Tonearm ...... Acos Lustre GST-801 ..... Yea/Nay


Acos Lustre GST-801, claim to fame is magnetic stylus force and magnetic anti-skate.

Hopping about, getting ready to pick the rear arm of 2 arm deck. Use for existing Shure 97xe and V15VxMR, both with their dynamic stabilizer brush, and AT440ml (no brush), and NEW Mono Cartridge.

vinyl engine
https://www.vinylengine.com/library/acos/lustre-gst-801.shtml

one for sale, $899. usd
https://reverb.com/item/29975393-acos-lustre-gst-801-tonearm-rare

thanks for any insight about it,

Elliott
elliottbnewcombjr
Lustre 801 is tonearm for MC heavy not for MM medium or high compilance.

Not really, it is very flexible with a choice of cartridges, but as i said to use higher compliance MM one need a lighweight counterweight and lightweight headshell. The stock headshell is very light. 

Two Lustre counterweight looks almost identical, but they are different in weight (look at the manual). 

The arm is fine for Mid Compliance cartridges, on my pictures you can see a very rare Pioneer PC-1000 mkII (MM) cartridge on it. 

To use MC one must add not only a higher mass counterweight, but also a high mass hingweight, then it can be used even for SPU or FR-7f i;ve been using on it too. 



Can you name which cartridges models you use with Epa 100?

Well, actually i upgraded from EPA-100 to the EPA-100 mkII.

On my ex EPA-100 i’ve been using those rare Technics cartridges most of the time. Also the ZYX Airy III and Premium 4D LOMC on LIVE18 headshell for some time too.

When i bought a NOS epa-100 again this year i’ve tried it with my favorite Grace LEVEL II (Sapphire) a cheaper Victor X-1IIe also was very impressive on this arm.




I owned, and used, a  Lustre GST-801 for about 10 years and sold it with the turntable. Wish I had kept the tonearm and ditched the turntable! Great arm when working properly.
@chakster 

Very well....do you find it useful to use the five-position damper on the back of the counterweight?

Are the counterweights of your Epa 100 still sealed or leaking silicon oil?
I have already had an Epa 100 overhauled with the counterweight drawing small traces of silicone oil on the outside.

Very well....do you find it useful to use the five-position damper on the back of the counterweight?

It was a mess to figure out how to assemble all the parts of the counterweight mechanism correctly when i bought my first beaten sample of GST-801. This counterweight is indeed a bit strange, there are rubber washers and a thin metal washer too. Luckily with my NOS sample everything was assembled correctly on the factory.


Are the counterweights of your Epa 100 still sealed or leaking silicon oil?
I have already had an Epa 100 overhauled with the counterweight drawing small traces of silicone oil on the outside.

Owned two samples of the EPA-100 and one EPA-100 mkII i have never seen any leakage from the counterweight. The only problem i have had with my first EPA-100 (after complete rewire with VdH silver cable) was a bad grounding of the arm, i think a person who did s job was not qualified or not tested it, he did some mistakes with a ground wire. The arm itself wasn’t perfectly grounded. So with my next samples i’m pretty much ignored the idea of rewiring, when everything is just perfect i do not want to upgrade anything (my rule number one now).