View Full Version : My Technics SL-1210 Mk 2
Hi all!
I'm new to this forum, and I hope that to introduce my Techie should be the right way to begin.
This is the third one I have, the first one was a SL 1200 bough used from a friend of mine more than ten years ago but sold because a substantial inactivity.
The second one was a SL 1210 bought new, some years ago, that has been upgraded with Kabusa damping fluid and Kabusa Clamp, and also a different mat (was Donut + Speed by Extremephono).
It was quite good but I have replaced it with a DPS II der plattenspieler, that was a great turntable (was my golden hifi era, when I was an audiophile). So the DPS has been replaced by a very rare Benz Turntable (mostly based on Empire Troubadour, with and acrilyc plinth and some mods).
Than a series of strange circumstances made me buy another Technics, in very good contitions tah have been unused for the last 15 years... This turntable belonged to a priest that when was a young was a dj.
So I've started again with this Technics. I have installed again the Kabusa silicon damper and in a quite short time I have bought some items in graphite: headshell, mat and a clamp.
Also I've made a base similar to the one of DPS der Plattenspieler: a granite base resting on a mat in rubbery material, that works well.
And the last upgrade that has been made is the set of Isonoe feet + their sorbothane boots, that brought another small improvement.
In the next days / weeks a new improvement should arrive, regarding arm and armboard.
Here is it...
http://i.imgbox.com/CegRBxj8.jpg
http://i.imgbox.com/v36IOq2Y.jpg
http://i.imgbox.com/DhaKs4oc.jpg
ChrisKemp
22-06-2014, 17:46
Good looking Techy! But I think you have tighten the Isonoe feet way too much. The padding shuould not be pressed in like yours...
12700
Eugenio
Hello from New Zealand. That is an interesting story and I hope your new Technics 1200 journey will be a good one. Thanks for the pictures, they are always welcome.
@Chris: thank you for information, I unscrewed the Isonoe feet a little.
@Andrei: thanks for your comment
@Chris thanks again for the tip, now the turntable is really damped.
I think the least I can do to thank you is to post a photo of the final result (sorry for the crap pic) :)
http://i.imgbox.com/2VIDOOhm.jpg
http://i.imgbox.com/OUfIfQoT.jpg
ChrisKemp
02-07-2014, 08:40
Hi eu_73.
That is how I have my Isonoe footers too. Not fully screwed in and on sorbotane feet. Next I will order the sorbotane feet that fits the Isonoes.
Good work and thanks for the photos:eyebrows:
Hi Chris,
I'm doing the reverse path: now my Technics is without Isonoe sorbothane feet, and Isonoe feet rest directly on the granite base.
Now it seems to sounds a bit more clear, and also with a small increase in the sense of rhythm.
Try to remove your sorbothane feet below Isonoe feet, and please tell me what are your impressions.
ChrisKemp
02-07-2014, 16:05
I did try it. But because I live in a house with wooden floor the Isonoe made the techy jumpy. With the sorbotan it sounds great. I will order the sorbotan feet from Mains Cables soon.
I have Techniboots on my Isonone feet, with the deck being supported on a rack on a suspended wooden floor. The Techniboots helped my set up, but I am hoping for a wall shelf soon.
I have Techniboots on my Isonone feet, with the deck being supported on a rack on a suspended wooden floor. The Techniboots helped my set up, but I am hoping for a wall shelf soon.
I've the exact same set up Kevin however:eyebrows:I also have a wall shelf but haven't fitted it yet, I bought it in January from a guy on the Wam but my wife has decided that we are doing up the living room so I didn't want to mount :eek: the shelf until that work was completed.
That could take a couple of years though judging by how slow we are at 'doing up' rooms:doh:
Yesterday has arrived the last part of the upgrade.
The news are the Audiomods arm and the ebony tonearm board by Steve / Magna Audio
To celebrate the occasion, I have reinstalled the Benz Reference cartrige.
http://s23.postimg.org/fpasab7yz/DSC07614.jpg
The "heart" of the arm
http://s23.postimg.org/w1ku01maj/DSC07615.jpg
... closer, with a better view of the masterpiece by Steve
http://s23.postimg.org/nlv9ijjff/DSC07617.jpg
overview
http://s23.postimg.org/d5f5g7kez/DSC07618.jpg
view from above
http://s23.postimg.org/jo7zt4wm3/DSC07620.jpg
and finally a picture of the step-up dedicated to the benz
http://s23.postimg.org/apdc2d2cb/DSC07623.jpg
Looking good, but how does it sound?
ChrisKemp
09-07-2014, 19:45
Wow, best looking arm I know. How does it sound? Can you compare against KAB re-wired arm/ Fluid Damper? Congrats!!!
I have this arm from a too short time to understand how it sounds.
My previous arm was the standard Technics witouth any rewiring, just with the Kab fluid damper.
The main difference is the speed and ease that this arm has in unraveling even the most complex musical textures.
And also the bass seems to be more substantial and extended, as it may be extended the low-range of a speaker with a 16.5 cm woofer...
I'll have a better idea in the next few days, I have not listened to the performance of voices, neither male nor female.
