Measuring turntable speed the easy way - with the RPM app

[@Techmoan]

If you do try out the RPM app - it’d be interesting to see your results. Here are mine: Denon DP47F: 33.45 RPM +0.36% 0.11% w/f Sony PS-Q7: 33.55 RPM +0.58% 0.32% w/f Spinbox: 33.52 RPM +0.65% 0.73% w/f Soundburger: 34.80 RPM +4.68% 0.77% w/f

[@Hagledesperado]

Rega Planar 3 bought in the 1990s, no upgrades or services since then: 33.4 to 33.5 RPM. Mesaured with the free Android app RPM Calculator.

[@JuraiEmperor]

Techmoan I’ve been watching you for a couple of years (I was frustrated with my Philips DCC player and found you while looking for answers) and now my wife too is a fan. Love the topics, delivery and, yes, the puppets! Thank you!

[@The_Original_Cujo]

Rega RP40 +0.27% 0.19% W/F ... not too bad for a belt drive.

[@The_Original_Cujo]

Rega RP40 33.40 RPM, forgot that part.

[@Napster050]

Dual 521: 33.35 RPM +0.06% 0.13% w/f you can see this turntable on my channel :)

[@grantsgear]

Watching the RPM counter on the app staying in the relatively same position as the phone spins around it is kind of hypnotic to watch.

[@MrButtonpresser]

Made me feel sick! ; p

[@chaos.corner]

It needs to be centered on the screen though for if you want to put it over the middle.

[@james-5560]

Techmoan is in my top 3 KZbinrs, really great content which is unique and interesting with high quality production and no annoyances. Thank you for what you do, you make a lot of people happy.

[@MrGeoffHilton]

Go on, tell us what the other two are?

[@numptification]

If you're like me it's 8-Bit Guy and LGR.

[@paulaj2829]

I used the app which you said about from the phone app store & what I found was a good idea was to get 2 pieces of foam & place on the Turntable each side of the spindle then put the phone on top of the foam & that worked a treat.. Thanks for the info on the video again.

[@timmowarner]

At the end of every Techmoan video I do a quick scan with KZbin to see if there are any puppets coming up. If there are, I keep watching and wait for them. If there aren't I like to read the comments while the music plays. I really like the long outro for that!

[@pianoluthier]

that's exactly what i did/ am doing!

[@me3333]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that does that

[@AirborneSurfer]

Same, indeed!

[@ynotw57]

Ditto

[@flamencopeko]

Yes, fantastic outro. Puppets?...

[@sandqwert]

I do not have an iPhone, I don't even have a record player but still liked the video. I watch your videos because they are very informative and very well done, keep up the good work as always!

[@NewtHew]

I don’t even own a Turntable, nor am I thinking about buying one - I still watched all of this video! Just find your videos very interesting and I find the simple way they are presented, no fluff, very endearing. Great channel.

[@JAYCEEDOUBLE]

That Enter the Dragon record looks awesome

[@andriealinsangao613]

HI-YAH!!!

[@simongreenidge6454]

Around 1982; I remember a friend's family's Pioneer turntable with a little red built-in strobe and those black graduations on the outside edge of the platter. There was a knob to allow for easy fine-tuning of the speed.

[@Tecstar70]

How does anyone dislike a Techmoan video? I never understand it!

[@o_guguito]

What you should understand is that a "dislike" is as any good for the youtuber as a "like". It's a "reaction". If some jerk wishes to do some "harm" to the video, he shouldn't click either. :D

[@Tecstar70]

Yes I get that, it just doesn’t make any sense! 😁

[@TheDanno210]

Glad to see you reviewed this app as I’ve found it incredibly useful over the last few years. One thing I would like to see the developers do would be to center their speed readout on the phone’s display so that you can either remove your turntable’s spindle - as most either lift out or pop out - which would enable you to put the phone as close to true center on the turntable to minimize wow & flutter while also allowing you to very easily read the speed result. Thanks for putting this out there Mat! Cheers!

[@freesaxon6835]

Techmoan ....... has become a KZbin Star ........ from the early days of getting back on his motorbike to STARDOM !!

