How hard is it to set up a Galibier turntable?
Don't confuse a Galibier with a kit.
Galibiers are much simpler to set up than suspended turntables. Like any precision instrument, a few parts are packed indivdually
in order to ensure safe shipping and arrival of your turntable. A small degree of assembly is required. These steps are
the same ones a dealer would perform on any quality turntable.
Perhaps the best way to look at this is to recognize that many of our customers are returning to analog after a 10 or 15 year courtship with digital.
In that time, they have become habituated to plug and play operation and remote controls, and yet setting up a Galibier has
presented no problem to them - other than requiring a cursory degree of attention and tender loving care.
In less time than it takes to drive your turntable to the dealer for its annual "tune up", you'll be spinning vinyl.
Check our
installation/assembly
manual (opens in new window)
(note - links to manuals are found on their respective product pages)
for details and photos. A quick assembly overview follows:
- Position the base and motor pod on your shelf
- Install the bearing and fill it with oil
- Insert the stainless bearing spindle into the brass housing
- Install the platter
- Fit the belt around the platter/motor pulley and position the motor pod to tension the belt
- Spin the platter for a few minutes to allow the bearing to settle into place
- Install the arm
- Align the cartridge
- Play music!
- Repeat last step until ecstasy subsides!
If you've ever installed a cartridge on your tonearm, then you've performed the most complex operation required. We've even
simplified cartridge alignment with our armboard design (see below).
Galibier's philosophy is to demystify the process of installing and maintaining your analog rig. These web pages provide
you with the knowledge to keep your 'table running.
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Why the pivoting (articulated) armboard?
Four reasons:
- Superior setup precision
- Ease of cartridge setup
- Flexibility to try 12" tonearms
- Capability of using two tonearms (front pillar accepts 2nd tonearm)
No worries about mounting or drilling errors, as the rotating (articulated) armboard, in conjunction with the arc-style
alignment protractor we provide for all arms we sell allows you to precisely set the correct pivot to spindle distance.
The traditional method of adjustment - moving the cartridge fore and aft it its headshell slots can find the user
vainly attempting to compensate for a minor drilling (mounting) error to compensate for an incorrect pivot to spindle
distance. Depending on the degree of mounting error (we're talking 1 or 2 mm), this might be impossible to compensate for.
Reference the next section on setup procedure for more information.
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What is your recommended cartridge alignment procedure?
Our recommended procedure begins with a "rough" setup - rotating the armboard so that the pivot to spindle distance is within
1-2 mm of specification. This is not as difficult to do as it sounds, and the exact mounting point (pivot to spindle distance)
is fine tuned with the use of your alignment protractor.
We have found that arc-style protractors allow you to perform this adjustment with a degree of precision which is impossible
to do with a two-point protractor - irrespective of brand, materials (reflective surface), and construction. The difference
is audible as reduced distortion.
We provide arc-style protractors for all tonearms we sell (made of card-stock) as well as for many other popular tonearms.
Once you have precisely set the pivot to spindle distance with your arc-protractor, lock down the tonearm pivot bolt and
perform the remaining adjustments by sliding the cartridge fore and aft in the headshell slots as well as rotating it to
line up the cantilever on the crosshair of the protractor.
This has traditionally been a source of frustration for owners of two-point protractors - repeatedly lining up the
cantilever on one of the two points, only to return to the 2nd point to find it out of alignment. This process
typically ends up with the owner settling for "good enough", and never returning to optimize their setup.
With an arc-style protractor, this procedure is greatly simplified, as only one alignment point is necessary. This is
predicted by the math for pivoted tonearms. Two point protractors were developed in order to be universal - for all tonearm
lengths. This is certainly a manufacturing advantage as well as a cost advantage to the consumer.
We have addressed both of the above points by printing dedicated protractors on card-stock for a large range of tonearms.
Over time, we'll fill in our database.
Note that for tonearms with fixed cartridge mounting points (e.g. Schröder, SME), slight variances are introduced because
the distance between the cartridge mounting bolts and the location of the stylus (ahead of this mounting point) is not
standardized in the industry. Frank Schröder makes the following comment:
"(should be 9,25mm, varies between 7 and 13mm depending on manufacturer and cart)."
Reference his
Schröder DPS Tonearm Manual (opens in new window)
, for more information.
With a two-point protractor, this is not problem - apart from overall difficulties noted above. Depending on the
variance of your cartridge from the 9.25mm statistical norm, you may well still achieve better results from a dedicated
arc-style protractor made for the "wrong" length than from a two-point protractor.
We have produced an analysis of exaggerated errors which will never occur in real life - the case of a cartridge whose
cantilever is 12 mm longer than the norm as well as one which is 11 mm shorter (a negative cantilever length).
You will note in the attached drawing, that even these extreme theoretical cases, the arc traced by all three effective
lengths (including the ideal mounting) varies by only a small amount. A 1-2 mm cantilever length variance error will be
proportionately less.
Click here for the drawing
(opens in new window).
