had any luck adjusting it. If I could get the motor quiet, this would be the perfect turntable (at least for me).

[a91gti]

 That rolltop turntable may just be the coolest thing I have ever seen! Imagine the surprise when, in company, you suggest some music and head for the desk!

[Hinkkanen]

Today I took some better quality photos of my second Delphon, the one found inside rolltop desk. First some general pictures:



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Then some detail shots, first the serial number plate. Note that number 1 is picked up with paint. I believe it means that this machine is Delphon GS1 even if there is number 5 embossed:



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Then the pickup and the logo above the headshell:





...and remains of the Delphon logo on the top plate:



Speed changing mechanism, there seem to have been only 33 and 78 rpm available. The speed change knob at left front corner of the top plate was disabled by locking it in one position when I found this tt:



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And the onwards to the innards:



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The tt was started by turning the tonearm outwards. The mechanism looks like this:



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I'm not sure if the mechanism also worked as an auto stop. It's possible, perhaps even likely.

Then the motor and and the original speed changing mechanism:



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These look quite similar to my other Delphon.

That's about it. I have made some restoration plans and have early Ortofon tonearm available but it is a mono version with only two pins and finding a working 60 years old pickup might be difficult and also expensive. We'll see...

Juhani

[bobyk]

Here is my fresh buy - one is GS1 changer and one is GS5. Wonder what king of cartridge feets to GS1, man I bought it from said it is something very unique.