Good for you, @uwiikz. I’d recommend that you pay to have the dealer do the initial set up for you. Yes, it is good to know how to do this yourself, but your first go round with this table (or lacking recent experience with TT set up generally) really mandates that. And, I say offer to pay only b/c he’s selling the unit to you without making much if anything. Be sure you have the warranty. Franc Kuzma is a stand up guy but it is still important to have a local contact--
The only aspect of this that I question is how much mileage is on the cartridge- without undermining the offer the dealer made, I’d prefer something fresh since a used demo cartridge is going to be a question mark. Obviously, that can be replaced if it already has mileage on it, at a cost, but these do not last forever and in fact, wear more quickly than claimed by many manufacturers, assuming no damage by use. Otherwise (and I’m not trying to rob you of the pleasure of your deal, I think you’ll enjoy the XL), congratulations.
One last thing that goes less to the transaction and more to set up is isolation, which I mentioned upthread. The XL is metal, and very heavy. You need to situate it on a sturdy platform that can not only support the weight but is unaffected by footfalls, vibration, etc. and is ergonomically sensible for your system. I’d give a little thought to that because before I bought the Minus K for mine (which isn’t cheap), I had to resort to a few tricks to mass load and isolate the platform on which my table sat when I first got it. It was tricky.
+ @ferrari275 for your comments and user name- one of my favorite body designs, apart from the ’50s cars. I had quite a few of the little red cars from Modena, but none that early. I got to see Sergio Scaglietti dribble cigarette ash into some of the cars he built at a show where he was the honored guest, watching the owners of the cars cringe, but say nothing, having the man who fabricated the body (or in many cases design and fabricate) sit in their respective cars for photo shoots.
