AR Turntable XB Model

[Alex2507]

7 yr old thread comes back to life !!!



Here's a pic of my headshell. The only thing to note here is that the screws are on top. I took some better pic's so for no particular reason, the screws:



The next couple of pic's show the small clear-ish plastic collar between the headshell and the knurled (?) thing on the arm ... the thing with the lines that is used to tighten down the headshell.





My small clear-ish plastic collar has a split in it, looks broke. The split runs in the same direction as the arm. When the nut at the end of the arm (lined aluminum thing) gets tightened down even slightly, the plastic thing turns and rocks my headshell away from 90 degrees. My plastic thing is broke ... so Dr. Carter sends me a headshell. Right. Now I have this extra headshell and it is actually a little different than mine. It's pretty cool and I went through the trouble of getting these pic's so have a look.

Dr. Carter's screws are on the inside:



The top ... screwless:



I believe I had once received a recommendation for an Ortofon Black (?) cartridge from Dr. Carter. I'd like to clarify that and maybe even get a link for just where to get it. The broke plastic thing? Well, it works ... so long as I don't allow the headshell to turn at that last moment of tightening.

But the point of all this was to thank Dr. Carter for the extra headshell. I'm looking forward to trying out a new cartridge.

 

[TLS Guy]

7 yr old thread comes back to life !!!



Here's a pic of my headshell. The only thing to note here is that the screws are on top. I took some better pic's so for no particular reason, the screws:



The next couple of pic's show the small clear-ish plastic collar between the headshell and the knurled (?) thing on the arm ... the thing with the lines that is used to tighten down the headshell.





My small clear-ish plastic collar has a split in it, looks broke. The split runs in the same direction as the arm. When the nut at the end of the arm (lined aluminum thing) gets tightened down even slightly, the plastic thing turns and rocks my headshell away from 90 degrees. My plastic thing is broke ... so Dr. Carter sends me a headshell. Right. Now I have this extra headshell and it is actually a little different than mine. It's pretty cool and I went through the trouble of getting these pic's so have a look.

Dr. Carter's screws are on the inside:



The top ... screwless:



I believe I had once received a recommendation for an Ortofon Black (?) cartridge from Dr. Carter. I'd like to clarify that and maybe even get a link for just where to get it. The broke plastic thing? Well, it works ... so long as I don't allow the headshell to turn at that last moment of tightening.

But the point of all this was to thank Dr. Carter for the extra headshell. I'm looking forward to trying out a new cartridge.

The Ortofon Black is now $735 which is overkill for that turntable.

I would recommend the Shure M97XE. This is probably the best value for money cartridge around. In addition with modern MM cartridges and that arm which is on the heavy side, there will be some degree of arm cartridge miss match. The dynamic stabilizer will damp out any resonances resulting from this. Don't forget to add 0.5 gm to the racking force to compensate for the stabilizer.

 

[sterling shoote]

I second the Shure M97xE. I purchased one a few weeks ago. So far, my decision to purchase this cartridge has been bolstered by its performance. On most LP's I just cannot distinguish between the 97 and my Shure V15V-MR. And, so far, the 97 seems indistinguishable from CDs of same material when LP's have been cleaned to eliminate dust pops and static clicks (something that I'm just now learning how to do). The surprise is that the 97 sounds so good for its low cost. It makes me think, could a more expensive cartridge retrieve and deliver anything I could perceive as being better, if, as it seems, the 97 is getting all the detail there is from the groove, as well as, delivering the bass, mid-range, and high frequencies as they were meant to be delivered.

 

[lovinthehd]

Another satisfied M97xE user here.

 

[slipperybidness]

Another satisfied M97xE user here.

+1 Here! Used on my SL1210

I also have the 2M Red on my Pro-Ject

 

[Alex2507]

The Ortofon Black is now $735

It must have been the 'RED' or something that you mentioned before. I thought the price was around $160. Thanks for the nod on the Shure cartridge. Eventually I'll end up with 2 working headshells.

I saw the work you did to make the headshell you sent out functional. That's some fussy work. It's like you must own a micro soldering iron.

I'll be ordering the Shure shortly after scoring my next job.