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AR XA outputs one channel only

lafaro

lafaro

New Member
Hello,

I recently bought a AR XA in great shape from a guy that seems to take care of its vintage audio gear. Problem is, since I brought it home on a very bumpy car ride (roads in Montreal are often worse than a mine field...) it will only play in one channel. I read many topics on that particular problems but some details are bugging me.

First of all, I tried inverting the rca cables (putting left in right and vice versa) and it only changed the channel. I also plugged the TT in the aux input of my Marantz 2230 (bought from the same guy, in very good shape) and the problem was the same, just with very little output.

The first time I tried to remove the headshell from the arm it wouldn't go back tightly in place because the plastic threads of the headshell had disintegrated... I then bought a repro on ebay, installed it but the issue still prevail. Now that I can hear it properly, I can hear a light hum when the amp is at phono, whenever the TT is spinning or not. Could that hint bad rca cables?

Now, the one thing that bugs me is when I move the arm, I can hear some brief crackling. Once in place, I cant hear anything wrong. Should I be worried about that? Also, the platter is slightly angled, the left is a little lower than the right, should I do something about the suspension?

Anyway, sorry about the wall of text :) I'm very eager to get the TT up and running as I've seen many praise about it sound (considering its a very old table).

Thanks!
 
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What you are describing sounds like bad wiring from the head shell through the tone arm. I've heard that can be challenging, but whatever you do don't remove that cable unless you attach a thin string to it, so you can pull through the new wiring. I've never done it, but read of it. Search the Internet and you'll find some details. I've actually had a few cartridges where the channel was dead. So you may want to check for that as well.
 
Have you had a look inside the deck from underneath.

Make sure the wires are connected to the "bus" inside the deck - it is always possible one of the connections came loose while in transit.

Use a multimeter to check for continuity from the bus to the headshell leads and also to the rca's. If you have access to a meter then people here will be able to advise.
 
Thanks a lot for all the replies, much appreciated!

I'll buy a multimeter and test all of whats been hinted here so far. I have not had a look underneath the deck yet, will do it and inspect, thanks for the tip :)

I've contacted TRI-CELL ENTERPRISES, a reseller of cardas cables in Ontario. Since I see you live in ON @BilboBaggins , have you ever dealt with them? If anyone knows other ways to get this tonearm cable (since the website mentioned in the article linked here doesn't have anything related to tonearm wires), I'd be glad to hear about them!
 
lafaro said:
Thanks a lot for all the replies, much appreciated!

I'll buy a multimeter and test all of whats been hinted here so far. I have not had a look underneath the deck yet, will do it and inspect, thanks for the tip :)

I've contacted TRI-CELL ENTERPRISES, a reseller of cardas cables in Ontario. Since I see you live in ON @BilboBaggins , have you ever dealt with them? If anyone knows other ways to get this tonearm cable (since the website mentioned in the article linked here doesn't have anything related to tonearm wires), I'd be glad to hear about them!
Click to expand...

http://www.partsconnexion.com/product1011.html
 
The bus I was referring to should look like this photo by jleon92f included in another thread.

The wires from the tonearm should be soldered to the bus but solder can break. The wires from the rca clip onto the bus and could shake loose.

If your wires are original then they will be very thin as per the photo. The colour coding is different to modern wires so you will need to check if yours is original.

Note the base should slide out and you can inspect the underside by placing the turntable on its side but be careful with the tonearm which can slide out of the tonearm well.
 

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cre009 said:
The bus I was referring to should look like this photo by jleon92f included in another thread.

The wires from the tonearm should be soldered to the bus but solder can break. The wires from the rca clip onto the bus and could shake loose.

If your wires are original then they will be very thin as per the photo. The colour coding is different to modern wires so you will need to check if yours is original.

Note the base should slide out and you can inspect the underside by placing the turntable on its side but be careful with the tonearm which can slide out of the tonearm well.
Click to expand...

