Timeline Calculator


I just made a calculator in Excel for the Sutherland Timeline. You enter the distance to the wall and the laser deviation per revolution and it gives you the circumference of the virtual circle that the laser travels, the speed error of your platter in percent, the RPM your platter is off by, and the actual RPM of your platter. It can also tell you how many Hz a given frequency is off by.

Let me know if you would like to try it out!
ketchup
Sounds like something Sutherland should have supplied with the Timeline from the start.
It sounds great Ketchup.
The only problem I can envisage......is the difficulty of positioning the laser line 'dead-on' the centreline of the spindle and at right-angles to the wall?
It is difficult enough to just position it somewhere behind the turntable?
The Timeline appears to be a very accurate and precise instrument. Perhaps too accurate for measuring turntable speed as you may be chasing an impossible standard. Once you dial in your table for perfect speed, is the speed accuracy repeatable and constant over a period time when taking in consideration temperature changes, power changes, humidity changes etc. Is the Timeline a cure or a curse?

PS- Ketchup, nice work on the calculator
I forgot to mention that if anyone wants the calculator, send me an email through Audiogon and I'll attach the file to my response.
Halcro,

Just measure from the spindle to where the mark hits the wall and the calculator should get you very close. I don't believe that the beam needs to be exactly perpendicular to the wall for this to work well enough. However, the accuracy of the data input into the calculator is important. Try to measure as accurately as possible as that's going to be the source of the most error.
George , I see to, I then clicked on several names and the same issue with everyone that I clicked on, nothing provided for private contact.
I guess the site upgrades have temporarily disabled the ability to email other members. If you want the calculator, please do as Ecir38 did.

Ecir38,
I have never seen your system pics before. Is that a slate plinth you have your Garrard 301 mounted in? It looks great! I'm planning something similar for mine. The calculator is on its way.
Ketchup, it is one top layer of 1/2 mdf and two 3/4 birch. Sounds great, makes me wonder about the high mass plinth debate. Table was previously in slate but think this sounds better. Thanks for the spreedsheet although haven't seen it yet..
Hi Ketchup

Being able to put a percentage of accuracy to my tables will prove to be very interesting. Thanks for doing the work.
Would you be kind enough to send me one as well please to:
rugyboogie@yahoo.ca
Will post the results of my four tables.
Thank you very much,
Hi Ketchup,

kindly send to me also would be most appreciated,

dlevy7@sympatico.ca

Thank you in advance.
I just found out that if you have the 1x Timeline you can upgrade it in-house to the 8x. Contact Sutherland.
Instead of neurotically watching the laser spot on a wall, can one program a laptop with a camera to read the motion and do all the calcuations? One would then only focus the spot on a CCD camera of a laptop and let the software do all the caculations (taking into account camera's focal distance, pixel size etc). Any takers?
Cheers
Bydlo
Hi Ketchup,

I would appreciate if you could send one to me.
dickson@netfront.net

Thank you kindly.
Anyone using the platterspeed app.?
Using any testrecord with a 3150 Hz track you can record and adjust with your iPhone (or iPad, or iPod Touch) from the loudspeaker in an endless loop.
Frank_sm,

I am using the PlatterSpeed iPhone app in conjunction with the Analogue Productions test LP. It works great. I have a Rega P25 which is notoriously fast as are most Rega turntables. As I try different tweaks, I can quickly measure whether it makes the speed more accurate.
I'm using PlatterSpeed to get my Solid9 in order as it was running fast. Considering getting a Sutherland but not cheap. I have the Feickert 7" and Platterspeed shows quite a sway back and forth while running the 3150hz tone; as opposed to midly moving like the demo shows. I would love to try the Excel calcualtor if I pickup a Timeline.

tonight I will try the tone on the UTR, have to find it in the stacks.