Some cosmetic restoration before and after:






second coat of Danish oil






Arm I am considering are Origin Live Silver MIII or Scheu Classic Red M II (homage to De Stijl)

I haven't personally worked on one, but I had some friends that did do work on an AR XA and an EB101 (which I believe is simillar to yours). Yours would probably be almost identical to AR The Turntable. The AR XA is completely different.
The arm that's on there is a Linn Basik LVX with what looks like an AT95e cartridge. Any other Linn arm (or arm with the same geometry) like an Akito or Ittok would just drop in if you wanted something easy. If you're willing to make or buy a custom armboard, then you could use any arm. The ones most commonly used as replacements are Regas. One of the tweaks that my friend did on his EB101 was to replace the platter with an acrylic one.
Unless you have your heart set on a specific cartridge, I would pick the arm first. You will have more cartridge choice if you pick a medium mass arm.
There are links to two sites below with tons of information.
In addition you could google "AR Merrill Mods", since George Merrill made a reputation upgrading AR turntables and is considered "the" AR guru.

AR Turntable Gallery Photos Vinyl Nirvana

Turntable Forum :: View Forum - acoustic research forum

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what's wrong with the arm? The Linn basic LVX is'nt a bad arm by any means. Problems are usually the mastik they used to decouple the counterweight degrading and oozing out, and the bearings developing a rattle, but these are solvable.
An Ittok will cost you as will any better Linn arm and I'm not at all convinced by Rega arms on very bouncy suspensions like this, unless you upgrade the springs as well, maybe with the later Linn Trampolin era ones.
Even the Ittok is a little on the heavy side and a Syrinx PU2/3 or one of the Alphasons (NightOwl!) would be a better bet. Any of these will cost you though and take a while to track down.

Personally I'd send the arm off for servicing with Audio Origami. It's an ideal arm for this kind of deck and can work well with any MM or cheaper MC cart. It depends how far you think it's worth taking this deck I guess.

Mark... I currently have 2 "The Turntables" and 1 ES-1. All have various levels of modifications. By all means PM me with any questions you should have and congrats on one heck of a TT ! I truly love their lack of noise, looks and most importantly their sound.

I had a lot of pictures up of one of the restorations on Head-Fi before the big crash.

For starters I would contact member Killercrush and see if by chance he still has the PM I sent him a long time ago, and have him forward it to you if he does. It detailed the modifications done and why.

First thing to do is lose the bottom panel. Again congrats !

Congratulations on a beautiful TT! You may want to check out this site for info on restoration and available mods. The guy who runs it is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Good luck.
AR Turntable Vinyl Nirvana Acoustic Research Merrill Thorens For Sale
Edit: Oops....just saw an earlier poster linked to this site already.

Thanks for the info guys, I have lost the bottom panel as suggested. I will post pics at various stages if anyone is interested and maybe you could let me know if I am straying to far off the mark.

I have cleansed everything thoroughly, I think it came from a smokey environment! re-glued some veneer that was peeling and have applied a first coat of Lemon oil and then a coat of danish oil.

Bump with pictures added

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Well if you are willing to spend that much money then why not...

For the OL Silver I'd definitely get heavier springs. What about an SME M2? that would look cool or Audio Origami's PU7 updated Syrinx.

The Scheu is a beauty alright but it's a 10" which might be difficult to accomodate?

Other unipivots to consider would be the Nima from Roksan, Hadcock GH228, Bluenote B5 or Naim Aro.