Acoustic Research XB
Little is documented about the Acoustic Research XB. The record shows a turntable - the later version of Acoustic Research's belt-drive design, which first appeared in 1961. The XB was the AR turntable on the market by the mid-1970s, and it stayed available for many years afterward.
HiFI-Stereo (March 1976, p.89) called the XB the "present version" of the AR turntable. It also referenced a comparison test of 28 models done by Australian Hi-Fi for their Stereo Buyer's Guide. The XB showed up in cartridge-compatibility listings in High Fidelity as early as November 1974 (p.49-50). A 1998 Audio classified guide (June 1998, p.79) listed the XA or XB at $99-199, which suggests a long production run, or a model that stayed common on the used market.
Edgar Villchur engineered the original AR turntable, the one the XB descends from. He had already brought the acoustic-suspension principle to loudspeakers, then applied the same thinking to turntable design. The XB kept the suspended sub-chassis, the belt-drive system and the low-mass tonearm that made the original a benchmark. Speed change between 33⅓ and 45 rpm was manual, done with a pulley change.
No detailed specifications for the XB alone, separate from the earlier AR turntable, have surfaced in the available documentation. Vintage-audio enthusiasts seek it out as a refined version of a classic. Production years and original pricing remain unconfirmed.
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