Ariston Rd40 Manual
Ariston Transcription RD80 SL. The RD80 maintains the Ariston philosophy of excellence of design, together with top class performance. It has the capacity to extract the maximum amount of information from the disc. Two speed manual 33-1/3 and 45 prm. Synchronous Motor. Listed below are all the manuals for Ariston. Just click on the model or the Gas council number and the manual will download at the bottom of the page. After you have downloaded the manual double click on the download for the manual to open, if you want to save the download right click.
I picked up a new turntable for me from a buddy on a trade. It is the Ariston RD-40. I do not know much about this table but man I like the looks of it.
I have tried to read some on it. I was curious how to tell if the motor is AC or DC. I also was curious what would be a med cartridge. He has a audio Technica on it and it sounds okay but I was wondeing what would be a good upgrade. Do any of you own one of these and if so what are the ins and out of it. I just do not know much about it except it plays nice and I like the looks. Good mid priced turntable from the mid 80's.and still more than competitive today thanks to Ariston's well engineered main bearing.
(They seem to run forever without problem) Not to mention its suspended design (albeit on a skeletal frame ) which should give it good isolation from moderate external vibration and acoustic feedback. I think this was Ariston's version of the Systemdek IIs or 'biscuit tin' as it is sometimes called.and there is a similar design called the Ariston Forte. From the small picture.it appears to have either the early Ariston Opus tonearm(with string and weight anti skate?) or the later Ariston Enigma tonearm with a conventional antiskate dial. Both arms were more than likely made by Jelco to Ariston's specifications( the arm lift design being the main clue) which is a good thing. It should be as good as the current JELCO ST-250. And certainly capable of running a decent moving magnet cartridge if not quite heavy enough to run a low compliance moving coil.
The Ariston Enigma arm wasn't as well known as say a rega rb250 or Linn Basik.but I do remember Hi-fi Choice giving it a solid recommendation in the same price bracket as the the rega and linn before I purchased my Ariston RD60. The earlier Opus arm also garnered a positive reception when reviewed alongside it price contemporaries if i remember correctly. I think both arms are medium effective mass designs.of around 11.5gm which makes them pretty flexible with lowish/medium/high-ish complaince cartridges. I have some old reviews of the Ariston RD40 from the British hi-fi press laying around somewhere. I can dig out the scanner if you are interested.
Linn Sondek is not a copy of this. This came out a while after the Sondek, did it not? The earlier Aristons and Linn Sondeks were quite similar, however. I have owned an Ariston RD-11s since around 1978. I also for a time owned the RD-40, I think I put a Grace tonearm on it. I probably sold it with that tonearm, as I recall. Well, what can I say, the RD-40 does not compare with the RD-11s.
The sound is just not as palpable, cannot extract as much detail. I paid less for the RD-11s, got a really great deal on a demo with some cosmetic problems. But it still sounds better.
I have to say the RD-40 did not excite me. But it might be better than anything else you could get at that price. If I was looking for a turntable in roughly that price range, I might go for a used Kenwood KD-500.
My friend used to have one, and I am very familiar with the table. Click to expand.I'm intrigued by the Michell bits in that picture, I still have my RD 90 fitted with an Alphason Delta arm and a Linn K9, I used to use it at work in the 1990s, I bought the deck for £199 new in Richer Sounds when they sold off the old Ariston stocks, I had the power supply rebuilt and upgraded, but for that money it was a very nice deck, I really ought to unbox it. I've never felt inclined to keep an RD 11, not my thing, but they are an excellent used buy as they can, or could be, found rather cheaply and upgraded, maybe a Linn on the cheap, although the Ariston was first, wasn't it. Another good Ariston used buy is the Q Deck, I've seen those for very little money and I'm sure it would stand up well to the low end Projects at a fraction of the price. Click to expand.I've only upgraded the power supply on my RD 90, it has an external power supply, but the components left a lot of room for improvement, I have however sold on a couple of RD 11s and my recollection is that the buyers were going to add an external power supply or possibly replace the motor/power supply completely, I think one of them was also going to do something to the plinth.
Sorry to be vague, but I'm afraid it's a while ago and as I'd only picked them up to move on I didn't pay enough attention, but the buyers seemed keen so I'd guess there is an Ariston forum out there which will explain how to pimp the RD 11. To be fair the non modified deck set up well isn't bad for a forty year old design, I rate it higher than many other belt drives from that time and as I said the ones I had came and went at pretty reasonable prices, as in cheaply. Vinylengine has an Ariston forum, but I've never paid attention to RD 11 related posts or waded all the way through it, might be worth a look. I have just restored an RD-11s.
I will likely be selling it at some point. It is essentially an early Linn Lp12. The platter is very familiar, heavy, two-piece aluminum with excellent fit.
The bearing is slightly different but also not too far off. The suspension looks the same as does the motor and electronics pre Valhalla. The belt on my unit is unusual as it has a square cross-section. I fitted the deck with a Rega tonearm.
The platter has two grooves machined into it where o-rings are pressed into. I replaced those with new o-rings to recover the original softness. The deck bounces nicely, straight up and down on its suspension without going wild like some can. I removed the SME arm for a customer and had to make new armboards both for the Rega arm and for the SME to be mounted on another table.
Ariston Rd40 Manual Online
Click to expand.It is very similar. There were at least two versions of the RD11 Superior.
The first had the long armboard just like the Linn. The power switch was on the left. Linn basically had them made for them from that model and then began to make their own. The second version had the same look but the armboard was actually circular and like most modern tables, just larger than the typical tone arm base.
The power switch was moved to the right. Here are a few pictures of mine where you can see some better detail.
The one showing the O-rings is interesting. I suppose that you could still use a felt mat on top of that if you wanted to without much interference with the original sound but the idea was to use only the O-rings so that the record basically was allowed only as little as possible to interact with. Linn of course opted to use the felt mat. You can buy a product today called the Ringmat which has cork concentric rings and it basically applies this same principle. I have one and have used it on my Rega deck before. Linn Sondek is not a copy of this.
This came out a while after the Sondek, did it not? The earlier Aristons and Linn Sondeks were quite similar, however.
I have owned an Ariston RD-11s since around 1978. I also for a time owned the RD-40, I think I put a Grace tonearm on it. I probably sold it with that tonearm, as I recall. Well, what can I say, the RD-40 does not compare with the RD-11s. The sound is just not as palpable, cannot extract as much detail.
I paid less for the RD-11s, got a really great deal on a demo with some cosmetic problems. But it still sounds better.
I have to say the RD-40 did not excite me. But it might be better than anything else you could get at that price. If I was looking for a turntable in roughly that price range, I might go for a used Kenwood KD-500. My friend used to have one, and I am very familiar with the table.
Ariston Rd40 Manual 2017
I have just restored an RD-11s. I will likely be selling it at some point. It is essentially an early Linn Lp12. The platter is very familiar, heavy, two-piece aluminum with excellent fit.
The bearing is slightly different but also not too far off. The suspension looks the same as does the motor and electronics pre Valhalla. The belt on my unit is unusual as it has a square cross-section. I fitted the deck with a Rega tonearm. The platter has two grooves machined into it where o-rings are pressed into. I replaced those with new o-rings to recover the original softness. The deck bounces nicely, straight up and down on its suspension without going wild like some can.
Logitech remote software download pc. I removed the SME arm for a customer and had to make new armboards both for the Rega arm and for the SME to be mounted on another table. Click to expand.As far as I can say for sure, the differences were that the S version had a ball bearing in the main bearing well and the smaller, round armboard like the one in my photos. It's of course debatable about 'what's better'. The ball bearing certainly allows replacement to refresh it over time and even a choice of material as ball bearings are also available in ceramic, ruby, etc.
The armboard being smaller is perhaps the real improvement as it probably makes the deck easier to adjust. Linns are notorious for being finicky and that long armboard on them cannot help. The other items are mostly cosmetic. Since these were fairly expensive and made in relatively limited numbers, there were probably a few transitional tables that were labeled as RD11 and included different bases, etc. That and the fact that it was essentially a Linn, I think meaqns that the whole base could be swapped-out for the other and so there are likely some hybrids out there.
Ariston Rd40 Manual 2016
For instance, you find a nice Ariston but its base is horribly scarred, so you more readily source a base in nice looking condition from a Linn LP12, etc. A lot of LP12 users have changed bases over the years, made custom ones and so on. So while I haven't seen a Linn base on an RD11 in person, I have likely seen photos of it and many other odd bastards!