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Gene Poon
 
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Default New tonearm for AR XA: suggestions?

Kalman Rubinson wrote:

The best replacement articles actually re-engineered the subchassis.
Considering the complications of a non-adjustable suspension that
might, itself, be on their way towards failure, I'd suggest replacing
the whole thing with one of the similar Thorens TTs (from the 150 to
the present) that have adjustable springs and a replaceable armboard.

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No need; it's not as though the suspension is about to "fail" anyway;
the parts in an AR Turntable suspension are very durable. And it is not
really non-adjustable; it is only so if you don't remove the bottom
plate and adjust it! The process is no different from adjusting a Linn
Sondek suspension, actually.

My "fun" turntable is an old AR-XA; so old, it still had the second
starting motor, whose belt I have removed, and which I disconnected
electrically. So modified, the flutter is lower but the platter has to
be started in the correct direction with a push, after the power is
turned on! The arm is an adaptation of the Well Tempered design,
homebuilt and fitted onto a post which fits into the original AR tonearm
shaft well. The suspension was then leveled to match the weight of the
arm assembly. It does help if one damps out resonances in the
subchassis by filling the cavities on its bottom side with modeling
clay! The arm has proven to work well with many different cartridges,
the current one being a Decca Super Gold; the arm's damping does seem
effective in taming some of the Decca's quirks!

-Gene Poon