Today there is a huge selection of vinyl players available, varying in both price and class. In addition to remakes, there are many proven vintage equipment. Vintage often means Japanese, German and other turntables of foreign origin. Soviet audio equipment is remembered for dry electrolytes, factory defects and is compared with entry-level foreign ones. However, this is not always true.
In this review, using the example of the joint activities of the Berd Radio Plant and the Polish association Unitra, called Arcturus 006, we will be convinced that in the Soviet Union, in addition to all sorts of junk, serious audio equipment was also produced, which today can compete with foreign analogues. By the way, the Poles borrowed the design features of the electronic control unit and tonearm of this player from Fisher players. 
Historical overview and technical characteristics
At the beginning of 1983, the Berdsk Radio Plant produced the network transistor electric player "Arktur-006-stereo". It was intended to work with a Hi-Fi complex of sound-reproducing radio equipment. The player is made on the basis of a two-speed EPU G-2021, with an ultra-low-speed electric motor and direct drive. The EP has a pressure regulator and a roll force compensator, adjustment of the disc rotation speed using a strobe light, auto-stop, micro-lift, speed switch and auto-return of the tonearm at the end of the record. Disk rotation speed 33, 45 rpm. Operating frequency range - 20 Hz–20 kHz. Detonation coefficient - 0.1%. Relative rumble level -66 dB. Background level -63 dB. The dimensions of the electric player are 460x200x375 mm. Weight - 12 kg.
Let's take a closer look
The device I recently purchased second hand was manufactured in 1985. According to the previous owner, the player had all the necessary preventive maintenance done for normal operation. As it turns out, there are Soviet electrolytes inside, but their capacities correspond to the nominal value. Everything in the player is factory, not counting the hinges that hold the lid (the factory ones are quite fragile). There were no interventions other than replacing the pickup head, although there are many ways to get a significantly better sound from it and ways to modify it. But personally, I don’t see any point in this: the stock player sounds quite decent, and if you want better sound, there is no need to disfigure equipment that is no longer produced, there is not much of it left, it’s easier to immediately buy a device of a higher class.
Appearance
The player has a plastic case in which a Polish direct-drive electronic control unit with an S-shaped tonearm and a heavy platter is installed. The player has non-adjustable rubber feet.
A fairly typical appearance for direct-drive players of those years, a solid design and the presence of all the necessary controls At the back of the player there are two outputs: one from the built-in phono stage, the second bypass, for connecting to an external one. When using the built-in phono stage, a jumper is installed in the second output.
Connectors type SG-5, also known as DIN 5 The player has a heavy support disk, which at the same time serves as an electric motor rotor; a magnetic plate is glued to its inner part. 
Below it is the stator of the electric motor.
Motor stator The tonearm is made entirely of metal; there is not the slightest play in its design. The only thing that raises questions is the counterweight, which does not fit tightly enough, and it is graduated in 0.5 g increments, which significantly complicates the process of fine-tuning the downforce without weights. The shell does not have slots for more precise adjustment of the approach angle, but it is removable and can be replaced with any other one.
Player at work
The player turns on with one click of the toggle switch; when you bring the pickup head to the beginning of the record, the disc begins to rotate, all that remains is to select the desired track and lower the microlift. The rotation speed is adjusted and the player is controlled from the corresponding panel. When you press the “stop” key or at the end of the side, auto-stop is triggered and the tonearm automatically returns to its original position.
A huge plus is two trimmers for 33 and 45 speeds, for precise adjustment of the rotation speed. There is no need to reach under the bottom of the player with a screwdriver, as in most new-made devices. One of the disadvantages is the need to slightly adjust the speed after warming up the motor control chip. Also, when purchasing this player “hand-held”, check that the speed does not fluctuate. This is a common problem with this model. Buying vintage audio equipment is always a lottery, but in this case it is better to overpay a little than to buy a non-working device for pennies.
Strobe light, as expected from all direct drive players Listening
We will listen to the player with a Shure M97xE head (we will put aside the included Unitra MF102 for children's fairy tales), a built-in phono preamplifier on the K157UD2 chip, a Pioneer a-30 amplifier and Amphiton 25 AC-227 speaker systems. A better phono preamp could have provided a more detailed and deeper sound picture, but the built-in chip performed surprisingly well. With the only clarification that this player does not pretend to be High End class sound - it is quite an ordinary, high-quality Hi-Fi in the middle price category, nothing more.
