New Maplenoll Ariadne owner needing advice

Baranyi--Not sure if anyone ever called a maplenoll a plug and play unit:>) However, i do think the maplenoll ariadne is one of the better tables out there. I currently own the white ariadne reference, grey ariadne signature, and the apollo heavily modified by Lloyd Walker.

Your first question, i changed out my air pump to a JUNAIR compressor back in 2006 and have not looked back. The compressor is one used a lot in the medical/dental field so is pretty quiet, reliable, and clean smelling (not always the case with the original pumps). If you look on this string you will see MEDO and WISA pumps also mentioned. I like the Junair because it has a rather large surge tank and great pressure control regulator that matches well with my air system. Clean, pulse free air at a pressure your arm likes is key to keeping these machines happy. The Junair uses a synthetic oil that is odorless and does not bleed off very much even with heavy use.

Concerning oil trough, i find it is a very good tool to get the utmost out of the system. it tends to solidify the bass in my opinion. I personally do not like the tonearms that came with the maplenoll and have modified both the ariadne to carbon fiber arms and relocated the oil bath to directly below the air spindle using a tapered pen similar to current walker tables. This way, the mess of the oil trough is eliminated. Its a little complicated to do this modification but i get a maplenoll with on the fly VTA adjustment, better dampening of the arm, and a stiffer assembly with the carbon fiber arm and headshell. There is a difference with using the oil trough versus not.

Hope this helps

Well, Baranyi brought the Ariadne from me, and for me it was indeed plug and play. Set it up on a stable shelf, and just play your music. No tweaking or fiddling involved. It sat in my music room for 10 years, as was just as it was when I set it up when Baranyi acquired it.

My oil trough notions were rooted in a blind listening test (as per usual), back in the day. We played the same track with and without the trough, and didn't hear a bit of difference, though one person claimed the treble was smoother, after asking "Was that the oil one?" It did help stiff-cantilevered Grados like the TLZ track a bit better, but that was about it.

I think you can fiddle with these things and MAKE them more complicated than they need to be. But the beauty of them for me is that they are big, heavy, inert and relatively fiddle-resistant. Set it and forget it.

Your mods are nice ideas. Carbon fiber linear tracking arm? Pretty slick. Would love to see pictures.

I think that Lloyd Walker's work is the ultimate realization of these turntables, and I probably don't ever want to hear one, since I'd rather spend $35k on a car or something. He's brilliant.

Is there anyone out there that can provide the measurements for an Ariadne Signature where the sub platter is driven by the belt ?

Still wondering about buying another refrigerator compressor to replace my bad compressor. I had an HVAC person on another website say that draining the coolant (R22) would cause the compressor to fail. This dies not seem to have been a problem with all the Maplenoll Super quiet pumps that have functioned for so long. Any thoughts?

Refridgerant compressors like those used by Maplenoll are lubricated by oil, not freon. Freon is not a lubricant. Most HVAC guys know that they need to add oil to a new install and/or pump replacement. It's HVAC 101.

I'd strongly suggest going to a rotary vane oil less pump myself. Near zero pulsation and no worries about seperating oil from the air feeding your table. Open the scud and replace the foam. The foam has likely seen oil, as that it is the nature of inexpensive oil lubed refridgerant pumps. Or, just build new ones.

Let's face it, we want to feed the arm tube and platter with the cleanest, pulse free air, right?

Oikmanmojo gave you a wonderful recommendation. I've used a Techumseh pulse free rotary vane pump on my Airiadne Signature for years. And while the multiple stages of oil and water seperators are still in place, they don't require anywhere near the maintenance that they used to.

I have added several extra air tanks, too.

Have fun. Bruce Thigpen never got the respect that he deserved for this table.