Official AR Turntable Owners Thread

[DoctorJa]

How does it sound with your favorite album?

Interesting question. Can't say it's my favorite album, but I often put on Steely Dan's Aja in situations like this and it sounds good but not as good as the VM95ML and a smidgen not as good as the MP-110 sounds on the SL-1200. Just a bit darker than normal. However, I moved my MP-200 stylus from another table onto the MP-110 body and that was quite spectacular--perhaps the best combo in the house right now. Nicer than the full MP-200 on a Rega Planar 3 with Tangospinner subplatter.

 

[noisefreq]

How did it track on the Side Two horizontal and lateral compliance tracks? That will tell you which cart works the best with the XB's arm. The cart that wiggles the least or wiggles just around 10Hz is the one I would go with.

 

[DoctorJa]

How did it track on the Side Two horizontal and lateral compliance tracks? That will tell you which cart works the best with the XB's arm. The cart that wiggles the least or wiggles just around 10Hz is the one I would go with.

Thanks for the help! On the three separate 300Hz/+15db tests, the MP-110 tracked all three bands cleanly, but the AT95ML had distortion in the right channel on all three. On the lateral and vertical resonance tests, the AT95ML got visibly "excited" on the 9-10Hz tests but the MP-110 seemed to wobble a tad closer to the 7-8Hz range but it was very hard to see for some reason, even with glasses and a magnifying glass. The problem I have, and the reason I am doing this, is that I don't want excessive wear on one side of my stylus that may cause groove wear on my records. When I look at the MP-110 head on while a normal record is playing, the cantilever is noticeably leaning to the right (towards the edge of the record), indicating, in theory, that anti-skate needs to be increased (which it can't). With the AT95ML the cantilever is pretty straight, suggesting the suspension is a bit stiffer and maybe more suitable to the heavier arm. And yet, as these tests indicate, the MP-110 is tracking better. So what to do?

 

[Notdoc]

I won't claim to be any kind of expert, but I have seen it mentioned many times here, that anti-skate can be influenced and corrected by the coil of tonearm wire down to the plate, but you will need to experiment more. I also just did the technics tonearm swap on my XA. Still a work in progress, but continually improving. Some fine tuning of the (stock) pivots, BIG improvements in treble and bass response. I don't have a test record, but it sounds much better right down to the last groove better than I ever remember. As of yesterday, in fact.

 

[DoctorJa]

I won't claim to be any kind of expert, but I have seen it mentioned many times here, that anti-skate can be influenced and corrected by the coil of tonearm wire down to the plate, but you will need to experiment more. I also just did the technics tonearm swap on my XA. Still a work in progress, but continually improving. Some fine tuning of the (stock) pivots, BIG improvements in treble and bass response. I don't have a test record, but it sounds much better right down to the last groove better than I ever remember. As of yesterday, in fact.

My avatar is of an early two-motor XA, and I was able to get the loop of the tonearm wires to produce some usable antiskate. The problem with my XB with the Technics arm mod is that the braided Cardas wires I used are not as stiff and thus can't be manipulated as easily to hold a consistent shape. I am no expert either. I wish I could be a grip-and-rip-it (sound is all that matters) kind of guy, but OCD does compel me to use all the available tools at my disposal to optimize my set up. The Hifi News record helped me with my azimuth, my protractors and jigs with overhang, and digital scale with VTF. The last checks are arm resonance and antiskate. I think I am good with the former for both the MP-110 and AT-VM95ML. But the antiskate/tracking is eluding me at the moment.

 

[_GOV_]

Hello everyone. I have been lurking in this thread for a long while now. I finally joined the club a few weeks ago with an AR-XA and today just received a NIB AR-XB I have already upgraded the XA with new springs and have the weights to add to the T-Bar. I still need to completely go through the XA and take the motor apart and service it as it is a hair slow. I am planning on doing a tube/collar swap on one of them at some point to be able to use SME headshells.

The only issue on the XB is the collar has some play in it and allows the headshell to rotate slightly. It will rotate even from lifting it with the handle. So, not sure how to go about fixing that one. I should add that is has the later J-Shaped tonearm.

Another bonus is that I got two NOS carts/styluses and a really good condition ADC VLM (v1). The NOS carts are what looks to be an early Grado F3 and a Shure R1000XT. They all sound great. I will post some pictures of the Grado when I get a chance to see if I have identified it correctly.

Cheers

 

[_GOV_]

Here are the carts I mentioned in the last post. Any ideas on the Grado? I have never seen on with the pins situated like that.

 

[Hose53]

Hello!
Welcome to the group!
for the motor you might remove the belt, put a couple drops on the spindle, let it run for a while and dab the oil with a Q-tip or edge of a paper towel. If it comes up dirty add more oil and run it again, can even be run overnight. Eventually the oil should come up clean.
Tons of good people can address the Grado and head shell questions.
When you do the tone arm conversion to use SME head shells Marc Morin recommended the wand from a Technics SL-220. Again others can add their expertise.
Again welcome and nice set up with 2 AR tables!