Pink Floyd – “Wish You Were Here” (25 AP 1258)
The central composition of the album was played with a sufficient amount of detail, depth of the sound stage, and the sound of each string of the guitar and David Gilmour's vocals was well conveyed.
Kiss – “Asylum” (826 099-1)
The combination of the turntable and the pickup head once again showed itself well: the absence of any mess in the sound, the entire drive and emotional component of the album is perfectly conveyed.
Boney M. – “Love For Sale” (65 359 2)
In the test of the Soviet vinyl player it is simply impossible to do without the “first group of all pioneer camps”. The bass was quite deep and sounded with the inherent softness of this carrier.
Forum – “White Night” (C60 25779 005)
The sound literally takes you back to the times of the USSR - it is so soft, detailed and alive. 
conclusions
Arcturus 006 is undoubtedly one of the most worthy turntables produced during the Soviet Union, and to this day remains an excellent choice for music lovers, vinyl fans and audiophiles who do not really want to spend money on a simple turntable made of sawdust and with a motor from a cassette player. The player performed well with the American head; we can safely say that this is an excellent combination for playing rock and its varieties, including heavy metal. If we compare Arcturus 006 with modern competitors, there are simply none in the price range of up to 30, or even up to 50 thousand rubles. However, with the only condition that this player is in fully functional and working condition. 
Advantages: Direct drive, heavy disk, S-shaped tonearm without a single play in the design, auto-stop, huge possibilities for improvement and all kinds of modifications
Flaws: Plastic body, lack of high-quality vibration decoupling, Polish EPU control chips and associated malfunctions; when interacting with some individual specimens, straight hands may be required to bring them back to life
Special thanks for your help in editing and designing this review.
First of all, it should be noted that if you want to purchase a Soviet-made vinyl player and do not want to deal with modifications other than replacing the pickup, I do NOT RECOMMEND buying the Arcturus under any circumstances. Of the Soviet-made players that practically do not require modifications, I would like to note Electronics EP-017, B1-01 and Corvette 003/038.
All Arcturus are assembled “with their feet” (I’m not afraid of this word). This is especially true of the tonearm - the most important part of any player.
The presence of a built-in phono stage, a rumble filter, unimportant wires in the tonearm and the deadliest MF-101 pickup makes it completely unsuitable for listening.
So the revision.
I won’t tell you how he understands it, because... There are no special tricks there.
Things to do:
1) Completely turn off the phono stage - you don’t have to remove it, it’s secured well.
2) Disable the rumble filter. It is not difficult to find - the wires from the tonearm lead directly into it. You can also leave it in place if you wish.
The device consists of two halves and in the bottom you need to “embed” 2 “tulip” connectors and a screw terminal for “ground”. After this, I recommend checking whether the power supply and the “legs” of the device are securely fastened.
3) The Arcturus body is made of plastic, so its damping must be taken seriously
What can be done. I had two ideas - either plasticine or paraffin. As a result, almost the entire bottom is filled with paraffin, but some places, for example the phono stage and the area around the power supply, are coated with plasticine (Thanks to Steppenwolf for providing the plasticine)
The upper part is more difficult. First of all, you need to check the quality of fastening the EPU itself to the body. If you wish (I did not do this), you can use Steppenwolf’s idea, namely, screw everything through rubber plumbing gaskets. Then everything is the same as with the lower part, except that it is better to put the paraffin here after assembling the player directly on the metal EPU after first removing the disk.
4) Replacement of wiring in the tonearm.
The wire is sold in the Nota + store and costs around 450 rubles for 4 wires of 0.5 m each. This is quite enough.
For Arcturus I recommend this option, because... It is very easy to break the wire due to the design of the tonearm. Let me make a reservation right away that it is impossible to change the wiring without removing and completely disassembling the tonearm. But in any case, the tonearm is assembled so poorly that it is simply impossible not to do this.
