Who made this tonearm?

[SGregory]

In the attached photo's is my tonearm from years back(at least 20 years). Fresh from its dark and dirty storage in the barn. Unfortunaltley, I lost the box and paper work it came in. I know it is a uni-pivot but for the life of me can't remember the name of the manufacturer.

I also attached a photo of the cable connection and need advise on what to replace the cables with. The newer style cables use the DIN 5.


I will ask forgiveness in advance for letting this thing set in a box and fall into such a state of dis-repair. The stylus is a Talisman S, but with no cantilever.

 

[fergs1]

magnapan unitrac unipivot. Look up vinyl engine in their library section, they will have all you need cheers fergs

 

[SGregory]

Thats it. Thanks.

 

[Salas]

That Magnepan tone arm looks like having very good potential. And its depicted with a Denon in its manual. What is the TT?

 

[SGregory]

The TT was originally an Ariston Audio RD80. The plinth was flimsy so I built a new one many moons ago out of MDF. Will probably redo at some point after I get the system up and running. As it stands today, I have to rewire it. Will use Cardas Shielded 4x33 in a single run to the RIAA amp for that. I can eliminate the special plug on the head shell and at the base of the arm by rewiring.

I think the photo in the manual shows the DL103D, high compliance version. Back in the day this was a common set up. I am concerned that the arm may not be a good fit for the 130R which is a low compliance cartridge. Will find out soon enough I guess.

 

[SGregory]

Too late to edit I meant to say DL 103R not DL130R

 

[sreten]

Hi,

I'd only consider a very high quality MM for that arm (and on a RD80).
Bang for buck a great MM would wipe the floor re a MC in that arm IMO.

The AT440MLa e.g. :LP Gear: audio-technica AT440MLa AT-440MLa phono cartridge

or on a budget the AT120E/T : LP Gear: audio-technica AT120E/T phono cartridge (retail $159.00)

Or looking for something dirt cheap that could work incredibly well :
https://shop.mantra-audio.co.uk/acatalog/Sontra_Cartridges.html

The rest of my time I'd spend tuning / optimising the turntable / arm.

/Sreten.

 

[Salas]

This arm will do about 10Hz Fs with a DL103R. It is 16-16.5 compliance in reality (static 10Hz style) after calculating from the Fs I found on FFT and my arm's mass + 103R.

 

[SGregory]

sreten, thanks for the input. In general, I have always prefered MC, probably spoiled by the Talisman. I won't be sticking with this table and arm too long as I wish to build my own this year. Maybe when I switch I will put a MM on it and use it as a back-up. Audio Technica are a nice cartridge, I have listened to them in the past.


Salas,
I was thinking about uping the mass of the arm a little when I rewire. One thought I had was to pack the carbon tone arm with talcum. It would dampen it abit while dropping the Fs down a little. I recall 8 Hz being a good number.

 

[Salas]

I would not bother. 10-12Hz is further away from warps and eccentricity and I personally prefer it. That arm has a concept. See if it needs any attention, if moving freely etc.

 

[SGregory]

The arm in general is in great shape other than the wiring. The pivot is perfect, as it was stored in a non contact position. Just needs a good cosmetic cleaning.

I have to take it apart to rewire, hence my consideration of adding some mass to it while it was in that stage. Where is the recomended Fs in today's world?

 

[sreten]

sreten, thanks for the input. In general, I have always prefered MC, probably
spoiled by the Talisman. I won't be sticking with this table and arm too long
as I wish to build my own this year. Maybe when I switch I will put a MM on
it and use it as a back-up. Audio Technica are a nice cartridge, I have
listened to them in the past.

Hi,

Its always difficult to go back to MM's once you've used an MC but nevertheless
MM's are far more cost effective than most MC's in my experience, having said
that I have a MC, but that is from before cartridge prices recently rocketed.

Regarding stuffing your arm with talcum powder, that is a new idea to me.
The logistics of doing this seem quite difficult, it would not add much damping
AFAIK. If your that serious about mods I would think long and hard about the
options and what the original maker may have (or not) already have done.

IMO you should not mod the armtube. I would be more interested in converting
it to fixed headshell and using a headshell that appears to be more rigid,
otherwise I'd have to say leave it perfectly standard, and fit a good MM.

FWIW the best MM I've ever had was an ADC VLM mkIII which utterly
trounced the very well respected MC Ortofon MC10mkII/Transformer
combo when both were compared in a Mission 774 (budget version)
fixed head arm. (Rebuilt Sonab suspended subchassis turntable).

I'd expect the situation to be even more extreme with a detachable arm.
Give the Sontra a go, you may be very pleasantly surprised, if not you
will still have a very high value spare cartridge in your spares box.
(I'm still waiting to see what it sounds like in a friends turntable.)

/Sreten.

Best Fs is 10Hz to 12Hz IMO.

 

[SGregory]

It will stay as is then. The arm was actually pretty good in its original form so no major desire to change it other than I have in my hands a DL103R and am halfway completed with a Simplistic RIAA with 58dB gain.

I'll finish this first and then at some point start playing again. I do want to build a "super table" this year. On paper I was planning a two arm set-up which would be great for comparison.

My favorite MM cartridge was the Signet 10k ML. I hope that doesn't date me. I do have in my possesion a Signet MR 5.0 lc which I never was able to get to play right.