Acquired an AR XA turntable

The only alternative is the very last metal replacement headshells AR offered. Best method is to replace your arm tube with a Technics one off a parts turntable and some rewiring, then you can use SME mount headshells. Easiest solution, and still looks original.

 

I can think of 2 sellers of repro AR heads on ebay. One sells injection molded ones and the other sells those computer laser printer versions. Get the injection molded one!

 

Marc did many things to my XA and the cost was under $200.

 

Usually old spindle tips need re-polished and the thrust plate will need to be replaced.

 

Sure, but does your table have the heavy black Linn springs? Someone had put those on my table, which are ineffective for filtering out low frequency rumble without mass loading the suspension system. That mod is the most expensive thing for which he quoted me a price. I was also including shipping charges too. The price for a new motor from George Merrill is listed here:

AR Modifications Parts

All I am saying is that for my table, all these prices started to add up. If someone can get a nice AR-XA for $200 and drop $200 more on modifications, then that's an awesome deal.

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Here's a list of mods that Marc did to my table:

• replaced arm bearings with jeweled bearings
• re-wired and dampened the arm tube
• upgraded interconnects
• polished the platter bearing to a mirror finish, very low friction (spin-down time from 33.3 without the belt is now close to 3 minutes, compared to the usual 40-50 seconds. Wow! )
• installed highly-polished metal thrust plates for platter and arm
• mass-loaded the suspension and installed Linn springs (to handle the weight)
• mass-loaded the pulley
• shielded the motor to reduce EMI in Grado carts

 

Marc is one of the best I have had the pleasure to work with. He gave me some advise free of charge that completely changed the way I approached the modification of my Thorens. He is a good man.

FWIW so is Dave at Vinyl Nirvana. Very helpful.

 

That's basically my situation. I bought my table for $150 and paying a little over $150 in Marc mods. He and I both live in Ohio so I save in shipping. I delivered it to him myself.

No mine isn't getting any heavy black Linn springs. I want mine as stock as possible. Before I gave it to him I was actually very pleased with the table's sound but there were a few issues that needed dealt with that I couldn't do myself.

 

I have one of the injection molded ones. About as close to the original as you can get yet it is a bit sturdier...

As a reminder for keeping the shell from getting stripped, make sure you insert the shell completely into the socket, then gently tighten the collar. Never let it grab the shell to pull it in, thats how it strips...

 

Yes, it's very easy to do it the wrong way.

 

I modified one of these when I was in college to install a Linn Basik arm on it. It was a nice sounding little table, but I preferred my Linn.

 

Hi folks, I'm a new member, so hope that I am following the proper protocol replying to this forum topic. I bought an AR XA turntable new in 1973, but I have not used it in a number of years. I just built a new base for it using quarter sawn white oak, and am very happy with the way it turned out. My issue is with the tone arm wiring. It has all original wiring, and looks like it is mostly in good shape. The problem, while handling, I've managed to break three of the wires at the terminal strip inside the base. The green wire is still firmly attached at one end, and the ground wire is attached at the opposite end. The three middle wires have broken at the solder joints (I should have taken photos!). My question is; Does anyone know the terminal strip position for these three wires? Any help or suggestions you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have read that for Vintage Acoustic Research (AR) XA and XB turntables., the wire colour code is red (right positive), BLACK (right negative), white (left positive), GREEN (left negative).
Connect the coloured wire to the tab strip that connects to the relevant rca plug component.
Hope this helps.

 

Based on advice from Marc Morin the expert at the Audiokarma site the original sequence on the terminal strip from factory was
(top to bottom)
left gnd, left hot, rt hot, rt gnd, chassis gnd

For the RCA lead the red plastic coated wire will be the right hot channel and the white coated wire the left hot channel. The silver wire is the left ground and the bronze wire is the right ground. The complex grey coated wire with extra connections to top plate and sub chassis is the chassis ground.

Your problem appears to be with the arm wires which are a bit trickier. These are red, gold, green and black/blue but very thin and feint. Braided wire is the main ground.

Again from Marc - AR is red right hot, black right gnd. Green is left gnd

The actual order on the strip does not matter as long as the correct wires match the wires from the RCA lead.

