More trivia part two and ramblings

[dynaco_dan]

Hi again

Did you know that the original AR XA turntable cartridge holder had no threads for mounting the cartridges? Originally they provided that mounting hardware and shims but you self started the screws into the precast holes in the head. Later versions, starting when I do not know, they cast an aluminum thread insert into the head body. Probably had negative feedback due to stripped plastic, hence nothing to hold the cartridge into it.

The original AR turntable belts, as I have read elsewhere, was a very complex manufacturing procedure to say the least. Today you can buy a replacement belt at most any tape deck repair center which carry replacement belts for almost anything. If the belt has really deteriorated a measurement should not be too difficult to obtain a currently made equivalent belt for less than $5.00 I'm sure.

When I was a newbie, at least one of our local " super hifi salesman " would say AR used a clock motor and elastic bands from the drug store to run. This was to cheapen the quality compared to other brands which netted them more markup.

They would also use with the cover off a pencil inside a Pat4 pre-amp to point to the messy wiring compared to other more profitable brands.

I wonder how many of us have used a rubber band?

A clock motor, in my experience was very, very accurate so it didn't wash with me. I still bought a AR XA turntable. Too bad for the eurothane record mat which went the way of the woofer surrounds too. Someone may suggest alternatives to this dilema.

The original AR turntable motor was also very accurate but it would drive in either direction so a second motor was added to start it in the correct direction only.

If I remember correctly ( this getting old is for the birds ) Connosuer (spelling) brand manual turntable used the same motor but the turn on switch rubbed and pushed the platter in the correct direction on startup.

There have been many expensive modifications to the AR turntable, some were published in " The Audio Amateur " magazine years ago.

I went back in my Audio Amateur books and started a index of things that were of my interests at the time. Dynaco, the word, for example, I went back to I believe the earliest issue, 1970 and wherever Dynaco came up I added it to my index whether it was in refernce to or an article or project or ad.

Needless to say there is a lot of mods of not just Dynaco but AR and Rabco to say just a few. Ar3a speaker mods, Rabco SL8 mods and a humungous amount of Pas3 and Pat4 mods. I will be sending this list to Mark as well for those of you who might like to see and maybe read up on those mods if you have back issues of The Audio Amateur magazine.

Enough ramblings for today.

Please give me feedback if you would like me to keep up with the trivia.

Have a great day.