Seabreeze Record Player

[maxhifi]

This followed me home today. The idler is good, but the capacitors have totally had it, and the cartridge is marginal. It's in nice condition though and I like the drive mechanism, I have never seen another like it.

[radiotvnut]

I believe that unit was actually built by Voice of Music (VM).

[maxhifi]

It's made by Seabreeze in Toronto. It's full of Canadian parts, Robertson (square drive) screws, Canadian capacitors, tube, power cord, etc. Seabreeze is a company in Toronto who made/make fans and electric heaters. I think they made the motor itself in Canada, but licenced the design for the mechanism from VM. I have another Seabreeze with a changer, which is also a Canadian VM clone.

The cartridge is a made in Holland Ronette turn over cartridge, and I have to figure out what to do with it. The tonearm won't readily accept another form factor like a 1/2" mount, and I would like to make this thing stereo compatible.

[maxhifi]

Here is the cartridge. Need to figure out what to shoehorn in as a replacement.

[Celt]

What tubes does it use?

[maxhifi]

A single 25L6 and a selenium rectifier (last picture in first message is the schematic). As it sits it needs a mono turnover cartridge with 3V output. I want to try and find something stereo compatible with a diamond stylus. I am not entirely opposed to changing the tonearm. Keeping tracking at the 5-8 g range is perfectly fine, the intended application is dollar bin classical records, it's not going to be competing with the big system in the living room for access to my treasured records.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by maxhifi

It's made by Seabreeze in Toronto. It's full of Canadian parts, Robertson (square drive) screws, Canadian capacitors, tube, power cord, etc. Seabreeze is a company in Toronto who made/make fans and electric heaters. I think they made the motor itself in Canada, but licenced the design for the mechanism from VM. I have another Seabreeze with a changer, which is also a Canadian VM clone.

The cartridge is a made in Holland Ronette turn over cartridge, and I have to figure out what to do with it. The tonearm won't readily accept another form factor like a 1/2" mount, and I would like to make this thing stereo compatible.

It's obvious, that the unit is built by a metal fabricating firm. I like the metal deck, vs the cheap cardboard decks, used on many entry level phonos. The speed control mechanism is quality.
I always seemed to have grief replacing the Ronette cartridges. The ones used in the VM 1200 series, never seemed to fit right, when using Astatic replacements.

[maxhifi]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

It's obvious, that the unit is built by a metal fabricating firm. I like the metal deck, vs the cheap cardboard decks, used on many entry level phonos. The speed control mechanism is quality.
I always seemed to have grief replacing the Ronette cartridges. The ones used in the VM 1200 series, never seemed to fit right, when using Astatic replacements.

The quality mechanical construction drew me to it, usually I avoid picking up stuff like this, because I probably won't use it once it's fixed up and it takes up space, but this one was just too cool to pass up!

The electronic design layout me scratching my head... high impedance input wiring going through the same grommet as AC line wiring, zero thought given to avoiding ground loops in the layout too. I think it must be that people didn't mind a little AC hum in their audio at the time this thing was made. That and the 4" speaker is incapable of reproducing 60Hz.

I have a few generic replacement pickup arms, which I acquired over the years. One of them is a stereo one, made in Japan of course. I am thinking to just swap the whole arm, and see if the output is strong enough for this single tube amp. I only worry that the stylus is some crappy sapphire which will be hard to find a replacement for.

If not, I am thinking to use a single op amp to boost the gain. I could take 25V from the filament of the 25L6, and use a half wave rectifier followed by an RC filter and a voltage divider to get some DC for the op amp. The drain would be so low it wouldn't affect the filament of the 25L6 and I could use a small piece of perf board mounted up under where the arm is installed.

[Olorin67]

with just a single tube amp, you will have difficulty finding a cartridge that has high enough output. I think all the currently available ceramic carts are under a volt in output. One route is to mount a high tracking magnetic cart somehow (such as a DJ cart) and add a pre-amp. Definitely a bit of a project if your tonearm wont take a 1/2" mount. the plus side, is better sound quality. 25L6 isnt a very sensitive tube, there are later output tubes that had higher gain for applications like this, such as the 50EH5 and its equivalents , those might have enough gain to handle the currently available cartridges. Most players I've seen with a 26L6 put the tube in series with the motor and use the motor to drop most of the voltage.

[maxhifi]

Originally Posted by Olorin67

with just a single tube amp, you will have difficulty finding a cartridge that has high enough output. I think all the currently available ceramic carts are under a volt in output. One route is to mount a high tracking magnetic cart somehow (such as a DJ cart) and add a pre-amp. Definitely a bit of a project if your tonearm wont take a 1/2" mount. the plus side, is better sound quality. 25L6 isnt a very sensitive tube, there are later output tubes that had higher gain for applications like this, such as the 50EH5 and its equivalents , those might have enough gain to handle the currently available cartridges. Most players I've seen with a 26L6 put the tube in series with the motor and use the motor to drop most of the voltage.

I just picked up a set of capacitors for the amplifier over lunch hour. Will see what's going on once that job is done tonight. I think the amplifier needs about 3V (RMS) for full output. I did notice that the existing cartridge is not dead, so maybe it will be as simple as finding a new stylus for it once the cap job is done. I am a little afraid that the existing cartridge lacks vertical compliance, but I will figure out what to do.

[maxhifi]

Old cartridge is just fine! All this thing needs now is a new stylus, for good measure. Dollar bin Miles Davis sounds great! I used the insulation from the wires on the filtered cap as sleeves for the new capacitor wires. If only all projects were this easy!

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by maxhifi

Old cartridge is just fine! All this thing needs now is a new stylus, for good measure. Dollar bin Miles Davis sounds great! I used the insulation from the wires on the filtered cap as sleeves for the new capacitor wires. If only all projects were this easy!

What did you do for a stylus? I see the stylus was broken off. Did you use the 78 stylus for the LP?
The fork type stylus used to be less than a buck, for the saphire replacement 1 mil stylus.

[maxhifi]

Believe it or not it's the 78 stylus which is broken off, the LP one is intact.

[MIPS]

I would of just held it with super glue and then reinforced it from the back with JB weld.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Olorin67

with just a single tube amp, you will have difficulty finding a cartridge that has high enough output. I think all the currently available ceramic carts are under a volt in output. One route is to mount a high tracking magnetic cart somehow (such as a DJ cart) and add a pre-amp. Definitely a bit of a project if your tonearm wont take a 1/2" mount. the plus side, is better sound quality. 25L6 isnt a very sensitive tube, there are later output tubes that had higher gain for applications like this, such as the 50EH5 and its equivalents , those might have enough gain to handle the currently available cartridges. Most players I've seen with a 26L6 put the tube in series with the motor and use the motor to drop most of the voltage.

After reading this thread, I had to re-try my one-tube wonder. It's a Decca with a BSR changer and a single tube 25EH5 amp. The circuit is similar to the Seabreeze and most of the others.