There is something about Micro Seiki’s engineering and aesthetics that have always resonated with me.
A Micro Seiki DDX-1000 turntable
with an MA-505 tonearm
I guess everything started in the late 70s when I was in high school, making weekend trips to Tech HiFi, the local stereo shop in Rochester Michigan. It was there that I had my first look at a Micro Seiki DDX-1000 and its three tonearms. I’ve been fascinated ever since.
My fascination with this turntable resurfaced on my 50th birthday when my wife found one on Craig’s List in San Francisco. It was in excellent shape with a beautiful MA-505 dynamic tonearm − and that’s when another fascination started with the MA-505. This tonearm debuted in September 1976, 50 years ago and was fully adjustable while the record was playing: VTA, VTF, and anti-skate. Besides being a pretty arm, the engineering was extremely clever.
Over the last few years, I’ve rebuilt and rewired a few of these arms giving me a better understanding of their engineering − including the tungsten cable (not a wire) for the dynamic vertical tracking force adjustment. Using a low power microscope, the cable is actually comprised of 24 individual tungsten micro filaments.
At one point while I was restoring a dynamic VTF mechanism, it occured to me how interesting a dynamic azimuth control mechanism would be − given how difficult it is to properly calibrate that setting.
My initial thoughts focused on how to re-design and re-engineer the pivot and the pivot position. I needed the new geometry to accurately align the stylus in the 50-micron wide record groove and the stylus rotational axis to align with the pivot point on the same horizontal plane with a matching offset angle.
As I thought through various engineering solutions, I knew that a gimbaled bearing would probably not provide the longitudinal rotational capability, and a traditional unipivot totally lacked lateral stability . . . what I needed was an adjustable and completely stabilized unipivot bearing.
This is where the engineering puzzle started to come together.
The 1979 Tech HiFi Catalog signed by
John Strohbeen, owner of Tech HiFi and
Ohm Acoustics Corporation.
Page 38 featuring a signature system with a Micro Seiki DDX-1000, The MSRP of this turntable was $650 in 1979.