5) Removing and disassembling the tonearm is relatively easy, the main thing is not to forget about the 5th wire that goes to the player body and do not overdo it with tightening the bearings. Remember that the tonearm must move absolutely smoothly and freely in all directions. Use lithol to lubricate bearings.
I don’t see any point in eliminating the contacts in the shell, but I recommend that you also definitely change the wires from the shell to the pickup.
Exactly 5 wires should come out of the tonearm. 4 of them are soldered to the tulips according to polarity, and the fifth to the player body and to the ground terminal for subsequent connection to the phono stage.
Assemble carefully, trying not to disturb the auto-return setting of the tonearm.
7) Particular attention (it takes me about 40 minutes) must be devoted to the correct installation of the pickup. This template is suitable for this (you need to log in to view the link
About long conversations about which Soviet player is better. Such tests are complicated by the fact that they must be carried out on the same pickup, which must be removed, installed and accurately aligned on each player.
The very first release of Electronics EP-017 (not Kazan, but Fryazinsky) and Arcturus only with a damped body were compared. The comparison was made on the pickup that I still have today - Shure 75ecs. Tube phono stage ZKI.
The electronics gave in somewhat at mid frequencies. Arcturus played at a higher resolution. After rebuilding the tonearm and replacing the wiring due to clearly audible improvements, another comparison of these players makes no sense.
Dear Steppenwolf brought his modified Electronics B1-01 with an Audiotechnika-110 pickup. They didn't change the pickups, they just compared them as is. The comparison is incorrect, because the B1-01 is much inferior to the Arcturus, but the reason for this is the pickup.
By this I want to say that, if desired, even a mediocre device can be improved to a serious level.
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How to see needle wear -
Instructions: How to see needle wear.
We take the head with our left hand, with the needle away from us, under a long lamp or chandelier (the more light the better) we catch the glare on the diamond cone from the side (working) side, using a strong magnifying glass (10-20x) or a microscope (a handheld 30-50x is enough) , we catch the needle in a magnifying glass/microscope, and begin to slowly turn the head of the needle towards us, and if we see a bright dot on the tip of the needle (or a plane in the microscope), then it’s time for it to go to the trash/retype.
We're smoking Arcturus.Introduction.
As the story progresses, there will be photo comments on “tricky” places, in my opinion.
Photography was carried out primarily in order to save ourselves from headaches
during subsequent assembly. And believe me, it was useful to me.
The main principle that I followed in the process of tuning the player is not to introduce
radical changes to the design and still squeeze the full potential out of it.
Before starting to create this modification guide, I studied almost all the meager material on this type of player, and read countless comments on fairly authoritative forums. As a result, you see a symbiosis of the collected material plus my amendments and recommendations.
First impressions are always deceiving.
Having read almost everything and anything on this type of “table” (unitra G-xxx), I began to form the opinion that in nature there simply are no normal “Soviet”-made players with the exception of “Electronics” B1-01 (an exact copy of “thorens”, which, unfortunately, does not want to fall into my hands for reasonable money). All the reviews about "unitra" type "tables" suck! Direct drive sucks! Etc. and so on. But since God sent “Arcturus-006” (based on “unitra-Gxxx”), it means we will fight and get the most out of it!
At the moment, I do not consider myself among the cohort of audiophiles whose total equipment cost is 10 kilobucks or more and who, on principle, do not play records with an “apple color other than black.” Perhaps, having understood and, most importantly, HEARING the differences and nuances in the sound of different components, I will re-read this text with a smile, but we will proceed from the principle “what we have at the moment.”
And at the moment we have:
1. Acoustic system - Defender Mercury 50A (modified, materials and photos will be posted later)
2. Player "Arktur-006" (in the process of tuning)
3. NAD PP2 phono preamplifier (ready for tuning, but the process will be started after finishing work on the player)
4. Cassette tape recorder Technics RS-BX501 (actually appeared by accident, as a childhood memory. Because I dreamed about it as a child and because I got it practically for nothing in amazing condition)
Begin.
