technics sl1200/1210 turntable mods

I just bought an sl 1210 for cheap money (not yet arrived) and wondered if anybody had tried modifying one to sound more musical?
as I heard they can sound a bit harsh? I will give it a good listen when it arrives.

I was thinking arm rewire, and maybe a whole arm ? but looks pretty good standard from what I can see.
also silly question :
the quartz lock bit, could this benefit from a trichord type cristal board arrangement to stabilise the speed better or is this not possible?
also if it is line level I might mess about with taking the pre amp board out and wiring it direct?

suggestions welcome.

also I heard there was a company modding these but can't seem to find anything.

 

Hi,

The 1210 can be good. Here is my list of "making it sound good".

1) Air suspension support
2) Denon 103(R preferred) cartridge, mounted using the washers included between cartridge and headshell
3) External Arm rewire a'la Kondo
4) Glass Platter Mat (Project makes one)
5) Record Weight (Goldring)

The original arm is unsuited for most modern HiFi Cartridges but just right for our golden oldy, the easily applied and simple as well as repeatable SRA/VTA adjustment of this arm is a definitive plus.

The external re-wire is best done using twisted pairs of tripple twisted enameled wire around 0.05...0.1mm diameter, copper is okay, silver better, the twisted pairs go directly into a pair of RCA's, the wire gets run on the outside of the Arm and is secured on the plinth (strain relief).

Ciao T

 

some good idea's there, cheers.
I have a mitchel clamp, and some pure silver wire that is very thin I used on my diy airbearing arm, so nearly halfway there, but why external wire? is this just for ease of fitting or sonic reasons? couldn't I just drill the end of the arm and feed it through?
will have a look out for the cartridge, how would this set up compare to say a rb300 and £100 goldring mm cartridge? as I got it fairly cheap I don't mind spending a bit on it.

thanks for the suggestions.

 

Don't forget to damp the plinth ....but not the platter. I'd second the other suggestions.

 

can you elaborate this?

would denon 110 make some sense? i have one sitting in a cupboard for ages (the same as 3 x technics 1210, leftover from DJ days

 

Hi,

Example commercial - Townsend Seismik Sink
Example DIY - Marble cutting board and small bicycle inner tube.

Much less. The 103 is worth it due to the fact that it was designed and made to sound good in non-rigid arms (eg. the one on the 1210 or an old SME 3009) while more modern pickups are generally designed and optimised for rigid tonearms.

Ciao T

 

I recieved it yesterday.
I had it 10 minutes (literally) and I had to rip it apart.
it sounded horrible mainly because of the stanton 500 cartridge *beaten to death as well*
and the arm wasn't set up properly, even when it was, still pretty bad.
so I rewired the arm internally (with pure silver) by taking the arm off and doing away with the removable headshell affair, still comes off but the wires go straight through now.
also rewired externally with silver and neutrik plugs.
I also changed the cartridge for an old mm shure m75s cheapy jobbie.

used an old felt mat from an lp12 and a mitchel clamp (which probably wouldn't fit with a glass platter you would have to use a weight)

and now it really doesn't sound bad at all, the drive is really nice it is sort of indirect direct drive. (half the motor is on the platter) so no rumble, it keeps it's speed amazingly well too.

denon cartridge is on the cards now, unless anybody has any other suggestions maybe an old decca Super Gold?

also the plinth is rubber and cast aluminium and pretty heavy, you can whack it and no ringing, I suppose it is because of its dj origins so the needle doesnt bounce with the bass etc.

overall a very nice deck.
cheers for suggestions so far.

 

I found out about this yesterday

http://www.tonearm.co.uk/dj_technics_armboard.htm

It means that you can change the arm for a rega rb250/300 or one of origin live's own arms any of which should improve upon the supplied arm and allow the use of more ambitious cartridges.

I think OL also do some better feet aswell.

You definitely should change the mat. I'd go for the Funk Achromat or something carbon fibre perhaps. Rubber or felt are not the way to go.

 

thats what I was looking for, nice one thanks.

 

I would go for the Origin Live arm board, with an Origin Live modded arm, I would also add an Achromat, and use a Siesmic sink.

I would recommend some sort of foam filler for the platter maybe ? (where possible)

 

tuppence

i think the origin live armboards are ok
but a michell tecnoarm sounds better than there arms and a roksan nima sounds awesome on the technics deck but does reduce the ability of being able to mix and scratch.........
don't overdamp the platter as it can kill the life in the deck.

the isonoe feet will be every bit as good as a seismic sink plus they are cheaper and easy to adjust.

 

Don't go for the 103 if you choose the rega.

 

I know a DJ who reckons a fully modded 1200 MK2 can sound as good as any high end deck providing it has a much better arm, platter and cartridge fitted.

The stock arms are not really designed for pure sonic ability.

 

I have a set of technics upstairs running through a rotel amp and pioneer mixer with a couple or Monitor Audio rd252's (hope thats what they are called from 20 odd yrs ago) on sir fred stands. Banging techno yesssssssss!!!! but not for playing anything you'd like a good depth of field with. They kind of plough your lp's rather than play em

 

I have decided to go down the new arm route, what do you think would be my best bet, new or second hand up to about £800-£900 for both ?
something that will intergrate well with pretty much anything would be nice. as I have a strange system that would be hard to match up with unless you heard it first hand.

it is a fairly fast bright revealing sound, and I like it that way, the more revealing the better. without being too harsh of course.

cheers for all the suggestions so far.

 

Folks,

Funny thing happened many years ago. At the Heathrow HiFi Show a Dutch company called Hawk Audio where hawking (pun intended). The whole sound in the room was very nice.

Now here is the killer, the analog frontend playing was one that according to all the nay sayers cannot possibly sound any good, yet against all odds it sounded rather good and in comparison to some of the high price stuff being played rather good.

As it so happened, the table was a Technics SL1210, original arm with external VanDenHul silver re-wiring, Denon DL-103 cartridge, Amplimo TM3 MC stepup transformers and their Valve Preamp.

What can I say. Not the last word in analogue by any means but darn good.

Ciao T

 

Hi,

Depending on source and keeping 2nd hand is always a better choice. For that kind of money you can get a Dynavector DV505 second hand and the Technics is one of the few tables that will actually accept that kind of weight (most spring suspended table cannot carry that kind of weight).

The DV505/507 is one of the few Arms I find actually interresting in technical terms, another is the RS Labs one and quite a few of the sensibly designed linear tracking arms.

Among the linear trackers there is one I want to try, namely this one:

http://www.rauna.com/slides/cantusjpg.html

Set this one up right and spend the difference from your budget on a Shelter 501 Pickup direct from japan and you should have a very nice setup which will make most audiophiles shake their heads, untill they hear it.

Ciao T

 

i know a one too, but i've never trusted his ears and he's never wanted to tell what is to be done.

 

get a

origin live arm board.( under £50)
one of the arms 3d suggested or a riksan nima (£350 ish) or michell tecnoarm.
a decent cart like a denon dl110 (£70 ) or dl304 or higher ( a shelter is nice.)
get a set of isonoe elstomer feet.(£95)
a glass platter matt by project or a funk acromat ( £40) according to taste.
a good phono pre like a cambridge audio azur 640 ( £60 ) or better still a sonneteer or good valve stage.
a wall bracket.
enjoy great sound for virtually peanuts compared to other audiophile set ups.

the origin live comes with instructions to assemble the deck with a new armboard.