new tt from schiit

aKnyght

aKnyght

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not shipping yet but might be an option for those looking to dip a toe into analog...

https://www.schiit.com/products/sol

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I heard this TT at RMAF. It sounded great. I heard it in the Salk room with their cheap Mani phono pre and with Headphones in another room. It appears to be a very good budget TT.
 
My brother wants one and thinks I should get one too. It’s definitely an inexpensive entry into vinyl.

It does look well made.
 
When I heard it with the headphones, it was paired with a higher end phono preamp and a Hana MC Cartridge. Just stunning sound. I can't remember the brand of phones though. I like the minimalist design.
 
This table has already been released and has been a total disaster.
Schiit are now calling owners who have not returned the tables as beta testers. link to review is below and Hoffman has a long thread as well with all the problems.

problems include
very hard to set up - so not for beginners - that may be some of the issues.
wobbly platter
belt slips up and down
headshell is too small for most cartridges as there is no room at the back for adequate adjustment. from the pictures it looks like it has been designed incorrectly as the slots for the cartridge screws are not parallel with the headshell angle for the cartridge - I could be wrong as it could be linked to it being a unipivot
50 / 60 hz speed controller issues
anti skating does not work
list goes on.

hmmm. At least Schiit have admitted they have screwed up and even offering buyers $300 back from the $799 price while they can wait til the issues are fixed - that is a brand new functional tonearm sent out gratis
- or full refunds,

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/schiit-sol-turntable-review-episodic.8291/



 
Wow, it appears to have a lot of issues. However, the platter is not wobbly, the rubber belt is the issue. I am sure they will figure it out. I am surprised that it is still for sale on their website.
 
OMG, thank you so much for the information. That’s crazy.
 
wow, quite surprising for a company like schiit to get it this wrong - thanks for the info.
 
aKnyght said:
wow, quite surprising for a company like schiit to get it this wrong - thanks for the info.
Click to expand...
Not really surprising if you think about it... their engineering experience is all in digital and amplification. A turntable and tonearm is in essence an analog measuring device which requires completely different design skills.
 
I would think they brought in hired guns.

I don’t own any Schitt products but read nothing but good things, and believe they will make this right - we all fall and now it’s time to get back up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
aKnyght said:
wow, quite surprising for a company like schiit to get it this wrong - thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

If you've followed the development of Sol for the last 5-6 years, its not surprising at all...at least to me.

Schiit's expertise is in electronics engineering. Turntables are actually quite complex devices and require considerable expertise in...mechanical engineering. They are completely different disciplines. If you've read about the considerable difficulties they encountered for years even being able to cast the platter, it was obvious to me they were in over their heads. IMHO, Schiit was well out of the wheelhouse of its core competencies in taking on Sol. Jason Stoddard went on to SBAF and acknowledged the ph*cked up by not even beta testing Sol before release. Its now under a "product hold" while they go back and fix fundamental problems.

The problem with this is...its costing them money in terms of COPQ: Cost of Poor Quality. Right now, critical parts, e.g. bearing tolerances, platter flatness and uniformity, antiskate thread thickness, etc., etc., all have process sigmas (Cp/Cpk) that are not where they need to be. This is resulting in a high proportion of defects that is costing them real dolllars. They are offering full refunds on anyone that bought a turntable, and a discount to purchasers that want to serve as beta testers.

While Schiit consulted with Conrad Hoffman on the core design, they would have done well to have hired an experienced mechanical engineer to oversee the Sol project. The challenge is you don't find Roy Gandys and Ivor Tiefenbruns or the guys from SME walkin' down the street every day.
 
Puma Cat said:
If you've followed the development of Sol for the last 5-6 years, its not surprising at all...at least to me.

Schiit's expertise is in electronics engineering. Turntables are actually quite complex devices and require considerable expertise in...mechanical engineering. They are completely different disciplines.
Click to expand...

yep -- without in house expertise, one would imagine a joint-venture / collaboration as mcintosh did with clearaudio for their TTs... and mcintosh is certainly not lacking for engineering and precision manufacturing expertise.
 
audio.bill said:
Not really surprising if you think about it... their engineering experience is all in digital and amplification. A turntable and tonearm is in essence an analog measuring device which requires completely different design skills.
Click to expand...

this is Mike Moffat's baby and not Jason's idea. Mike's an analog guy at heart which inspires his digital products. that said, he didn't design this. they consulted a third party who, in large part got right. I would've happily donated my time as a beta tester but they never reached out to the community (i.e. the cartridge screw slot problem should've never surfaced in the initial production run). Most of the remaining issues are easily solvable. nonetheless the fallout hit their wallet pretty good I would image.

I heard this table off and on for about the last two years, it's been on demo at their ad hoc store during that time. it's got lots of potential and should keep the aftermarket busy with tweaks and upgrades. I view the Sol as the audio equivalent of open-source code or a Dynakit. I predict mods and 3rd party upgrades for this table will be talked about for eons to come.
 
UltraFast69 said:
I would think they brought in hired guns........
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I would venture to guess that you are correct 2X's over.

1. Farmed-out design.

2. Farmed-out contractors and subcontractors any of which deviating could cause mayhem.

As a piece of Industrial Design it sure is handsome and purposeful looking.

Of course we are only guessing, as this could have been an in-house hire that over promised the world with their enthusiasm and then under-delivered.

Unfortunately, in most businesses it is more than twice the work to fix a problem someone else created than to clean sheet design a workable solution from the onset.

Owner: How much will it cost if I help you?

Contractor: I will have to charge you twice as much if you help.

The above could also be our situation, what if the digital guys wanted to help the analog person in charge?

We may never know, but can all hope they get this resolved ASAP.

EDIT:

I remember one young structural engineering telling me she "put enough time into my project already" after I pointed out some serious deficiencies.

As the architect I had went so far as to call in the owner and her boss and showed them the model I built that illustrated the structural instability of the building.

Everyone at the table but her saw the design flaw but they kept her in charge, were she promptly ignored the problem, after all she wasn't going to work weekends for free when she already did the minimum work.

Anyway, the building goes up and the contractors freak out when the building starts to sway on them. The builder/owner had a direct contract with the structural engineer and settled with their insurance company for the cost of redesigning the structure to accommodate some diagonal bracing.

My point of his story is all it takes is one inexperienced arrogant and incompetent person to mess up a project. You can point the problem out to them and have everyone at the table agree, and they still do not get it.

That building now has a crazy lease plan with "L" shape suites in lieu of the more desirable rectangular ones.

Based on my experience, this turntable project could have had an in-house designer that got a paycheck "no matter what" and with no liability. Whereas a contractor may not get paid at all if they screw up so they might actually do a better job.


EDIT-2:

From the link provided in original post........................
Sol is the result of 6 years of R&D at Schiit Audio.
Click to expand...

No telling how much of that was done with outside consultants, right?

Designed and Built in California



By “designed and built in California" this is what we mean: the vast majority of the total production cost of Sol—including the die-cast aluminum pieces, machined and stamped metal pieces, boards, assembly, etc—goes to US companies manufacturing in the US. Our castings are done just beyond the Orange Curtain, many subassemblies are done in Simi Valley, and assembly, adjustment, and testing are done by us in Valencia, CA. You get the picture.
Click to expand...
 
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