Acoustic Signature Thunder with TA5000 and Wand Master tonearm

[doggiehowser]

I have always had a soft spot for the "skeletal" turntables ever since I saw a friend's Scheu Analog Premier many moons ago and ended up with the Project RPM10.1 evolution.

I always figured the RPM10.1 did everything so well, why would I ever need to get a more expensive turntable.

That was until I had the opportunity to set up the Acoustic Signature Thunder turntable over a year ago. It was such a joy to work on the table (and a lot of sweat - more later) that I spent a lot of time fantasising owning one.

The customer had his quite well loaded up with options - with dual motors, PS1 linear power supplies and the piece-de-resistance, the (then) new Acoustic Signature TA-5000, the 12" variant. I also fitted an Ortofon Cadenza Black.

Acoustic Signature is known for two things - heavy mass and those almost frictionless ball bearings which make the platter seem to spin almost forever with just a nudge. The tonearm is also ball bearing based. In combination, that setup was phenomenal but the customer did have a pretty fantastic system - Audio Research Reference 5SE with Ayre MXRs and Karan phono preamps. But I couldn't tell if the improvements were due to the turntable alone. He too had moved from a ProJect RPM turntable - an RPM9

I finally got mine in anodised black aluminium a couple of weeks ago but resisted setting it up. The main reason is that I was waiting for a second arm. The other is that my rack isn't rated for more than 25kg. But I finally decided to risk it when the second arm arrived.

Like my customer I ordered the TA5000 (which sadly only came in silver carbon fibre so it does stand out a bit more from the table) and I also ordered the PS-1. I initially ordered a single motor but have a second one ordered on its way.

So last Saturday I began work.

The Thunder base comes with 3 heavy feet and provisions for 3 arm bases which can be moved to accomodate different lengths and arms. But adjusting the length was very tedious - especially when dealing with such a heavy table.

First you gotta loosen two bolts that hold the arm board so you can slide it to suit the arm.

To get the correct distance, you would need to mount the arm first - and install the platter, which is another heavy behemoth and gently slide the platter spindle down the hole where the ball bearings are - taking care not to drop the platter - and destroying the ball bearings or crushing your fingers.

Then to tighten, you gotta lift the entire contraption up and tighten the two bolts to secure the arm base. Then you got to check that the armbase didn't move in the interim.

This time I was lucky enough to get an SME mount for the Wand and the TA5000 so I could still make fine adjustments. But it still took me an hour to get that done.



I started to mount The Wand Master first. Thankfully the tool made it really easy to get the distances set up pretty well. It was still a bit of challenge to use the SME adaptor tool from The Wand because the manual is a little scant on details, I suspect because the Master made some changes from the original or Plus models.

I wasn't sure which side of the mount was up - and used the TA-5000's adaptor as a reference. I was wrong - it was flipped. But it all kinda made sense in the end. There is a single bolt that has to be tightened to secure the Wand's spindle (for the unipivot tonearm) to the SME adaptor. Then the lifter assembly is bolted to the same spindle above it.

Wrong Way




Right Way


With that out of the way, I could fit the Wand's spindle and lifter assembly plus SME adaptor to the second arm base



The TA5000 was a much simpler affair to bolt on and using the protractor Acoustic Signature provided, getting the distance was pretty straightforward too.

Next step was mounting the cartridge on the Wand and then getting the counterweight right. The first was easy - there is no adjustment for the cartridge mount. Get the distance from the platter spindle to the tonearm spindle right using the protractor tool and that's it. The head shell position is fixed. The second part of the task was a lot more difficult.

I used my old Sumiko Pearwood Celebration II from before with this arm. And I was just on egg shells the entire time - because the Pearwood has NO STYLUS GUARD. Not because I lost it. IT NEVER CAME WITH ONE.

So I had the table already resting on the rack while I was going back and forth with the tonearm (with cart on the end with no stylus guard) between the listening room and the dining room where I was setting up the tonearm.

Unlike other counterweights where you just twist in the back of the tonearm, the counterweight of the Wand is really a few different layers of metals that are bolted together to the rear of the tonearm assembly.

To add more weight, you unscrew the bolts and slide another layer/slice of the counterweight. The manual says 3 are provided plus one "half" slice. And you only need 3 if you have >10g. Mine is 6-7g and I ended up using all but one (5 were provided, of which 3 were pre-installed). Again I suspect it is because the manual was written for the 9"/regular Wand version.

Now imagine the number of times I was walking back and forth the room and the dining table and multiple that anxiety by a million. I started with 2 - like what the manual said. Then 2.5, then 3, then 3.5, then 4, then 4.5 then 5.

Only after you get the balance almost right do you fine-tune it by loosening the large heavy bolt by hand to decrease the tracking force. It isn't as intuitive - but after doing it, it all makes sense.

So after all that drama, I did finally manage to install the arm correctly but it does seem to wobble a little when I moved the tonearm. The designer said if I am used to bearing based tonearms, it might seem that way.

Then I realised the tonearm doesn't actually come with tonearm cables it normally comes with female RCA plugs that you bolt to the back of your plinth but the Thunder has no plinth. So I ordered it with a 5 pin termination. The TA-5000 has the 5 pin connector at the base of the arm. The Wand's internal tonearm wiring comes out near the rear and is curled round the arm and tucked away, terminating in a 5 pin female plug. Now I just need to get a 5 pin - RCA cable separately.



Onwards to the TA-5000 then. I installed the Kiseki PurpleHeart NS and then tried to balance the counterweight. But to no avail - the counterweight was way too light for the Kiseki. I emailed Goran and went to bed defeated by the day's ordeal.



Morning came and Goran responded with such a simple solution that I almost winced from my own stupidity. The counterweight is made of two pieces bolted together but the shape hides the seam so well that I hadn't even noticed it before. Loosen the two bolts and remove the lighter half.

Voila. Balance was done in a couple of minutes.

Then alignment and tracking force. And I had music playing in less than 15 minutes. And it was glorious.



Spent the late afternoon listening to record after record. Will pen down my impressions in a later post.

Now I just gotta wait for the tonearm cable to arrive. I ordered a ProJect since it was in stock. Hopefully end of the week. Don't know if I want to splurge for an expensive one just yet.

And the second motor. But I don't think I will deploy it on this rack right now. I have a custom HiFiRacks on the way that can handle 100kg.