Hey man! Been awhile since IвЂ™ve seen your handle on a new thread, and I trust youвЂ™re still doing well. Most guys never mess around, too scared they might damage their Precious. You learn a lot and all of it directly applicable to every other analog rig you can name. You will find there is a huge difference between the sound you get initially and what you can get with just a little time and effort tweaking these things. But if you find two that are close then take a closer look at the parts and what can be improved or needs improvement. If one stands out youвЂ™re done and can get to tweaking starting with better cartridge alignment. Hopefully your guy being into it has taken care of some of the more obvious stuff like this but it pays to be thorough. Which is why checking that is one of the first steps. I have a vintage 1976 Technics and can tell you any or all when they get that old the bearing can run dry and just need lube. AR has no mat but if another one does swap it over to AR. Differences I bet will not be subtle and one will stand out and it might not be the one we think right now (Sansui). Listen for music and also listen for background noise like bearing rumble. Mount the cartridge and donвЂ™t fuss being precise it wonвЂ™t be worth it. All these things can turn into major headaches later. One little jammed spring or bushing can ruin performance. Set the arm to balance at zero skating and without cartridge and check to see how freely it floats. Turn bearing by hand, feel for smoothness and play. Pull platters, check belt or idler wheel for condition- cracks, dents etc. One by one check them out visually and by hand.

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