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Realistic LAB 500

ZR9B

ZR9B

Well-Known Member
So I CL'd a realistic lab 500. The cover is cracked a few times but I think I'm going to try to glue then polish it. The table itself will clean up real nice...all the corners are sharp everything is smooth a operation. The table mat smells like toxic hell,So that will be replaced. It needs a head shell and cart. What I found is this is a rebranded Mitsubishi DP-86DA and the very little I can find says set it up as one...not like radio shack says. They say RS is to light and not enough tracking. 1.75 grams weight and 2 on the tracking. Any input on a good cart set up as far as make and type?
 

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I have one. I use the stock headshell/cartridge and it works fine. I think I am at 1.5.

Gluing clear plastic will always look like glued clear plastic, only less clear. :( The best solution would be to replace the lid, perhaps with a custom one.

And yes, those mats stink.
 
I've pretty much given up on trying to repair cracked dust covers, the glue that bonds them has a tendency to cloud any plastic it touches, so if you drip anywhere it looks terrible.

If you can't get a new cover, something that can buy you some time and improve the looks somewhat is grabbing some clear-bra material from a local auto detailer and cutting a square/rectangle out that can go over the cracked area with the edges of the clear-bra lined up with some natural edge of the cover so they're not visible. The stuff is super tough and will make the cover act less like it's cracked.
 
Was going to say, looks an awful like my old DP-86DA. I think I still have a dust cover from it, might be in better shape then what you have (or not)
 
I have tried heavier headshells on it but the counterweight has to go pretty far back. If you change the counterweight it might work better, but I have nothing against the stock one. It works fine.
 
I bought one new when they came out. I found it to be noisy. No matter where I set it up or what I had it connected to it would cause speakers to howl or the woofers would start pumping with volume set at around half way. Even with the bass set to flat. At lower volumes it did sound good. Maybe I had a bad one? To bad, I did like the looks of it. Someone said it had a P mount Sure 95ED. I don't really know. But, I have read several threads about them sounding pretty good. I hope the OP's does also. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks for the help....I only got it because it was $30....I figured I could use it as a secondary table in the other room. It sure does look good tho.
 
Lavane said:
I bought one new when they came out. I found it to be noisy. No matter where I set it up or what I had it connected to it would cause speakers to howl or the woofers would start pumping with volume set at around half way. Even with the bass set to flat. At lower volumes it did sound good. Maybe I had a bad one? To bad, I did like the looks of it. Someone said it had a P mount Sure 95ED. I don't really know. But, I have read several threads about them sounding pretty good. I hope the OP's does also.

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

It may be the Realistic/Shure R 9000E LWS. :idea:
s-l300.jpg
 
Balifly said:
It may be the Realistic/Shure R 9000E LWS. :idea:
s-l300.jpg
Click to expand...


Yes, that's the right one.

And when in operation it's a bit clunky/mechanical sounding but when actually playing it is is quiet and just fine. Mine is very close to a a pair of large Advent speakers at our cabin and does not feedback or have other issues because of it.
 
Montycat said:
Yes, that's the right one.

And when in operation it's a bit clunky/mechanical sounding but when actually playing it is is quiet and just fine. Mine is very close to a a pair of large Advent speakers at our cabin and does not feedback or have other issues because of it.
Click to expand...
That's good to hear. I just couldn't ever get mine to play nice. Does anyone know for sure what Shure guts are in the 9000 cartridge? The R 9000 LWS was the cartridge that came with it.
 
LOL... LAB-500s have the STANKIEST Mats... made a thread about them years ago!
Mine has "less stank" after repeated washings and LOTS of air time, but still is pretty bad.

I lamented about the bleh sounding 9000E integrated cartridge and spent a lot of time researching new cartridges etc.
Finally on the advise of others here, I bought the N95HE needle for the integrated 9000E and WOW HUGE DIFFERENCE.

No more sibilance and just plain good sound.
Admittedly I HAD been using N95 generics ($15), but I can not express enough that the $90 I spent on the HE needle was BEYOND worth it.
and for the record (pun intended) I ONLY paid $40 for my LAB-500 to begin with.

These are GREAT tables IMO, but I'm also a Realistic nut so I maybe a bit off all the same.

Ben
 
polypetalous said:
LOL... LAB-500s have the STANKIEST Mats... made a thread about them years ago!
Mine has "less stank" after repeated washings and LOTS of air time, but still is pretty bad.

I lamented about the bleh sounding 9000E integrated cartridge and spent a lot of time researching new cartridges etc.
Finally on the advise of others here, I bought the N95HE needle for the integrated 9000E and WOW HUGE DIFFERENCE.

No more sibilance and just plain good sound.
Admittedly I HAD been using N95 generics ($15), but I can not express enough that the $90 I spent on the HE needle was BEYOND worth it.
and for the record (pun intended) I ONLY paid $40 for my LAB-500 to begin with.

These are GREAT tables IMO, but I'm also a Realistic nut so I maybe a bit off all the same.

Ben
Click to expand...
I've got a thing for RS gear myself. I have a gold faced SA-1000A integrated amp with the matching TM-1000 tuner connected to a pair of Optimus 2B speakers. Still looking for a pair of 1B's for that system. They pull duty in my garage. It was my first system bought new back in the 70's. I thought the 500 would be a step up from the deck I had. I wish I had thought about a different stylus back then. I also have a Receiver from that same line waiting for a restore. I had a couple RS tape decks that played and recorded nice too.
 
Lavane said:
Canadian market only? There was a version of the Realistic integrated that I have that was sold in Canada and Europe only. I never saw that table in any RS store in my area.
Click to expand...

Yes I think it was. There was also an RD-8100 that was every bit as pretty as a Marantz 6300.
 
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