Technics Tonearm

[cuddles]

After getting the Mike New bearing and hearing the great improvement it provides :cool:, thoughts are turning to the tonearm.
Now I really like the look of the original so I'm wondering how far it can be fettled. The obvious alternative would be to just swap the whole thing for a Jelco but I've a feeling that with new tonearm wire and internal damping the original could be on a par with whatever the Jelco brings to the party. :scratch:
Is mucking about with the original worthwhile?
Ta in advance.

[cuddles]

Maybe I should add that I don't plan on using exotic cartridges - I'd be looking at sub £400 carts at the most.

[Wakefield Turntables]

You have to weight up if all the costs of pimping up your 1210 arm are less than buying a semi-decent 2nd hand one, if not then why not see if you can source a better arm. With the regards the sub £400 cartridge, is it MM or MC :scratch: This is a well catered arena for cartridges with some great Denon, Audiotechnica, Ortofon, Goldring (and several others) cartridges which can be purchased. We need more info on what you intend to get out of your deck.

[nickbaba]

I know opinions differ, but personally speaking, I could hear a noticeable improvement when I swapped out my Technics arm for a Jelco 750.
I did some tweaks to my stock Technics arm (Cardas re-wire, KAB damper) but the Jelco still sounded like an upgrade to me, IMHO of course.

[cuddles]

Cheers Nick - thanks for the reply. As far as cartridges I'm pretty happy with what I'm using at the mo - Denon DL160 and AT440mla. I think I'm looking at bang for buck really as everyone is.

[Ammonite Audio]

I know opinions differ, but personally speaking, I could hear a noticeable improvement when I swapped out my Technics arm for a Jelco 750.
I did some tweaks to my stock Technics arm (Cardas re-wire, KAB damper) but the Jelco still sounded like an upgrade to me, IMHO of course.

That was my experience too. The Jelco sounded significantly better than the Techy arm, even after an Audio Origami rewire (not foam filled, though).

[cuddles]

Thanks. It looks like the original arm has limiting factors that no amount of upgrading can get over. I'd be good to try something other than the Jelco. Are there any other detatchable headshell arms out there that are suitable for the Techie?

[joniakaidiot]

I'm waiting to be able to pay my purchase of Audio Technica AT-1005 arm soon.
Looking forward to install that into my SL-1210.

I'll let you know how I like when I have it running.

It'll be a big upgrade for me as my original Technics arm is damaged (bent, I guess). I haven't heard "well-working" stock arm.
Oh, and my original arm is rewired and cotton damped internally.

[RobbieGong]

Thanks. It looks like the original arm has limiting factors that no amount of upgrading can get over. I'd be good to try something other than the Jelco. Are there any other detatchable headshell arms out there that are suitable for the Techie?

That definately is the reality in my experience. The arm pretty good to a point. My 2M black ( a top notch cart for sure) made sweet music on my stock arm, however, it was once I'd got my meaty external power supply that I could somehow tell that the platter and arm where now apparent weak links. This was after Mike New bearing, KAB fluid damper and timestep psu were onboard. The bigger and better psu revealed weaknesses that I felt I had to address. It really depends on how far you want to go ;)