Another vote for AR. My dad gave me the AR XA he bought in the early 60's. Used it until the motor failed. Still have the cartridge/needle and all the accessories.

Thanks for the replies regarding stylus life. I'll do some careful listening in the next week to see if I can hear a difference. I'll also give it as good a look as I can with a magnifying glass. FWIW, I have a Revox 795 linear tracking turntable.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Thanks for the replies regarding stylus life. I'll do some careful listening in the next week to see if I can hear a difference. I'll also give it as good a look as I can with a magnifying glass. FWIW, I have a Revox 795 linear tracking turntable.

Another factor I didn't mention in my earlier post is vinyl cleanliness. Dirty records will shorten stylus life.

A typical magnifying glass really won't be much help. A high powered loupe or hand microscope is better but still you need to know what you're looking at. Do a search of the web for more.

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
wow.

have not seen a AR turntable in decades,

nice!!

Thanks!
Bought it used 21 years ago and "tweaked it." :thumbsup:
That one sports a bunch of mods from Merrill and an acrylic platter from Merrill/Scalia. Tonearm is the venerable Sumiko Premier MMT.

quote:

Originally posted by kz1000:
Another vote for AR. My dad gave me the AR XA he bought in the early 60's. Used it until the motor failed. Still have the cartridge/needle and all the accessories.

Both replacement and upgraded motors are readily available as are belts, etc.

I still have a spare headshell, alignment tool, weights/balance, and maybe some other stuff for the AR/XA I too bought over 5 decades ago that is long gone.

I bought and had restored an Acoustics Research LS1 turntable and I’m running it through a McIntosh tube amp right now.

I revived an old Dual 701 DD two years ago, fixed the auto tone arm mechanics and replaced a few caps in the power supply.
I even ordered a new cartridge from Japan that set me back nearly 200€.
Sadly I haven’t yet listened to it, all that’s left to do is to replace the old DIN cable with cinch connectors.

My pre amp is an old Audio Research SP9 (Made in USA) with a really good Phono pre, I don’t know what’s keeping me from finishing this project.

quote:

Find an old DUAL TT put in a decent cartridge.

Hey! I've got an old Dual turntable at home--not the changer, the turntable.
Unfortunately gave away my original AR turntable.

Recently looked on eBay to see what my 1983-ish Rogers LS3/5A's would cost to replace. Not quite worth their weight in gold, but I'm sure glad I bought them when they were $500 a pair and not $3,500 for a 40-year old pair of bookshelf speakers.

I've got a nice ADCOM pre-amp/tuner and power amp in storage; it would be nice to have a little cabin in the woods to turn the volume way up! Well, no, not with the LS3/5A's, I'd blow the woofers.

My favorite turntable over the last 40 years has been my Yamaha PF-800, purchased at Magnolia Hi-Fi long before Best Buy bought them out and subjugated the brand to the domination of Hades. Bought it new in the mid to late 1980s. It's one of the few pieces of cherished audio gear that I haven't sold off. Has the twin beam tonearm that each ran separated lines for right and left channels. At the time reviewers thought it was rather gimmicky but of all of the tables I've owned I've enjoyed listening to the Yamaha the most. More open minded reviewers actually praised the design, which I remember was rather unusual since there was very much a bias against most major Japanese hi-fi brands at the time, which the "Stereophile" and "The Absolute Sound" crowd considered way too mass-market to actually be...(gasp)...good.

Wearing a Sumiko MC pickup right now, I think. Mounted way too long ago, it has no brand markings and its packaging has long since disappeared into some crevice/storage bin down in the basement. Do remember that it was rather spendy, almost as much as the turntable itself. My hearing being what it is, which is not what it once was, so I'm not nearly as picky about "high fidelity" as I was in my younger daze. Still I like to fire up the old Yamaha every once and awhile and listen to my old platters, even though they don't sound as good as my mind's ear remembers them.

An old audio buddy told me a couple of years ago that the PF-800 has enjoyed a bit of resurgence; values have been rising. 20 years ago someone could pick up a nice clean example for less than 1/2 of what the went for new ($250 to maybe $300), with maybe the cartridge thrown in as an enticement. Nowadays nice examples go for around $1000 or so, and it's even more in Europe. Via Google I found some shop in Germany asking nearly 2900€ for the one they have. Never would I have imagined that, despite how much I've enjoyed this turntable.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Along the same topic, how long should a needle last given normal play...say a few hours/week? I haven't changed mine in years, but also rarely use my turntable these days.

