The Zeus board is designed and tested in the UK.
- Accurate motor pitch – essential to lock in the timing and enhance the listening pleasure of your vinyl
- CE, UKCA approved and marked.
- Precise electronic switching between 33.3 rpm and 45 rpm
- Automatic speed sensor calibration.
- Highly accurate and pure sine wave frequency synthesis generated for 50Hz or 67.5Hz controlled to 0.001 Hz
- Internal platter optical platter feedback sensor to lock platter rotation at rock-solid speed. +/- 0.003 rpm. Optical speed sensing automatically compensates for worn belts, pulleys, bearings, motors and stylus drag utilizing PID control.
- Control motor parameters such as frequencies, phase angle, and voltage amplitude via a serial interface. Adjusting these values enables the smoothest motor operation with minimum noise and vibration. Values may be saved once the optimum setup is achieved. The boards will ship with suggested default values but are fully configurable to suit your setup via a USB serial connection.
- Super quiet mode – Configurable option to reduce motor drive once the platter is at full speed. This reduces motor vibration and noise still further.
- Configurable Auto rotation on the application of main power
- Configurable low-power auto sleep timer when turntable idle.
- Combined black anodized aluminium switch/OLED display to indicate exact platter rotation speed and WOW. An alternative ordering option is the standard Linn style red/green LED
- Automatic OLED display blanking (1-60 mins)
- Speed change is controlled by holding the power switch for four seconds. (Visual speed change badge and flash provided on OLED).
- Stylus and bearing run-time wear tracking counters
- Fits on the original Linn Valhalla cross brace mounting.
- Ready for Linn Karousel bearing.
- Class A motor drive circuitry.
- Less heat is generated than in the original Valhalla due to the redesigned PSU section (no more burned-out resistors).
- Can be installed in Linn Axis – just wire the motor and existing power switch to the Zeus (soldering required).
- Specially selected quiet production – We select the quietest boards for our Zeus range.
- Supply 110v-230v 50/60Hz.
- Works with 50Hz and 60Hz synchronous Linn/Premotec/Philips/Airpax 110V motors.
Paul T (verified owner) –
Bought the Zeus to replace an old but still working Valhalla so as to get 45rpm.
Installation was extremely simple and straight forward and took very little time at all.
After running the initial set up which was clearly defined and set out, my LP12 was playing at 33 and 45rpm and showing as such on the digital display to within 3 decimal points – 33.333 and 45.000
On these points alone I would highly reccomend the Zeus.
There are more features available to fine tune and more with the enclosed software too for the more experienced techno/audiophiles and I will investigate these through time but for the simplicity of installation and rapid ability to have 2 speed availability it is already worth every penny.
The service and communication from the company is also second to none.
Thank you Valhalla Electronics for all your help and advice.
10/10
David Valentine (verified owner) –
Absolutely delighted with the upgrade to my rather ancient but perfectly performing early Linn LP12 / Grace G707 arm and Pickering cartridge combo. Speed is perfectly controlled at both 33.33 and 45 rpm and is clearly evident when listening – a relatively straightforward DIY proposition at a great price point and a superb service from Valhalla Electronics – what more can you ask?
David Flint (verified owner) –
Bought the Zeus after my 30+ year old Valhalla lost speed stability. It was was very easy to install (I’d never had the base board off my deck) and functioned out of the box exactly as described – it’s rock solid at both 33 and 45 RPM and my deck has never been quieter. I can honestly say I’ve not played as many records in years as I have since I fitted it. As a family we’ve had several visits to local record stores and my daughter is now the proud owner of her first deck (a Rega Planar 3). So thanks Steve, for the advice and a wonderful PSU – definitely an upgrade worth buying.
Jon Elion (verified owner) –
I bought the Zeus internal controller to replace an aging external Lingo 2 power supply. The ancient Lingo was not providing proper voltages and the RPMs at 33 and 45 RPM were slightly off. Updating to a Lingo 4 or a Linn Radikal would have been extremely expensive, and options in the U.S. were limited.
Fortunately, I found the Zeus motor speed controller and decided to give it a try. Steve was prompt and helpful with pre-sales technical support, assuring me that it was designed for customer installation. Shipping to the U.S. was perfect and was very prompt. The instructions were very thorough and available to me as soon as I ordered so I had everything I needed ready to go when the Zeus arrived. Removing the Lingo internals and installing the Zeus was easy and went very quickly. It turns out that the old Lingo accepted a U.S. power input, but communicated to the turntable motor as if it was in the U.K. The setup application that comes with the Zeus gives great flexibility, and made it easy to put the U.K. values into the configuration.
The turntable is now spinning at the speeds 33.33 and 45.00. Since I went with the internal Zeus setup, I have the added bonus of now having one less box cluttering the countertop next to the LP12. This upgrade gets my highest recommendation!!
By the way, if you curious what Steve looks like, you just have to look up “Customer Service” in the dictionary — his picture is shown right there next to the definition. 😉
lovegrove65@yahoo.co.uk (verified owner) –
Upgraded my 1980 LP12 with the internal Valhalla Zeus motor speed controller.
