Technics SL1210 Mk3 - a road to sonic bliss

[Frankyc2003]

Good Morning everyone,

In the last few weeks the techie has had a few major upgrades and I thought it was time to draw some conclusions...

It started its life as a forgotten DJ deck in a heavy smoker room, god knows what else went into it! I got it for a very reasonable hundred quids. The arm had seen some heavy impact in its short life and was bearing all the bruises for it... So in one word, your box standard UK techie, abused and never loved...

Straight home after a good extensive clean, my Lyra Clavis got bolted on the headshell, and off we went with some tunes. I was (and still am) using a Ming Da MC2006 valved phono with some tasty Lundhal MC transformers.

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz275/frankyc2003/20121111_091133.jpg

My original post said roughly:
Highly engaging presentation, Get up and Go quality to it, Fun, Highly dynamic and offering a fairly deep soundstage. That's on the positive side of things.
On the less positive side, Mid and Highs felt rather congested (at times even slightly distorted) which was probably because the tonearm was buggered. Bass was heavy and sometimes a bit uncontrolled... The soundstage sounded restrained and never escaped the confine of the speakers.

All in all, a totally different presentation to my Michell 'Quasi' Orbe, SME 309 combo.

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz275/frankyc2003/20120519_165254.jpg

I love the analytical quality of that combination, it is very even handed in the reproduction of all frequencies, to the point it almost sounds grey! (This comment will not make me new friends I understand, but this is how it always sounded to my ears, :eek:).

So when the techie arrived, it certainly ruffled some feathers to say the least. I gave both plenty of time to gauge each other. I rebuilt the stock techie tonearm. Did some micro soldering, upgraded the tonearm cable to some nice shielded stuff from Cambridge Audio...

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz275/frankyc2003/20130113_135703.jpg

The deck was still great, the tonearm felt it cleaned up loads of distortion, but I knew that even on a budget, it could do a lot better (I have read so much about it from all fervent AOS members!)

I then bought Jamie's bits and bobs from his Inspire Hifi upgraded deck. Namely, a Heavy Aluminium loaded platter (as per the Monarch and Baby Monarch), a KAD trough and paddle, and his stock arm Cardas rewired and sonically damped.

So now, the only way was to externalise the PSU, as the new platter was too deep to be spinning with traffo and PSU inside... You can see all details of the procedure here:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22954

And finally to complete the picture, I snatched some nice Isonoes feet from Stephen (Worrasf).

So to summarize, for a little less than 500 GBP, I managed to put this little beauty together.:mental:

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz275/frankyc2003/20130113_152919.jpg

But, HOW DOES IT SOUNDS?! are you all screaming in the back!
Well, please bear in mind that I am not reviewing one single component, but the overall effect all those upgrades had. So nothing but subjective impressions here.

Well, due to a knee injury, I spent most of this weekend listening to the deck, day in, day out...
It basically sounds AMAZING! The first thing that shocked me was the Slam and Chromatic richness of the lower register. It's not just a big wallop of bass, it has texture and richness.
The dynamics are stunning, like a young puppy, always ready for some action. Transients benefited hugely from the multiple upgrade. A note stops and starts with lifelike rapidity.
The restrained soundstage gained a few feet of width. More importantly, the overall presentation commended utter attention, no more drifting away... I am glued to it, and the records are just playing non-stop. Even from the room next door, you can still feel the wonderful grip the techie has on the music.
The slightly congested top end has been totally cured I feel, and that contributed to extending the soundstage IMHO.

So a little bit of homework, patience and I have been rewarded with the best analogue source I have owned. As I said the Michell and SME is a great combo, but I feel this isn't what I want after all. My SBT and Arcam DAC, playing some 96KHz HD tracks offers details and accuracy, but the Techie just gets you on the dance floor, concert hall, roadie van (cross the unwanted options!)...

Bang for Bucks, provided you are happy to get your hands a little bit dirty, the Technics sl1200 is an absolute winner! To my ears at least!:ner:

PS. as budget is tight at the moment, I am dreading to think what a Mike New's bearing would sound like, I am scared at night to even contemplate how great a Paul Hynes PSU and regulation would be! Please help Me!!!!
:cool:

[RobbieGong]

Hi Francois, Nice musings. You are already beyond help my man :lol:. Sorry to break the news (smile) - been there and done that. From the moment I started upgrading my Techie I knew I was in deep and wouldn't stop, mainly for the reasons you've highlighted, being that the Techie really does reward and it's the feedback of sonic joy that is so addictive. Like me you go to bed with the key upgrades on your mind ie: Mike New bearing etc, Yep ! you're in deep already but it's a buzz so enjoy, when it all comes together it's a high to behold ! :)

[Marco]

Great write-up, Francois! Thanks for sharing that with us, and I'm so glad that all your hard work has paid off - and especially with how your Techy has seen off your Orbe/309... So much for modded Techies only being 'glorified DJ decks', eh? :eyebrows:

Of course, nothing you've written comes as a shock to me. Like Robert, been there, done most of that! Once you successfully expose what the Techy does so well (most of which you've highlighted), there's no going back, as quite simply, NO other T/T I've heard does it better.

The Techy, no matter how much you modify it, will never be a 'soundstage demon', like Michell T/Ts, but when suitably fettled, it's capable of some serious musical resolution, and by fook, does it Boogie Like a Bastard!! :eek:

The good news is, you've still got a LOT more to come, so be prepared wet a few more pairs of pants with excitement before the journey comes to an end... ;)

Enjoy!

Marco.

[Tarzan]

Francois glad you are liking your 1210, l too had an Orbe many moons ago very nice deck, pretty with the SMEV/ Lyra Helikon aboard, visitors seemed to be drawn to the thing, but l certainly do not miss it, two things that stood out to me going fromthe Orbe to SL1200 was the solidity of images, speed stability- oh thirdly:):) was the Techie's musicality was beyond every TT l had had previously.

[Frankyc2003]

Thanks guys,

I know it feels so weird to actually realise that £250 modded deck can see a 3K deck out on so many points. It took a while to come to terms with it...

As said the Orbe is a beautiful piece of engineering, it looks stunning in it's pure bareness and 'design for function' kind of way.

No surprise that the late Steve Job had one. But once you have paid the price for a solid arm (SME IV or V), got all the upgrades possible, there is a big gaping hole in your wallet, and a sort of feeling of being let down.

No point fooling yourself, the Techie can DO BETTER... I lived with the Orbe for 2 1/2 years and got great satisfaction out of it, but also great frustration... I guess the final straw was the addition of a SBT in my setup. It did offer the luxury of HD audio and was a sort of eye opener.

I was very excited by it's purity of tune and balance, great dynamics and sheer brilliance on 96KHz stuff.
The Orbe was lagging behind... It offered a huge soundstage, but wasn't convincing me. It felt more 'Digital' than the digital source itself...

Obviously there is no point expecting to get an Analogue source to sound the same as a digital one. But you want the same excitement from your analogue source, and the techie DID exactly that!!!

As any serious Audiophiles always say, TRUST YOUR HEARS! NOT YOUR EYES...

And buy some MUSIC with the money you saved!

:cool: