AR ES-1 refit/upgrade

[cabbages]

Some of you may have seen a pic of the cardboard box in the 'bits n bobs' thread. I had the turntable out for inspection on the weekend, after bringing it over from Canada, and took some pics I've posted a couple below.

This was my table from new, but during my far too many years at uni I found myself moving around and not settling so it's been in storage for all but about 5 years of the 25 i've owned it. I've been out of hifi for a lot of that time, but the idea is to build a system around this for vinyl playback (i had my records shipped to the UK about 6 years ago), eventually buy a current model TT, and use this as a second table. I plan to make some changes and would be grateful for any feedback or suggestions on my plans:

- need to buy a third party external power supply and motor (OL?); this seems the easiest way to get it up to UK's 240 v, but should also be a considerable upgrade as the motor on these 'tables has come in for some criticism;

-a new platter mat, and possibly something to damp the metal sub-chassis. It's always had the transport screw on it, and it appears that the spring suspension is absolutely fine as a result;

-a new arm board that's made of something other than the chip board that's on it;

-rewire the RB300 internally and externally, and potentially replace the counterweight

-replace the cartridge;

-re the wood plinth - the wood is in fantastic condition, so i'm just going to scrub that up with some tung oil.

 

[luckysim0n]

That is a beautiful deck in my opinion cant wait to see end results looks to be in very good condition too

Origin live motors are supposed to be good would eventually like to get one for my TD160

 

[Flimber]

Lovely looking thing which would look even sweetlier if you whizzed on a cork/natural mat of some sort.

 

[cabbages]

Does anyone know where I could get a hole in my armboard drilled out to a larger size?

 

[Vinyl Art]

Find a local machine shop, a one or two man band, this is the sort of job they would do for the price of a few drinks. Must be plenty of them down in London.

 

[Cable Monkey]

Hi, I have had the lesser Legend branded AR for quite a while. I have managed to get it up to quite a high standard and pretty much all of your suggestions would be similar to what I did. One other thing I did was to put a 12mm MDF base board on mine. That together with damping the sub chassis, sub platter and the Origin Live motor brought the whole package up to a very decent standard. Just be aware that there is a ceiling to what this table is worth so it needs to be very much a labour of love.

 

[BD Audio]

I was reading through this thread and was about to say chat with Henry!

 

[cabbages]

Cable Monkey, it's nice to find someone that's had a similar experience, thanks for your feedback. It is a labour of love, this table was my first foray into higher end audio, but i'm very mindful of cost and diminishing returns. Can I ask what material you used to damp the sub-platter and chassis?

 

[Cable Monkey]

Hi, I used a bitumen sheet originally intended for quieting pc's. Dynamat and others intended for automotive or industrial purposes will also do the trick. The stuff I used was from Maplins.

 

[cabbages]

Quick update on my table project. I've ripped the old guts out of the undercarriage - redundant electronics, old motor and wiring. I've finished damping the inside of the cabinet, the chassis, platter and sub-platter. Yet to do - install my Origin Live DC motor, polish the wood up with Tung Oil, change the bearing oil, install turntable/cart. Couple of pictures:

 

[Logan]

Regarding a new platter mat, I found that the Herbies "Way Excellent II" mat was indeed way excellent. Once your damping material takes care of platter ringing, the Herbies mat will look after everything else.

 

[cabbages]

Thanks for the tip Logan, never heard of them but definitely worth a look.

Arm now finished by AO, and if it arrives back in my hands today I'll be setting up the arm/cart, and setting up the new DC motor speed...fingers crossed all goes well

 

[cabbages]

Project finished!!!

There was a bit of a delay between getting the arm back from J7 and me actually getting it mounted and working. The problem being the Michell VTA i installed - it stuck out below the armboard, so that the lock-nut at the bottom couldn't 'bite' on the armboard to hold the arm tight. A lot of head-scratching resulted in a brilliant solution. Bicycles need headset spacers and they come in packs of several different depths for a couple of quid. I found one the exact diameter and it did the job. There were several headaches, but I was very surprised at how quickly the cartridge alignment, tracking force etc., and the turntable suspension adjustments took. Next up is to source a decent rack for the system so that I can find it a permanent home.

So, a summary of work as follows:

-scrubbed up the wood a bit with tung oil; dampened the entire undercarriage, platter and sub-platter with a foam damping material; a new set of simple rubber feet; i had the arm j7'd from tip to tail - rewire, glass bead blasting, foamed, new counterweight; Michell VTA and the mod locking nut for underside; origin live DC motor; new cork/rubber platter mat; new AT cart (from mellstock)

Having converted the 'table for use in the UK, I also needed to build a system around it. Here are some pics of the table, integrated amp (acquired from pedalfaster) and my neat motives (which were practically being given away by a dealer in Shropshire). There's room for improvement, but it's not a bad little system: