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Old 29th Apr 2022, 2:58 pm   #1
crohamblues
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Default Tonearm Identification

I wonder if any of you would be able to help identify a tonearm that I have on a recently acquired Lenco L75. Ive attached photos. It may just be a generic arm, but its looks pretty nice.

thanks
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Old 29th Apr 2022, 3:39 pm   #2
lesmw0sec
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

It looks like a variant of the SME unit.
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Old 29th Apr 2022, 6:58 pm   #3
stevehertz
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

It looks like an Acos or a Stax, but I've a sneaking feeling it may have been taken from a Japanese 'branded' record deck.
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Old 29th Apr 2022, 6:58 pm   #4
vidjoman
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

Nothing to do with SME. Looks more Japanese to me.
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Old 29th Apr 2022, 7:00 pm   #5
crohamblues
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

thanks.. I think its from a Rotel RP1500 (maybe Jelco). and I think the weight is from another deck..! It sounds great though!
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Old 29th Apr 2022, 7:36 pm   #6
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

Looks Jelco style to me, is the anti skate mechanism missing?
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Old 29th Apr 2022, 7:45 pm   #7
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

I’m in Steve’s camp, definitely looks like an Acos.

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Old 29th Apr 2022, 8:01 pm   #8
crohamblues
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

Quote:
Originally Posted by stacman View Post
Looks Jelco style to me, is the anti skate mechanism missing?
yeah I think its just an arm that clamps on. I did think it was an Acos originally too..!
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Old 30th Apr 2022, 12:49 am   #9
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

I used an Acos Lustre arm for many years and that definitely isn't one. Also, it's not an SME. I think we can eliminate Micro Sekei as well.

The Acos has anti-skating done magnetically from a knob/dial offset to the outside, linked by tiny toothed belt.

SME used an outrigger weight for calibrated tracking force. The main counterweight just did zero-force balance setting, no scale.

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Old 30th Apr 2022, 10:49 am   #10
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

Definitely a Japanese looking arm with what looks like a Pioneer headshell sprayed black (they were normally silver) The arm isn't a Pioneer though. I did put a Pioneer PL12D arm on my partners L75 (yes an L75 rather than a GL75, same deck only older) I doesn't sound bad at all, certainly better than the Goldring arm IMHO.
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Old 30th Apr 2022, 6:16 pm   #11
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

It looks like it is from a Pioneer P112 deck.
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Old 1st May 2022, 12:48 pm   #12
Craig Sawyers
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

https://www.vinylengine.com/tonearm_database.php
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Old 2nd May 2022, 1:47 pm   #13
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

I wonder if it is a replacement due to the original balance weight snapped off ,this used to happen when field engineers collected the deck and not removing the weight. Mick.
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Old 3rd May 2022, 10:00 am   #14
knobtwiddler
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

Do you have an ice-skate / blank acetate record to check bias with? If the bias string / weight has been removed, it might be that it's pulling inwards. Over time, this can skew some cantilevers. Anti-skate is always a compromise, but getting it in the ballpark will definitely keep your cantilever straight longer.
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Old 4th May 2022, 8:38 am   #15
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

The lift-lower arm looks like Sugden (Connoisseur). There's a similar one on their early unipivot arms - the one on my late dad's turntable had a red knob, but I've seen others in photographs with black.
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Old 4th May 2022, 11:31 am   #16
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

Anything printed on the silver circle on the headshell?
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Old 4th May 2022, 12:12 pm   #17
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

The (Arnold) Sugden Connoisseur SAU2 arm has 45 degree skewed gimbal bearings and uses a rod flying out from the gimbal ring with the bias weight on it. So it's not that one, but I don't know much about other Sugden arms. He was quite prolific.

The Sugden doing turntables in Brighouse was a different chap to the Sugden doing amplifiers up in Bradford.

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Old 4th May 2022, 10:38 pm   #18
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

Looks like the bias weight and hanging bracket is missing. Definitely not Jelco, the only Jelco with similar vertical gimbal was the SA50, and I've got one of those.

It's got that look of an Acos, and did they make simpler designs before the GST-1 with the magnetic bias, but I think it's more likely a generic 1970s copy taken from a budget turntable. Is it height adjustable? If not, that's a giveaway that it was not made as a stand alone item.
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Old 2nd Jul 2022, 9:13 pm   #19
locknut
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Default Re: Tonearm Identification

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but this has been bugging me for a while - I was certain I had seen this tonearm before. Have a look at this, I'm certain it's the same tonearm.

https://www.ukaudiomart.com/details/...images/674406/

The Amstrad TP12D with its tri-lobe platter was a bit of a Rega Planet rip off, but they were a bit rubbish - the tonearm was probably the best bit. IIRC, they were made by Eagle, and versions with a circular platter were made for several other manufacturers, as well as badged Eagle. I'm sure my older brother's first turntable in the 70s was an Eagle one of these, and I think that's why I remember it.

Yours has the bias weight hook missing, and of course, the bias weight, I'm sure both could be improvised.
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