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Audiolab JH tonearm


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I was just shown this at a garage sale (it wasn't in the sale, the guy brought it out after we had been chatting).

It is boxed (box has Audiolab, Melbourne, JH printed on it), has never been used- apparently his Dad was into audio gear and found this during a clean up.

Just wondering what this would be worth and what kinds of turntables it is suited for?

Sorry about the photo- I had taken others but accidentally deleted them because I ran out of storage on my phone- d'oh!

Thanks in advance

ericd

post-139630-0-16642200-1363406545_thumb.

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Hi ericd,

 

I had several JH tonearms back in '70s and '80s and if you have one in good condition, you'd find it is a reasonably good performer. JH were made in Melbourne and these arms mainly appeared on their own transcription decks. Hard to say what this would be worth, maybe up to a couple of hundred depending on what condition it's in.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Edited by cheekyboy
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Cheers Keith

It looks in pristine condition, I would believe it if I was told it's never been taken out of the box (as the guy said).

How would this compare to the rb301 I currently have on my rega- or is this a senseless comparison?

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I bought the last few gimbal and unipivot arms from the guy who used to own JH Audiolabs as a 'job lot'.  My dad had a JH Unipivot on his Thorens TD 124 for many years and it was a very nice tonearm.

 

I sold most of them off for between $200 and $350.  More for the Unipivots which were IMNSHO a much better sounding tonearm.  I'd pay no more than $150 for that tonearm given it's the gimbal not the unipivot.

 

P.S. the JH turntables themselves are just Connoisseur units rebranded so they're pretty crap.  The Tonearms were much better than the turntables.

 

:thumb:

Edited by Gruffnutz
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Thanks folks. I'll probably let this go then as it seems like it wouldn't really be an upgrade from the rb301, but I'll let the guy know your evaluations. Cheers. (If anyone wants to snap it up, PM me. The guy said he'd hold it for a few days before ebaying it).

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JH stood for John Harband.who manufactured (in Melbourne)  a  belt drive turntable using a small synchronous  low rpm motor.It was a novel concept in its day and it enabled  a low cost entry for many people into the hi fi/stereo world.It is not by any means a transcription turntable and there was'nt any  connection with  the Connoisseur brand t.t's.

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.It is not by any means a transcription turntable and there was'nt any  connection with  the Connoisseur brand t.t's.

 

I guess it depends on your definition of a transcription turntable, but JH definitely referred to their decks as transcription back in the '70s. I also don't think JH Reproducers had anything to do with Connoisseur decks.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

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yep, nope, nothing like a Connoisseur, the JH had a tiny inverted "bearing" attached to the motor unit housing by a triangular brace. Simple, extremely low-mass platter, sounded ok for what it was but not earth shattering.  Unipivot arms had an offset tank you filled with ballbearings or lead shot to add mass (from memory). Pretty cool idea but had a thin arm wand like a Grace and tolerances were certainly nothing to write home about.

Ah nostalgia, it aint what it used to be.

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