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Who's familiar with Audiocraft/Ultracraft AC300?

I found an old Ultracraft AC300 MK2 that my Father in Law left in my basement and am interested in setting it up on my new Lenco L75 turntable. I don't know anything about this discontinued tonearm, is anyone familiar with it? Its interesting because its oil damped and has a dial which seems to compensate for the different compliance of cartridges. Cool! Its missing a headshell though, I'm assuming that I can pick up a used one here on Agon, any recommendations for a headshell to match? Also I'd need a decent (moderately priced) cartridge for it, I already have a Dyna 20XL mounted on my Rega RB300, so I'm thinking of getting a MM, perhaps a Soundsmith Aida, Clearaudio Maesrto/Virtuoso, Ortofon 2MM Black. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
mikeyc8

Showing 2 responses by thom_at_galibier_design

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
729 posts
 
Nice arm, I owned one.

Get a Sumiko headshell from the Needle Doctor. While you don't need the azimuth feature this headshell has (you can accomplish this with your arm with the outrigger weights), the Sumiko headshell is machined from a solid billet of aluminum - a nice product which this arm is deserving of.

Congratulations!

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
729 posts
 
Yes. adding damping can (speaking in broad terms) help you out when using a slightly less compliant cartridge than would otherwise be ideal.

When I had the AC-300, my main cartridge was a Benz M0.9 - one of three cartridges in the wood bodied line that was the first step up from the Glider.

The three cartridges in this "model" represented three output levels - the L0.2, M0.9, and H2.0, with the model names reflecting the cartridge's output in millivolts.

If I could, I'd stick with the broad range of cartridges (including Benz) that had a compliance in the 12-15 range.

I used minimal to no damping with the Benz, BTW.

There are likely other fine headshells out there, but the Sumiko is certainly one of the better ones which doesn't cost huge $$$ (as in the Ikeda headshell amongst others). I like the fact that it's machined from a solid billet of aluminum.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
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