Technics SL 1200 G & 1200 GR

[Ammonite Audio]

Hi Julian

I'm very pleased that the old Pioneer is still going strong!

I've tried the (now obsolete) Jelco SA-750D, the new Jelco TK-850S, SME 309 and the new Glanz MH-94S on the GR. The Glanz is utterly extraordinary, as it should be at over £5k, but of the others I prefer the TK-850S, which has a more 'grown up' and musically expressive character compared to the old SA-750D (which has been reborn as the cheaper Jelco TS-550S) and seems, to my ears, to play music better than the SME. I don't really care for the SME 'sound', even though I admire the engineering and quality of their products, but actually the engineering of the new Jelco is pretty much on par and I do genuinely prefer the sound of the Jelco.

Your mentioning SME has reminded me that I must find a new home for the 309!

Thanks for all the replies and a particular thank you to Hugo for his very thorough appreciation of the SL1200GR. It seems like I can save some dosh here and upgrade the tonearm later. (Hugo I still have the Pioneer CD recorder you sold me & it is put to good use!).

Hugo have you tried the new Jelco 9 inch on the GR? Or the SME M2-9-R?

In fact given my age and the fact that I am slightly deaf in one ear, I may well be satisfied with the stock arm. I find with this deafness that I have rather given up on sitting in the 'sweet spot', for obvious reasons. If money was no object I might try some Shahinian speakers but I love my KEFs.

I am surprised that you -prefer the Technics to the SME 10. The latter has such high praise from some, only being mentioned as slightly analytical.

[chris@panteg]

Hugo, that timestep arm does look good, looks made for the Technics, very interesting.

[alanc]

One really annoying thing about the new Technics is that the arm height has not been adjusted to go lower and really suits tall cartridges best (e.g Shure DJ cartridges). At the arm’s lowest position it isn’t actually low enough. This means that if you want perfect VTA you need to raise the level of the mat (e.g. with another one underneath) and you really need to raise it to the highest level possible. In my case the record just goes over the spindle and then the VTA is perfect. Just using the supplied mat will result in the arm tube rising toward the arm base. If you want to experiment with the arm tube being slightly higher at the cartridge end (some people claim a bright sounding cartridge is tamed a little this way) you can’t unless you use a spacer between cartridge and headshell. I’m using an ADC headshell so this should be easier than with the Technics headshell. But I haven’t found anything suitable so far and it really should be light (maybe plastic). Any ideas, anyone, regarding the spacers - probably 2 or 3 mm would be sufficient? So a great deck with one, at this price range, crazy, unforgivable flaw.

[Phil Bishop]

Alan,

What cartridge are you using? I'm currently using a Nagaoka MP-110 and the arm tube looks level to me, albeit to the naked eye - I have a headshell bubble level coming so will be able to check it. I'm also using an Achromat which I think is slightly thicker than the standard mat.

Cheers

Phil

[alanc]

Hi Phil,
It’s a fairly shallow AT440 mlb. I’ve got an SDS mat under the original for the moment and that just about works but it wouldn’t if I only used tha Technics mat which is actually thinner than the one on the MK2. The stupid thing is that if you heightened the arm to its maximum the arm tube wouldn’t be level even with the tallest cartridge available (I haven’t tried this out but I’m pretty sure that would be the case). So it goes too high at the expense of not going low enough - just 3 mm lower would have solved the problem. In its lowest position I need the equivalent of two mats to get a level arm tube. OK - it’s surmountable but Technics surely had enough time to sort this out. Anyone out there with clever ideas re spacers (need to be light)?

[Phil Bishop]

Hi Alan,

That's supposed to be a great cartridge match for the Technics and I imagine the arm height issue also applies to the older models so I imagine others have got round it.

I have not played around with the arm height adjustment yet on mine as it seemed more-or-less spot on with the Nagaoka to start with. However, I do remember having issues getting the arm low enough when I owned original SL1200 models.

Cheers

Phil

[montesquieu]

Hi Alan,

That's supposed to be a great cartridge match for the Technics and I imagine the arm height issue also applies to the older models so I imagine others have got round it.

I have not played around with the arm height adjustment yet on mine as it seemed more-or-less spot on with the Nagaoka to start with. However, I do remember having issues getting the arm low enough when I owned original SL1200 models.

Cheers

Phil

The other way to add height to the cartridge is to put a spacer between cartridge and headshell ... if wood or delrin these can effectively add no weight. Technics 3G headshell weight are great too for adding a bit of mass if needed along with height. I find this is often a better solution than changing or stacking mats.