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RE: Design of original AR-XA evaluated

The way I remember it, the price was not the point. It really was the first turntable to be designed for the home audiophile from the ground up to play one LP at a time and with a thought toward energy dissipation via the spring suspension. Prior to the AR-XA, mass market turntables (and that's another revolutionary aspect; it was mass marketed to audiophiles) were inevitably designed first and foremost to play a stack of LPs or 45s, piling one atop the other. Garrard made a ton of those, not that they weren't also "good". Yes, there were other single-play turntables that preceded the AR-XA, but most of us young audiophiles knew very little to nothing about them; they were used in recording studios and by radko stations, etc. I suppose the older enthusiasts of that era did know about them. Vilchur's genius was not just in design but also in marketing. AR had demo systems in Grand Central Station, using the AR-XA and their speakers, sometimes with live musicians for comparison. You could check out the turntable while on your way to or from your commute. The AR-XA became "the thing to have" as a turntable, abetted by the magazine reviews.


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