Hi Graham yes its a PD441 (Towards the top end) and indeed the arm is one of the wonderful Mission 774s 
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Thanks for that.
I think that I may have an old (but perfect) spare Mission 774 armtube somewhere. I must look it out and post it on a ‘well-known auction site’, as it’s of no use to me any more.
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Dear Tom, me as well I m very interesting on your comparison. Right now can you share your opinion about bauer especially compared to other popular tuntables? thanks a lot Pietro
As I recall, the Mission 774 tonearm was designed by a man called John Bicht. I never heard of him otherwise in high end high fidelity products. I think that the main man at Mission was called Farad Azima.
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Magnificent turntable, I sold lots of Luxman gear in the mid to late 70s. Never got round to owning one.
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You will remember the PD555, then. Far outside my pay grade, but a great looking turntable .
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The original 774 was an excellent tonearm and suits the Luxmans rather well. I originally used a late example 774 on my Luxman PD-300.
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The Artemis has started playing up and the speed has gone unstable, again. The last time a bit of oil coaxed into the motor bushes did the trick but this time the motors feels nice and free and was running silent, when it dried out it was audible up close. I need to investigate further so in the mean time I’ve moved the Schröder onto the Rock.
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I thought that it was a very good arm for its time. I didn’t like the silicone trough, though, which I didn’t use.
I think that there was a cartridge called the ‘Entré’ - which may have been French (or was that just the name?), which was considered a good match for the Mission.
I wonder how it would compare with more modern tonearms? I suspect that it would be considered rather ‘soft’ these days.
There are probably some still in use somewhere in the world.
Luxman PD- 131 - unfortunately I could never get on with it but it was a good looking deck. Here paired with an Akito Arm.
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Those Luxman decks were all very stylish, more so than just about anything else around in their time. Indeed, they look as if they could have been released today.
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So - after nearly 3 month I guess, burn in is over…
Had to say, end of january I reply the Benz Ruby Z with an Allnic Rose.
The Benz plays too “full-bodied” on the Motus in the SA-1.2. It was too imprecise in the bass, too “full” in the midrange and could still use a little more resolution.
So the switch to the Allnic Rose was a good decision.
It now plays with the StSt as I had imagined.
And how does it play now?
Compared to the DPS3 with Colibri XGP?
Well - the Bauer plays spatially rather more central / “narrow”, but with a nice depth. The bass range is very defined and controlled. Resolution is at a very high level due to the Colibri.
The combination of StSt Motus, SA-1.2 and Allnic Rose plays much “wider” in the stage, but with less depth. The bass range is more “expansive”, but not as focused and with less control / pressure. As a result, it subjectively goes a bit “deeper” in the bass - but that is objectively not the case.
In general, “size”, “width” and foundation are the characteristics that I would attribute to the StSt + SA-1.2.
Which of these characteristics is to be attributed to the drive or the arm, I cannot say for lack of comparisons.
But what surprised me most about the Rose - it partially resolves a bit “more” than the Colibri. I had not counted on - but I gladly accept.
atb, Tom
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I didn’t compare Bauer with linn but I would like to have a try. I think that Bauer is something special
A popular Rega option a while ago - RP10 - with Aphelion 1, but I’ve just discovered if you shove a good power cable up the motor box rear end it takes a huge step forward in sound detail and quality. Took me many years to try this - duh me - but the result has me amazed at what can yet be eeked out of record grooves. Phenomenal turntable for the price.
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Were those Luxman decks able to accommodate any tonearm? I’d be fascinated to see photos of them using arms popular in the UK market, like SME (obviously), but an Ittok, Ekos or even an ARO? That would be something!
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The PD-300 and PD-310 had round interchangeable arm mounting plates. Mine came with an SME cut-out but you could have a Linn cut-out or a Rega cut-out as an alternative. You could of course buy additional plates as needed.
Here’s the Linn cut-out mounting plate. This example being sold by Samurai Electronics in Japan;
The only issue with the Linn cut-out is that the arm rest for the Ittok has to be mounted on the plinth somehow, which means drilling it, so a later Ittok or Ekos would work best with their integrated armrests.
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If you look on the Luxman site, they do a selection of about 9 mounting plates. AFAIK they have not changed since then and should be backwards compatible.
Thank you, Richard, fascinating!
Although I shall be sticking with my pretty maxed out LP12.
FZ, are you saying that the mounting plates for the current PD-171 are the same fit as the earlier ones? Same system of attachment?
Well the current 151, 171, 191 all use the same plates and the diameter and screw positions are identical to the older models.
Obviously I’d not blindly order one for $500 without firing off a question to Luxman support on the off chance something subtle like the screw thread pitch had changed over the years.