[@ThumpertTheFascistCottontail]

You spin me right round baby right round.

[@headstrument7657]

Good one

[@HistoricaHungarica]

Now we need an app to measure how accurate the SoundWagon is. :)

[@C6438911]

This is one of the best channels to find on youtube. Techmoan thank you very much! Vintage or 20+ years old equipment is better in build quality and with audio the sound is also better or at least as good as modern new equipment. Although a nice combination of old and new could work as well at times. I mean for instance old televisions, no matter how good it is, it just lacks the modern connections and resolution (4K / wide screen and such) and even quality might be inferior to new televisions. But from a history standpoint and how old equipment used to work it is still very nice to have one ofcourse.

[@wintermute5127]

What an excellent video. I have a Technics SL-10 that I've just restored. I didn't know about checking the speed as it's my first record player in a decade. Thank you.

[@novastarproductions]

Every time I get a notification that Techmoan has uploaded It means happy times!

[@thefrench8847]

band of misfits yup, true!

[@Daniel_de_lux]

your life is booring???

[@novastarproductions]

Tarot Marsella Esoterico no, far from but when I have some free time I love watching Technomoan.

[@chrisb6003]

Tarot Marsella Esoterico That's "boring". And besides, what are you doing here if you think that?

[@dinamitemaster]

My turntable has a built-in stroboscope with a light illuminating the edge of the platter which has the rings. Very useful feature, as it makes it trivial to always have the speed bang-on and make on-the-fly adjustments while playing a record.

[@JonniboyV2]

Love that feature on mine as well. They solved this in the 70s already haha!

[@simonmacomber7466]

Thanks for the review of this app, now all I need is a video giving suggestions for someone who is new to the world of buying turntables, and which ones are worth getting opposed to which ones aren't.

[@flamencopeko]

Probably my fave Techmoan video. So many good points and ideas here. I'm very interested in RPM and BPM.

[@TheRocket995]

I appreciate all you do and post techmoan!

[@middleclassic]

Techmoan : Yes I did try it but I did not purchase it. But I do own a turntable very similar to your turntable. I own the little brother / sister to your DP-47F, the DP-37F. I have owned this turntable purchased new in 1986 and do not recall ever having to have it serviced for any reason. So I was happy to see that when I tested the reading I reliably got from the RPM app was 33.39 +0.16% w/f 0.10%. And yes, mine is quartz lock also. And I absolutely love my turntable too :-)

[@nevet1212]

Thank you so much for posting this. I just got a second hand record player as a gift that sounds like it’s running slow and now I can know for sure.

[@DgaDM]

It is truly fascinating what a "Phone" can do nowadays. Thank you for showing it!

[@bansheemania1692]

My old Technics turn table from mid 80s, has Orange lights around the turntable and adjust the Fine adjust knob to slow or raise RPM. Pretty hypnotic and cool looking.

[@toddclayton]

In a similar vein, high end cycle computers are now using accelerometer sensors (like in our phones as seen here with this RPM app) to measure wheel rotation instead of having one magnet pass another. Wonderfully accurate.

[@lululombard]

I have to say that I'm impressed!

[@xiaoka]

damn, enter the dragon picture disc. sweet!

[@aspectcarl]

Brilliant! I was looking for something for my old dual cs505 and found rpm on the Google play store, never considered using my phone for something like this other than trying to strobe the led at at 50hz which didn't work too well on my old phone.

[@pantslangford1976]

Got an old Thorn 428 Solid State Record Player made in 1975. Bought it second hand took a bit of a chance and amazingly it's measuring +0.7%. Happy days.

[@magreger]

I enjoyed this

[@WhiteBoxProductions]

I bought one of these Chinese RPM meters for checking the spindle speed on a lathe and I totally agree: They are rubbish. They do everything but measure the correct RPM. They just throw random numbers around which are nowhere near the real RPM. It's better to get something more expensive (~100 pounds ) if you need to measure RPM several times a year. On my lathe, I ended up installing a hall effect sensor which works great and only costs a dollar or so from China.

