Acoustic Research XB turntable refurbished

[KenM10759]

Weekends it is. My girl works from home M-F. There's a dinning room wall I have to paint before my girl would allow polite company but I think I can swing that by this weekend. Fair warning about me being a condo dweller with neighbors to consider. I try to keep the really loud stuff brief-ish.



Aside from the 2 systems with SongTowers and MBOW1 3-ways is a pair of MB27 bookshelves that were surprising for a $500 DIY project. All together it's a pretty good sampling of what Dennis can do.

I'm looking forward to this. I'll keep an eye on the weather and pray for rain.

Check your PM's?

 

[KenM10759]

Big thanks to @Alex2507 for coming to visit today! I truly appreciated having someone who already owns VERY good speakers (Salk Song Towers) come listen to my setup.

Especially good was to have a fellow Acoustic Research XB turntable owner come to see and hear the results of the rebuild/refurbishment which was the main subject of this entire thread. We could compare notes by playing the music he was most familiar with hearing in demos.

Of course the big plus is that he's just such a nice guy! We could talk for HOURS (and did), hope to do it again soon whenever I can get over to Pawtucket RI.

Thanks Alex, very nice meeting you!

 

[Alex2507]

Big thanks to @Alex2507 for coming to visit today! I truly appreciated having someone who already owns VERY good speakers (Salk Song Towers) come listen to my setup.

Especially good was to have a fellow Acoustic Research XB turntable owner come to see and hear the results of the rebuild/refurbishment which was the main subject of this entire thread. We could compare notes by playing the music he was most familiar with hearing in demos.

Of course the big plus is that he's just such a nice guy! We could talk for HOURS (and did), hope to do it again soon whenever I can get over to Pawtucket RI.

Thanks Alex, very nice meeting you!

Man is that some nice stuff!

I'm glad I got a chance to hear that and I want Craig to know that he should be jealous that I got to hear it first. I'm gonna go find Erin's review on the Reference 1s but you're right: it sounds like f^%&ing heaven. The speakers disappear and there's zero noise out of the TTs. Nothing but tunes and last but not least, the sub is integrated about as nice as I've ever seen. No doubt the road was long.

If I keep thinking about your XB and turning around to look at mine, I'm gonna end up dismantling mine to lube it or something. Mine hasn't gotten the treatment in like a decade.

Pawtucket's the place if you want to see what Dennis can do with a 10" bass driver in a sealed cabinet for ker-slam. Also the TLS aligned subs are something I think you'd like. I know my neighbors love them! j/k

 

[adk highlander]

Oh, man. So jealous! This has been a really busy week/weekend with kid off to college. Definitely need to get out to see you both.

 

[KenM10759]

Man is that some nice stuff!

I'm glad I got a chance to hear that and I want Craig to know that he should be jealous that I got to hear it first. I'm gonna go find Erin's review on the Reference 1s but you're right: it sounds like f^%&ing heaven. The speakers disappear and there's zero noise out of the TTs. Nothing but tunes and last but not least, the sub is integrated about as nice as I've ever seen. No doubt the road was long.

If I keep thinking about your XB and turning around to look at mine, I'm gonna end up dismantling mine to lube it or something. Mine hasn't gotten the treatment in like a decade.

Pawtucket's the place if you want to see what Dennis can do with a 10" bass driver in a sealed cabinet for ker-slam. Also the TLS aligned subs are something I think you'd like. I know my neighbors love them! j/k

FWIW, that heavily reworked M&K V-90 sub was a project that our resident guru @TLS Guy had a huge hand in helping me with. The front baffle had to be opened by about another 3/4" in diameter to accommodate the SB Acoustics SB34-SWPL-76-4 12" driver, and the rudimentary 90w plate amp was replaced by a Dayton Audio SPA250DSP plate amp. That meant making a custom adapter plate.

The end result is that I have complete control of crossover point, slope, curves, and gain to get it most perfectly integrated and still having the detail quality in that bottom octave of bass that is on a similar level to the Reference 1 speakers.

It handily beat the SVS SB2000 I had, and the KEF Kube 10b's that I still have. You, @Alex2507 , heard what kind of bass the Reference 1's put out with the subwoofer UNPLUGGED...so you know how important to me it was to have the sub supplement without being intrusive.

 

[Alex2507]

FWIW, that heavily reworked M&K V-90 sub was a project that our resident guru @TLS Guy had a huge hand in helping me with. The front baffle had to be opened by about another 3/4" in diameter to accommodate the SB Acoustics SB34-SWPL-76-4 12" driver, and the rudimentary 90w plate amp was replaced by a Dayton Audio SPA250DSP plate amp. That meant making a custom adapter plate.

The end result is that I have complete control of crossover point, slope, curves, and gain to get it most perfectly integrated and still having the detail quality in that bottom octave of bass that is on a similar level to the Reference 1 speakers.

It handily beat the SVS SB2000 I had, and the KEF Kube 10b's that I still have. You, @Alex2507 , heard what kind of bass the Reference 1's put out with the subwoofer UNPLUGGED...so you know how important to me it was to have the sub supplement without being intrusive.

Ahhh ... the sub, it's not M&K no mo. When did all this happen? Did Mark just suggest a driver that would work in that sized sealed enclosure? Well you're gonna be hard to impress on the bass front too then. But I'm ready. I played that album this morning to see how diminished the 3 ways with the record player would be. It wasn't as bad as I expected. My bass is a little hot at volume but at lower levels the sub adds just enough from a cross of 60 Hz and bass going to both speakers and subs.

