Micro Seiki MA202 on a techy

[337alant]

Has anyone tried any of these Micro Seiki MA202 on a techy 1200?
They look a nice quality arm :eyebrows:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vinatge-Tonearm-Micro-Seiki-MA-202-TONE-ARM-/251461412158?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3a8c44a53e


Alan

[CageyH]

Yes, there are a couple of users on here. Twotone has one, as does RobbieGong.

[337alant]

Ah good look forward to hearing from them :)

Alan

[twotone]

Hi Alan, that's a good price, I paid about £320 for mine posted from Hong Kong but that included an MS HL-202 headshell and tonearm cable which I replaced as it was a bit of a dodgy fit but otherwise the tonearm and headshell were/are mint.

Great tonearms though and a big improvement on the stock Technics tonearm IMO.

Tony

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?29446-Stock-arm-gone

[337alant]

Twotone
Thanks for the link to your thread the arm looks fantastic :stalks:;)
Im also going to buy an new interconnect for the one I bought which was 7 quid more expensive than the one I posted but in even better nick :eyebrows:
I have some spare head shels so I will just use one of them but I must admit the stock one looks very nice

Ill also have to have a look at the Pivot to spindle distance as at the moment I only have a rega arm board :scratch:

Alan

[twotone]

Twotone
Thanks for the link to your thread the arm looks fantastic :stalks:;)
Im also going to buy an new interconnect for the one I bought which was 7 quid more expensive than the one I posted but in even better nick :eyebrows:
I have some spare head shels so I will just use one of them but I must admit the stock one looks very nice

Ill also have to have a look at the Pivot to spindle distance as at the moment I only have a rega arm board :scratch:

Alan

Hi Alan, I bought a 'Speedy Steve' ebony armboard for my arm, costs about £100 but Steve set's the arm up from the template and drills the holes that you need including the arm rest hole, worth the price IMO however you can buy blank armboards from a guy in Greece via ebay for about half of that price or, I think, MCRUS, does them too but their price is about the same as Steve's.

Tony

[Marco]

Indeed - but, sonically and aesthetically, there's simply no comparison between Steve's bespoke-made armboards, and what the guy in Greece sells... :nono:

Aside from anything else, it's the unique sonic qualities of ebony, and how it both synergises with the inherent 'sound signature' of the Technics, and improves the performance of every tonearm I've used, or others have used with it, that makes Steve's armboards rather special and desirable items to have fitted to one's T/T! :)

Marco.

[337alant]

Indeed - but, sonically and aesthetically, there's simply no comparison between Steve's bespoke-made armboards, and what the guy in Greece sells... :nono:

Aside from anything else, it's the unique sonic qualities of ebony, and how it both synergises with the inherent 'sound signature' of the Technics, and improves the performance of every tonearm I've used, or others have used with it, that makes Steve's armboards rather special and desirable items to have fitted to one's T/T! :)

Marco.

Marco why did you have to go and say that :doh:
Now I wont be able to sleep until I have one:D
Alan

[337alant]

I have just bought an arm lead from Audioachtung? to try, looks good and reasonable :eyebrows:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201084582512?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Alan

[twotone]

I have just bought an arm lead from MCRU to try, looks good and reasonable :eyebrows:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201084582512?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Alan

Alan, you should have contacted Keith (I think) direct via here and he would have given you a discount (still will likely) but I believe he will send you out a few cables to try then send back the ones that you don't want.

Looks a good cable, let us know how you get on, I bought a silver copper coated cable from e-bay (Yiannis) for about £50 but it's a bit bassy although it was advertised as such.

Tony

PS, totally agree with Marco re the Speedy Steve armboards although I couldn't say anything about the sonics as I've no idea whether it makes a difference but the armboard looks great on the Technics and Steve is a total craftsman.

[337alant]

Tony thanks for the tip
Damn didnt know he sold them direct on here ?, I have other turntables as well so would be interested in trying some different ones
I nearly bought a one of Yanis leads for my 12" Jelco on my 401, I probably still will when I stop spending on other stuff :lol:

Alan

[RobbieGong]

The MA 202 is a sweet arm and matches the Techie beautifully both aesthetically and sonically IMHO and experience. As Marco says, the combination of Speedy Steves Ebony armboard and the Yannis cable is just very hard to beat ;)

[337alant]

Message received and understood (10:4) Robbie Im getting there
Just bought some Isonoe feet

Alan

[337alant]

Ill also have to have a look at the Pivot to spindle distance as at the moment I only have a rega arm board
Just had a look n Vinyl Engine and the Pivot to spindle dist is 222mm same as the Rega arm board which I have so Ill try that for now
I have my sons Ortofon 2M blue to try as well :eyebrows:

Alan

[twotone]

Just had a look n Vinyl Engine and the Pivot to spindle dist is 222mm same as the Rega arm board which I have so Ill try that for now
I have my sons Ortofon 2M blue to try as well :eyebrows:

Alan

Hi Alan, I have a Reson Reca MM cart which is supposed to be 'up there' with a 2M Black (I've never heard the Ortofon), the guy I bought the cart from told me that it absolutely sings with a valve phone stage so I bought a Firebottle phono amp second hand which the previous owner matched the capacitiance to the Reson cart for me and I have to say that my TT set up now sounds the best that I've ever heard vinyl in my own system.

I put on a CD on earlier tonight and had to put a record on and switch the CD player off, it was like 'oh yes!' when I did.

