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AR XA Overhaul Time

pworm14

pworm14

Active Member
Having read though the entire AR Owners thread I was intrigued with simplicity and modability of the XA/XB tables and decided to keep an eye out for a deal on one.

Then, back in July of '24, a XA popped up for cheap on CL here and I snapped it up. It was in pretty good shape so I cleaned it up, cleaned and lubed both wells, bought a new belt, put a xv15/D400 on it and plugged it in. I thought, this thing sounds pretty darn good, so I just used it as-is. After about a year the left channel went out and I let it sit and went back to using my MCS 6700.

Having recently retired it's now time to put a little effort into getting the little XA up to the next level.

Here it is when I bought it. Was actually pretty clean.

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The first order of business was get the tonearm rebuilt/modded with all the goodies. I got ahold of @Hose53 and he told me @StuartB was still doing the mods so, off it went to Stuart for the Technics wand mod, damping, wires, pivot bearings, pivot screw polishing, etc.

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While Stuart was doing his thing to the arm I got busy with the other odds and ends that needed to be done. So, I started polishing stuff.

Got the spindle bearing looking pretty good and crosshatched the shaft per the instructions on here. Also got the well cleaned out and crosshatched. I'm using Mobil 1 0/20 oil for the platter and getting just under 4 minutes of spin time now, which I'm very happy with.
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Cleaned up the inner platter edge and polished the outer platter edge.
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Stripped the textured coating off the top plate and sanded down for paint.
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Lightly sanded and then oiled the base. Decided some feet would be nice so I glued in some blocks with blind nuts for the feet. I went with a tripod setup because I find it much easier to level. Since these tables are so small I went with smaller spikes instead of larger, puck style feet.
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I ordered and installed some Neutrik RCA's and a IEC plug. All wiring for the tonearm and grounds will go directly to the RCA's.
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Then I decided I didn't like the color of the top plate and resprayed a red/red color that is way less orangey.
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One of Marc's mods was to clamp the motor to the top plate instead of just bolting it on, so I made a clamp with some fiberglass stock I had laying around.
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Then I thought it would be fun to have a little light coming from the bottom so I installed some tiny red LED's and a LED driver. This is all installed with hot glue, except the power connections to the the back of the IEC outlet, so it can be easily removed is the driver causes any hum/noise. There's a switch at the bottom edge of the back side of the base that turns them on and off.
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Oh! That's one of Marc's recommended deer hide mats on there too.


And that's about where I am currently. I did get my tonearm back from Stuart a couple of days ago, which looks great BTW, but now I'm waiting for this paint to cure so I can wet sand and polish the top plate and get this thing back together.
 
great looking turntable. Nice job!! Not to mention that the tone arm and spindle knobs take these TT's to a whole different level.
 
Right on!! I love the Ar-Xa ... this one will be running for America 350 assuming America makes it to 350. Such elegant simplicity

: )
 
Finally got the top plate sanded and buffed up. Far from perfect and even had a tiny rock somehow get on it and put a decent size scratch in it. So, disappointed but sanded it out the best I could.

I also broke the tonearm rest when disassembling the table so I fashioned a new post from some aluminum tubing I had laying around.

I'd like to eventually build a fancy base for it, so I'll deal with it again when I do that. I've also decided to do the upgrades/mods incrementally to see if I can actually hear any changes in sound/performance.
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Leveling and setting the fully weighted suspension. The original springs, foam, and bushings are in pretty good shape so I left them alone for now.
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Oh! Had this little tidbit arrive late yesterday.

Not wanting to spend the big $$$ for the vintage options out there I found this guy. It's a Rega lift which is very similar to the Jelco JL-45 that seems to be used a lot. I'll mod it to fit much like @tnsmnichols did in his write-up for the JL-45, except I'm going to try and use the AR 45rpm adapter for the base. I'll also leave off the black plastic cap on the bottom.

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pworm14 said:
Oh! Had this little tidbit arrive late yesterday.

Not wanting to spend the big $$$ for the vintage options out there I found this guy. It's a Rega lift which is very similar to the Jelco JL-45 that seems to be used a lot. I'll mod it to fit much like @tnsmnichols did in his write-up for the JL-45, except I'm going to try and use the AR 45rpm adapter for the base. I'll also leave off the black plastic cap on the bottom.

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Very nice work! :thumbsup: You have no noise issues with those LED lights?

Thanks!
 
Mr Boochie said:
Very nice work! :thumbsup: You have no noise issues with those LED lights?

Thanks!
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Thank you Sir. ,

TBH, I had no idea what it was going to do until today when I got the XA all back together and hooked up. I thought the LED driver might be an issue and that's why I just hot glued that stuff in there, easy removal.

Happy to report there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO NOISE, anywhere!