If the wire is original I highly recommend a rewire. Personally, I don't put much stock in the improvements folks hear with wire changes/upgrades, but rewiring the XA tonearm resulted in a very, noticeable improvement quickly.
 
sberger said:
If the wire is original I highly recommend a rewire. Personally, I don't put much stock in the improvements folks hear with wire changes/upgrades, but rewiring the XA tonearm resulted in a very, noticeable improvement quickly.
Click to expand...
sberger said:
http://www.partsconnexion.com/product1011.html
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link, I ordered a new tonearm wire from them. Even if if turns out its not where the problem comes from, I'll try to find the time to rewire it considering it seems to be a popular and worthy thing to do. Will investigate further tomorrow about the issue if I can find the time, thanks again to all of you :)
 
lafaro said:
Thanks for the link, I ordered a new tonearm wire from them. Even if if turns out its not where the problem comes from, I'll try to find the time to rewire it considering it seems to be a popular and worthy thing to do. Will investigate further tomorrow about the issue if I can find the time, thanks again to all of you :)
Click to expand...
keep in mind the wire pattern for AR is different than "standard" White/green left channel, Red/blue right channel. in the headshell, the right ground will most likely be black, but sometime gray.
 
I just took a look underneath the TT and it looks like the tonearm wire is cut right at the point where it enters the base. I guess the bumpy ride home made the suspension move so much that the metal base cut the wire. Here's a photo of the wire (and its shadow).

tt_fil.JPG

And the bus seems ok from what I can see:

tt_bus.JPG

Luckily my replacement wire has just arrived today, now I just need to find some time to actually do it :)

While I have it opened, I was thinking of putting my 'restoration' on another level. Since the rca cables are the original ones and that the right channel cable is so tight that it wont go as deep as the left one inside the amp's rca input, I'd like to replace them. What cables would you guys suggest? I've seen some folks install rca female connectors to the base, is that worth it?

And thanks again for suggesting partsconnexion, they are quite fast and not too far away :thumbsup:
 
Looks like you have a forced rewire. Mine had a similar issue with a couple of the wires snapped.

A word of warning that the rewire requires soldering to the pins into the plastic insert at the end of the tonearm. The plastic insert may be difficult to remove. I ended up breaking mine when I tried to remove it despite following the guidance here.

http://johnsweather.com/Turntable.html

The plastic insert is not readily replaceable. That in turn forced me down the road of replacing the arm tube.

I replaced the RCA cables on mine as part of my efforts to resolve some residual hum. Not convinced the cardas rewire and RCA replacement was beneficial to sound quality though I do prefer my XA to my XB which is entirely stock.

My own preference was not to add female connectors to the base because that introduces extra connections though can understand why people like them.
 
And what about rca cables, I see a great range in quality and prices. Any suggestions on those? I saw these 'KAB / Cardas Low Capacitance All Litz Coax' on this site. Quite pricy though...
 
Ideally you will need well shielded but reasonably flexible cable. Lower capacitance is needed for MM cartridges. There are plenty of threads here and at Vinyl Engine with people making various recommendations but no clear winners in my view.

A local shop recommended some QED sourced shielded interconnects to me and I have been using them for a few months but am now using an AT-F7 MC cartridge so was less bothered about the capacitance. You don't want a long cable run so should look for just over a metre or so maximum.
 
Thanks for the tip. It seems monoprice and petra component cables are popular for this purpose. Since Petra are quite are to find here I'll probably try the monoprice ones. I'll keep you posted about the rewiring, hopefully I dont mess anything up!
 
Damn, that plastic receptacle is hard to get out of the top end of the arm... I've been using a drill bit as suggested and I just cant pull hard enough to remove it...
 
lafaro said:
Damn, that plastic receptacle is hard to get out of the top end of the arm... I've been using a drill bit as suggested and I just cant pull hard enough to remove it...
Click to expand...

besides the compression fit into the tube via the two guide "dents" in the end of the tube, there is also some glue. Might drop a little solvent down the tube and let it soften the glue. I use lighter fluid. let it soak.
 
marcmorin said:
besides the compression fit into the tube via the two guide "dents" in the end of the tube, there is also some glue. Might drop a little solvent down the tube and let it soften the glue. I use lighter fluid. let it soak.
Click to expand...

Thanks, thats good to know. Also, I took a picture of the arm, so I guess its those little plastic pins in the small holes in the arm that are preventing the receptacle of coming out. They seem quite solid surprisingly, these should just break when pulling the receptacle?

Edit: nevermind, I managed to get it out finally, didnt think it would be that tight!
 

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lafaro said:
Thanks, thats good to know. Also, I took a picture of the arm, so I guess its those little plastic pins in the small holes in the arm that are preventing the receptacle of coming out. They seem quite solid surprisingly, these should just break when pulling the receptacle?

Edit: nevermind, I managed to get it out finally, didnt think it would be that tight!
Click to expand...

remember on re installation, the red stripe goes up.
 
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