Although my Linn Valhalla board was only re-capped about 4 yrs back there was a huge audio upgrade from that with he Zeus.
Everything I have always loved about the LP12 from this deck’s era is still there but largely improved .
Timing now spot on and a huge improvement in musicality.
I have been playing and loving music more in the last few days than i have for many years.
Thank you Steve for your help and guidance in setting up, though to be honest the instructions were excellent and I just needed the confidence to get past the fear of mucking things up.
And I can also find out what the 45RPM LP’s fuss is all about
Many thanks Steve your Zeus powerboard is the best Kung Fu
Jorge C (verified owner) –
From what I have read and experimented in my years using belt drive turntables, the 2 phase a/c synchronous turntables motor with traditional simple power supply implementation are not too stable, or accurate, in its rotation speed (rpm) due to several factors which include lack of precision in the motor constructions, and voltage variations on the power grid to which the turntable is connected. This includes expensive turntables as there are just a few motors available for this type of use.
The typical specifications for speed of these simple implementations are 33.3 rpm and 45.0 rpm.
In recent years some manufacturers of high quality turntables have implemented motor power supplies with speed sensing (rpm) feedback loops to greatly improve speed stability over traditional a/c synchronous motor speed controls. I believe of this sort of psu/controllers is used in Rega’s Top turntable, the NAIA, Sota turntables use it in their Total Eclipse Package psu/controllers, and Linn uses it in their Lingo IV and Radikal psu/controllers. All of which are based on similar principles and implementations of an optical or magnetic marker located in the platter periphery so that a sensor may detect the revolutions per minute at which the table is operating and in turn a psu designed to autonomously adjust its output may maintain the desired speed in real time. These electronic psu’s, also providing push button speed changing between 33.333 rpm and 45.000 rpm. They are all very effective as far as I know and about 1000% more accurate.
Those OEM psu’s are only available on the brands most expensive models or as very expensive upgrades.
I had experimented with a prior version of the Zeus psu/controller on a non Linn LP12 turntable a few years back, so I knew that is capable of similar results to those top factory psu at a much reasonable price.
About one month ago I went to visit a friend for an analog music listening session. He owned an LP12 with Lingo 1 psu. Very well setup and nice sounding turn table, but, I knew it was not up to the current standards speed wise. I recommended that he install the Zeus.
Initially he was skeptical due to the huge difference in price compared to a Linn Radikal psu. I insisted and he decided to give it a try.
He ordered it. The Zeus ver. 3 for internal installation within the LP12 plinth was promptly shipped by Valhalla Electronics and received about one week and a halve later.
Yesterday, the local LP12 guru technician, Victor DÃaz removed the Lingo and installed the Zeus with my assistance (This was his first time installing and configuring one Zeus, thus I pitched in my prior experience installing and setting it up). The installation and setup are comprehensively explained in the well written user manual included with the Zeus.
After triple checking everything in the installation we started up the LP12, the Zeus display lit up immediately and indicated that it would perform an initial auto calibration of the sensor which could take up to 10 minutes. We could read in the Zeus display that the speed reading were out of specs. That first auto calibration ended with the Zeus display indicating that the sensor had failed the tests. The reason for the failure was that we had installed the infra red speed sensor too far from the platter periphery for it to read correctly. We moved the sensor closer to the edge of the platter and ran the initial setup again and voilá… the auto calibration was completed in about 3 minutes and the LP12 started running at 33.333±0.002rpm and when the speed selector was engaged it ran at 45.000±0.002rpm.
My friend is very impressed with the results. The sound is more engaging than before as the sound difference is noticeable. Pitch and tone are stable, not wobbly as when the motor speed was fluctuating. The music also sounds more relaxed. The probable reason is that when the correct speed is achieved, i.e. 33.333±0.002rpm, the Zeus provides enough output to just maintain speed and not more, thus the motor makes less noise. Also the power selector with display looks great as installed.
The cost is more than reasonable compared to Linn’s Lingo IV or Radikal, and in all honesty, the implementation and results are totally comparable with the much more expensive factory upgrades.
Totally recommended…
harald@tafjord.priv.no (verified owner) –
I have installed the Zeus to a Linn Axis. Steve at Valhalla was really helpful and the installation went smooth. To fix the board I drilled four new holes in the plint, then soldered the board to the motor, only three wires to solder. The setup was easy just following the instructions on the start stop controller. It now runs smooth between 33.331 and 33.335. I have tested it with different sinus tones with a perfect stable frequency, indicating no wow & flutter. The vibration from the motor is negligible as is the noise from the motor. A great upgrade totally recomended….
harald@tafjord.priv.no (verified owner) –
I have installed the Zeus to a Linn Axis. Steve at Valhalla was really helpful and the installation went smooth. To fix the board I drilled four new holes in the plinth, then only three wires to solder to the motor [connection blocks can also be used to avoid soldering – VE]. The setup was easy just following the instructions on the start stop controller. It now runs smooth between 33.331 and 33.335. I have tested it with different sinus tones with a perfect stable frequency, indicating no wow & flutter. The vibration from the motor is negligible as is the noise from the motor. A great upgrade totally recomended….