[@GRBtutorials]

WhiteBoxProductions Or make one yourself! You only need a laser, a receiver, a microcontroller and a screen. Oh, and you also need programming knowledge.

[@d2factotum]

Looking at it, I reckon the problem might be that the record you've got the tape attached to is quite glossy and obviously has a textured surface, so you're getting a lot of random reflections as it spins. I'd be interested to see how reliable one of those is if you made some sort of matt black disc with a reflective line on it to use for measuring.

[@WhiteBoxProductions]

Why make on myself if they are readily avaliable for affordable prices. Also, I got none of the above.

[@talshayar4279]

@d2factotum This is exactly the issue. I have a different but equally cheap Chinese rpm measurement device that works perfectly, but only on completely matt surfaces. Just tried it using an LP which gave me the exact same results as this video, but when I placed the reflective tape on the black rubber matt, I got a 100% stable 33.3 rpm reading. Mine was originally bought for setting the spin speed on a washing machine for which it has also worked flawlessly.

[@GRBtutorials]

If 100 pounds is affordable for you, good for you. But other people's budget (including mine, I wouldn't use it very much) isn't that big.

[@VGScreens]

Hey TizzleMizzle, I know the puppets were a huge effort, but just so you know I was a huge fan. Love your work :)

[@danielarick2105]

When calibrating the speed on mechanical, acoustic machines, that best way to do it is by placing a piece of paper under the record and count the revolutions to set the speed, same can be done on cylinders as well

[@Vanessa_Santillan]

Very neat! Thank you for the demonstration!

[@GroversMill]

I learn so much from these videos. TYVM Techmoan

[@adamfox9651]

More than anything, I'm digging that "Enter The Dragon" picture disk you spun up at the end.

[@xboxandthat]

From watching all of your vids I've finally gone out and bought a proper turntable :D The Audio Technica AT - LP120 Black. I know you probably prefer the original equipment but bloody hell does it sound great.

[@veteq101]

I didn't know about the app, very useful. My VPI is running at 33.33

[@austinallmond7211]

The last time I used a tachometer to measure the speed of one of my turntables, I used one with a direct contact feature that uses a spindle to directly measure RPM. It provided a more accurate reading than the non-contact retroreflective method since a turntable's speed is close to the minimum measurable speed by a retroreflective tachometer.

[@inerlogic]

I bought a second-hand all in one record player system from a friend of mine, and I picked up "Pink Floyd: The Later Years" double record set.... i've been listening to Dave Gilmour sing for 45 years, I could tell the speed was off. I downloaded an RPM app from the Android store, the free version does 33, 45, and 78. Though at 78 my phone flew off the platter... no rubber mat.... Turns out the player was running about 5% too fast, got the screw driver out, got the speed sorted, Dave sounds great now.

[@tonybuttifant9422]

I have to say I thought it was great, I love watching your videos, I had been wondering how to check the speed on a wind up gramophone which has absolutely no calibration marks on it, being made in the twenties. Counting with a stopwatch was possible but difficult. After seeing this, I downloaded an android version which just shows the speed orientated to the viewer, works perfectly, and showed that it was not out by very much. Obviously wind up gramophones have a lever to adjust speed via a governor so was easy to adjust. thanks for the tip

[@PirateNovelist]

Good to see there’s another good app out there for this. I currently use Turntabulator. I might have to check this one out as well so it can act like a second opinion.

[@JohnnyParanoid]

New Techmoan video day is the best day!

[@jamesm90]

Technics SL-1210 MKII - 33.38 RPM w/f +- 0.03%. This one was made in 1989, a 30 year old TT, these 1200 series really do deserve their reputation for excellence.

[@TheSiftyzod]

Thanks heaps for that just tested that out on an old turntable i have just finished restoring and it was reading at 33.34rpm.. so least i know i got it pretty much spot on .. legend

[@sonorangaming449]

just finding this video, and it answered my question about using a TT weight on my Denon 52F

[@JMG72ARG]

You saved me a giant hastle with the little app. Just turned the vr screw and issue was fixed... it was running 4% slow, now got it to 33.3, just 0,11% off and wow of 0,13%. Sounds good to my ears now.

