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Oracle Delphi on TM ?????


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I'm sure you TM lurkers have seen the Oracle Delphi currently for sale.

And I'm sure you have figured out by now I'm a sucker for a good looking turntable and the Oracle sure is a good looker.

It is being sold without a tonearm but I have a Sumiko MMT sitting idle at present and am being sorely tempted.

Do any of you have strong opinions or experience with this model both good or bad ?

I freely admit I know nothing about this turntable, but it looks so striking, and would look so cool in my cave.:D:D

Oh dear, what to do .......

Cheers

Graham.:)

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Yes when the Oracle -from Canada--first burst on the scene in the late70's J Peter Moncrieff

 

touted it as the LP12 beater. I owned a couple of the series -fine TT but be aware can be a bugger to setup with different colored Springs needed dependent on the weight of Arm cartridge deployed--it has to bounce all three points perfectly for optimum performance.

 

Interesting to see them still around with new current models--I did believe they

struck troubled waters a while back but seemed to have survived- as with the norm these days possibly a non Audio Hedge Fund /etc buying the company has saved their bacon.

 

The Sumiko "The Arm" is a near classic and should mate well.

 

Good listening

 

Des

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Yeeesss... it's been floating there for a while......:rolleyes:.. might have something to do with the price, but always hard to value low occurrence items like that.

I have only ever 'played' with one, and that was the original Mk1, (which that one looks to be)......and that was in 1988/89. Certainly has the looks, in a pretty North Sea oil rig kind of way.. but like you I find that attractive. I don't recall any issues with it other than being a little fiddly in set up, and the 'sound' was good, but again, though I have worked on many TT's, it was usually in isolation with little chance of direct A-B comparisons.

I can't recall the arm or species of cartridge other than it was MC.. though Ortofon MC20 rings a bell.

It was highly regarded in it's day.. mid 80's, and might even still have a review of it somewhere.

Also, again from memory, the record clamp was screw on with a slightly domed washer under the LP to apply downforce, which tended to split the record around the spindle hole if gorilla force was used...

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Hmmm,

 

I just had a squiz at the Ad--Smoke plinth--I'd only seen the early Clear ones--looks good obviously seems well set up-- he must know what he is doing--I've had the 505 Arm and it is a heavy mother!

 

To align and balance it on that table correctly is not easy so kudos to him.

 

I would say excellent buying at $1k going on appearance and presentation.

 

This is where you absolutely need the correct springs though for true balance--I know I tried to get a FR64SS + B60 to work on mine and it was complete failure.

 

Ah to be young and Stoopid again-ha!

 

Des

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Early 80's I think they were. I think soundline were the importer, I listened on one on a few occasions, always with the Dynavector arm, sounded great, but for the same money I bought my Gyrodec in 81, maybe the Oracle would have been a better bet ???

 

Actually heard an Oracle a few years back: still sounded really good.

 

IIRC there was a scare a few years back about the platters cracking with the force of the record clamp ?

 

I'm tempted too, but don't need another turntable: sharp price though I thought

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Des has the early Oracle summed up.

 

Beautiful to look at, maddening to setup.

 

Moncreiff reckoned they sounded 634 times better than a Linn, quickly proved to be bollocks.

 

The sticky mat was the key.

 

Using one on your Linn Sondek could produce results as good as or better than the Oracle.

 

Like a Linn, an Oracle can be a fiddler's dream.

 

The company is still in business so parts should be no problem.

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Oracle Delphis were made from ~1979/80. That one I'm guessing looks pre MkIV, which makes it pre-1987.

 

With very early Delphis, I recall talk about problems with warping of the spider-like, laminated alumin subchassis. As with any TT, the bearing condition is key. Those would be my main queries. And the cosmetic condition of the acrylic.

 

A beautiful creature. All that acrylic & big lightweight open frame gives open, airy sound. Hence, you can understand that the weighty balance of the SME V was reputedly a good match. Oh & I recall they originally featured a sticky, flat grey mat (a good idea IMO but encountered some customer resistance, later changed to hard acrylic in MkIV/V).

 

I'm sure that Graham would be able to master the suspension tuning ;)

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Daddy Dom;182920 wrote:
It is a lovely piece, Graham but all weekend I have been staring at
and am besotted. Broke, but besotted
:(

 

Ha!--I've seen Strong men sobbing uncontrollably trying to get those to work!

 

I suppose a true Audio masochist will treasure the challenge.

 

Des

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This Oracle is a Mark II & is identical to mine (I upgraded to the solid mat years ago- sounded much better with it than the old sticky mat).

 

I've owned mine for over 25 years & agree that the Oracle is easy to set-up but it doesn't want to stay 'set-up' if you know what I mean. The table can sound great in the morning, and awful that night- the reason, the Oracle is very sensitive to temperature variation. The warmer it gets, the poorer the table sounds. I think that either the drive belt or the motor are sensitive to changes in temp- you are at the mercy of climate gods unfortunately. Anyway, you end up having to adjust the motor speed regularly- and that isn't easy!!The reason is the motor on this model- the setting screws are very 'sensitive' so a small turn changes the speed a lot- BUT it takes up to 10 rotations before the new speed settles. It took me nearly 2 hours to set the speed correctly using a Sunderland Laser one morning- only for it to be running slow that night, then perfectly again next morning. Drove me mental!

