Official AR Turntable Owners Thread

[4Play]

I thought I would post an update. Just received an email stating that my new turntable is coming along and just needs a few tweaks before she's done.
Damn, this is one gorgeous turntable.

Pics will be coming once the table has arrived.

 

[pmsummer]

 

[AvFan]

AR Cartridges

There are some really nice ARs in this thread. I'm curious what cartridges folks are using on their ARs. I use two: Shure M91ED with JICO SAS and a Grado G1+ with MCZ stylus.

 

[tygr]

There are some really nice ARs in this thread. I'm curious what cartridges folks are using on their ARs. I use two: Shure M91ED with JICO SAS and a Grado G1+ with MCZ stylus.

I'd be interested in your impressions of the sound of the two cart/stylus rigs you are using.

I'm running a Grado Gold1 with the stock stylus in my XA and have an M91ED that I'm thinking of buying an SAS to run with my XB.

 

[4Play]

I'm using an Audio Technica AT440ML/OCC and a Shure M97-xE. I wonder if anyone has used an Ortofon 2m, and what your thoughts/opinions of the cartridge.

 

[AvFan]

I'm using an Audio Technica AT-440OOC and a Shure M97-xE. I wonder if anyone has used an Ortofon 2m, and what your thoughts/opinions of the cartridge.

I have a 2M Blue that I tried but the Shure and Grado bested it handily IMO. The 2M sounded forward in comparison without the nice mids and bass of the Shure and in particular the Grado.

My particular model of XB has the unshielded motor sitting about 1/4" above the top plate and it causes my Grado to hum. It is noticeable at the lead in and between tracks but I don't notice it much during songs except during very quite passages. Between the Shure and Grado, absent the hum, I'd choose the Grado. It has really a nice soundstage and sounds "right" in my system.

I have an XA that I hope marcmorin will have time to work some of his magic on and with its motor below the top plate I expect the hum will be greatly diminished. So eventually the XA will have the Grado and the XB will have the Shure. It should be a complimentary combo.

 

[pmsummer]

There are some really nice ARs in this thread. I'm curious what cartridges folks are using on their ARs. I use two: Shure M91ED with JICO SAS and a Grado G1+ with MCZ stylus.

Shure M95ED with a NOS stylus (as of last year). I bet that M91ED/SAS sounds great!

 

[4Play]

I have a 2M Blue that I tried but the Shure and Grado bested it handily IMO. {b}The 2M sounded forward in comparison without the nice mids and bass of the Shure and in particular the Grado.[/B]

My particular model of XB has the unshielded motor sitting about 1/4" above the top plate and it causes my Grado to hum. It is noticeable at the lead in and between tracks but I don't notice it much during songs except during very quite passages. Between the Shure and Grado, absent the hum, I'd choose the Grado. It has really a nice soundstage and sounds "right" in my system.

I have an XA that I hope marcmorin will have time to work some of his magic on and with its motor below the top plate I expect the hum will be greatly diminished. So eventually the XA will have the Grado and the XB will have the Shure. It should be a complimentary combo.

Could you explain what you mean by the 2m Blue sounded "forward"? I'm not understanding what you mean. I have a Grado Black for my Duals, but I was not pleased with the sound. The M97 produces the best sound. I would like to find another MM cartridge that is on par with the M97, and at some point I would like to try a MC cartridge. Just curious how an MC cartridge would sound on an AR. Anyone have experience with one?

 

[guystp]

I'm currently using an Ortofon SPU Mono mc cartridge. It works very nicely. Prior to the mono, I was using a Shelter 501 II, and it sounded great as well.

 

[beatcomber]

Could you explain what you mean by the 2m Blue sounded "forward"? I'm not understanding what you mean.

That usually means bright or strident.

 

[Treker]

I am using a Shure M91ED with JICO SAS stylus on mine, and am very pleased with the sound. I have a Denon DL-110 that I may mount on it at some point, but for the time being I am sticking with the Shure/SAS combo. It is a hard one to beat IMHO.

 

[AvFan]

That usually means bright or strident.

Beatcomber's description is better and that is what I meant when I said the 2M Blue is forward. I would suggest it is because the mids and bass of the 2M Blue are not as full as the Grado and the Shure so I hear the highs as more pronounced.

I'm also curious if anyone is using a MC cart on their AR. I've checked the resonant frequency (using the Vinyl Engine calculator) of various MC carts and there are a bunch that fall into the 8Hz to 9Hz range which is probably OK. In particular I wonder if anyone has successfully used a current generation Denon 301 or 304 on their AR.

