Consider me intrigued. That’s quite a compelling price for the number of features and what looks to be really nice design.
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Looks like a waffle maker
Music Waffles =)
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Is that serious?
I just saw the setup guide and wow…
if that’s not a meme I’ll write something about it later
But first I have to have my PTSD triggered by the setup video treated.
Please, share your thoughts. lol
I am just now watching the setup video, I do have concerns about how much the tonearm wobbles around…
If it stayed in place, this would be a vertical lathe.
Your first visit to Schiits website?
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Well, IMO, I like the adjustability, but I’m not sure of the advantage of that type of tonearm design? It looks cool, but I wonder if you would run into issues, given the ‘play’ it has in being able to rock back and forth that way. And just a basic impression comparing it to the Rega I have… the platter on the schiit seems to have more ‘wobble’ to it and the tone arm on the Rega doesn’t rotate/wobble like that at all… which I think would be preferred. The cueing lever is also a lot better on the Rega… as it has a slow delay and soft landing… unlike the Schiit which seems to rely on the user to slowly lower the lever carefully. And the fact that he had to push the platter, after turning it on, to get it rotating was a bit odd… lol…
But I guess I’ll wait for reviews from those who might know better. I know it’s still in pre-production and perhaps they will work out some of the issues.
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So looking into it a bit… the turntable is actually officially in a ‘beta’ stage. They went on sale initially… but ended up having reported problems… like the “turntable” wobble I mentioned. lol
So they took it off from sale and offered partial refunds to people who wanted to keep theirs… and to send them new parts as they figured out how to solve the problems. Apparently includes updates to the tonearm as well.
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I think they are dropping it this year, when they decided to do it , there really weren’t any competitive products, but the market place has changed in the 2 years they’ve been beta testing it.
It was Beta, then released, then Beta again after they had issues with the released units.
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Well damn, I’ve been going back and forth in my head about the Sol. I figured if I ever really got into vinyl I’d look at the sol first. I like the way it looks.
I do have access to an older player, not sure what kind it is. I guess I should go look
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Most likely a stupid question, but would the Sol be an upgrade over a SL1200mk4? It has a Shure M44 on it
No, but the setup video is very bad… I thoud they kind of knew what they were doing.
Its called a Unipivot Tonearm. I personaly played arround with a 12" Clearaudio UNIFY and I think the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.
Pro: less friction, looks cool
Contra: needs a very very solid chassi - dampening it is impossible, a wobbly table or vibrations through the floor are deadly - work best screwed to the wall, very sensetive to resonances, horrible to setup, bends soft cantilever, wobbly / less stabel with uneven and especially exzenter records
If you have managed to set them correctly after ages they sound very good. But Unipivot is not a recipe for success, because as with any tonram, a lot can go wrong with the design.
Yes, I find that very disturbing.
A Unipivot tonearm always wobbles when you drop it, but with a good record it stays still when playing. But especially the combination with such a bad lift without damping is not a good idea.
With a belt drive TT it is always a good idea to handstart the platter before turning on the motor. Even with a lightweight Rega. But I the motor should still be able to do it on its own.
official press statement
“Okay, so it looks like the Sol launch has uncovered a lot more problems than we expected. Please accept our apologies for any trouble you may have had. We want this to be a really exceptional turntable, so we’re putting a pause on sales.
We’re also making you the following offer: please keep your Sol and help us improve it. If you choose to do so, we’ll refund $300 of the Sol’s original price, making your cost $499. Then, we will send you a selected set of updates and changes to improve your Sol. Also, if you have any functional problems right now (like wobbling platters), we will swap those parts as well. And, at the end of the beta period, if you still aren’t happy, we’ll refund the rest of your purchase price.
Alternately, if you’re just done with Sol right now, that’s fine too. Contact us for an RA and we will refund 100% of your purchase price, taxes and shipping when we receive it back.
We sincerely hope you’ll help us make Sol what it should be. If not, we completely understand.
