ARO setup

Posted by: ebirah on 02 July 2001

I'm about to give my LP12/ARO/Lingo?klyde a good 'going over' this weekend.

Any of you guys have any tips on setting up the ARO for absolute peak performance over and above the stuff in the owner's manual. I saw a post a while ago about the arm pillar height grub screw not being too tight? Is this right? Are there other little things I should know? I've searched the Forum threads but found relatively little on the minutiae of ARO setup - is it really that simple? Surely there must be some black art and mystique attached to it, like the LP12?!

Regards, Steve

Posted on: 02 July 2001 by ken c
Surely there must be some black art and mystique attached to it, like the LP12?!

i dont believe there is any -- though i realise the tongue in cheek.

AFAIK (a) the arm pillar screw must not be too tight -- just finger tight (b) try to get arm tube parallel to a 'typical' record with the cartridge actually sitting on the record (c) try to make sure that when those little leads come out of the arm cup, they dont touch any part of the cup -- make sure these little leads are quite free, and not all "knotted up". do not pull these leads with any force (d) depending on catridge, (i guess) antiskating weight in the middle (e) do not disturb the geometry of the antiskaing weight rest

thats all i can think of right now. do you have a dealer? i suspect you live quite close to me.

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 02 July 2001 by Andrew L. Weekes
...ensure the platter is as absolutely level as you can get it, not just 'close enough'.

Being a unipivot it's critical to get this right.

Andy.

Andrew L. Weekes

Posted on: 02 July 2001 by Phil Barry
Well, I asked this 'over there', and now this comes up here.

Can you clarify your comment?

I don't think I CAN get my platter absolutely level. Apparently the platter/belt/suspension goes a little off level as it turns, at least according to the Mana level.

I'm getting into this because my 8 year old Sony CD player on a Mana Sound Frame plays music better than my LP12/ARO!

Thanks.

Phil

Posted on: 02 July 2001 by Phil Barry
Cart and power supply fine. It's been over a year since I had the LP12 serviced, so I suspect the problem is setup/adjustment. ARRGH! It's been over two years since last service!
Posted on: 02 July 2001 by Stephen Rodrigues
Whereabouts am I supposed to measure the level of the turntable? For example, if my LP12 is level on the platter, it's not level on the armboard. Thoughts please?
Posted on: 02 July 2001 by ken c
i am made to understand that the best tool is the mana spirit level, which just fits on the lp12 spingle. that way you can assess levelness under dynamic (i.e with platter rotating) conditions.

with the mana spirit, get the plinth as level as you can (difficult/impossible if the plinth is warped) and in most cases you will find with a properly set up lp12, the platter will more or less be level as well.

hope this helps

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 02 July 2001 by Chris Dolan
Stephen

I've just checked my lp12 (whoops - give away that I'm listening to cd) and it is level on the platter, the arm board and the plinth.

I had assumed that this would be the norm but I have never asked my dealer about it.

I don't use an aro but I have been told that getting the lp12 level is critical.

Chris

Posted on: 03 July 2001 by Andrew L. Weekes
quote:
Whereabouts am I supposed to measure the level of the turntable? For example, if my LP12 is level on the platter, it's not level on the armboard.

If the platter is level, but the armboard is not, it implies that either the subchassis is distorted, the armboard is not properly secured to subchassis, plinth is distorted, or, more likely, you're checking armboard level against the stainless top plate.

The top plate dips (by design) next to the armboard, use the plinth as a better guide.

The important thing is that the headshell of the Aro is parallel to the platter, since even if the armboard is slightly crooked it will always sit level as it's free to move in axes a gimballed arm is not. The important thing to level is the platter, in order to maintain the correct relationship between record and arm.

quote:
I don't use an aro but I have been told that getting the lp12 level is critical.

It's certainly more critical with the newer springs, even slight misalignments can ruin the bounce of my LP12, but it's less critical with a gimballed arm.

I always install my LP12 after a service and leave it for a while before levelling as the suspension has a habit of settling.

Andrew L. Weekes

Posted on: 03 July 2001 by John C
This is one of several current threads on the vagaries of LP12 set up. I received this strange email from Dev Banerji this morning which he has asked me to pass on.

" Agghh!!!The Lingoes and Aros of outrageous fortune! My friends this player is no mana from heaven. This is not the doorway to some audio valhalla! Armageddon awaits all who persist with such base folly. Get a WELL TEMPERED."

Dev, exhausted from his time as a voice in the wilderness, has retreated to a bleak cave in the highlands dressed only in a ragged loin cloth and living on diet of insects and wild berries he has started a lonely 40 day vigil praying for your conversion.

Johnh

Posted on: 03 July 2001 by Phil Barry
A. Isn't the Well-Tempered arm tough to set up? All thise nylon strings and silicone damping fluid....

B. Andrew, thanks for the clarification, but...isn't the ARO/platter relationship a VTA/azimuth concern?

Phil