AR XA headshell alignement

[lafaro]

Hello everyone,

I recently had to perform a rewire of my new AR XA and while it went great (thanks to all the help from fellow AKers) I think one thing went a little wrong. The headshell is not entirely level with the record now, I mean, the inner side is a little bit closer to the record than the outer side. A picture will say it all.

I think it might have something to do with the fact that I had to use my soldering iron to trace deeper grooves for the dimples in the arm tube in order for the receptacle to go back inside the tonearm, as suggested here. I probably messed up the alignment while doing it.

The result is not too alarming though, I'm not too good of a judge since I haven't heard a perfectly tuned XA before but to my hears it sounds good. It does not skip.

Should I do anything about it? Would it make any sense to shim the cartridge a little on the inner side, to make it touch the record evenly?

Thanks in advance.

 

[the_nines]

....... Would it make any sense to shim the cartridge a little on the inner side, to make it touch the record evenly?
Thanks in advance.

Yes, it would.

You can then check by placing a mirror underneath the cartridge. The cantilever and its reflection should form a straight line when viewing from the front.

Give it a shot.

 

[JFRACE]

Realign the tube with the headshell and then tighten the screws again.

 

[dosmalo]

Realign the tube with the headshell and then tighten the screws again.

And sometimes you can also get a little better level by lightly twisting the headshell as you tighten the collar.

 

[the_nines]

There is a red mark on the plastic collar and in the arm tube itself (it's mentioned in the link you referenced).

Make sure they are in alignment, and remember, the white plastic collar is kind of soft so use caution.

Great link by the way, thanks.

Good luck.

 

[lafaro]

Realign the tube with the headshell and then tighten the screws again.

Not too sure what screws you are talking about as the only one I can think of is the one used for overhang adjustment.

Make sure they are in alignment, and remember, the white plastic collar is kind of soft so use caution.

Great link by the way, thanks.

Good luck.

Yeah I hate that thing, it was such a hassle to get out and put back in when rewiring. I dont remember any mark on the tube though, I thought the red mark was only there in order to get the receptacle wires in the right order (red mark on top so the receptacle wire pattern matches the headshell one). Anyway, I was thinking of getting it out to verify that but I'll try the other suggestions first, that thing scares the hell out of me Thanks for the mirror suggestion too!

And sometimes you can also get a little better level by lightly twisting the headshell as you tighten the collar.

I'll try that first, thanks for the tip!

 

[the_nines]

Yeah I hate that thing, it was such a hassle to get out and put back in when rewiring. I dont remember any mark on the tube though, I thought the red mark was only there in order to get the receptacle wires in the right order (red mark on top so the receptacle wire pattern matches the headshell one). Anyway, I was thinking of getting it out to verify that but I'll try the other suggestions first, that thing scares the hell out of me Thanks for the mirror suggestion too!

You may be right about the red mark being on the collar only. I could have misunderstood the wording in the link.

You could also align the marks left on the collar by the two dimples.

In any event, be careful when fiddling with the plastic collar.

After you've finished, check with the mirror and if it looks fine then you're good to go.

 

[JFRACE]

The back of the tube goes into where the arm has its bearing. At least I know mine did. And that's how I fixed the issue.

 

[dosmalo]

The back of the tube goes into where the arm has its bearing. At least I know mine did. And that's how I fixed the issue.

While you can certainly get a little more over hang from that adjustment, the arm tube is indented there to accept the grub screw on the bottom so when you re-tighten that little screw it'll more than likely tighten back up to the same position laterally.
And, that little screw is such a PITA to get to with a screw driver. It always has been for me anyway.

 

[JFRACE]

While you can certainly get a little more over hang from that adjustment, the arm tube is indented there to accept the grub screw on the bottom so when you re-tighten that little screw it'll more than likely tighten back up to the same position laterally.
And, that little screw is such a PITA to get to with a screw driver. It always has been for me anyway.

That's the one I'm talking about, and if you use a small screwdriver,once it's slightly tightened, you can move the tube and head shell to level it out. Then once set, tighten it more. I just lifted the arm straight up and very gingerly laid it on the side and tightened it until it didn't move.

 

[dosmalo]

I just lifted the arm straight up and very gingerly laid it on the side and tightened it until it didn't move.

Assuming that your tonearm wires are long enough I can see where you might be able to lift the entire arm out of the well to do this but neither XA I have have that kind of length of wire. Plus, if they are the original, varnish coated, super-thin, fragile wires, damaging them is a possibility.
But, hey, if it works for you.....

 

[lafaro]

Twisting the headshell before tightening the collar helped a little bit, I can see its almost level with the record now, but not quite perfectly level.

As for the overhang screw, I already tried that in the past without much luck. Like dosmalo said, it doesn't give much adjustment for that purpose, at least on my XA. But I've heard some people have gotten more luck with that than me. Might as well try it once more.

If that doesn't do it, I think I'll try to play with the damn receptacle see if I can twist it a little bit. Anyone have a good technique for that? I want to try to twist it without removing it first, if thats even possible.

 

[dosmalo]

Check out those pics in @the_nines' post above and you'll see a couple of dimples on each side of the inside of the arm tube. Those mate up with the slots in the plastic receptacle to keep it from rotating one way or the other so there probably won't be much wriggle room there plus you sure can run the risk of damaging the plastic receptacle and the wires attached to it.
Since you've tried twisting the head shell with some success, maybe give the arm tube grub screw one more try along with it. Maybe a combination of the two together will get you where you'd like to be.