Official AR Turntable Owners Thread

Thanks @Audiofreak71

That helps. So i assume you aren't' running a separate ground wire external, and keeping it like it was originally with all grounds together under the table?
Nope I’m not running a separate ground, just using my Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval’s that are shielded and have no grounding issues and sound excellent.

Audiofreak71
 
I use coax for my RCA cables, including phono cables, and the woven copper sheath that surrounds the dielectric carries the ground and is soldered to the outside of the RCA plug. Most phono preamps sum the L and R grounds plus the preamp's chassis ground and my XB has the cartridge grounds summed at the RCA jacks. In addition, the T-bar, tonearm and top plate are also tied to the cartridge grounds and therefore to the preamp ground via the cable.

I've used standard RG-59 coax for a variety of cables (component video, subwoofer, phono, digital coax, etc) with 75-ohm connectors but wasn't satisfied with its use for phono. I thought I was getting some induced hum but the cable was pretty stiff and sometimes made connections difficult so I'm doing something different now. I'm currently making RCA cables with Mogami 2965 twin coax and Neurtrik Rean NYS-373 RCA plugs. The 2965 is very flexible and the NYS-373s are nice plugs. On the back of the AR bases I built I installed Neutrik NF2D jacks. All seem to work well together.
This. ^

The stock AR grounding scheme has the ground on the left channel shield but this can be improved by using both shields to a single ground point as described. No need for a separate ground wire. No possibility of a ground loop issue.

I tried RG 59 coax, sounded a bit dark to me. Tried low capacitance component video cable - Bleech.

Tried Blue Jeans LC1 - good. Tried my friends expensive cable, no real change from the LC1. Tried Mogami 2965 twin coax/ Neutrik Rean rca’s. I’m done with cables for my AR.
 
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So if i were to install RCA jacks to the back of my AR and currently all my grounds are ganged together, i guess it be easist just to copy that pattern over to the back side of jacks for soldering? This is the closest picture i can find online, but can't see where all the other grounds are going

wires3.JPG
 
Well, you got the silver braided ground from the T-bar.
And a single purple wire (guessing that's the ground from the arm) tied to the silver braided wire (rather loosely).
And the silver braided looks to be going to the sleeve of the RCA closest to the motor.
Then a green and a different purple wire (guessing cartridge grounds) going to each respective sleeve, left and right.
The red and white wires must be the hot leads going to the pins.

The only thing you could add is a jumper between each sleeve.
Marc recommended a copper foil behind each socket.
 
I have a very nice (not nice) hum going on in the system. I am assuming it is one of these or both pictured below as they are original and were in the same horrible storage conditions as the table.
Where does one buy these that are best for the XA TA table or does it really matter? I know I have to pull them off and get the numbers.




DSC_0164_resize.JPG DSC_0167_resize.JPG
 
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I had a bad hum but read that with the tonearm SME upgrade the green/blue connectors on the headshell were reversed. I switched them and the hum went away completely. Basically connected green to blue and blue to green
 
I like that little stand for the arm. Where did you find that one?

I had fellow AK member ScaleAutoArt make that for me.
But it's too tall for the XA dust cover because it's the demensions of the XB rest.

Other then that, it's great.
I just used a cover I had for a different table.
 
That is the stock weight. I tried the heavier one from Larry, but it was too much for the cartridge and headshell.
Thanks. Since the conversion by Marc Morin to a Technics type wand an bayonet mount I've had to run additional weight on my counterweight. I've thought of getting a heavier counterweight from Larry.
 
I had a bad hum but read that with the tonearm SME upgrade the green/blue connectors on the headshell were reversed. I switched them and the hum went away completely. Basically connected green to blue and blue to green
I believe all grounds should be summed.
 
Thanks. Since the conversion by Marc Morin to a Technics type wand an bayonet mount I've had to run additional weight on my counterweight. I've thought of getting a heavier counterweight from Larry.
I was just told by a friend of mine that Larry does do them , Marc did the one on my table .

BE993141-720D-4692-B74B-BE0BC421183C.jpeg

Audiofreak71
 
I believe all grounds should be summed.


I have no idea what that means. That is where it shows I got a C- in the Electrical part of my Physics class in college.

I have the ground from the motor out to the three prong grounded plug and I have the ground wire from the
tonearm hooked up the ground screw on the plinth then wired to the receiver.
 
All grounds to be tied together and terminated to both the right and left grounds of the RCA cables. However you want to make that happen. No chance for a ground loop. No need for a separate ground wire to your other gear.
 
Hey all,
I just unpacked a box of XA parts that need to get turned into a turntable. Nothing exotic, just a good basic, well tuned unit. Question, what does everyone consider to be the basics to send this off and have it done. I'll do the wood and paint but haven't the time to learn the rest of it.
The other part of this is that I have almost NO hearing left after working on aircraft for 4 decades. All the high end mods might sound great to someone else but I'll never be able to tell. I just need this to plug into my Teac CD burner so I can turn my vinyl into something more useful in my shop where I restore old airplanes.
 
Is Larry a member on here? I will be needing a heavier weight at some point
Yes. I bought one of his 125g weights so I could run low compliance carts in conjunction with a heavier headshell arrangement.
He is member flasher1 and his company is Vintage Analog Restoration.
 
I had fellow AK member ScaleAutoArt make that for me.
But it's too tall for the XA dust cover because it's the demensions of the XB rest.

Other then that, it's great.
I just used a cover I had for a different table.

I have not seen a post from ScaleAutoArt in years. He was really into it, wonder what happened?
 
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