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
uberwaltz

I try to chase less rabbits than many here do!!!

Probably because of this rabbit tale.

Age 16, travelling across USA with my friend, his relatives in New Mexico took us out to the desert to hunt Jack Rabbits.

I had low cut hiking shoes, and wore shorts, it was very hot. I noticed they had long pants on?

They gave me a long barreled pistol, I was a darn good shot, out of the truck we got. Walk slowly into the desert, dodging cactus.

Bingo, I spot a Jack Rabbit and start to give chase. Everybody starts yelling, NOOO, stop, don't chase him, don't go in there.

Oh no, I'm not losing to a rabbit, he dodges, I leap, .... he gets away.

I come back to the truck, they are all laughing, more than I thought they should, after all I never saw that kind of rabbit before, I'll figure out how they move and get one for sure.

I look down, my legs are bleeding, covered with Jumping Cactus, front, sides, rear, oh behind the knee was the worst. Turns out, you just disturb the ground where these spring loaded devils are lying, up they leap onto you. Then, the more you move, the deeper the barbs get in, especially the ones behind your knees. It was hours cutting and puling the barbs out of me.

'Tiptoe Thru the Tulips' and Jumping Cactus!




best-groove

Nope, I bought a sealed one this original pressing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Is_a_Ghetto

some very nice harmonies on it as well as their famous song.

stopped in tiny place on the way home, $4.99
I should probably buy a new version of this one.

Eric Burdon and WAR,

mine has been played and played and played some more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is_All_Around_(album)
Arrived, Gorgeous, now I need to find a deck to put it on,

the TT81 with large plinth I bought arrived severely damaged yesterday.
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. 
the TT81 with large plinth I bought arrived severely damaged yesterday.

what a pity! great misfortune !!!

is it possible to restore?
I received and installed the 801 tonearm. All is terrific,

EXCEPT, the tonearm lifter is not working.

Nothing moves up when raising the lever. I know how to loosen the set screw to raise/lower the cylinder, but center post does not move.

Any ideas? 

thanks, Elliott 
Happily, I solved it. I really like this Acos Lustre GST-801 lift.

A suggestion on AudioKarma mentioned looking underneath, verifying a set screw was snug. That may be the problem for other's.

I found my problem, and suspect/hope it could be a common problem for others, as it is easily fixed.

1. 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.

2. The lift raises/lowers 'by itself' after you 'start' it, by moving the lever up or down. (IOW, once started, the action is not controlled by the lever, it's controlled by fluid moving). It starts up and continues to rise like a cake.

3. There is a small gap at the forward end of the metal strip below the cylinder. There is a small projecting rod on the bottom of the cylinder. The cylinder has to be rotated so that the pin moves out of sight, above the end of the flexible metal strip.

4. My cylinder had been rotated, the rod was in the gap, no metal strip below it, so, when the metal strip flexed, it did not contact the pin. I simply rotated the cylinder so that the pin moved out of sight, now above the metal strip. Fixed, but not height adjusted.

5. The top curved rail rotates, for proper positioning for the full sweep of the tonearm. The curved rail has it's own set screw. Loosen set screw, position (rotate) the curved rail for full arm sweep, tighten.

6. I think mine, and probably others, people loosen the cylinder set screw and rotate the cylinder to position the attached curved rail. Inadvertently moving the cylinder's lower pin to the gap where there is no contact with the flexible metal strip....................
...................................

My procedure:
First, get arm height, arm balance, general VTA angle set. Adjusting the height/clearance of the lift's top curved rail when down (below the tonearm when playing) is relative to the tonearm's downward angle.

1. loosen and lightly snug two set screws (cylinder and top curved rail) (so no real force needed when making final adjustment, avoiding one part moving the other).

2. loosen cylinder's set screw and rotate cylinder (view from bottom) so the pin is out of sight above the metal strip. slight tighten.
  
**** Note: never rotate the cylinder later when adjusting it's height, or positioning the top curved rail ****

3. loosen cylinder's set screw, make general height adjustment, slight tighten. To get the top curved rail close to the bottom of the tonearm prior to next step.

4. loosen top curved rail's set screw, rotate to position it for the full sweep of the tonearm, tighten. it's done.

5. final height of cylinder will need to be coordinated with arm height. adjust bit by bit, avoiding rotating it, to keep it's lower pin above the flexible metal strip.

Elliott
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. 

I have to send the long victor 7082 arm/tt back to seller for full refund, so this GST-801 is my main stereo arm. I love it.

Initial height adjustment/set screw was a PITA, but, now, VTA while playing is a dream, and it’s lift when working is wonderful. Impressive quality, very heavy/solid mounting ring.

Magnetic Tracking Force and Anti-Skate: When you turn anti-skate to OFF, it’s off, it just stops moving when aligning and setting tracking force.

It’s indicator of tracking force is very, very close to the digital scale measurements, and the anti-skate indicator seems right on, no further adjustment was needed when doing final listening using these 3 guitars on side 2, track 2 and 3. (3 guitars only those tracks)

https://www.google.com/search?q=friday+night+in+san+francisco&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS881US881&sxsrf=ACYBGNRWtGXYIiLa1anbLNfpV8WIKxKBrw:1579751526671&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=FYnBqYrNxZ2acM%253A%252CMtTWRSsX8qs8LM%252C%252Fm%252F01pmn5x&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTMOhE8AhRucmhPF9RS6WKh5uHiRQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2iNKE6ZjnAhWhVt8KHQkkAUYQ_B0wFHoECAoQAw#imgrc=FYnBqYrNxZ2acM: