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Further Stories of A Hot Rodded AR XA

Posted by Mister Pig (A) on April 22, 2016 at 07:27:47

My AR XA took some rough handling in transit when it came up to me, but I didn't have time to thoroughly sort all the issues as I had started our downsizing, relocation, and career change process. A vetting of a turntable was really low on my list, especially since it sounded quite nice. But once I got settled into our temporary residence on the west side of the state, I decided it was time to deal with the issue. So I unsoldered the arm and send my sub chassis back to Marc for a look see. Marc made some adjustments to the arm, gave the t-bar a clean bill of health and made some head shell/cartridge adjustments also. So it all came back to me, and then Marc was stuck with the task of me asking questions of how and why, and was patient while I struggled my way through the soldering task.




Now in the mean time, I had a SUT arrive for the Denon 103M cartridge I wanted to ultimately use on this table. I was running an Audio Technica OC 9 III as an interim, but the goal was to get the 103M on it. But with its .12 mV output, a SUT or head amp was going to be needed to get the full potential of this cartridge. Getting it installed proved to be a bit of a chore, as I had a ground loop that I had a devil of a time chasing down. But it got solved, and finally everything was ready to go. I spent this morning fine tuning the suspension, working with tone arm wire dressing, and double checking my other set up parameters.




I have been listening to this table almost non stop since this afternoon. The sound in my system was excellent before, but this has kicked up to a whole different level. I use open baffle speakers, and the set up is a bit compromised as they are only a couple feet from the front wall, but it does not matter. The XA/103M paints a broad landscape, past the edges of both speakers, and yet pinpoints instruments with an astonishingly tight focus. There is more depth to the music than there should be for a speaker set up like this. The harmonic texture is dense, detailed, and feels remarkably real. Listening to Old Grey Mare and Church Street Blues by Norman Blake, and it feels like Norman is sitting in a chair about 5 feet from me, and we are sharing a moment of him being a fantastic musician, and me being a rapt fan....the only one in the audience, the only one in this concert. It's an eerie feeling.




I threw on a record from Heart, forget which one it is, I think its a double greatest hits kind of one. But the well recorded songs like Dreamboat Annie, or the acoustic prelude to Barracuda, and the opening acoustic passage to the song proper, well it just sounded so much closer to real and far better than I heard on many tables. Ann and Nancy Wilsons vocals were great also, nice texture and focus.




I threw on a couple of albums from Shadowfax tonight, and once again fantastic sound. Great dynamic scale to the large compositions. Bass instruments have meat and density, with great texture also. The bottom end is just solid. Cymbals have a startlingly real metallic shimmer and crash, its kind of shocking to hear when its so detailed. Once again the sound stage is huge, focused, and layered. I can't fault this combo for anything really. Could it be better? I guess its possible, but its going to be at a formidable cost.




So what is responsible for this great sound I am getting here? Is it the table? Is it the cartridge? Is it the combination of cartridge and SUT? Is it the cunning enhancements of Mr. Morin? It's probably all of it, and a fortuitous convergence of the right pieces. There is no doubt to me that this is a fine table that would excel with a wide number of cartridges. Actually I want to remove the Transfiguration Spirit III off my TD 124 and hear it on the AR XA, because I think it could be remarkable. I also think Marc is getting the most out of a table that was solidly engineered, but may not have aged well. There are certain factors of its design that I am not enamored with, but the sound is so good that I can overlook them. I also think that the Denon 103M and step up transformer is an uncommon pairing, and has perhaps been forgotten over the years. This cartridge is remarkable, and I would love to own another 3 or 4 of them. I may start looking for a 103C to see what is possible with some of these 103 variants.




Could this be my only table? I certainly would not rush into that judgment after a day of listening, but the idea is not out of the realm of possibility. It is every bit as good as my Thorens TD124/Eminent Technology II arm/Transfiguration Spirit cartridge. They may not sound exactly the same, but the performance levels are at least neck and neck. Actually I am kind of afraid to make a direct comparison to my most expensive tables, as I suspect I am going to have a hard time justifying their cost. But that will not happen until we are in a new home and I get a proper listening room again. But for now, I can enjoy this AR XA without reservation, and have a ton of fun listening to music. Which is amazing, because when I moved into this apartment and had to make compromises to the stereo set up, I never envisioned things sounding as good as they do now.




Due to the spreading of the word by Marc Morin, Steve Frost, and a few others, it seems that its become harder and more expensive to get an AR XA or XB these days. But if you buy one and send it off to these guys, you will not regret it. They are going to be worth every penny you invest in them, at least as sound quality. Sure you may not have the street cred of an Oracle, Linn, Clearaudio,VPI, or other tables....but what you are going to get is a legitimate high performance table. Never mind that it is Spartan in look, features, and supposed "technology". Put a Denon DL 304 on it, add a good quality SUT, and you will have a remarkable analog machine.




But then again, I am just a pig, what do I know. Well I do know that I appreciate this table, and feel its worth every dollar I spent on it. I tossed in an old pic of it at the other house, looks he same but the arm is riding a bit higher in the back than it should be, which is why it got send back for readjustment.




Regards

Mister Pig

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