Tony

[ragwo]

Is it possible to use a rega armbase with the MA 202t? The effective length and pivot to spindle are the same according to Vinyl Engine, but I doubt the mounting holes etc are compatible. How much hassle would it be just to test the tonearm? I have an Origin Live armbase laying around and I'm considering a MA 202.

[337alant]

Is it possible to use a rega armbase with the MA 202t? The effective length and pivot to spindle are the same according to Vinyl Engine, but I doubt the mounting holes etc are compatible. How much hassle would it be just to test the tonearm? I have an Origin Live armbase laying around and I'm considering a MA 202.
The holes in the rega Armbase don't line up properly so I just drilled 3 more holes plus 1 for the arm rest, took 5 mins, its no hassel realy and it fits perfectly and sounds great with the Ortofon 2m blue. Only down side is I need a bit more weight for the counterbalance as the weight touches the lid with it fully extended
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2921/14380609866_81caf2fb4f_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nULoiq)IMG_1221 (https://flic.kr/p/nULoiq) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3857/14217134690_d90e8851bd_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nEjwPU)IMG_1218 (https://flic.kr/p/nEjwPU) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3857/14400373091_d232d73ac1_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nWvFdF)IMG_1212 (https://flic.kr/p/nWvFdF) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

Alan

[ragwo]

The holes in the rega Armbase don't line up properly so I just drilled 3 more holes plus 1 for the arm rest, took 5 mins, its no hassel realy and it fits perfectly and sounds great with the Ortofon 2m blue. Only down side is I need a bit more weight for the counterbalance as the weight touches the lid with it fully extended
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2921/14380609866_81caf2fb4f_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nULoiq)IMG_1221 (https://flic.kr/p/nULoiq) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3857/14217134690_d90e8851bd_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nEjwPU)IMG_1218 (https://flic.kr/p/nEjwPU) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3857/14400373091_d232d73ac1_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nWvFdF)IMG_1212 (https://flic.kr/p/nWvFdF) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

Alan
That's a beautiful turntable! :)
Thanks a lot for posting pictures. How did you align the tonearm to the platter?

[twotone]

Alan, you can get a supplementary weight, I've got one, costs about £30 on e-bay, mine's came with the arm.

[twotone]

That's a beautiful turntable! :)
Thanks a lot for posting pictures. How did you align the tonearm to the platter?

The arm moves up and down with the small lever off to the right which is used for adjusting VTA.

[ragwo]

The arm moves up and down with the small lever off to the right which is used for adjusting VTA.
Sorry, I was thinking about how you found the right mounting position for the tonearm before you drilled the mounting holes in the arm base.

[337alant]

The Rega arm base has a PTSD of 222mm the same as the Micro Sieki so the hole is centred at that distance and the 3 small holes are drilled to suit the RB251 3 point mounting .
The main hole for the rega is larger than the Micro seiki arm tube so to centre the arm in the hole I needed a spacer which would fit the outside diameter of the arm and the diameter of the drilled hole.
You can just use insulating tape and wind it round in an even layer until it fills the gap or find a plastic tube that matches, by chance I found that the top from a stain devils bottle filled the gap with just one turn of insulating tape on the outer diameter of it.
So now I know the arm is centred at 222mm but I need matching holes for the collar so I spun the collar so the holes fell in between the rega holes, marked them with a marker pen popped them with a centre punch and drilled them on my drill press in the work shop.
Hope this is easy to understand

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2936/14224340227_2f28b8bf55_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/nEXsMi)IMG_1246 (https://flic.kr/p/nEXsMi) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr


Alan

[ragwo]

The Rega arm base has a PTSD of 222mm the same as the Micro Sieki so the hole is centred at that distance and the 3 small holes are drilled to suit the RB251 3 point mounting .
The main hole for the rega is larger than the Micro seiki arm tube so to centre the arm in the hole I needed a spacer which would fit the outside diameter of the arm and the diameter of the drilled hole.
You can just use insulating tape and wind it round in an even layer until it fills the gap or find a plastic tube that matches, by chance I found that the top from a stain devils bottle filled the gap with just one turn of insulating tape on the outer diameter of it.
So now I know the arm is centred at 222mm but I need matching holes for the collar so I spun the collar so the holes fell in between the rega holes, marked them with a marker pen popped them with a centre punch and drilled them on my drill press in the work shop.
Hope this is easy to understand

Alan
Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation :)

[twotone]

Sorry, I was thinking about how you found the right mounting position for the tonearm before you drilled the mounting holes in the arm base.

My arm came with a template which you can also get from vinylengine however Steve drilled the holes for me, using the template, in the ebony armboard as he has an old Technics Sl-1200 deck that he uses for this purpose when making his armboards, previously I think you had to send the deck and arm to him so that he could mount the arm in the proper position.

When I received the armboard it came with Steve's instructions on how to mount the armboard in the Technics and how to remove the old stock arm which is pretty simple really.

[337alant]

Alan, you can get a supplementary weight, I've got one, costs about £30 on e-bay, mine's came with the arm.

Thanks that would be ideal, do you have a link to them on Ebay?

Alan

[twotone]

Thanks that would be ideal, do you have a link to them on Ebay?

Alan

Hi Alan, had a look last night but there wasn't anything, keep an eye on the usual sellers of MS tonearms as they have them from time to time, incidentally my arm weight is no where near the lid on the Technics and it's pretty far back too maybe about 7mm from the end of the arm.