TT, 12" Tonearm. Who tried and ended up preferring 12" arm?

Elliot.
Congratulations!
I have the EXACT same setup and I can tell you there was also an optional lift off dust cover made specifically for that plinth.
I know this as mine came with it!
You may get lucky and find one or as you say, have one custom made, likely $175 or just over.

It is a fantastic combo and I have tried various vintage mm carts on it and all are a breeze to setup with the on the fly vta .

Don’t forget it’s 100vac so you WILL need a step down transformer for USA 120vac mains, again plenty on eBay.

That 7082 arm is the business for sure!
Have fun!

P.s. feel free to pm me if you have any questions on this setup.

He agreed. TT81 TT with the UA-7082 arm, wide plinth with a spare board waiting for a 9" arm (for a new mono cartridge), and importantly wide dust cover! .... $1,280. delivered with tax.

From Japan, confirmed working, no returns, wish me luck. I looked at his eBay store, a HUGE seller, 98% positive, I decided to take the risk.

This will hold me until I turn 75 in a few years when I probably will go for something new. Famous last words, right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VICTOR-CL-P2-TT-81-UA-7082-set-AC100V-Free-Shipping-d506/264532995172 
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ARM LENGTH

Denon specs for UA-7082 arm: effective length 282mm = 11-1/8". the shorter 7045 arm effective length is 245mm = 9-5/8" (If I get the matching Denon arm for mono). After researching more, I am actually happy with the 11-1/8" rather than full 12" regarding mass, compliance, overall size of TT. It's a move up from existing effective 232mm 9-1/8" arc.

SPRINGY Floors

If I had saved my SME 3009, I could have popped it in the back board for mono. I restored it years ago with help and parts from SME. I got rid of it and the Thorens TD124 because my floors are springy, and the Thorens' magnificent bearing couldn't deal with vertical vibration well. The speed control of the Thorens was cool, but it must be said, as temperature varied speed control was Needed!

TT is now in better location, but no dancing at that end of the room please. House was built in 1951, I think the lumber was not properly dried due to excessive building spree after the war. I could brace underneath from the crawl space, now I just 'Walk away Renee' carefully.

Anyway, I will re-think suspension for this unit.

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MONO CARTRIDGE ADVICE? (need strong signal).

I have my McIntosh mx110z tube tuner/preamp with several phono inputs, happily two MM, and I love the sound of it's phono stage. (I wasn't a fan of prior McIntosh SS C28 phono preamp). So, two arms in is easy.

I also love the sound of it's FM tuner, and as I often mention, McIntosh MODE switch is a great help refining my speakers brilliance and presence controls, refining anti-skate ... And, it has MONO Mode for Mono LP's. Many tube preamps do not exceed 6 tubes, this sucker has 17.

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Need Strong Cartridge Signal

The preamp has hum that starts just above my max listening volume, so I need to get a mono cartridge with high enough output, Shure 97xe gives 4.0mV now. so I wouldn't go below 4.0mV for the new Mono cartridge.

I'm gonna take the preamp to McIntosh in the spring when I visit my photo friend who lives 15 minutes from their headquarters in Binghamton, NY. They are very helpful. Last spring I pre-arranged, dropped both my SS pair (2250 amp, C28 preamp) off before lunch thursday, they had them ready to go the following Monday afternoon. Sold them to get the new tube pair, Cayin A88T (mk1 for 16 ohm tap) and the mx110z.

btw, I just changed the Cayin's 6550 tubes for KT88's. I was happy with the 6550's but I prefer the KT88's.

Chakster, the TT101 is not above criticism, but your statement that it’s “too old” is ridiculous, especially coming from you, and especially since the alternatives you name are about the same vintage. Each of those other TTs you name has its own Achilles heel as far as repairs are concerned.

I meant only the expensive repair even to make it work, not everyone can pay $1000 or EUR 1000 + shipping just for the service to get TT-101 back to work, this is it.

I paid less for all my turntables and they does not require service at all, they are all fine, paid $1200 for MINT SP-10 mkII and never ever serviced this original. Everyone can read the dedicated thread about Victor TT-101 Repair to understand how difficult it can be, especially for those who are not in NYC, and even your own experience can prove it.

I am happy that one of my TT-101 is working, but another one is not.

The reason why i mentioned SP-10mkII, Denon DP-80 or Luxman PD-444 is because it’s very easy to find a MINT condition working sample, and even minor repair does not cost even close to the cost of TT-101 repair ($1k).

TT-101 is not for the amateurs to mess around with it.

Chakster
I do agree with the sentiments of cost of repair for the 101.
Part of the reason I went with a 81.
And a 71 but that’s another story.

However I feel a good working 101 is likely near the Pinnacle of vintage DD table charts and if money was no object or concern I think I would pursue one.

BTW, the plinth on the 81 of mine and the the one the OP has bought is massive and very solid weighing in at about 40lb on its own and is a multiple layer construction.
Will be hard to beat that plinth.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VICTOR-CL-P2-TT-81-UA-7082-set-AC100V-Free-Shipping-d506/264532995172

Elliott
Too fast. You bought the arm with dead rubber grommet that does not support the counterweight properly, you will have to replace it, the counterweight sag down too much, this is a typical problem for a cheap UA-7045 samples (with this problem they are normally sells as a junk).

Look at the picture in the listing with a side view. When you will move the counterweight away from the arm tower the problem will be increased to much higher degree. This is junk, find someone who can replace the rubber part. I’ve seen many samples of UA-7045 tonearms, now i have 7082, all my samples are perfect, if you want to see what is perfect then look at the original arm (not a repaired one) and compare to yours which is almost fell off.

Someone might tell you it’s normal to have a certain degree down at the counterweight part, but it’s not!

I’m referring to the NOS (never used) sample and the arm pipe is just straight behind the arm tower, no matter where is the counterweight, also even if the additional subweight is address the counterweight part is just straight.

My advice is to put that Shure to the recycle bin and look for a decent Victor X-1IIe or X-1II cartridges for this arm. It will be a killer setup, i know it because i have many.