Of course, for owners of SME's and Schröders, we can provide you with (for example) protractors that span the range of
cartridges you own. In the case of a standard Schröder (effective length = 239 mm), we can provide you with protractors
for 238, 239, and 240 mm. We can do the same for owners of SME and other fixed cartridge location tonearms if you provide
us with both your tonearm and cartridge data.
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Does the turntable break in over time?
Over the course of the first hundred hours, the bearing and the thrust plate
seat. A small dimple, approximately 1/32" deep will wear into the thrust plate.
This is the normal equalization of forces and is common in all turntables with a
thrust/ball bearing architecture.
During the break-in period, you will want to observe your VTA/SRA adjustment -
moving your tonearm down as the thrust ball nests into the thrust plate.
Interestingly, we have found no difference in thrust wear between thrust plate
materials as "soft" as Delrin and hard as stainless steel and brass. We use Delrin
because of its excellent balance of sonics, low friction, and high durability.
We have also observed the oil break in over the first 12 hours of operation. After this,
the sound "loosens up" and the music breathes with more dynamic ease.
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You recommend several "off the shelf" products to go with your
turntables. Why don't you design your own solutions?
We have no use for vanity products. Our roots are in do-it-yourself audio and the computer
software industry. The first question we always ask when looking for a solution to a problem
is "has someone already solved it?".
We seek out economies of scale, sourcing products designed by large engineering
teams whenever possible. In looking for a battery power solution for our motor
controllers for example, there's absolutely no way that a small, specialist company can
compete with the well funded engineering teams at large companies. Re-inventing their work
serves only to inflate the price.
When there's a need for a custom solution, we're right on top of it.
You will not find a mass produced turntable bearing remotely approaching the quality
we have designed into our Galibier bearings.
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Why is there no suspension on your turntables?
In short, because springs are resonant systems which introduce chaotic behavior
into a turntable design. They are an engineer's nightmare.
Springs interfere with the goal of maintaining a perfect reference between the motor and the platter
and therefore inhibit the retrieval of subtle musical nuances from the record.
You'll observe companies spending a large part of their manufacturing budget on sophisticated speed
controllers only to introduce chaos into their design in the form of a resonant spring suspension system.
Picture a motor fixed on a chassis, coupled to a platter by a rubber belt (spring) that floats on a suspended
(spring) base. As a record spins, the stylus traces the groove and exerts a varying drag on the platter - depending
on the dynamics in the musical passage.
This variable drag attempts to slow down the platter. The springs in the system (the belt and the suspension)
will alternately "wind up" and then release - introducing speed instability into the system.
This is not heard as gross instability (wow and flutter), but rather as Frequency Modulation distortion. When you reduce this distortion,
the highs will sound cleaner, the bass will sound both faster and more harmonically rich.
A turntable should address two critical mechanical goals:
- maintaining a precise relationship between the motor, the platter/bearing assembly and the arm
- isolating any stray motor vibrations from the bearing/platter.
Galibier's solution is to incorporate massive bases (described above) and to fix the relationship between
the motor and the platter. Think of your shelf as an integral part of the turntable. Reference our
Shelf and Stand FAQ, for recommended solutions.
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What about clamping?
Clamping as well as use of record weights can be a hit and miss affair, and is most certainly system dependent.
Our Graphite TPI © platters are exceptionally well damped, and we've yet to find a clamp or weight that improves
on the sound. We will certainly continue working on a replacement for the now defunct Anvil weight.
We have direct experience of periphery clamps since our early experiments with the Merrill turntable nearly two
decades ago. On the Merrill, periphery clamping was extremely beneficial, but was an ergonomic nightmare. Our current position is
that the marginal (if any) benefits of a periphery clamp on a Galibier are outweighed by the risk to your expensive cantilever.
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How do I maintain the finish of the anodized and polished metal components?
Cleaning both the polished aluminum components as well as the anodized parts is a simple matter of wiping with the
soft micro-fiber cloth we furnish after moistening it with window cleaner.
We are frequently asked about whether polished aluminum will take on a gray, oxidized appearance over time. It will not.
Polishing to a high luster reduces the surface area exposed to oxidation and prevents finger oils from embedding
in the surface.
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What kind of arms are compatible with Galibier turntables?
To date, we have not found any arm incompatibilities with our turntables. While we
obviously have our favorites, the common theme is that our 'tables provide a stable platform,
making it easy for the arm do it's job. This is not to say that a poorly designed arm with a
bloated, resonant bass signature will not be revealed for what it is on our turntables. It most
certainly will.
Your main concern with a Galibier turntable is however to ensure that your cartridge is
compatible with your tonearm. Talk to us about your specific situation.
In the past, we have observed incompatibilities between certain arms and turntables,
although this seems to be more common with suspended subchassis designs. See our
discussion about suspension in this FAQ.
Suspended turntables require careful matching of tonearm mass in order that the resonant
frequency of the suspension is not adversely affected by the off-center mass of the tonearm.
No such problem exists with our high-mass, unsuspended turntables.
We have had direct experience with the following tonearms:
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