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Ancient AR Turntable with NO anti skate

A friend had me over to listen to his restored late 60's Acoustic Research turntable.  While listening, I noticed that the somewhat awkward looking tonearm had no anti skate.  Looking closely at the stylus assembly, it wasn't drifting or pulling toward the center spindle.  It seemed to track clean and true through the entire LP.  The arm is the original stock AR arm and couldn't be more that 8.5" or 9" in length.  I am just curious how AR pulls that off with such a short arm?  I have seen several 12" arms (Audio Technica for example) that dispense with anti skate completely but never a smaller one.  By the way, the table sounded wonderful and the cartridge was a Denon 103R.

Thanks,

Norman

 
normansizemore
4play
18 posts
 
What the OP is describing has to do with setting up the tonearm. The AR XA/XB original tonearm is designed to float towards the spindle. The only adjustment you have is the counterweight on the back of the tonearm. Once you swap the original tonearm for a Jelco, Rega, Grace, etc, you will be able to set the anti-skate. I'm not sure if a modern tonearm will give you VTF adjustments.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,284 posts
 
To replace the AR XA/B tonearm requires some machining. I took my floating subchassis to a machine shop and had them cut out the bearing well, leaving a hole in the chassis big enough for a tone arm mount. The table is a fine design, the arm not so much.
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
5,103 posts
 
My first 'real' TT was an AR....simple, straightforward, the only thing it lacked was a 'lift' mechanism, since nimble fingers sometimes aren't...*G*

Anti-skate is a very subjective issue...some notice it, others don't.  I addressed it by going into tangential arms of various stripes.  But that was my response.

If you like it, keep it.  Don't let the means spoil the enjoyment of the music.... ;) 
normansizemore OP
601 posts
 
bdp24,

I did the same thing with my Dual 1229 when I replaced the original tonearm with the Grace 747, only I did the machine work. 

The AR tonearm is crude, but I have to admit it sounds good.  Obviously many others felt the same way.  I was reading that it out-sold every other turntable for a decade by a 3-1 margin. 

Norman
normansizemore OP
601 posts
 
asvjerry
If you like it, keep it.  Don't let the means spoil the enjoyment of the music.... ;)
Well said.  I don't remember many quality tangential tonearms in the 70's.  Rabco?  Phase Linear had a sweet arm on it's 8000 turntable which I believe was built by Pioneer or Series ONE for the Japan market. In any event, it was a superb arm.

Norman
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