Post your turntable setup...can't get enough of those spinners!

Here's my AR ES-1, or should I say, what's left of an ES-1. The only original parts are the plinth (modified), the top plate, and the pristine dust cover.
I purchased it new without an arm around 1991. The RB300 arm is one of the first ones from the same year. As I recall, I had to order it from the UK.

These are the parts that I got from Dave at Vinyl Nirvana. He's moved on to restoring Thorens tables, and doesn't have much left for the AR's.
1. Terpolymer subchassis.
2. New 12VAC motor and polymer pulley.
3. Heavy duty springs.
4. Stainless steel studs with these cool ball bearing washers which makes leveling the platter smoother than a baby's behind.
5. Taller stainless shaft.
6. A subplatter made of, I think, a mix of powdered aluminum and resin, topped with a thin lead sheet. Dave never listed it on his site, but
offered it to me when I ordered everything else. (Thanks Dave)
7. Acrylic platter.
8. Periphery clamp.
9. Bren 1 weight.

The mat is lead/cork that I got from the now defunct George Merrill/Anthony Scillia partnership.

The armboard is from George Merrill's current offerings, bolted into the subchassis using stainless machine screws.

The arm has been mod'ed with an Incognito rewire kit, and a Michell counterweight. Cartridge is a Denon 103R.

 

OK, I did something crazy today. A friend had invited me to come to his audio showroom inauguration. He had a nice set up with a music server for all his digitized music. Heard it for like 30 minutes. He then showed me a turntable from the UK and played some music (Pink Floyd). I kid you not when I say I shot up from my chair and asked him to sell the turntable to me with the phono preamp. So I now am officially a vinyl nutcase with absolutely no records. Went on Amazon and ordered about $150 worth of vinyl (ain't much, just 5 LPs), I can only say this...the music quality coming out of the TT to my ears was just plain superior to that coming from the music server. And I was comparing apples to apples in the sense that in both cases I was listening to an album I know well, The Division Bell.

I will post pictures of the TT tomorrow. It is made by Talk Electronics in the UK (an ex-engineer from Rega), It is called the TT2SE.

 

I am so damn happy reading all these posts!! The only reason is that there is such a deeper level of musical gains to be had with analog. Once people get over the initial mental bump, they connect with the music they love in a WHOLE different way. @sphinxvc bought a fantastic table yesterday! Prashant, share some pics please when you get the chance He bought a fantastic table for a first shot at vinyl

I'm very happy about where this forum is headed in general. It is NOT about the hardware, but USING the hardware to gain meaningful listening experiences. You don't really "own" anything in life guys, except the MOMENT you are experiencing in this very moment. Make the best of it.

 

I LOVE your username! So intelligently executed and chosen! Just one small flaw, find an avatar with Snoopy playing the piano...then it all ties in together! Sorry, random thought, but brilliant handle and avatar

EDIT: I just looked at your awesome table more closely...looks like you have a problem with getting enough VTF, so you tacked on the sticky stuff on the headshell. Get a 3 gram headshell weight and readjust your counterweight. The headshell weight will give you an even spread of mass over the headshell and let the cartridge do its job easier.
The sticky stuff is ok for a temporary solution, but definitely do the headshell weight.

 

Now that @sphinxvc has a table we're going to have to set up an east coast vinyl meet hahaha.

 

Thanks. Yah, I need to look some more for a Snoopy/piano pic. I just thought this one looked cool.

The Denon cart. is said to work best with a high mass arm, but the 300 is medium mass, hence the stickum. Just temporary for now.

I just sold a PS Audio phono pre, and am looking to pick up an RSA Nighthawk, especially after reading Marv's thread.

 

Very cool! Wish I could get my hands on one of those mats!

 

Folks, one of my philosophies is to extract everything there is from the source. If you need to color the sound to taste, do so with cables, tubes, vibration control down the chain. This is ESPECIALLY true for a first source...get everything off the disc. Once you have more than one cartridge or tonearm or turntable, you can play with different sound perspectives.

Sometimes, people want to color their sound with their ONLY source, and that is fine as well. But why leave any musical data behind? The system is ALREADY a game of sonic losses that have to be managed the second the music leaves the grooves. Just like marv mentioned, the idea is to "synergistically" manage those losses for a musical result you can enjoy every session!

If you manage to build a very highly resolving setup, every record you play should sound different! There should not be a sameness to the sound as every record is mastered differently. Different thickness of vinyl (which changes the VTA) plus all the variables in setup....a highly resolving system should let that all through.

Enjoy in good health!

 

A lot of people like the "decay" and "richness" that the 3D plastic arm provides. In some setups, it might be absolutely amazing, in others, the metal arms would be the way to go...totally system dependent. Maybe nice to keep around for variety! The SPICE OF LIFE!!

 

Well, Marv's old Xpression got here mostly intact. The motor is too heavy for a regular rubber band it seems, and the normal one, well, we can see here it isn't working properly. But hey, at least the table itself is really sexy lookin'!

 

Here's some pics as promised....

 

Good times ahead @Koth Ganesh !

 

Is that dynamat around the motor?!?! Mass loading??? I NEED more info! You just set my brain on fire!

 

Thanks Josh. Now I am waiting for my LPs to be delivered..