[@ZappoB]

Very fine app tip! Thank you very much. 👍🏼

[@purplefuku]

This is great! I love your usual content, but I’d also love to see more app reviews that tie in with physical objects in the future!

[@CharlesFigueroaJr]

Your videos are always the best!

[@willrun4fun]

Sweet! I'll be checking this out.

[@FreazyTek]

I already own this app and must say it's one of the best apps for tt,thx Matt for spreading the word ;-)

[@Wildernessoutside]

I've been using this app for a few years ,tbh its really good

[@catfish552]

What a brilliant idea. Thank you for the video, I would never have known this existed.

[@thinlizzysupporter]

Just tested my Audio Technica AT-LP5 direct drive turntable. Reading 33.41 +0.22% happy with that 😊

[@daveb5041]

*Incandescent don't flicker do they?* The filament takes longer to dim them 1/60th of a second providing flicker free light. It may dim very slightly but not pulse like a metal halide lamp.

[@diatonicdelirium1743]

Just point your phone camera at it and you'll see!

[@Eytaris]

Hi Mat! just a bit of knowledge on the laser tachometer. they tend to be absolute garbage at low speeds, especially the cheap ones, because of the refresh rate and the holding position, if the laser beam is not perpendicular to the tested surface and/or you move during the test, you will have incorrect values. the best way to test any rotation speed, is using a decent tachometer, with a dampened spindle that limit the force you put on the surface (a turntable spindle for example) but help the head of the tacho to stick on the surface. Thank you for the videos!

[@vivalesvegas]

One of my GL75’s came with a small strobe disc. I used a strobe app on my phone and found that it’s running ever so slightly slowly. I can adjust the speed on it by just moving the speed selector slightly, it the preselected positions are so close, it doesn’t matter too much. With such a heavy platter, I don’t think there would be much wow and flutter, but I might get the app just to check it.

[@NotEliteGamer]

I've been using this app for two years now, it's decently reliable

[@TalenGryphon]

Can confirm. Compact flourescents do not work for stroboscope disks. My desk lamp just lit it up. Fortunately the crummy old flourescent in my kitchen works for this purpose, but because its bolted to the wall I did have to have my record player unnervingly close to the sink O.o That app work worlds away better tho. Even determined that I have excessive flutter and need to crack the turntable back open and go through the resistors. Thank you for letting us in internetland know about them

[@DavidBrown-zp5br]

My father has a turntable with a system like this worked into the front with an angled glass panel, some (I'm assuming) LEDs, and a little turn-wheel to adjust the speed of the light. Get the light to look like a solid line and youre good to go!

[@El_Smeghead]

My dad owned a Marantz hifi in the late 70s which had those strobe markings built in on the edge of the turntable.

[@jafirelkurd]

I just got an old Apple IIe and I was reading that the external floppy drives have a pattern on the inside of them that is used to adjust the RPM very much like the first product shown.

[@erwinvdrwal]

Now finally a video of something I'm familiar with.

[@SuiYo]

I don't really know much about turntables, but why can't there just be a test record that plays one constant frequency and the output of the turntable (auxiliary) is hooked up to a device that will say how fast the record is spinning

[@olipito]

Sui Yo yes, there is, the problem is that they seem pretty much out of stock everywhere.. Ortophon and clear audio made one.. But it's pretty much impossible to find one.

[@HawkOfGP]

Sounds like even more effort than the stuff that already exists.

[@SuiYo]

Oh shit it's VWestlife! I love your vids man.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Sui Yo The stroboscope pattern works with nothing but the lamp that shines on your record player anyway. No annoying tone, no laser, just the pattern on the turntable and the reliability of your nationwide power grid. Becomes routine glancing at it when using the player. In the 1980s it was popular to engrave the pattern in shiny aluminium or steel on the edge of the platter so you could watch it while the music was playing.

[@Vode_ika]

And it's still done on record players made today, and with a light built into it. www.google.com/search?q=stanton+turntables&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiV3pGVs8PcAhVN1IMKHRc4CoMQ_AUICygC&biw=1920&bih=974#imgrc=tWCKiZmlZinBZM:

[@packratswhatif.3990]

Matt you have soooooo many sweet toys ! Good Stuff ....

