What's the difference between an AR XA and XA-91?

I think I just cracked the code!

2 weeks ago i got lucky. I saw an ad online from a retired gentlemen that wanted to give away an AR Receiver model R, if nobody wanted it he was gonna throw it away. Well I contacted him and went to pick it up. When I arrived he had the receiver by door and also an AR XA turntable with original box and two big AR 5 speakers. Long story short he said I could take them all! I did!

Last few days ive been obsessing over the XA. The platter has a melted mat on it (the pictured one is a mat I put on top to make the photo look better) and crusted and hard to remove. Got most of it off with heat gun, scrapping, wd40... Then i started googling info and found this thread. I always like to try to date my vintage gear.

Well aftervreading this entire thread i looked all over the xa and didnt see a date until i took a closer look at the label on the box. You can barely see it but its there, 11-16-70. Thats probably the shipping date, but you figure the date of birth cant be much sooner than that since its shipped from AR itself.
The serial number seems to be 170247 the 1 seems odd and small but based on other info here I dont think this unit could be a 5 digit serial number. So it must be a six digit. So we have a confirmed serial number and date.

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Just wrapping up my AR XA restoration. I have been poking around on this board and was interested in trying to figure out what year my particular unit was made. After reading this thread and looking at my serial number (#188335) I was pretty sure it was late 1970 or early 1971. Kind of cool as I was born in April 1971. I hade looked at all the areas where information might be located but hadn't opened it up till today. Behold it has a date stamp and this one is a bit different than the ones shown in the
thread. It was on the inside of the plinth. So 3-31-71 just weeks before I showed up ...I thought that was pretty cool



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I just picked up an XA today and the serial number doesn't seem to align with any I've seen mentioned here. It's just three digits: 547. Anyone have any idea when this could be from? It's solid walnut with the textured top.
 

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I just picked up an XA today and the serial number doesn't seem to align with any I've seen mentioned here. It's just three digits: 547. Anyone have any idea when this could be from? It's solid walnut with the textured top.

Welcome to the AK turn table forum.

Looks like five digits : 54710 :idea:

Other members with better eyesight may be chiming in any moment.....:)
 
Welcome to the AK turn table forum.

Looks like five digits : 54710 :idea:

Other members with better eyesight may be chiming in any moment.....:)
Thank you! And I think you're right. I thought the vertical lines delineated space between the numbers but they're number ones.

Which means it's likely 154710. Which puts it in the mid 70's?
 
Thank you! And I think you're right. I thought the vertical lines delineated space between the numbers but they're number ones.

Which means it's likely 154710. Which puts it in the mid 70's?

Take a look at my post on this page. Yours is not mid 70s based on my finding. More like late 60s...like 68 or 9
 
I thought I should add my AR XA S/N to the roll call

XA149575 - 1967
motor: single
base: solid walnut
headshell: gray
plinth top: textured brown
plinth bottom: gray
base bottom: slot vents w/hole, varnished
address: 24 thorndike st. cambridge, mass 02141
warranty: 3 years


great thread and turntable
 
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Just bought this AR TA in Kansas City
TA133314 (printed upside down)
Motor:single (Haydon)
Base: veneered walnut
Headshell: black
Top plate: textured brown
Base bottom: slotted W/ holes
Address: 24 Thorndike st.
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Loquacious: I once bought an AR that was clearly an AR, though it had been put into a console so it lacked the base. What was really peculiar about it was that it predated the cast subchassis -- it was two pieces of aluminum U channel stock bolted or riveted together, and the top (and maybe the bottom) of the main bearing was nylon -- when I tightened the screws on the bearing (which, obviously, wasn't cast into the subchassis), the nylon slowly migrated to the point that the platter stopped rotating. Sold it a decade or two ago, so no pictures to prove its existence, alas...
 
Loquacious: I once bought an AR that was clearly an AR, though it had been put into a console so it lacked the base. What was really peculiar about it was that it predated the cast subchassis -- it was two pieces of aluminum U channel stock bolted or riveted together, and the top (and maybe the bottom) of the main bearing was nylon -- when I tightened the screws on the bearing (which, obviously, wasn't cast into the subchassis), the nylon slowly migrated to the point that the platter stopped rotating. Sold it a decade or two ago, so no pictures to prove its existence, alas...
That was the original subchassis. the bearing wells for the spindle and arm were delrin "buckets' that bolted in. The delrin would swell seizing the spindles. AR would re-hone them, only for it to happen again.
AR started installing a babbit sleeve into the wells. the delrin still swelled, seizing again.
 
I think of delrin as being black (because my first experience of it was in model railroading where it was used for trucks (the things that hold the wheels under railroad cars, not semis on the highway). They would need to be black since trucks are black or dark/rust, but as a youth I assumed it was simply the natural color of the material. Thanks for the correction.
 
Hello all, I bought and restored one of these fine tables, I took some good pictures and uploaded them here: https://imgur.com/a/bKAoVFR



AR XA serial XA 64504 can someone identify the manufacture date or year?

Currently using a Shure M55E cart with a Jico n55e improved stylus tracking at 1.20 gram and I am very satisfied with the sound quality.
 

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Hello all, I bought and restored one of these fine tables, I took some good pictures and uploaded them here: https://imgur.com/a/bKAoVFR



AR XA serial XA 64504 can someone identify the manufacture date or year?

Currently using a Shure M55E cart with a Jico n55e improved stylus tracking at 1.20 gram and I am very satisfied with the sound quality.

See the following thread:http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/offical-ar-turntable-owners-thread.595003/page-67 :)
 
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