Talk:Brown PS 500

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Tips, opinions and discussion about the BRAUN PS500

by author: urs.baerenstark

If someone wants to correct the article in parts, they are welcome to do so. I also just painstakingly gathered the information from various sources. This is the only way to create an all-encompassing, correct source of information on this device over time. If you have problems with the somewhat difficult wiki formatting, I will be happy to help. Changes will be sent to me automatically by Hifi-Wiki via email. I will then gladly put the article back into a visually appealing form. Should information from books, magazines or internet articles be used, then it would be decent to clearly and accurately point out the respective sources to the respective author.

Sound Quality
The sound quality is mainly determined by the pickup system and the tonearm.
With BRAUN PS 500 first of all a permantent light rumbling is to be heard (at least with my two devices.) This comes presumably from the engine and the further further drive elements, which transfer a disturbance to the pickup.
Furthermore, the mounting of the pickup system in the original headshell is not perfectly solved. The pickup mounting is glued into the headshell or often just clamped. I do not believe, that a perfect adjustment of the system is possible. It is hardly worthwhile to install pickup systems to install. With the original Shure system you get the typical 70s sound. More you can not expect.
But even that can be fun.
If other owners of the BRAUN PS 500 have other experiences or tips, it would certainly be of general interest to share them here. Great interest has certainly the subject of pickup system / Erstaznadel etc., this is almost always to renew.

from "no name"

I thank the author for the care and effort in writing this article.

However, I would like to clarify the sound quality: my PS 500 does not rumble.

In my headshell, the Goldring 1042, which I consider appropriate for the quality of tonearm and drive, could be screwed normally, since there are apparently several original headshell versions. If you consider that for about 450€, including a very high-quality cartridge, you get a turntable weighing about 12 kilos with a triple-balanced, ball-bearing tonearm, oil-mounted, precisely adjustable dampers in an all-metal case, which is already 75% damped from the inside, it is - in my opinion - neither worthwhile for the technically gifted to invest in a comparably expensive Project turntable, nor in any other new device.

The inner platter is made of thick-walled aluminium - as in the generally highly esteemed more expensive Thorens models, the motor is from Pabst and is still available today, the platter is finely balanced, excellently damped and weighs over 3 kilos alone.

On my unit, I damped the remaining inner surfaces of the cabinet with self-adhesive damping mats from the automotive sector and damped the inner platter (only!) in the area of the visible axle bearing reinforcements with plastic Fermit (= permanently elastic mass from the hardware store), the rest of the inner platter with thick and light felt, it is now not too heavy and acoustically dead.

If you then take the trouble to carefully adjust the tonearm, pickup system and damper, you will be rewarded with an - even today - outstanding sound in the entire frequency range.

by Thomas from F.

Hello, I welcome this section hifi/wiki very much.

The criticism at the end of the description of the PS 500 is totally unjustified, the PS 500 rumbles no more and no less than comparable higher quality turntables, it does have a belt drive, so the units tested here must be faulty.

The PS 500 has been around since at least 1968 in the grey/silver version.

At that time it was classified as a high quality unit by the magazine HiFi Stereofonie, it is by the way better than the PS 1000 from the BRAUN top line, because it has antskating, the latter not! I still own the yearbook of Hifi Sterefonie with the test report, of course I have to find it first. then I will deliver appropriate data, which put the PS 500 in a right light!

Greeting Thomas from F.

by author: DerLange

The rumble is not a design flaw in the PS 500, but an aging problem. The rubber of the friction wheel is often hardened after almost forty years. Here it helps to remove it, put it in boiling water for about half an hour and then roll it through again by hand.

Otherwise the mechanics are of very high quality: the tonearm is balanced in all three spatial axes, the hydraulic damping of the soft suspension offers a decoupling of the sub-chassis in a quality that one can only dream of with many other manufacturers - even in a comparable price range. Only the springs are often worn out in the course of time. In this case it is usually necessary to readjust the height of the sub-chassis to prevent the platter from touching down. If necessary, the spring must be shortened by about one turn.