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Reminiscing about Dual and AR turntables

Hi Everyone,

Full disclosure, I don't own any vinyl, but I love all sorts of gear. Listen, one thing I have been thinking about are the Dual and AR turntables. When I was a kid, those were super in demand. 

Today I hardly ever hear anyone mention them, instead I see a lot of demand for Thorens. 

I'm just curious from those of you who follow why that might be.

Best,

E
erik_squires

Showing 3 responses by bdp24

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,158 posts
 

A "forgotten" Thorens is the TD-150AB (A for arm, B for base). It’s design is the same as that of the AR (low-mass floating subchassis), but German/Swiss vs. U.S.A. made. The arm on the 150 is FAR better than the one on the AR XA/B. I don’t know how much they are going for.

One thing of interest in the AR XA/B is that George Merrill offered a drop-in replacement for the table’s stock subchassis and platter, greatly improving it’s sound and allowing the use of an arm of one’s own choice.

I replaced my AR ES-1 with a VPI HW-19 Mk.1, which I much preferred. A Mk.1/2/3 can be had for around $500, and is a pretty darn good table.

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,158 posts
 
I took my AR XA to a machine shop and had the tone arm's bearing well on the T-bar subchassis cut out. I enlarged the hole in the table's top plate myself, and mounted a Formula 4 unipivot arm in the hole on the T-bar. The AR ES-1 is almost identical to the XA/B, but with a mounting plate for either the optional AR arm or one of your choice. For the price the ES-1 sells for, I would opt for it over the XA/B.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,158 posts
 
I would avoid the 60’s/70’s AR, the XA and XB---it’s tonearm was not so hot, though the table was fine for what it was. The ES-1, introduced in the mid-80’s with an outsourced arm (Jelco? Audioquest?), the arm weakness of the XA/B cured and therefore a much better total package, can be had for relative peanuts.
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