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IIRC up to the MkIII they used the same problematic Pabst motor.

 

They also had a dodgy bearing in which the bushes would absorb oil and swell up, increasing drag and straining the motor.

 

The fix was to use a new MkV bearing, $$$$$.

 

I'm surprised they didn't get rid of most of their setup problems by ditching the springs completely and using solid sorbothane pucks or air suspension like rivals VPI.

 

The latest MkVI adds small dampers to each sub-chassis arm, it looks silly in a belt and braces way but is effective in stabilising the sub-chassis.

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Daddy Dom;182920 wrote:
It is a lovely piece, Graham but all weekend I have been staring at
and am besotted. Broke, but besotted
:(

 

Ditto.

 

I recall an Ariadne for sale a few years back, but something went amiss during transport of the heavy beast. Not sure if its the same one, but there can't be too many of them in NZ.

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neil;182939 wrote:
We've actually got a mint MkIV here right now with an FR64 and a Koetsu Black... nice, but I'd rather have a VPI Scout I reckon these days.

 

Is that a bit like saying an Austin Healy 3000 is nice, but I'd rather have a Nissan 300zx? :)

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I never had any issues with the Pabst motors. Although the bespoke Michell power supplies for them were expensive (but unfortunately did make a noticeable difference...). My Gyro is now DC, but I'm still not 100% certain that the DC motor is better !!

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Newbie;182942 wrote:
Is that a bit like saying an Austin Healy 3000 is nice, but I'd rather have a Nissan 300zx?
:)

(At major risk of turning this into a car thread ;)....)

 

Probably more like saying that a Porsche 911 Turbo is nice, but I'd rather have something like a Nissan 350Z these days :)

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I'd much rather have an Austin Healy 3000 than an equivalently priced 911 Turbo!

 

I thought the Oracle Delphi on TradeMe was a Mk1, but if its a mk 2 it will have the more reliable motor power supply?

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Michael Wong;182938 wrote:
IIRC up to the MkIII they used the same problematic Pabst motor.

 

 

 

They also had a dodgy bearing in which the bushes would absorb oil and swell up, increasing drag and straining the motor.

 

 

Don't blame the Papst motor, those 3 phase, outer rotor, (aussenlaufer sp?) motors are 2nd to none when it comes to driving a TT. With the right supply, there is no "cogging" at all. They have a proper thrust bearing and brass bushings. The only thing than can go wrong is the lube drying out, which isn't the motors fault.

 

Years ago i tried a few different types of motors, including DC (stabilized and not) and the Papst was head and shoulders above the rest. The DC motors were quiet, but lacked a certain vitality. Normal AC synch motors were better in that respect but sort of glossed over the finer points. The Papst had the best of both.

 

My new WRX is better in every way but one than my old 300ZX. The older car is prettier.

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Newbie;182947 wrote:
I'd much rather have an Austin Healy 3000 than an equivalently priced 911 Turbo!

 

 

 

I thought the Oracle Delphi on TradeMe was a Mk1, but if its a mk 2 it will have the more reliable motor power supply?

 

Nope, same motor (black square motor housing) I have confirmed this with the owner via the serial number- its definitely an early Mark II. Late Mark II's have the oval silver motor housing, which I'm told is more speed stable (but has a habit of dying after approx. 10 years of use!)

 

I have had LONG discussions with the designers of the Oracle Delphi about this very issue ( back in 90's just before the company went bust!, I had ordered the up-date kit which took 9 months to arrive, but Oracle generously refunded the cost due to slow delivery)

 

I agree, spring suspension of the oracle is 'old school' and must be temperature sensitive as well.

 

To be honest, if I was in the turntable market again, I would buy a Gyro!

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KevinO;182965 wrote:
[

 

The latest MkVI adds small dampers to each sub-chassis arm, it looks silly in a belt and braces way but is effective in stabilising the sub-chassis.

 

 

Have you actually heard one?

haha, is that invitation still open ?

 

;)

 

The (well documented) problem with earlier bearings was that some used Teflon bushings that would swell, that's direct from the Oracle.

 

What's all this nonsense about WRXs and 300ZXs - both naff !

 

An old Oracle is like more like a cranky old Porsche 911 than any Renault (except maybe an Alpine) or Peugeot.

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Michael Wong;182968 wrote:
[/b]

 

 

 

haha, is that invitation still open ?

 

 

 

;)

 

 

Anytime , fella. Might even let you sit in the sweet spot :D

Got the good Garrard up and running so you can compare ( Lignolab plinth , EMT arm and cart). Had CT over last week , he was stunned at how good the Garrard was sounding.

When you're next down , give me a bell.

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