Fortunately, for a more or less objective assessment of the improvement, you first had to turn it on “as it is,” try to listen, then disassemble and reassemble it and turn it on again. But this was impossible to do for a number of objective reasons, namely:
1. No needle.
2. I knew for sure that the built-in corrector was a “bummer!”, and the budget NAD was just ordered.
3. The device has been lying in the closet for about five years with a “killer” tuning of the electrical cord, I’m simply afraid to plug it into the outlet.
Disassembly.
And so, the player is on the “operating” table. The first step is complete disassembly, washing and lubrication. The process is not very interesting and dreary, because turning up someone else’s dirt is not particularly pleasant.
Therefore, if anyone is interested, see the full photo archive, but here there will be only individual moments.
Comments and recommendations for disassembly:
Nothing special, because it is quite easy and simple to disassemble.
In some examples, they did not spare paint on the screws.
Twist the tonearm and put it aside (we'll deal with it later).
Do not lose the fasteners and shims.
Since I received the player without a cover, I removed the brackets for it (especially since they leaked viscous liquid into the case - I could barely wash them off)
Next, take the washing powder into your hands and wash the body and base of the table.
I didn’t paint or cover the body with anything, because I want to make something different.
I'm still searching for damping of the body and disk.
I did not remove the power supply from the case (yet).
Assembly.
The first step is a visual inspection of the electronics, limit switches, and wires.
We immediately change all electrolytes on the control board. Don't save money! The price of electrolytes is 10 rubles. And searching for the reasons for the unstable operation of the drive takes several evenings.
I just got it. I unsoldered the condensers, measured them, the capacities are normal. After an hour of operation, the disk began to rotate unstably. It turned out that when heated, the capacity of the capacitor was restored, and after cooling it “went away” from the nominal value.
Easy tuning - replacing incandescent lamps indicating modes “33” and “45” with LEDs.
It took a lot of time to adjust the smooth operation of the tonearm microlift (viscous slurry + elasticity of the electromagnet armature return spring)
During the assembly process, I recommend that mechanics make a compromise of the following things (affects the stability of disk rotation).
1. Uniformity of the air gap between the disk (rotor) and the coils (stator)
2. Horizontalness of the central support unit (three adjustment screws)
Free advice - if the disk rotation speed fluctuates despite all the above comments, grind a new central unit support pad. I was sharpened from graphite fluoroplastic.
This material is characterized by high frictional wear resistance and sufficient hardness.
After all the above manipulations, the strobe marks stood rooted to the spot (swinging by eye
about 0.5 - 1 mm back and forth)
Tonearm.
Let's sort it out. It's simple.
If we leave the ability to quickly change the head together with the shell, then we clean the contact pads.
We change, if desired, of course, the wires in the tonearm. I put the "faces" in pairs.
Phono preamplifier and head switch (small scarf with two transistors) - ftopka!
The phono stage will be external, the switch, if there is a big need, we will install a relay.
A 1986 record player was brought in for repairs with the following problems:
- disk rotation starts after several attempts;
- the rotation speed of the disk changes spontaneously during operation;
- The backlight for indicating the rotation speeds “33”/”45” does not work (the lamps do not light);
- the tonearm lowering lever does not lock in the working position;
- strong low-frequency background (hum) during operation.
When disassembling the playervery desirableremove the head holder And with a needle and fix the tonearm on the stand, for example, with a thin wire in PVC insulation (just “wrap” a couple of turns of wire to the stand). Then removemetal disk, it is not fixed in any way and it is not difficult to do. After which you can transfer e yank the housing and, by unscrewing the four screws around the perimeter, separate the lower part of the housing from the upper. During this operation, you will need to disconnect three connectors: the input from the head to the amplifier-corrector, the power supply for the “strobe” lamp (220 volts)and power supply to the motor control board (16 volts). As a result, we get the upper part with the EPU and control board:
And the lower one, where the transformer, the power supply (stabilizer) for the preamplifier-corrector, and the preamplifier itself, which is located in a metal shielding box, are located:
First of all, you should use a tester to check the resistance of the “micrik” contacts in the closed position, since a very common cause of malfunction is oxidation/contamination of these contacts, which is why the resistance of the closed contact can be far from zero:
In my case, for example, the resistance of the “microphone 1” contact floated from 30 to 300 Ohms in the closed position. Both mics have a collapsible design, so they can be carefully removed, disassembled and the contacts cleaned. After cleaning the contacts of “mikrik 1”, the problem with starting the disk rotation (when the tonearm is brought to the plate) was solved. “Mikrik 2” in my case turned out to be fine and did not require intervention.
