Advice on getting best from battered 1210

[chelsea]

Surely buying a deck that is ready to go would be better.
If he buys upgrades for the 1210 he will lose a large chunk of cash once he has recorded his vinyl.

[kininigin]

Surely buying a deck that is ready to go would be better.
If he buys upgrades for the 1210 he will lose a large chunk of cash once he has recorded his vinyl.

Not if he already has the deck and it just needs an arm! I suspect he bought the deck quite cheap.Maybe for £100-150? The cheaper upgrades will again cost about £100-150.So he will have a deck which is lightly modded for £300 tops! To get a standard deck will cost about the same and not have the upgrades! And he may be buying more vinyl for all we know! And of course he can sell it and not lose much if anything due to the new arm and bearing!

[Marco]

Indeed... There are plenty of folk here who would buy a modded Techy, lightly or otherwise, especially as you say, at the price that's likely to asked

Also, there is a presumption (wrongly perhaps?) that Donny cares more about the potential of losing money (if or when he sells his T/T) than he does about optimising the sound quality of his vinyl rips!

Marco.

[33 1/3]

Just FYI, yes I got the deck for tens of pounds, rather than hundreds, it was practically given away. It's taken me 6 months to find it, I had indeed been looking at decks that were ready to go, but people wanted over the odds (imho). Also, this way I know exactly what is and isn't in the deck and the care with which it got put there.

And ripping vinyl to files - odd as it may seem, I don't carry my turntable & vinyl with me on the bus, in the car, etc...
The stuff I want to digitize is things that aren't on CD/Download. I don't plan to dispose of the vinyl once ripped, just want it in a more convenient format for day-to-day modern life. I'd like to do this ripping process only once, hence me wanting the best set up I can afford before I start.

[Audio Al]

I don't plan to dispose of the vinyl once ripped, just want it in a more convenient format for day-to-day modern life. I'd like to do this ripping process only once, hence me wanting the best set up I can afford before I start.

OK , Makes sense now

[Marco]

Hi Donny,

The question is, how interested are you in optimising the sound quality of your vinyl rips? Because the results you'll achieve with using a stock Technics or a judiciously modified one will be somewhat marked!

Marco.

[33 1/3]

I'm interested in achieving the best I can within say, a £500-£600 budget.

If money were no object I could easily spend £1000, £2000, £3000 on better equipment, but I won't be (correct me if I'm wrong) achieving 2, 4, 6 times as better quality, and that's what I have to keep reminding myself. The law of diminishing returns and all that.

I'd already borrowed an iOn USB turntable just to check they really were as crap as I expected, and they were. I got a budget 70s deck but it had background hum and uneven L-R output, so that's when I decided to bite the bullet and get some more serious equipment that (hopefully) doesn't introduce problems to digitizing, as these two methods did.

At the end of the day, I'm ripping records that cost pounds, not remastering Abbey Road.
That, and the fact that the top end of my hearing is gone anyway Will I be able to hear all the beauty a £2000 cartridge provides? (I'll be going for a hearing test soon just to see where exactly I am at ).

[Marco]

I'm interested in achieving the best I can within say, a £500-£600 budget.

Ok then, let's give you the biggest 'bang for your buck' we can for that sort of dosh! I'll come back with some reccos later

Marco.

[33 1/3]

eg. a lot of my vinyl is Charity Shop/Boot Sale finds, needless to say they're not always in the greatest condition.

I saw a YouTube demo of the KAB Fluid Dampner that Darren recommended, and even through my laptop speakers I could hear a significant difference it made to a warped record:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMo1aDwT0q8

When push comes to shove I'd prefer to be spending money on mods which minimise such problems that these old records have, than say bringing out the warmth of a Bernie Winters' brass section.

If I do ever come across something akin to the lost Velvet Underground Scepter Acetate, I might up my budget a little.

[walpurgis]

Hi Donny.

I think you're on the right track. Because your Technics was a well used and battered example doesn't mean it isn't worth investing some time in. Just to get it usable should be easy enough, there are loads of used 1200/1210 arms cropping up on eBay cheap and any other bits you need. Then you can move on and improve as you see fit. Don't be put off because you may not be taking the route others on AOS might choose. Structurally these turntables are easy enough to work on and I'm sure there's plenty of knowledge here among members and on the net if you need a tip or two. I've rebuilt a couple and changed arms etc., with little trouble. Upgrades are more or less limitless, just down to your budget.