 

[Fr8dog3510]

Official AR Turntable Owners Thread

Purchased mine a couple of years ago at The Beat in Sacramento. Tuned up per instructions at Vinyl Nirvana.com. Arm rest broke and replaced with aftermarket model on the auction site. Has a Pickering XV-15 cartridge with a D400 stylus. Cover is in decent shape. Sounds great, no issues. I think it's stock except for the arm rest.

 

[marcmorin]

Beatcomber's description is better and that is what I meant when I said the 2M Blue is forward. I would suggest it is because the mids and bass of the 2M Blue are not as full as the Grado and the Shure so I hear the highs as more pronounced.

I'm also curious if anyone is using a MC cart on their AR. I've checked the resonant frequency (using the Vinyl Engine calculator) of various MC carts and there are a bunch that fall into the 8Hz to 9Hz range which is probably OK. In particular I wonder if anyone has successfully used a current generation Denon 301 or 304 on their AR.

The arm can be modded a bit, the calc's will have to be gone over to get the "ball-park" of EM. A quick "rule of thumb" ...... to keep the counterweight in optimal position the the pivots, for every 1 gram of mass added in the headshell area, 7 grams need to be added to the rear of the CW at pivot level.

 

[AvFan]

Thanks Marc. Remind me again; What is the optimal distance between the counterweight and the pivots? And what have you used to add mass and keep it at the right location relative to the arm tube?

 

[4Play]

Thanks Marc. Remind me again; What is the optimal distance between the counterweight and the pivots? And what have you used to add mass and keep it at the right location relative to the arm tube?

I've been wondering the same thing myself. I cannot comprehend how you would add mass to the counterweight. The most likely alternative would be to exchange the original with a bigger one. However, I have not seen one to know if it exists.

 

[marcmorin]

Thanks Marc. Remind me again; What is the optimal distance between the counterweight and the pivots? And what have you used to add mass and keep it at the right location relative to the arm tube?

By some experimentation, you can find the "sweet spot" of CW to pivot distance per cart type. I find the Shure and Grado carts track best at about 3/16ths between the CW and pivot block. 1/4oz stick on wheel weights to the center rear of the CW adds 7gr of mass. Once one finds the optimum CW mass, something a little better looking can be made.

 

[dosmalo]

I had planned to be just "fashionably" late to this party and then the Garrard showed up and I got whisked away with her for a time.
I grabbed up 2 XAs a few years ago, one for the project and another as a parts source. Both were 2 motor jobs that I converted to a single Hurst model A motor. Initially I did the VinylNirvana tune up and then when I joined AK I became a marcmorin fan-boy and started following his posts:scratch2:.
What I ended up with was a 'super-charged sleeper' of a VPI ass-kicker!
With Marc's guidance from afar (and supplied thrust plates) I did the platter bearing and shaft resurface and mass loaded the sub chassis using Linn black springs while balancing everything just so-so. Then just recently I shipped the arm to Marc and he did some really magical things to it in addition to supplying the other thrust plate and it moves like SILK! I braided the litz wires (the braiding girl on youtube made it look soooo easy!).
As you see in the pics, I love the original tone arm as I have 5 head shells for it all loaded with various carts. It's running a Soundsmith retiped Dyna 10X Ultimo right now. Other carts are Shure M97xE, Pickering V-15 Micro IV, Pickering XSV 3000 w/ VL stylus and waiting on a Grado 8MZ stylus for a ZT+ body I have.
Since I'm not a dust cover kind of guy, I made a platter cover out of an old Buck Owens LP painted a nice shade of copper with a CD hot glued to it and a lead laboratory sink stopper epoxied to it all. Fits perfectly on the platter and keeps the dust off my felt mat. I like the felt because it adds no weight to the platter and that's what I had on it when I mass-loaded the suspension. I like the brass spikes because I couldn't really hear any difference between them and rubber. They look sharper than the rubber too.
Going from the VinylNirvana tune up to Morin guided mods to Morin modded tone arm magic has really made this XA blast off out of orbit!
I love it better than any table I've ever had.

 

[marcmorin]

The XA/XB arms are pretty amazing once set up with a few better parts. :yes:

 

[jleon92f]

Another beautiful example of simplistic sweetness. There is absolutely nothing rough regarding your turntable. Your XA is completely stock, and there is nothing wrong having a stock XA. I wished I had a stock XA but it wasn't to be. May you have many years of musical bliss with your XA.

Thank you, I love the way they sound and work..quietly