AR the Turntable - worth it?

I love the Thorens TD160 Super available on his website...

Hifiharv, just so ! I doubt if those B&O's reproduced anything below 80hz or so.Might have disturbed the Lawrence Welk set.

Schubert, I had the same experience when my friend brought his new B+O pride and joy over. A musician (Rock/Stratocaster), he always liked listening at my place and wanted to try the B+O out there. Remember, this was then the late seventies. I probably wasn't even using a "real" cartridge, not to mention no knowlege of cables, etc. Just two poor factory worker kids that were enthusiastic about music. Back then we were listening to the Dead, Return to Forever, Allman Bros, etc. He couldn't believe the difference. B+O: thin and strident, almost unlistenable compared to the AR.
So Cat, as you can see, the praise here for the good old AR is unanimous. I still scratch my head when I think of how old this thing is and what it can do.

I owned a Merrill modded AR -The Turntable, and thought it was a great deck. I had excellent results with a rewired RB300 tonerarm, but recall having to troll the net for a 50hz spindle to be able to play the table at correct speed here in Australia.

I ran a Merrill modded AR for several years with an Audioquest (Jelco)tonearm until I got a Merrill Heirloom. I bought it new stock and had it upgraded in stages by George Merrill. It was definitely a cut above the stock AR. It was a great table. IMHO opinion the AR even in stock form is a great option for a budget TT. You can always start with a stock table and upgrade through Dave at VN in stages if you like. If you can buy one even stock in good shape for under $500 you can't go wrong. These tables have more soul to me than the lower priced offerings of Rega and Music Hall et. al.

However, I have seen and heard George Merrill's new replica table and it is outstanding. It has many properties of the Merrill Heirloom and the Merrill Scallia MS-2. It is a great bargain and worth checking out.

I owned that very table, using a Magnepan Unipivot arm. Sounded great for years. If the price seems good to you, I'd grab it.

As a grad student I worked part-time for a large snooty B &O dealer who sold MANY of their skinny -arm expensice TT's.
One day before work I brought my AR-XA with Shure 91-ed in, was a lot of surprised faces as it wiped those B&O out thru the K-horns .

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Much appreciated.

George,
Yea, I already have communicated with Dave just to see if he ships to Canada.
Keep me posted on your AR table - what model is it, or should I say what model did it start out to be?

Thanks,

cat9

Hi Cat. I bought a new AR-XA in 1970 which offered exceptional performance per dollar. I later bought another one used and replaced the arm with a Mayware. So far as I know each model update from the original were improvements.

Just over a year ago I picked up an early (two motor) AR-XA from some elderly folks along with their LP collection since they didn't play it any longer. After a bit of a clean up, work on one of the motors (hadn't been played in years so had gummed up), and a new belt it worked great and I sold it for them for $140. That had the original headshell and dust cover which helped the value.

FYI AR authorized removal of the damping pin in the tonearm which eased motion and improved performance. I would recommend that on a stock AR arm.

Cat9, I have an AR table from Dave at Vinyl Nirvana. It has every Merrill/Scillia mod offered, and I run it with a Pete Riggle arm and Clearaudio Maestro cart.
I am overjoyed every time I spin vinyl on this "vintage" rig. This table is a giant killer, and I am pretty sure it would stomp all over new tables in the same price range. Also, Dave is first class all the way, and he probably knows more about these tables than anyone. I recently made an impulsive purchase of a PTP Lenco table so my AR may need a new home if interested.
George

Great tables though I don't know what you are going to have to pay for it. I bought a ARXA as a kid in High School. 1971! Couldn't afford a new one at all of $79.00 so bought used. Still have it today in the living room system. Still sounds great, and still captivates me even though I am used to the Well Tempered Super in the listening room. I did though design and build a proper arm for it years ago. The early AR arms were not so great. Your's is a later model that I believe has a Japan sourced arm. Careful implementing of mods can turn it into a true, modern, High End contender. I now have 3 in various states of mods. No matter what, these tables are always musical and involving with a very accessable sound. For a similar design with a modern approach, check out Merrill's "replica" table. I bet it is a killer for $1000. Just saw an ad for it here the other day.

Thanks Jea48,

I've been ALL over this site - he's got some real eye-candy for sale.
Still hoping for some personal stories/info/impressions though.

cat9

This might help.

http://www.vinylnirvana.com/ar-models/

http://www.vinylnirvana.com/vintage-turntables-for-sale/gorgeous-ar-the-turntable-infinity-black-widow-many-mods/

http://www.vinylnirvana.com/vintage-turntables-for-sale/
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