[@eduardoavila646]

Another possible way is to put a sheet of paper, cut to be the same size as the disk. Then put a dot or a risk in one part of the paper so you can see when it done one turn. Now record with any camera for 1 minute. And count how many times the disk turned using the dot or risk you made in the paper as a reference. If the speed is too fast for you, just reduce the playback speed, many third party video players allow that, both in android and windows (android examples: mx player, vlc, etc) (windows examples: media player clasic, vlc). You can also use any video editor, as vegas (paid), kdenlive, blender, shotcut, premiere (paid), lightworks, etc, to decrease the video speed, even tho any decent video player should do the trick. It wont aways give a precise speed as 33.26rpm, but a good idea. So if, lets say it runs at 33rpm, but in the end of 1 minute, it dint complete the 33th turn, its too slow, if it passed a bit its too fast. Of course there are other many better ways to measure that, but in a emergency or any specific situation that tecnique may be usefull. I've used that to make a homemade turntable and make its speed right to playback a cheap disk, for a school science project.

[@scottplumer3668]

I've done something similar where I find a song with a definite start and stop (not a fade out or segue) and time it. The longer the song, the more accurate the timing.

[@beitie]

Awesome! I have used this app a few times also. Though for my turntables, the strobe is still my preferred method due to the unbalance issue you talked about, that and my turntables have built in 45 rpm adapters, so it can get my B&O gear close, but I have to fine tune with a strobe.

[@beitie]

I just tried it again on my Beogram RX2, and the weight of my iPhone 6s causes the platter to scrape, thus not giving me an accurate reading. It's a great app for turntables that don't have suspension.

[@maxmuster2898]

My RFT Granat 227-2 has a built in scale underneath the plate and a strobe light with a mirror, which is really handy

[@alliejr]

Great review. Thanks.

[@1993jeffman]

Great app thanks!

[@arbutuswatcher]

Entertaining & Interesting as always. My kids asked for more muppets! :) Keep up the awesome reviews.

[@StarkRG]

I love it when people find new uses for these multi-sensor devices we've all got nowadays.

[@lutzweb]

i think the location of the gyros inside the phone has an impact on the wow and flutter measurement, by the way great app and usage of the gyros !

[@CaptainZuurpruim]

Interesting video, thank you. I was wondering, you could potentially use the app to calibrate your (more high end) turn-tables, right? If you have access to the small pot inside on the control board, you could adjust it until perfect! But, I guess the accuracy of the phone's detector inside is not going to stretch it to beyond say 0.2%...

[@olipito]

I use the laser method, but put just a little square of reflective on the side of the platter AND measure with a disc being read to account for the tracking friction. It works perfect. For more accuracy, put three stickers 120° apart (and read 100rpm). But for fast checking of a second hand player, the app is perfect, it allows to quick diagnose some internal problems if you have high w&f.

[@kevinatkab5219]

I think optical strobe discs are more sensitive to small changes in speed and you can see the drift quite easily with them. Hard to do that with a digital readout that is only sampling the speed maybe 2-4 times per revolution.

[@ColinJonesPonder]

The first record player I remember the family owning was a Bush RP60 with multi-changer, which I remember my father saying cost £30 (around 1970/71). I don't think I've seen you review this technology yet, maybe something for a future video?

[@chaos.corner]

I was watching some old Techmoan videos yesterday with some old tech doing cool stuff with vinyl and he bemoaned how most record players these days were pretty basic on the features and it made me wonder what records and record players would look like today if vinyl had not been replaced by CDs and later digital media. Built in frequency counters? Every deck would have dynamic speed compensation. servoed styluses to prevent skip, anti-scratch technology. Hi-def albums on 7". Encoded track names. What would you expect to see?

[@PollyBonanzas]

Oh wow! That app is really cool! I've been wanting a way to test my turntable speed. I've got one of those crappy Crosleys. I also have another crappy player that I just replaced the belt on because it broke. Before, it would sometimes fluctuate in speed. I'm not sure if it was from the old belt slipping or not though. The only thing is once I find out the speed, I won't be able to adjust it on either of my players. But it would still be cool to know.

