Official AR Turntable Owners Thread

sberger said:

Typically how often should adding oil need to be done?

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4Play said:

To be on the safe side, I would go ahead and replace the belt. If you don't know the history, you might consider changing the cartridge, or at least the stylus. Whenever you get a used turntable, these are the first two items that need replacing.

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• The springs, threads, nuts, foam, and stoppers are all in excellent condition.
• The arm hinge has already been modded to remove the damping.
• The motor was knocking badly initially, but quieted down completely after I used a q-tip to rub some 30wt motor oil on the shaft as it spun. The shaft has no vertical play at all.
• There was a sticky substance on the platter shaft that was preventing it from spinning - after a quick wipe down it now spins with very little friction.
• I used a 5 of those foam furniture feet for the bottom of chairs on hardwood floors, stuck in a star pattern on the outer platter, to function as a record mat
• It came with a Shure M75ED cartridge, I replaced the broken stylus with one from My Needle Store on Amazon
• I ordered a scale to balance the arm properly, I was able to set it functionally for now

• The AR tag on it has no "INC" - does that mean it was replaced at some point in time?
• It is VERY sensitive. Even adjusting the volume on the receiver made it skip badly. Maybe a symptom of not yet setting the weight correctly.

marcmorin said:

In the main well, nothing heavier than 10W. In the tonearm well, you can use what ever weight you want, the higher the viscosity there, the more lateral damping of the arm. That doesn't mean grease will work.

The arm well should have enough oil in it to where it fills the little pocket at the top.

In the main well, invert your platter so you can see the spindle. there should be enough oil to get a little crown of oil on the spindle when spinning.

Start by adding a film of oil on the spindle, and about 8 drops in the well.

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kwatch said:

Can I use 10w 40 synthetic motor oil?

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sberger said:

Thought I'd provide info on a cart option for the XA(or, I suppose any other AR table) that I stumbled upon tonight. I've had a Grace F9E for a while now, even ordered a Soundsmith replacement stylus for it as a back up. But for the last several months it had been dormant in favor of various Shure's and Grados on the XA. Well tonight I received a second headshell for the XA and decided to put the Grace on it. First tried the Soundsmith and it sounded very nice. Then put the original stylus on it and WHAM. Much fuller, buttery sounding than the SS. Now to be fair, the SS probably needs some more break in hours on it, but I'm loving the way the original seems to be working with the arm that Prof. Morin sprinkled his magic dust with. I'm going to be swapping back and forth with the Grado G1+/8MZ that's in the other headshell and do some comparisons, but suffice to say this is a terrific match.

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marcmorin said:

Refresh my memory, is this headshell an AR headshell? and are you running the Grado into lower R than 47K?

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sberger said:

The aftermarket headshell. Running the Grado at 22K.

I'm really enjoying the Grado on the XA and look forward to continue using it. It's sonic signature is quite different than either the Grace or the Soundsmith which will keep it in the mix.

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marcmorin said:

when I get caught up with all that's going on here, I'll send you a mounting plate to go between the headshell and the Grado. Well see if we can't squeeze more out of it, especially at the extremes.

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sberger said:

No need. I'm using the one you gave me when you originally worked on my table.

The Grado is great, Marc. I really enjoy it and I think I have it dialed in about as well as can be. I'm simply enjoying the ability to utilize another classic on the great, Morinified XA.

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mkane said:

Wood looks familiar.

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gguillot said:

I posted some pics of my newly completed AR XA in the "Post some pics of your turntable" thread, but realized it really belongs here: :yes:

It took a few years for me to finally complete it, and I have marcmorin and AVFan to thank for the lion-share of the talent and beauty that went in to this table.
I took full advantage of all of Marc's upgrades to the subchassis, motor and tonearm. I added the Technics wand and installed new wiring. He also provided the deer skin mat.
I was lucky enough to get one of AVFan's walnut bases, with really nice figuring in the walnut and hand rubbed to a beautiful deep finish.
I stripped the top plate down to bare metal, coated the underneath with some acoustically dampening coating and then finished the top with multiple primer coats, wet sanding then five coats of a dark burgundy red top coat with two final coats of clear laquer. I think the color really complements the fine walnut.
I've only had it running now for two days and am in the process of doing the fine-tuning to the suspension, tonearm, cartridge etc. I've also got a few carts to try, but am really liking what I am hearing with my Shure V15 IV.

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marcmorin said:

In the main well, that's heavy oil. it will be fine in the armwell, or the motor bushing.

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