All the best,
The Schiit Audio Team”
the m44 isn´t a good match with the 15g Technics tonearm (Compliance: 25 µm/mN and 7g weight)… there are a lot of good upgrades for the mk4 and its easy to use. I would spend my money on a matching quality cartridge and a good phono preamp. I think it will outperforme the shiit easily with the right upgrades. Hit me up if you want further advice.
Why the shiit is shit:
“Wow and flutter: less than 0.12%” … well thats 0.02 too much and should be audibel
@M0N s Technics has 0.025% and @giova05 s Planar 2 about 0.09%
I just hate the strap around platter design. It only works decently with very heavy platters like Transrotor. Many people write about the shiit sol: the belt moves extremely at the platter and the motor assembly is too lightweight.
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Why the shiit is shit: follow up…
Behind the cartridge there is hardly any space for the cables and they get squeezed. There is not enough space in front to adjust the cartridge properly.
I miss damping materials on the tonearm.
The antiskating is a joke and does not work properly.
How the cable is led out of the tonearm tube is absolutely stupid, because it pulls on the tonearm.
You would think shiit chooses a cartridge that is well suited for their tonearm but…
The Grado Reference Platinum2 actually comes with a wooden case to dampen vibrations. The only problem is that the 13g tonearm seems to flies out of the groove with a 10g 20µm/mN cartridge. They remove the wooden case to make the cartridge weigh only 5g like a Grado Prestige, to fix it.
I would use/try the following: Ortofon MC Quintet, Sumiko Blue Point No.2 or Sumiko Blue Point Evo III.
I don’t really feel like writing about all the errors in Setup Video at the moment… it’s a waste of time
I personally consider the shiit turntable simply unsuitable for beginners. It is too complicated to set up and requires a lot of expensive tools to do it correctly.
With a Unipivot tonearm the alligment is much more difficult and dangerous for the needle. I can well imagine how the newcomers get frustrated or destroy their beautiful records. Especially the video is just completely wrong and absolutely not the right way to get something decent out of this turntable.
This turntable is not for beginners!
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That’s kinda what I was thinking, I have it but never use it, it didn’t sound that great tbh, but I’m guessing that’s because of the lack of a good cartage and I only used it on some cheaper 80s receivers and also a nad d3045 for phono pre so def not ideal. Not looking to get into vinyl but I may ask you some things later lol
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The Post above is updated…
Shure stopped making Carts for a reason lol
Jelco Headshell … 400 - 600$ cart to taste and a 300 - 450$ preamp (I would recommend the TRIGON VANGUARD II) and i would call it “good enought”
If I did get a phono preamp, I can get a great deal on a parasound Halo jc3+ which is what I would be going with
That would not be my choice… but we don’t have to argue about such hypothetical cases here.
I’d start a little cheaper if I were you anyway. You don’t get that much improvement and the equipment is much harder to set up and put together. It can get frustrating very quickly like a shiit turntable lol.
I have a Sol beta and agree with most of what has been written here. Cueing needs work. It is not for beginners but they will be shipping with a factory cartridge fully setup. I’m very happy with it and plan to keep it. It is a modders dream if you are into such things. I like Conrad’s setup video best.
“http://www.conradhoffman.com/Sol%20Support/Hardcore%20Sol%20Setup.mp4”
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Yeah, the setup does not seem all that intimidating, IMO. Definitely more involved than an average turntable, but the adjustability looks nice… for the price it’s hard to beat in terms of features… (But the Rega 2, I think is a better option at the same price point unless they work out the issues). I do enjoy tinkering with stuff like that. My main concern, as mentioned before… is how well does it track with the uni-pivot tonearm? Do you ever have issues with drops onto the record?
And I agree with @German_Power about the cable coming straight out the back with no bracing… and how it can affect the tone arm movement as well. I think that aspect needs to be rethought a bit as well.
I hope Schiit continues to work on it, but it definitely needs some rethinking. Even if they have to raise the price a bit, I think it would be worth it, if it lets them fix some of the issues. I’ll personally be keeping an eye on it.
All the same, very cool that you own one! It seems like a very fun turntable to play with. And it looks lovely, IMO =)
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