[@TheRestartPoint]

Should you not do the test with a respectively sized vinyl on there too, to account for the weight of a 33/45 etc on there? Or does the weight of the phone more or less sort that out, or does it just not matter anyway?

[@RobertKohut]

Great for testing TT with strobe speed adjusters to see the accuracy of both the app and the strobes.

[@spruce2759]

I use my video camera on my phone, set to slow mo. works in any light setting just point it at the strobe markings on the platter works perfectly.

[@jinggarcia]

thanks for this tip!

[@thetriosupreme3]

where are adjustments made to speed settings on my Dual RPR5 soundburger? i know is one of the holes underneath the player.

[@righthandofdoom77]

Have you seen the duo record player on kickstarter? Thought it would be up your alley.

[@jjeshop]

Fantastic!

[@1993jeffman]

Nice app thanks!

[@georgebliss964]

I also set the RPM to 33 1/3 by counting 100 revs in 3 minutes, using the strip of white paper and a stop watch. If your timing is between 2.59 and 3.01,then you are good to plus or minus 1/2 per cent. This is accurate enough for me,since on a 3 minute record track,a second either way is not noticeable.

[@michaeltache3681]

Thanks for that. I’m trying this before investing any money.

[@PEMAMETAL]

Thanks bro! I have a Regar PLannar 2. I tried 2 different apps. 1 gave me the result of 33,70 te other 33,90. But counting 100 BPM in 2:59,84 gave me the result of 33,36 which seems way more accurate than any app.

[@Silencesontrack]

Hi, Thanks for your great video, this app is really surprising :) Here are the results I have been able to conduct on two LP I got in our HiFistore, measured directly after a start, maybe better if played for a longer period... tbc: LINN Akurate LP12 with Radikal Power supply (Speed control) and DC motor: 33.34RPM . 0.03% ~ w/f 0.13% (Sorry can’t place in the middle) LINN Majik LP12 standard 2019 model (AC Motor) : 33,24RPM -0,35% ~W/F 0,11% (Sorry can’t place in the middle)

[@Tjita1]

Kenwood P-100 (plastic cheap turntable, but sounds surprisingly good), before adjustment ~35,9 / 46,7 rpm. After adjustment (for the first time since my dad bought it new in 1994, access holes holes for the trimmers on the bottom) 33,35 / 45,01 rpm, w/f ~0,6% across the board, would probably be significantly less without the phone on the platter. Also, we not only have the same phone, we actually have the same cases on them too. Cool.

[@bansheemania1692]

Utbr is messi g with your page. I keep subscribing n ow i have a few hrs of vids to watch. Love the work .peace

[@Tigrou7777]

3:03 you can measure RPM same way using a hall sensor with magnet and an Arduino (or a photodiode and the white strip)

[@onedeadsaint]

4:15 "a pinch of salt" thank you using that term! grain of salt is just plain wrong!

[@DrRChandra]

A turntable my father owned had a slanted (conical) shape, with a black background and silver rectangles, and a neon light to provide the 60 Hz light pulses. And it had two wheels which jutted out of the top, one to fine adjust 33 1/3 and another 45.

[@e28forever30]

Could be a Sanyo. Mine has the strobe and the adjustment wheels for both speeds. Pretty handy!

[@RichardDzien]

I have one of those laser based counters, and can confirm they are a bit rubbish at slow moving things. it's much happier at speed. It would work well with the strobe discs. Just count up how many stripes there are in a circle and use it with the laser counter held at 90 degrees to the disc, then just divide through by the number of stripes on the disc. You should be able to get a fairly decent % of accuracy that way too.

[@Roomservic3]

This was handy. Just finished repairing a Technics SL-5200. Direct drive, quartz speed control. 33.30 RPM -0.09% 0.07% w/f.

[@swanseauk]

That has to be THE coolest picture disc I have ever seen..............

[@trainluvr]

I was using an old neon nightlight bulb (edison base) to fine tune turntable speed but its hard to see.