I found a second 12" 45 RPM record. Now I feel better about having the second TT. I keep thinking about how nice your XB looks with the jacks and power cord thing. I changed my cord to a less scummy looking one but I didn't think of that IEC power socket and I was kind of afraid to mess with success with the RCA cables. TLS had talked about their capacitance being figured into the signal to the point that I bought a cool little Parasound phono pre-amp instead of just barrel connector-ing my way to a phono input on my rec'r.

That replacement motor isn't that expensive. If anything I'll pick one up as a spare in case availability becomes a problem down the line. It seems a small price in view of current asking prices for these TTs and the amount of work involved in just setting up that steel wall mounted thing I use as the center of my shrine. I'm playing some bull fighting music currently. It's pretty good. Dude's blowin' on that horn like his life depended on it.

I still haven't seen Erin's review. I think me trying to describe those speakers is a little out of my range.They didn't do anything poorly of course and the dedicated room only makes things better. I wonder if your sub amp has a variable phase setting from 0 to 180 degrees. I looked up the driver but not the amp. You said you could pick your slope so I'm sure it must have the other feature. Where ever it is set, the bass picks up as a natural extension from the speakers. I could tell where the speakers stopped producing bass because of my familiarity with the music (when the sub was unplugged).

Definitely need to get out to see you both.

Come see me anytime but go see Ken while the invite is fresh. I guess you already have an idea of how good it can be. Well that's the land of how good it is be. I've only ever seen one other dedicated room like that. Remember WmAx? You would understand more about Ken's tech stuff. Sh!t, maybe you could explain it to me.

EDIT: And somebody send out the RCMP to hunt down 3db.
A TT thread and no 3db? Just let that sink in.

 

[TLS Guy]

Ahhh ... the sub, it's not M&K no mo. When did all this happen? Did Mark just suggest a driver that would work in that sized sealed enclosure? Well you're gonna be hard to impress on the bass front too then. But I'm ready. I played that album this morning to see how diminished the 3 ways with the record player would be. It wasn't as bad as I expected. My bass is a little hot at volume but at lower levels the sub adds just enough from a cross of 60 Hz and bass going to both speakers and subs.

I found a second 12" 45 RPM record. Now I feel better about having the second TT. I keep thinking about how nice your XB looks with the jacks and power cord thing. I changed my cord to a less scummy looking one but I didn't think of that IEC power socket and I was kind of afraid to mess with success with the RCA cables. TLS had talked about their capacitance being figured into the signal to the point that I bought a cool little Parasound phono pre-amp instead of just barrel connector-ing my way to a phono input on my rec'r.

That replacement motor isn't that expensive. If anything I'll pick one up as a spare in case availability becomes a problem down the line. It seems a small price in view of current asking prices for these TTs and the amount of work involved in just setting up that steel wall mounted thing I use as the center of my shrine. I'm playing some bull fighting music currently. It's pretty good. Dude's blowin' on that horn like his life depended on it.

I still haven't seen Erin's review. I think me trying to describe those speakers is a little out of my range.They didn't do anything poorly of course and the dedicated room only makes things better. I wonder if your sub amp has a variable phase setting from 0 to 180 degrees. I looked up the driver but not the amp. You said you could pick your slope so I'm sure it must have the other feature. Where ever it is set, the bass picks up as a natural extension from the speakers. I could tell where the speakers stopped producing bass because of my familiarity with the music (when the sub was unplugged).



Come see me anytime but go see Ken while the invite is fresh. I guess you already have an idea of how good it can be. Well that's the land of how good it is be. I've only ever seen one other dedicated room like that. Remember WmAx? You would understand more about Ken's tech stuff. Sh!t, maybe you could explain it to me.

EDIT: And somebody send out the RCMP to hunt down 3db.
A TT thread and no 3db? Just let that sink in.

His turntable tastes have now soared to the esoteric stratosphere. I'm still using turntables over half a century old.

 

[adk highlander]

EDIT: And somebody send out the RCMP to hunt down 3db.
A TT thread and no 3db? Just let that sink in.

I bet he is in his kayak or lounging in his camper.

 

[KenM10759]

I bet he is in his kayak or lounging in his camper.

May I ask, where are you located? Alex seemed to be indicating that you're in the New England area...somewhere.

The invitation stands. Just PM me and we can work it out.

Ken M.

 

[Alex2507]

May I ask, where are you located?

I'm pretty sure adk stands for The Adirondacks in upstate NY.

His turntable tastes have now soared to the esoteric stratosphere. I'm still using turntables over half a century old.

These AR XBs aren't far behind the half century mark. No wonder the motors get tired. Your motor is still getting the job done in my TT.

 

[KenM10759]

I'm pretty sure adk stands for The Adirondacks in upstate NY.


These AR XBs aren't far behind the half century mark. No wonder the motors get tired. Your motor is still getting the job done in my TT.

On the XB that I was gifted by my retiring boss he told me he bought it around 1972, so it it just about 50 years old.

The motor on these all seem to need a push start. The fix is to flush them with a very light oil over & over until they'll start rotating on their own. I don't have the patience to go through that, so I bought a Nidec-Hurst 3001-001 replacement. It's much larger, so I needed to drill & tap two new holes on a 2-3/8" center distance. Stock screws are slotted #4-48, I went with #4-40 because I had some stainless steel hex socket head cap screws kicking around.

To:
@adk highlander:

I'm about 9.4 miles north of the interchange of I-90 (Mass Turnpike) and I-84. I think it's about a 2 hour for me to get to Albany. Up to you if you want to come. Alex certainly deemed it to be worth the ride.