I have purchased a used Rockport Technologies System III Sirius turntable and arm in addition to a Lyra Olympos cartridge. With my current illness and since I am a perfectionist without any setup experience With turntables or cartridges I would like some help to set up this baby.
I live in Europe and since the local distributor and dealers only appeared quite a while after the Sirius III was discontinued I assume they don't have any experience with it.
So I am looking for a dealer or someone else having set up this turntable before to help me. I would pay you and cover your travel expenses.
Please let me know.
Thanks,
Roysen
hello Roysen,
first of all, congrats on acquiring the Sirius III. I know that has been on your agenda for a long time.
I cannot travel to you. but I would be happy to assist in any way. it could even be done over Skype. and honestly all you really need is Andy Payor available for questions if you get stuck.
the Rockport System III Sirius is actually a very straight forward product to set up. I moved mine 4 times when I owned it without a problem.
and the arm is quite easy to install a cartridge on since the arm wand can be removed from the arm assembly. the actual dialing in of the cartridge is very straight forward on the Sirius III. the different aspects relate to making sure the plinth is level as the arm wand is very sensitive to that issue. that is done with the three valve adjusters under the plinth. next; making sure the tiny air hose and the signal wires are properly placed so they do not restrict the full free movement of the arm wand assembly along the air shaft. and when tightening the tiny tiny arm wand set screws do not over tighten and strip them....or lose them. then regulating the air flow. and finally simply keeping the air shaft clean. the other big deal is whether to use the silicone fluid for the arm dampning. I preferred no dampning for the Olympos myself, whereas my vdH Colibri's needed the dampning.
added notes; the tightness of the arm wand set screws does have a considerable influence on the tightness of the bass performance. and additionally; there is an assembly at the end of the tonearm airshaft that can come loose and the sound will get all confused. it takes one of those 2-point tools to tighten. do not raise the arm assembly too high or it will come off the tracks. these are all things I learned living with this beast.
and power cords matter.
doing the overhang for the cartridge is fairly easy since you can line it up on the grooves in the platter, the trick is nailing the alignment and azimuth since there are no linear tracking templates to give you references. it seemed to work best to tape down another template in place. this part is a bit tricky.
and make sure the gasket for the vacuum hold down is in good condition on the platter. it will still work if it has small cuts, but for a new one you would need to contact Andy.
your compressor can be 'weak'; but if it is weak, a rebuild kit is cheap ($30 plus shipping) for the compressor motor and easy to install. it took some sleuthing for me (Andy was little help on this issue) to figure out the cure when I had compressor problems. let me know on this and I will look up the info. the Sirius should come up to full air pressure within a couple of minutes.....if not then it needs to be checked. it is important to shut the unit off once quickly every 2 hours for the compressor to expel the moisture build-up. otherwise you can/will get moisture in the arm shaft and possibly the air bearing too. just 10 seconds off and on will do it.
it does take a couple of reasonably strong people to place the rack where you want it, and then to set the plinth down properly on top. and then the motor drive is not too heavy, but the 55 pound platter is heavy too.
assuming you have the instructions on hand for guidance and someone who carefully goes over them with you it should be a reasonably straight-forward procedure. all the connections are color coded. I did it the first time with minimal hassle (so anyone should be able to do it.
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it's actually more trouble for disassembly since there are no clear instructions on what not to dis-assemble. and I assume you know that this unit was working 100% correct before it was shipped to you.
there has never been a piece of audio gear built quite like the Sirius III, and it is a wonder in construction.
if I can help please let me know.
best regards,
Mike
PS; stuff keeps popping into my head as I sit here and recall the 8 years of pleasure with my Sirius III. i'll come back and add thoughts that I think could be helpful.