Oh, hey there, new turntable.
- Thread starter JohnVF
- Start date
Is that a Jelco Tone Arm?
Yes it is. The knife-edge bearing TK-850s, which I've been incredibly curious about. It does not disappoint in any way.
Puuurtttyyyy!
It's an AR ES-1 loaded with Merrill/Gem-Dandy modifications. Polymer subchassis, Merrill motor, Merrill digital outboard motor control, vinyl nirvana springs, some physical reinforcement of the plinth, fancy Graham tonearm cable, black diamond racing cone/cup feet, on the fly VTA for the arm that I've yet to add. I'd bought an AR "The Turntable" two years ago with the intention of doing all of this to it, but ended up selling it to a friend before starting that. Then found this one already done and the very nice gentleman who did the work did an outstanding job with it, great care taken with every modification. It is absolutely a fantastic sounding turntable. With the exception of the sub-platter, which I may replace, its a Merrill table in an AR plinth. Speaking of the plinth, its solid cherry slabs not veneer.
I figure its been a few days since my last one.
I’m still a bit flummoxed by all of this, wondering how one gets to a point in life where one can actually say things like “It’s been a few days ...”. Oh, never mind!
One went out though so the numbers stayed the same.
Its like Turntable Thunder dome at Johns place!
For anybody curious about the sound, it's really really really good. It's in that level where its hard to argue that analog doesn't sound better than digital, even if just subjectively. No intrusion of the turntable sound into the music. Just what's on the record floating in space between and around the speakers. Being as I didn't do the mods and didn't hear them one at a time... only an unmodded "The Turntable" and this fully modded ES-1, I can't say what made the most difference but its a big difference. Essentially two completely different turntables that look almost identical.
It's either my best or 2nd best sounding table depending on the music, with my Sony TTS-8000 the only other one that reaches this level of playback quality.
I'd love to hear one of the full Merrill turntables that aren't based on ARs...though I think this one is much prettier.
It's either my best or 2nd best sounding table depending on the music, with my Sony TTS-8000 the only other one that reaches this level of playback quality.
I'd love to hear one of the full Merrill turntables that aren't based on ARs...though I think this one is much prettier.
So I had never heard of such a lovely until you created this post. After a google session, I know a little about Merrill, but not much beyond seeing a few creations similar to yours. What's the realistic price point for something like yours? Prices I noted on the interwebs were seemingly very reasonable. Can that actually be the case?
Yours is dead sexy!
Yours is dead sexy!
Prices vary and are all over the map. Like anything modded, resale gets dodgy and the previous owner lost money on this creation but it wasn't cheap for me to acquire, either...but, relatively speaking, it was a bargain for how it sounds. He just happened to find somebody local (me) who had planned to do the same thing and knew how much money he had spent on it, and was happy to not be bothered with actually having to do the mods. The price of slightly modded ones is very reasonable when they pop up. This one, however, is fully modded, to the point that there's very little original AR left in the parts that contribute to the sound. There's a few thousand dollars worth of modifications and additions (like the fancy feet, better arm) done to it up through the Digital Motor Drive off of Merrill's Polytable. That puts motor speed control off the table and its on point.
Speaking of other Merrill tables...I bet the REAL table sounds incredible.
The Real Turntable - Merrill Williams - Turntable Design
The Real Turntable by Merrill Williams is the most dramatic improvement in turntable design in 30 years. The Merrill-Williams R.E.A.L. 101.3 is a totally new approach to turntable design. Key features are energy isolation, consistent sound and removes frequency interference. Hearing is believing!
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Ha. You know, sometimes people store things with me and they never come back to get them...
My friend, who I sold the AR to, had a big 40th birthday party at his place last month and everybody was admiring his sweet turntable. I was all, man, that used to be mine and its soooo pretty. Like seeing somebody with an ex that you think could have worked out differently if you'd put more into the relationship.
A couple of better pictures.
You can see the acrylic Merrill top platter. There's some sort of lead-infused matter bonded to it with a note to not let kids handle it lest they chew on the lead. It is extraordinarily dead to the touch. The metal sub-platter is currently stock, I may replace it with the newer polymer Merrill one..which would come with a different top platter as well, same material. The sub platter is the only thing left to change, really. I think the bearing well/sapphire plate is totally find as-is.
The "Digital Motor Drive". The on/off on the turntable is non-functional now, and everything is controlled by this box. Just push the button corresponding to the speed you want. Fine tuning of speed is done with the knobs, and there's a built in strobe light to set speed with a strobe disc, which I did and it worked perfectly.
The Jelco TK-850s is very impressive. There are knife-edge verticle bearings in the 850 and 950 arms, the 850 being a static balance and the 950 a dynamically balanced arm. Really good sounding arm, so far, though the OC-9 sounded notably better on it than my Nagaoka MP-500, when usually they're more in line with each other.
Knowing me I'll probably take the dust cover off, but its the cleanest, clearest dust cover I've ever seen, even among the ones I had that I polished.
You can see the acrylic Merrill top platter. There's some sort of lead-infused matter bonded to it with a note to not let kids handle it lest they chew on the lead. It is extraordinarily dead to the touch. The metal sub-platter is currently stock, I may replace it with the newer polymer Merrill one..which would come with a different top platter as well, same material. The sub platter is the only thing left to change, really. I think the bearing well/sapphire plate is totally find as-is.
The "Digital Motor Drive". The on/off on the turntable is non-functional now, and everything is controlled by this box. Just push the button corresponding to the speed you want. Fine tuning of speed is done with the knobs, and there's a built in strobe light to set speed with a strobe disc, which I did and it worked perfectly.
The Jelco TK-850s is very impressive. There are knife-edge verticle bearings in the 850 and 950 arms, the 850 being a static balance and the 950 a dynamically balanced arm. Really good sounding arm, so far, though the OC-9 sounded notably better on it than my Nagaoka MP-500, when usually they're more in line with each other.
Knowing me I'll probably take the dust cover off, but its the cleanest, clearest dust cover I've ever seen, even among the ones I had that I polished.
That really looks pretty nice. I take it there is variable damping like many of the previous generations of Jelco arms? BTW - be gentle with the plastic arm latch. I've read a few comments in various forums about the plastic being a bit "delicate" and prone to snapping.