I'm shocked at how quite it is. I'm very curious to hear if the motor is sending vibrations thru the top plate though. While the motor makes zero audible noise it does vibrate. A friend is going to bring me his cardiologist stethoscope sometime this week and we'll have a listen.
 
pworm14 said:
I'm shocked at how quite it is. I'm very curious to hear if the motor is sending vibrations thru the top plate though. While the motor makes zero audible noise it does vibrate. A friend is going to bring me his cardiologist stethoscope sometime this week and we'll have a listen.
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Try this. Use headphones only, and listen through the pre-amp as the turntable rotates. A good table should be pretty quiet, even at the loudest setting on the volume control.

:thumbsup:
 
After getting the suspension all set I mounted the motor and reconnected all the a/c power bits to the new IEC connector. I also took the on/off switch apart to clean the contacts and relube it. Forgot to take a pic but it looked almost new in there. I don't think this table got much use in all the years it's been around.
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Then I got the tonearm all wired up. All grounds are summed up to the two RCA grounds.
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With that all done I flipped out back on it's feet and indexed the platter like Marc had instructed, then releveled and tweaked the suspension one last time.

Then I went to re-oil the wells and realized I couldn't find the delrin thrust plate for the tonearm well. So, to the interwebs I went to see about getting one, or some material to punch out a new one. This is we're I learned that Dunlop Tortex and Alligator guitar picks are made from? You guessed it! Delrin!

Well, I have plenty of those so I dug out my 5/16 hole punch and punched a few out. What's really cool about using guitar picks is there's an endless assortment of thicknesses. Can you say, easy VTA adjustments!! Plus, if you're careful you can get 3-4 discs out of one pick.
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Problem solved!
 
Mr Boochie said:
Try this. Use headphones only, and listen through the pre-amp as the turntable rotates. A good table should be pretty quiet, even at the loudest setting on the volume control.

:thumbsup:
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Thanks, I'll give that a try.

I did run the table thru the preamp, amp, and speakers (no music) at about half volume and it was fine.
 
pworm14 said:
I did run the table thru the preamp, amp, and speakers (no music) at about half volume and it was fine.
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Cool. For me, the headphones are way more sensitive than the speakers, at least for background noise.

Of course, the phones will only pick up surface noise with the stylus on a blank portion of a moving LP.
 
Ok! Round one of this project is done and the deck is back in action!

OH, MY, WOW! This thing is AMAZING!

My primary deck for years has been my MCS 6700 and, TBH, it's not a bad turntable. Plus, it's full auto and I'm pretty lazy. This AR XA absolutely kicks it to the curb!

At this point I've run it with a Realistic R1000 EDT with a nude elliptical from the Voice of Music (plucked it off a Lab 420 that I gave to my son), and a SAE 1000lt. Leaning toward the R1000 so far. Just seems a bit more dynamic (lively'er?). The LT is super smooth though.

I also have a couple of xv-15's and a SAE 1000e that I'll eventually try also.

Oh! AR XA to a Para sound Zphoneo to a Yamaha CX-1000 to a Yamaha MX-1000 to Infinity Kappa 7's. All interconnects are Morrow and speaker cables are Audio Quest.

Bottom Line: It's hard to believe such a simple turntable can sound so good. I mean, it sounded "good" a couple of years ago when I brought it home but, Holy Mackerel, this puppy sounds great!
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pworm14 said:
Ok! Round one of this project is done and the deck is back in action!

OH, MY, WOW! This thing is AMAZING!

My primary deck for years has been my MCS 6700 and, TBH, it's not a bad turntable. Plus, it's full auto and I'm pretty lazy. This AR XA absolutely kicks it to the curb!

At this point I've run it with a Realistic R1000 EDT with a nude elliptical from the Voice of Music (plucked it off a Lab 420 that I gave to my son), and a SAE 1000lt. Leaning toward the R1000 so far. Just seems a bit more dynamic (lively'er?). The LT is super smooth though.

I also have a couple of xv-15's and a SAE 1000e that I'll eventually try also.

Oh! AR XA to a Para sound Zphoneo to a Yamaha CX-1000 to a Yamaha MX-1000 to Infinity Kappa 7's. All interconnects are Morrow and speaker cables are Audio Quest.

Bottom Line: It's hard to believe such a simple turntable can sound so good. I mean, it sounded "good" a couple of years ago when I brought it home but, Holy Mackerel, this puppy sounds great!
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You'll find sometimes simple really is better. Glad you are enjoying the new (old) toy!

:thumbsup:
 
Phenomenal work! I had an AR ES-1 for many years that Marc Morin (RIP) fixed up for me. I went down the AR mods rabbit hole which led me to eventually purchase a Merrill Polytable after the ES-1 motor gave out. But I still miss that AR and this XA is really making my GAS flare up.
 
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