We have the same turntable.
I changed my cartridge ( original Revox Ortofon MC20) years ago after I bought the turntable (used) only because I thought it was old and might need changing. I replaced it with a Shure V15VxMR. cartridge.
I'm happy with the Shure but not sure if it sounds better than the Ortofon it replaced.
Aging ears don't help in providing proof of audio improvements.
As you know, the Revox linear tracking turntables are BEASTS!

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

I have been looking at Technics and Pioneer belt drives. Should I look else where?

Find an old DUAL TT put in a decent cartridge.

That's what I got back in the mid-70s. Loved the straight arm mated to the gimbal. Added a Stanton 681 cartridge to it and used it until I replaced it with a Yamaha CD player.

I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in the garage...I thought I saw the box while moving stuff about

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

I have been looking at Technics and Pioneer belt drives. Should I look else where?

Find an old DUAL TT put in a decent cartridge.

That's what I got back in the mid-70s. Loved the straight arm mated to the gimbal. Added a Stanton 681 cartridge to it and used it until I replaced it with a Yamaha CD player.

I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in the garage...I thought I saw the box while moving stuff about

Whip that shit out!!! Oh wait. These days I better watch what I say and how I say it. Locate and begin using your classic turntable. Post up pictures when you find it please.

I have found a forum dedicated to all things vinyl related. They have owners manuals, repair manuals, brochures. I have been studying on there and looking at Dual turntables. I am liking what I am seeing with them and may persue them more. I found a few on an auction site, not Ebay, and have been watching them to get an idea of pricing.

quote:

Originally posted by petr:
I have found a forum dedicated to all things vinyl related. They have owners manuals, repair manuals, brochures. I have been studying on there and looking at Dual turntables. I am liking what I am seeing with them and may persue them more. I found a few on an auction site, not Ebay, and have been watching them to get an idea of pricing.

Wouldn't be the vinylengine would it?

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:

Wouldn't be the vinylengine would it?

Yes it is.

quote:

That's what I got back in the mid-70s. Loved the straight arm mated to the gimbal. Added a Stanton 681 cartridge to it and used it until I replaced it with a Yamaha CD player.

681EEE if I recall? Most were using the Shure V-15, but I had the Stanton too. Remember the little metal box the stylus came in?

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:

quote:

That's what I got back in the mid-70s. Loved the straight arm mated to the gimbal. Added a Stanton 681 cartridge to it and used it until I replaced it with a Yamaha CD player.

681EEE if I recall? Most were using the Shure V-15, but I had the Stanton too. Remember the little metal box the stylus came in?

Remember that the little metal box came in a polished wooden box that, besides the cartridge had a recess for the screwdriver to fit the cartridge screws. All on blue velvet...like S&W Presentation cases

Dual vs AR.

Ric.45 has a thread in the lounge area about his buying a GEM (George E. Merrill) turntable.

I'd forgotten this shot of my vintage The AR Turntable with Merrill mods that was in that old now resurrected thread.

Denon DL-103D in Sumiko headshell on the Sumiko Premier MMT arm. A Denon DL-304 cartridge in an Orsonic AV-1S headshell sitting aside the TT.
The TT output is run from an external Sumiko PIB-1 interface box to a DIY SUT (step up transformer) using a pair of CineMag CMQEE-3440A transformers which in turn feeds the phone stage of my Odyssey Tempest preamp. The preamp has a great moving coil stage but I liked to tinker and the DIY SUT gives more a bit more gain which is a nice buffer for the low output Denon MC carts.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Dual vs AR.

I'd forgotten this shot of my vintage The AR Turntable with Merrill mods that was in that old now resurrected thread.

Early on I had many DUAL TT's > 1229Q, 704, 721

Somewhere along the line I had a Tech buddy mount a SME Tone arm in an original AR Rickety Belt Drive table with the arm removed.
Eventually it died and I got the same TT as in the image above ^^^ remounted the SME in it.

Still have it and also a nice early eighties Harman Kardon before they got commercialized by JBL..
Unfortunately all the great cartridges I had are now kaput > Sumiko MC, Win Semi-Conductor, Shure V15-III or IV, Ortofon, Micro Acoustics > all broken, gone and most out of business.

A new cartridge at some point but I need to repair my APT Holman first.
1500 LP's are waiting for me!

quote:

I need to repair my APT Holman first.

This thread made me recall my obsessive reading of The Audio Critic in the 70's and 80's. The APT Holman IIRC was a favorite preamp and a huge bargain.

For those nostalgic for that era and that magazine in particular, here is a link to a site where you can download every issue of The Audio Critic. Should make for some chuckles and fun late-night reading. Also potentially for some shopping for vintage audio stuff.

The Audio Critic Downloads