After soldering use a multimeter to check you have continuity from each cartridge tag to the RCA plugs that fit into the phono input on your amp.

 

On the tree terminal the colors are green, blue, red, yellow and ground wire last.
Green is left ground
Blue is left hot
Red is right hot
Yellow is right ground

 

As some of you might have heard, Marc Morin is battling some serious health issues and is no longer able to provide his AR resto-mod services.

The good news is he has been training two fellows that live nearby how to do the work, and they have acquired his spare parts and special tools, so they will be able to continue doing Marc Morin AR restorations.

 

Thanks so much for this information! I'm really looking forward to getting my turntable back in operation. There are lots of posts here that will help me set it up propertly, and get the most out of my AR XA.

 

Thanks Steve - I have just had the base off my second XA and after a careful inspection with a magnifying glass (not easy to see) that does appear to be what I have on that deck.
I previously copied from a post in 2015 where I thought Marc and myself were discussing the arm wiring but we must have been at cross purposes.

 

I've wired my AR XA per your input, and all is great! Besides building a new base, I repainted the deck (is this called the plinth?), cleaned all bearing surfaces, and polished the inner platter shaft, and the tonearm pivot shaft to a mirror finish using 12,000 grit micro mesh. I also applied a thin coat of very low viscosity oil to the bearing surfaces. I still need to adjust the platter height which, from what I've read, should probably be about 1/4" off the deck. If someone has better information on this, I'd appreciate the input. I've attached a photo of my turntable without the dust cover on. When I bought this turntable, I added a Supex AL-2 cueing arm which required that I drill a small hole in the dust cover for clearance. Somewhere along the line, I lost the little plastic balance for setting stylus force, so I just bought a Neoteck digital unit. I'm guessing that this will be much better, anyway.

Okay, this is probably a stupid question; How do I post a photo from my computer? When I click on the image icon, it requires a url, and I see no option for uploading a photo from my hard drive.

 

I use this with great results: Postimage.org — free image hosting / image upload

I am in no way an expert, but I have read pretty much every word Marc Morin has written about these tables. I think he recommends a heavier oil for both bearing wells since it helps with the damping of the system and the anti-skate. As far as the tuning the suspension to 1/4", I've read a specific mm of spring compression is recommended, but a popsicle stick on its side approximates the right distance on the top of the deck. If you can barely slide it under the platter then you got the right height.

 

Thanks, Dr. J. Per your recommendation, I've re-lubricated the shafts with a little higher viscosity oil, and I opened an account on Postimage.org. Just to clarify, do you lay the Popsicle stick on it's largest flat side, or stand it on its edge? I've decided to try to get a little better photo of my turntable before posting it. Thanks so much for your help!

 

On the edge.

 

Congratulations!
I bought the same model back in 70’s...for $78...one of my favourite turntables...replaced it with a fancy Bang and Olufson TT that I bought for $600...and that was the wholesale price. It ended up being my worst TT purchase ever!...Fortunately I kept the AR and it was my go to TT until I abandoned vinyl for cds in the mid 80’s.

 

The AR XA manual available at vinylengine says the oil for the platter bearing should be #10 machine oil without additives, such as Golden Shell 10W.

Marc made the following recommendation in a post at Audiokarma last year
"In the main platter well 5-20 brand name is unimportant synthetic oil out-gasses less
for the tone arm, the weight can be the same, or heavier. 30w adds a fair amount of lateral damping.
your closest auto parts store, or oil change place."

Also he recommended against using too heavy an oil for the platter bearing oil.
"the change in additives usually comes in the form of the EP additives. Then is was usually zinc salts, now it's molybdenum salts.
the main and arm well bearing in a XA/XB is Babbitt bearing. Same as in your car. The spindle is 304 stainless steel. There is not now, then, or tomorrow a motor oil that is going to negatively affect the parts. Too heavy of an oil in the main well will increase the amount of rumble. And one more time with this, Viscosity refers to how sticky something is. It has nothing to do with lubricity. Higher viscosity has lower lubricity".

Turntable Oil