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

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.

3 must have moderate priced tonearm for any of us in my opinion.

It took a while to find a NOS, properly working sample of Lustre GST-801 for my collection (with two counterweights and additional ringweight included), previous used sample was ok, but magnetic drive, anti-skating and armlift were all defective, so make sure you’re buyin’ a working sample and pay attention to that! Normally a perfect samples goes for over $1k. If the price is lower there could be some problems, i paid just about $500 for my ex used sample, but i was happy to pay twice for a NOS later on. I’ve been using a very nice Audio Craft headshells with my Lustre. The rigweight is on, look. There must be a huge and superheavy arm stabilizer from beneath. This tonearm originally silver wired. The VTA on the fly is great, the armpipe is stainless steel. It can be used with various cartridges ONLY if you have Lustre unique counterweights (two of them, different weight) and a ring. Finding any parts separately is almost impossible. 

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. 

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).

You'd better ask which counterweight is on this arm (A or B), because he does not have 2nd one (or even a ring). 

Also make sure the magnetic tracking force and anti-skating are working or you will have to use this arm just like a static one. 

BTW here is a picture of Lustre counterweight and ringweigh for you. I sold them last year to another a’gon member when i discovered NOS tonearm with same set to keep.

P.S. All grado cartridges are high-ish compliance like 30cu @10Hz

A true mono MM cartridge must have only 2 pins (not 4), the best i've heard so far was Grace F14 MONO. 

I have never bought on usaudiomart or ukaudiomart etc.etc. because I have no way of having protection as on ebay; I would like to know if they are reliable sites with reliable sellers or are there always risks of sellers’ cheating?

@best-groove when we have to sell something then the us or uk audiomart is the best source simply because it’s free (no sales charge or listing charge), there are many honest sellers and normally you can see their ebay feedback linked on uk audiomart page + uk audiomart feedbacks too. Normally you can find same stuff listed on ebay just for much higher price than same items from the same sellers on UKAM for example. Normally i’m losing 15% when the item sold on ebay for example (their sales fee is high + paypal fee). I wish they gonna die somehow with such high fees, there must be a better places to list our items. Ebay for the sellers is a rip-off, but good for the buyers. But each buyer can think about 15% off the price if they could only buy direct from the seller (without paypal in between). So each time you’re buying from ebay the price is higher for you, because the seller will add ebay fees in the price.

More important:
The protection you’re talking about if from paypal, not from ebay.
So when you pay invoice via paypal you will automatically get your buyer’s protection, no matter where the stuff is listed.

It is correct what you write, but not everyone uses paypal, there are many especially German sellers who have taken the bad habit of using ebay and only accept bank transfers for payment ... I would never buy anything from them; so why should i buy items on Ukmart or usamart to pay exclusively by bank transfer?

I agree, i would not do that too if i don’t know a person. But at the same time i understand why people ask for IBAN transfer within EU for example, as far as i know IBAN transfer cost almost nothing for a buyer and no fee for a seller. Paypal charge 4-5% depends on the region, they are monopolists, the fee is too much, they are always capitalize on exchange rate etc. I would be happy to find an alternative to paypal that anyone can trust.

I’ll tell you more, i know a record sellers in UK who accept only cash even from an international buyers! They are selling very rare soul record and have been doing it for ages, cash only. I even send a cash (about 150 GBP) in a special envelope by post once to catch some very rare 45, but the reputation of the seller is second to none. My record has arrived, crazy story, i did it once in my life about 15 years ago. Some people just old school (and they don’t want to pay tax i believe). It’s convenient for them. I would prefer to get cash too instead of paying 5% to paypal and another 10% to ebay.

Happy New Year!
Grado is American manufacturer, so they are measuring dynamic compliance at 10Hz, but nearly all Japanese manufacturers measuring at 100Hz. 

how do you compute from 20cu to _____ mu/mN???

It's the same
Most important is to know how it was meassured (at 10Hz or at 100Hz)
cu = mu/mn 

I think that its lift is worthless

I've seen two different armlifts made by Lustre for 801 series. So they tried to improve.  

Regarding your Victor UA-7082 you can just remember that an optimal Victor top of the line cartridges designed for use with this arm on stock lightweight headshell are as follows (for example):

1) X-1IIe (MM) own weight is 7.5g, with stock shell, wires and screws it’s about 20 g.

Dynamic Compliance 12cu @ 100Hz (*please note than a compliance @10Hz will be at least 20.5 cu)



2) MC-1 (LOMC) mass 8.7g, with stock shell, wires and screws it’s about 21.2 g.

Dynamic Compliance 8cu @ 100Hz (*please note than a compliance @10Hz will be at least 13.6 cu)


So i think you can use any cartridge on 12g headshell with dynamic compliance from 13cu to 22cu @10Hz according to Victor philosophy. There are low and mid compliance cartridges! For higher mass headshell/cartridge combo with lower compliance cart you need a subweight for the arm.

I don’t think you will find any headshell lighter than 9g for use with higher compliance cartridges.

Buy Hi-Fi TEST LP to measure actual resonance with your own arm/cartridge if you’re so worry about it.

Many online calculators are incorrect, you’d better use a record to check tonearm/cartridge resonance, you will see when they are shaking.


P.S. And stop buying mediocre cartridges if you really want to hear the potential of those tonearms.

Just waiting to make final decision on Cartridge/Stylus for 7082 arm.

You can’t buy a final cartridge, do not fool yourself :)) LOL
I’m pretty sure you will buy many cartridges in the next years, this is a part of the game for the most of us.


Regarding the digital scale just look for Ortofon DS-1 

GST801 as mentioned is a fine piece.  I think I may have the original tonearm lift, and that is the weak point in this, which is not a big deal.

Lustre made 2 different versions of the armlift mechanism for GST-801 model, they are completely different from each other. 

  The original headshell is not that light mass wise.  Without wires and hardware is 9.2 grams.  

The exact weight of this Lustre headshell with original silver wires is 10.6g right now on my digital scale. The weight of the screws depends on its length. Two medium size screws are 0.7g. So the total weight of the Lustre shell with leadwires and mounting screws with nuts is about 11.3g and this is still a lightweight for a headshell. I've seen very few headshells with a mass less than 10g (and i have so many different headshells).  

Would you like to try this ? 
Technics SP-20, absolutely beautiful, look at this. 
Just like SP10mkII, but in black, simplified version from 1976 with built-in power supply. 

Lever flexes a long thin strip of metal (visible when upside down). The end of the metal activates the rise/lower action when flexed by the lever.

It was an earlier version of the armlift construction, Lustre completely changed it in the later version to conventional armlift without that long think strip of metal.