Great looking Luxman Tony. I still have my PD300, but not being used at the moment.
Both the threads prove …good ol vinyl…is far far from dead…
Nothing beats the intimacy of a needle moving thru record grooves and a nicely setup record player is hard to replicate…
Somewhat downbeat and basic compared to most of the marvellous decks that are being shared, but my AR EB101 has served me well for something like 35 years. With Goldring 1042 cartridge. Has seen much more use since I retired a year ago.
AR made some great stuff…
And you know…for the organic music reproduction .
A good belt drive is worth it’s weight in gold…
But that will start another debate of various types of record players…
Ideally I will want 1 more record player …a good belt drive in the arsenal.
Nice AR turntable, forerunner to the LP12 I believe
A long time ago I saw it referred to as a poor man’s Sondek!
My first good speakers were AR, the 7X…
man, did I love those!
Never heard the AR deck - nice!
I’ve heard of the Systemdek being called that.
Maybe it just depended how poor you were!
In the early 1960’s Acoustic Research ‘AR’ turned to building a low cost suspended alloy subchassis belt driven turntable using a small 24 pole synchronous motor called “The AR Turntable”
I love the simplicity of the AR
I remember my father turning his nose up at the fake wood sticky plastic coated plinth, he chose the real wood veneer ‘idler wheel’ Goldring GL75 in preference. Whilst the Goldring had the edge in terms of the quality of its engineering the AR got the better reviews.
I think we should ask a mediator and none one better than @Richard.Dane.
So, Richard, poor man’s LP12: AR or Systemdek?
Sorry to put on the spot.
Well-Tempered Turntable with Koetsu Rosewood still glorius after all these years! Apologies for the rubbish photography.
That’s interesting to hear. My dad had a Goldring GL75 and I often wondered whether I should have kept it after he passed away but chose to keep the AR over it.
I don’t think the AR was the poor mans LP12, I believe it preceded it.
I remember that just as now a few models were the reviewers favourites. Before the Pioneer PL12D and the Dual 505 etc.
There must have been the enthusiasts Garrard 301 and 401, plus the quite pricey Thorens TD series
Interesting question Tony.
The AR was probably the grand-daddy, although the contemporary Thorens TD-150 was much more popular on this side of the Atlantic and possibly it was more the latter that informed the original Ariston RD11/Linn Sondek.
I remember a couple of tutors Stateside who had ARs and they were always interesting to me (maybe too interesting - me checking out the hifi kit when I should have been listening to what was being discussed), but I’ve only ever had one of the later ones from the '80s with a rounded edged veneered plinth and carrying a Linn LV-X tonearm, which i ran in my office for a short while around '96-'98 before selling it on.
The Systemdek IIX I’ve had plenty of, as it’s so brilliant and so cheap, and a great deck for someone just getting into vinyl and wanting something a bit more serious than a Dual or entry level project or a classic japanese deck. So yes, it could well be seen as the poor person’s or beginner’s Sondek. However, I still have a Systemdek Mk.III and that is at a very high level - very much a competitor for the Sondek, trading some strengths either way. The Mk.III used a brilliantly designed clamp (essential as the platter is slightly dished) that I’ve always wondered why nobody else copied. Other candidates for a poor person’s Sondek might be the Manticore mantra, and the Ariston RD80. Maybe even the Planar 3, which for so many was the step before moving up to the Linn.
Thank you Richard. I knew you were the right guy to sort this out and avoid a bloodshed.