 

[Nashou66]

Welcome aboard GOV !!!!

Nice score on the NIB XB.

That Grado looks like a very early model. Late 60's to early 70's I would assume . But dont take that to the bank. As Hose has stated others would know more, wish Marc was here to guide us on that one. He was the guru on Grade carts as well.

Athanasios

 

[Nashou66]

I think you have the wiring wrong on the Grado cart.

The XA/XB head shells use different color scheme .

The Right GND is White, the Right Hot is Red
The Left GND is Green , Left Hot is Blue

I think thats how it would be, unless you changed the head shell leads on the head shell.

Also look on the Grado cart, the left and right hot are labeled LH and RH.

Anyone else care to chime in? I cant find my original AR head shell wiring diagram to be sure.

I also now AR used different colors on the head shell as well, Some have a "copper " color and a black wire. I just can't remember which was for which .

Athanasios

 

[_GOV_]

I will look into it. It is a repro headshell that cart is on. Fwiw it sounds really good

 

[_GOV_]

When you do the tone arm conversion to use SME head shells Marc Morin recommended the wand from a Technics SL-220. Again others can add their expertise.

I have a SL-20 tonearm that I hoped would work on my XA, and while it is the same exact shape, it is about 1/4 shorter than the XA arm. Has anybody replaced a J-Shape arm with an S-Shape? Laying the SL-20 tonearm on the J-shape, the headshell would be in a much different position. Plus the tonearm rest looks to be in a different spot compared to the S-Shape earlier model. I saw somebody in this thread successfully transferred an SME collar and collet to an AR tonearm. I might see if that is possible on this J-shape arm since I have to figure out how to fix it being loose anyways.

 

[Nashou66]

I have a SL-20 tonearm that I hoped would work on my XA, and while it is the same exact shape, it is about 1/4 shorter than the XA arm. Has anybody replaced a J-Shape arm with an S-Shape? Laying the SL-20 tonearm on the J-shape, the headshell would be in a much different position. Plus the tonearm rest looks to be in a different spot compared to the S-Shape earlier model. I saw somebody in this thread successfully transferred an SME collar and collet to an AR tonearm. I might see if that is possible on this J-shape arm since I have to figure out how to fix it being loose anyways.

That would be me . it takes a bit of patients . You can either sand the AR tube some or use a drill but you have to go very slow and be careful not to have the bit grab the arm and twist it.

A dremel with the right size custom made sanding drum can also work. it s bit of a process to make the drum but it works .

Athanasios

 

[_GOV_]

Haha, we will see how brave I get. Appreciate the feedback. Luckily it is not loose enough to affect playback, I just have to make sure it is straight before I drop it on the record.

 

[Hose53]

Haha, we will see how brave I get. Appreciate the feedback. Luckily it is not loose enough to affect playback, I just have to make sure it is straight before I drop it on the record.

Or you can get back to StuartB or I. I have a number of SL-220 wands. Marc worked with Stuart and I to get us up to speed as much as we could in his last year. Stuart does the tonearm work, I think he uses a layer of copper tape at the pivot block end otherwise will be too narrow.

 

[ronaldw441]

The XA/XB head shells use different color scheme .

The Right GND is White, the Right Hot is Red
The Left GND is Green , Left Hot is Blue

According to the attached AR instructions, Right Hot is Red, Right Ground is Black, Left Hot is White & Left Ground is Green. I've also attached some drawings the you AR fans may find useful. Make sure you open the pdf file. It displays the hardware that was included with AR XA and XB replacement headshells. The headshell kit that was included with turntables also supplied 4 wiring connectors.

 

[StuartB]

According to the attached AR instructions, Right Hot is Red, Right Ground is Black, Left Hot is White & Left Ground is Green.

This is correct when using an original AR headshell.

 

[ronaldw441]

Based on Ebay photos, it appears that some replacement AR headshells substitute Blue for the Black wire used by AR for the Right Ground.

 

[Blackdog61]

It’s about 5 degrees and snowing outside so it seemed like a good day to play inside. The XA has been sitting quietly on a shelf since last spring and now it’s sitting on a Pioneer PL-41 which won the spot. At least, I think it won……………
With the retipped Grado Woody at the business end of the arm, it sounded very good. I then dug out the Shure M55E/Vivid Line mounted in a cocobolo body and mounted it in a heavier headshell which I remembered seemed to help its low end. Aligned and set to 1.25g it sounds beautiful. There is a wide and deep soundstage with a natural bit of air. It lacks the low end slam of the Denon/Pioneer combo. Different, but very, very good.

 

[Blackdog61]

The rabbit hole is calling me…………….. I have a heavier counterweight made by Anthanasios as well as an aftermarket headshell which is on the heavy side, and a variety of headshell weights. How would the Denon 103 do on the AR arm? I’m sure I can get enough tracking force but I don’t know 1) if there will be enough effective mass and 2) if the loose suspension will create problems with the stiff suspension of the cartridge. Curious to know from those who have tried it.