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The horror! The horror! (SR-717 find)

gonzothegreat

gonzothegreat

Super Member
Friday I was in a local thrift after a hard day of moving packets and doing taxes. I saw most of the regulars on my way in so I figured nothing would be left but seeds & stems. A quick scan of the shelves revealed nothing of note so I decided to leave.

On my way out, I spotted something in the trash that looked interesting but somehow it didn't look right. After moving a few trashed VCRs and an astroturf putting green, I saw the familiar Sansui logo and the words "Direct Drive". OMFG! My joy quickly turned to horror once I saw how badly this once-fine specimen had been savaged.

As you can see, she was in bad shape. Some clown (and that's the family-friendly word for what I really want to say) tried to hack in a new arm and failed miserably. As if that wasn't bad enough, the thrift store chopped the cord for copper scrap (fortunately I found it in their scrap bin). To top it all off (err, bad choice of words), the cover is nothing but a dim memory. The cart was a Shure V15 RS which I believe was Radio Shack's cheap version of the VMR. Too bad the needle was sheared off.

Was the original arm *that* bad or do you think the arm was damaged and tossed? Any chance of subbing a decent arm on this model?
 

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You have your work cut out for you, but that is definitely a table worth saving. When restored, it will be a beaut! :yes: :thmbsp:

You COULD use that arm, if it isn't bent all out of shape (not sure from the pics), but you could also upgrade. Any arm of an appropriate length that you can find/make an armboard/mount for that will fit the space, should be okay. The real question is, what arm do you want and like (or have handy and want to try), that will go will with the cartridge you want to use, will fit?

Don't worry about "matching" it to the table otherwise; unlike some TTs, good DD TTs are so quiet that resonances from the motor shouldn't be an issue. Match your arm to the physical distance and to the cart, and you'll be fine. Get it securely mounted, possibly with some "dampening" between it and the plinth to be safe, and as long as your distance is right, it should be fine.

Congratulations on a good rescue! :thmbsp: I think you should get the "Today's Hero" award. :yes: :D It would have been a shame for that nice, restorable table to have ended up in landfill! :nono:
 
Here's some encouragement!

DSC02216.jpg


Can you tell what that tonearm is out of?
 
Wow, that's going to be a radical modification!

I'd love to see some pics as your project progresses. :thmbsp:
 
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