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AR the Turntable - worth it?

I have a line on a 1 owner AR the Turntable - it's totally stock.

I don't know very much about the AR line-up of TT's and this table in particular, except it seems to be well regarded as a performer. They can be modded a fair bit I understand.

Does anyone have this table? Impressions?
Or does anyone know more about the table and its performance capabilities?

Worth looking into???

I would need to establish market value also!

Thanks for your input.

cat9
cat9
jea48
2,944 posts
 
This might help.

http://www.vinylnirvana.com/ar-models/

http://www.vinylnirvana.com/vintage-turntables-for-sale/gorgeous-ar-the-turntable-infinity-black-widow-many-mods/

http://www.vinylnirvana.com/vintage-turntables-for-sale/
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cat9 OP
26 posts
 
Thanks Jea48,

I've been ALL over this site - he's got some real eye-candy for sale.
Still hoping for some personal stories/info/impressions though.

cat9
hifiharv
351 posts
 
Great tables though I don't know what you are going to have to pay for it. I bought a ARXA as a kid in High School. 1971! Couldn't afford a new one at all of $79.00 so bought used. Still have it today in the living room system. Still sounds great, and still captivates me even though I am used to the Well Tempered Super in the listening room. I did though design and build a proper arm for it years ago. The early AR arms were not so great. Your's is a later model that I believe has a Japan sourced arm. Careful implementing of mods can turn it into a true, modern, High End contender. I now have 3 in various states of mods. No matter what, these tables are always musical and involving with a very accessable sound. For a similar design with a modern approach, check out Merrill's "replica" table. I bet it is a killer for $1000. Just saw an ad for it here the other day.
pryso
1,501 posts
 
Hi Cat. I bought a new AR-XA in 1970 which offered exceptional performance per dollar. I later bought another one used and replaced the arm with a Mayware. So far as I know each model update from the original were improvements.

Just over a year ago I picked up an early (two motor) AR-XA from some elderly folks along with their LP collection since they didn't play it any longer. After a bit of a clean up, work on one of the motors (hadn't been played in years so had gummed up), and a new belt it worked great and I sold it for them for $140. That had the original headshell and dust cover which helped the value.

FYI AR authorized removal of the damping pin in the tonearm which eased motion and improved performance. I would recommend that on a stock AR arm.
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