The Techie Dark Side

[RobbieGong]

What one part or area would you say, once addressed has the greatest effect with regard to removing that slightly dark layer the Techie is said to have? Is it a case of a combination of areas addressed has the desired effect ? What one thing in particular did you find removed that certain layer of so called darkness or hash ? Is there a main culprit area :scratch: ?

[WOStantonCS100]

For me the worst thing about the Techie is the rubber mat. Left alone it just gives every record, every cart a dead-ish, rubbery quality. Ugghh. Dreadful. My DIY felt mat in between it and the vinyl helps tremendously; however, I am very much looking forward to a new platter/mat combo to compliment the other upgrades I've already made.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Very hard question to answer. Bearing and psu helped quite a bit but so did the tone arm and cart:scratch: so what I mean, difficult to answer:steam:

[RobbieGong]

Very hard question to answer. Bearing and psu helped quite a bit but so did the tone arm and cart:scratch: so what I mean, difficult to answer:steam:

Why so angry Andrew ?? Only the current weather gets me like that !

[Wakefield Turntables]

My 1210 is so modded its difficult to see how individual bits have made specific contributions to where he deck is now, hence the frustration :) I generally take the view that it's the sum of all the parts which make the deck ;)

[krugdoktor]

Hi Robert,

I first had a (basic) Timestep PS and a Jelco 750 installed on my Techy and of course the difference in SQ was marked but only after getting my MN bearing my jaw dropped! I think the MN bearing is absolutely mandatory to get the best results. Also the combination of SDS-isoplatmat and Herbie's way excellent mat is highly recommendable (waaay better than the original mat and also waaay better than the Herbie's alone.
My advice would be: Start with the best bearing you can afford (preferably a MN bearing!), then all the other bits and pieces start to make sense

[DSJR]

Alternative view here, but I'd suggest the mat and feet first for value for money. The Vantage Audio feet seem to do a great job for penny pinchers such as I and the mat recommendations above (my SL1500 doesn't sound quite right with the Herbies on its own IMO and a £20 cork type from ebay can work really well, on mine at least).

My advice which isn't really contradictory is to look at feet and siting in general, coupled with careful choice of mat. The original bearing really isn't a bad job and a good dose of EP80 should tide it over until you decide on a sooper-dooper one :)

[MartinT]

External power supply and mat. Then bearing.

[RobbieGong]

Hi and thanks guys, I've recently fitted a wonderful upgraded DC2 powers supply from Sean at Custom Cables and gosh it has really taken me further into the recordings and that sense of realism etc. Been meaning to report on it with some piccies but time (work, wife, kids etc) just beats me all the time. Anyway the Techie is sounding so good now that i know it is just a few things left to do to get rid of that slight layer of hash that I detect sometimes I know i'm pretty close. KAB fluid damper, Mike New Bearing, Isonoes, Ortofon 2M Black and a very good well spect psu on board at the mo and I cant stop playing music - addicted !! :). So maybe a different mat over the 3mm stock mat might reap further results. Thing is I've tried loads including Speed mat, Herbies which just sucked the life out of the music as if someone had taken a big blanket and put it over my speakers. The Achromat wasn't terrible, I decerned very slight change wherby the mids became less clear and sparkly which I kind of missed as detailed slightly upfront mids is where the music is for me. That said I may try an Achromat again and give it a lot more time as I sell these things very quickly when they dont immediately sound better than what I have. Something tells me though that an upgrade platter would really clean things up, I could be wrong but something really makes me believe that :scratch:

[Tarzan]

Hi and thanks guys, I've recently fitted a wonderful upgraded DC2 powers supply from Sean at Custom Cables and gosh it has really taken me further into the recordings and that sense of realism etc. Been meaning to report on it with some piccies but time (work, wife, kids etc) just beats me all the time. Anyway the Techie is sounding so good now that i know it is just a few things left to do to get rid of that slight layer of hash that I detect sometimes I know i'm pretty close. KAB fluid damper, Mike New Bearing, Isonoes, Ortofon 2M Black and a very good well spect psu on board at the mo and I cant stop playing music - addicted !! :). So maybe a different mat over the 3mm stock mat might reap further results. Thing is I've tried loads including Speed mat, Herbies which just sucked the life out of the music as if someone had taken a big blanket and put it over my speakers. The Achromat wasn't terrible, I decerned very slight change wherby the mids became less clear and sparkly which I kind of missed as detailed slightly upfront mids is where the music is for me. That said I may try an Achromat again and give it a lot more time as I sell these things very quickly when they dont immediately sound better than what I have. Something tells me though that an upgrade platter would really clean things up, I could be wrong but something really makes me believe that :scratch:


Have you tried the Oyaide mat and weight Robbie, it certainly cleared a lot of mush on me Techie:)

[MartinT]

Robert, remember that the Achromat works by being bonded to the platter. Use double-sided (thin) tape or my preferred thin layer of Vaseline. You should find it lifts a heavy veil from the music compared with the stock rubber mat.

[krugdoktor]

I think there are 2 fundamental things to do with the stock platter
1. Stop the awful ringing
2. Get a good interface between record and platter
IMHO there is no mat that can perform both tasks. The extremely favourable results with aftermarket platters (Vantage, Funk, Mike New) are a consequence of a "dead" platter. In my experience the stock mat damps the platter but is a bad interface. As written above the SDS isoplatmat despite its unassuming looks and comparatively light weight damps the platter perfectly! The choice of mat=interface affects the sound. But always remember to bond whatever goes on the platter with double sided tape or vaseline!

[johncaul]

i'm normally pretty sceptical of these kinds of things, but i noticed a vast improvement from chucking the stock platter matt, replacing with an origin live matt and buying a michell clamp. All in i think the clamp was about 20 quid and the origin matt about 40. The improvement to my ears was clearly noticeable; in fact in terms of pounds paid for marginal improvement, the impact was astonishing. Cheers. John

[RobbieGong]

Really useful guys in fact very useful and pretty clear that addressing a better mat / interface is likely to bring improvement and go some way towards tackling the slight mid hash layer I detect sometimes. Will have to look into some of the forementioned mat options now :rolleyes: Oh, and one of the above posts has reminded me that I had also previuosly bought and tried the Oyaide mat AND the Weight together. Again didn't make me feel like the music was better to the degree of justifying the £450.00 or so I'd forked out at the time for both so they were quickly sold on - looked awesome though, no doubt. I'll look to keep things simple this time though (skint ! :lol:)