Next, unscrew the mounting screws and remove the engine control board. In this case, it is not necessary to unsolder the wires from the board, since they are of sufficient length and if you remove the wire fastening clamps, the board can be moved in space and even turned over quite freely. A common problem is the “drying out” of electrolytic capacitors; for some reason, “small” ones with small capacities are especially susceptible to this. It is not recommended to touch the trimming resistors, of which there are several on this board, since the adjustment method was lost somewhere in the last century and is unknown to modern science. In any case, I was not able to find the necessary information on these Internets of yours...
When checking capacitors for ESR (ESR), several specimens with increased resistance were identified and they were replaced with new ones:
Then we move to the lower part of the case, where you need to check the power supply. Firstly, you should definitely check and clean the contacts of all connectors and, then, the output voltages. The motor control board must be supplied with an alternating voltage of 16 volts (it is supplied directly from the transformer; on the stabilizer board it is only switched through the corresponding connector). Moreover, it should be borne in mind that when the connector is disconnected, that is, without load, this voltage may be slightly higher (up to 19 volts). This is fine.
Power is supplied to the preamplifier-corrector through a bipolar stabilizer +/- 15 volts. In the stabilizer, you should also check all the containers and, for sure, replace ALL:
In my case, all voltages from the transformer were in order, but, for example, only 14 volts (instead of 16) came to the motor control board and this was clearly not enough for the normal operation of the board and the electromagnet that holds the tonearm lowering lever in the working position . After cleaning the contacts, the voltage returned to normal, everything worked as it should, and even the speed indicator lamps “33” and “45” came on. The contacts of these connectors should not only be cleaned, but also “bent” a little so that they do not dangle in the connectors (which also happened). All the parts on the engine control board are imported, but the stabilizer and preamplifier-corrector are ours, Soviet ones. All the parts, naturally, are from the 80s, so it’s not surprising that many things require mandatory replacement...
Next, you can move on to the preamplifier-corrector. It is not difficult to get to it - you need to unscrew one screw and remove the cover from the metal box in which it is located. You will see something like this (the amplifier has already been removed):
Here you can also exchange parts for similar ones, but new ones and not so gigantic in size... although, perhaps it is precisely such details that will allow you to achieve a particularly “warm tube sound”. There are two connectors located next to each other on the board, one is the output directly from the pickup stylus and the second is amplified and corrected. Moreover, when using the option with signal amplification, a special commutator plug must be inserted into the first connector, allowing the signal to pass from the pickup to the amplifier input:
If anyone is interested in the circuit diagram of this “native” preamplifier, I will present it here (I found it on the internet).
I did something different and simply replaced the preamplifier-corrector with a transistor circuit, which I had used more than once before when repairing turntables:
This simple two-transistor corrector provides the following characteristics:
- input voltage maximum……………..40 mV;
- maximum output voltage…………...4 V;
- overload capacity, not less than…………..24 dB;
- gain at frequency 1 kHz……….100
- deviation of the frequency response from the standard…………………..+/- 1 dB;
- harmonic coefficient, no more than………………..0.1%;
The power supply to this circuit is unipolar, so it will be necessary to accordingly change the voltage stabilizer circuit to a unipolar version and connect the “common” wire to the “minus” of the power supply, otherwise it will not be possible to get rid of the strong background.
This scheme has existed in my personal archives for a very long time and therefore, unfortunately, I cannot now indicate the source of its appearance. Any n-p-n transistors can be used, but with the highest possible gain and low noise. I made similar circuits using KT3102B and imported S3198 transistors. This did not affect the characteristics in any way, but in the second case the noise level was slightly less.
Conclusion
Among other things, it will be very useful to clean the EPU kinematics, remove old, thickened lubricant and lubricate everything again.
After carrying out all the work and manipulations described above, the player worked quite well and no longer causes any complaints.