What is certain is that this arm is really beautiful :D
337alant
12-07-2014, 11:04
The audio mods are looks excellent EU 73 well done
I have one fitted to my Gyro deck and it really was an improvement over a stock RB300 which sounds grey by comparison
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5503/11213855903_f956623303_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/i5VWFa). (https://flic.kr/p/i5VWFa) by 337alant (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr
Alan
Some fine tuning
Added the Audiomods lighter copper shim, the low range had a small improvement and now is deeper and a bit more "round".
http://s23.postimg.org/lqrmu5zuj/image.jpg
I'm very satisfied.
The next step is to try with a lighter shim, because in this configuration the resonance frequency is at the low limit of the recommended values (with the test disc it resonates between 9 Hz and 7hz), so I would like to increase this value, albeit slightly.
So you should be, very nice turntable you have there.:eek:
Last update with Funk Firm Mk1 Platter
http://i.imgur.com/Ph5GP0w.jpg
and a minor update is the graphite shim instead of the copper one
http://i.imgur.com/HhWotlm.jpg
... a crop of the picture above
http://i.imgur.com/b9Tv801.jpg
I believe that the downside of use of accessories in graphite - and I think it's almost exclusively 'guilt' of the mat - is that it tends to dirty the stylus
I partially solved by gluing with glue spray on the graphite mat a carbon disc (the Speed mat by Extremephono), which it also helped to further stabilize the sound image.
Wlooking good. Have you finished with the upgrades?
Hi Kevin,
not finished yet, I have scheduled 3 other upgrades:
1) a cosmetic mod with a new faceplate that will be painted in glossy black (I will keep the original one)
2) external power supply (the one in this (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?41086-SL-1200-outboard-power-supply) thread), that is already in my hands and will be installed in Christmast holidays
3) a new bearing: mine has about 20 years of work and I think I'll buy a Ianmac bearing (instead of a new original one) that seems to have an excellent quality/price ratio.
Looks like a good plan, but I would do the cosmetic upgrade last.
Looks like a good plan, but I would do the cosmetic upgrade last.
Maybe I'll do the cosmetic and the power supply upgrades at the same time, while the replacing of bearing seems to be a very easy and fast work.
As long as you don't damage the screws. :eyebrows:
It is all relatively easy. The worst bit is soldering.
The bearing should make the biggest difference in my opinion.
Power supply has been just replaced
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exvvqtjWp3o
...and it has been a nice improvement, more than I would have expected
Just wait until you replace the bearing. :eek:
I am also very confident about replacing the bearing, which will be the last upgrade (apart from the aesthetic one)
My point is that if you think the PSU was good, the bearing will be better.
My point is that if you think the PSU was good, the bearing will be better.
I hope you're right :)
Some pics of the inside of the external power supply
http://s21.postimg.org/t12t0w2ev/IMG_1759_1.jpg
Detail of the R-Core transformer
http://s18.postimg.org/eihoc547t/IMG_1761_1.jpg
...and of the other components that appear to be of good quality, including the Toshiba transistors
http://s11.postimg.org/49xltnbc3/IMG_1760_1.jpg
Clive197
13-11-2015, 10:37
What a lovely bit of kit now nearly all the mods done. Enjoy.
ChrisKemp
13-11-2015, 12:23
Very very nice. You come a long way in a short time! Love the tonearm! I was vey close buying it myself. How much did the Ebony armboard from Speedy Steve cost?
@Clive, thank you, I really like my 1210, it is really a very nice turntable
@Chris: thanks. I've bought it last year, it costed me about 130 pounds. Not exactly cheap but it is really an artwork :-)
Ianmac Bearing is arrived a few days ago:
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/12246603_10207821660398219_4287621484597677452_n.j pg?oh=39af14e6973f3e7c1e80517456979576&oe=56E946FC
The original one:
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/12241728_10207821973246040_4903731192477373277_n.j pg?oh=2d54f18ff434cb1f0ed03fa79209659e&oe=56E76A12
and the new one that weights more than double
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/12274437_10207821975446095_438301703019437494_n.jp g?oh=4aa2caa5bb8886be887101a03280992d&oe=56B003E1
And I have to agree (again) with CageyH, improvements are easily recognizable.
The very first impression is of a further increase in silence, which was already very good, the attacks seem to be even faster and net, and there seems to be a another bit of extra warmth in tonal balance.
:thumbsup:
Time to enjoy the music!
An upgrade scheduled for Christmast is arrived few weeks in advance :-)
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/12341499_10207899333980010_4763598053202948379_n.j pg?oh=ceddf3c58e1a66678ced09484a0a77d4&oe=56D57B6E
Oh, loverly! I'm sure you'll enjoy that one!
An upgrade scheduled for Christmast is arrived few weeks in advance :-)
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/12341499_10207899333980010_4763598053202948379_n.j pg?oh=ceddf3c58e1a66678ced09484a0a77d4&oe=56D57B6E
Well how does it sound?:popcorn:
Oh, loverly! I'm sure you'll enjoy that one!
Hi Mark, thank you.
I hope so :-)
Well how does it sound?:popcorn:
Hi Andy, I've got no idea on it; the cart is in its box, I will mount it in Christmast holidays :-)
Before the festive intake of Grappa begins I hope?
That looks like the final piece in the jigsaw to me. That should sound superb in your system.
Enjoy the Christmas holidays.
Finally the Delos has been mounted
https://scontent-frt3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xla1/v/t1.0-9/1934108_10208066574480918_1847123391017249175_n.jp g?oh=c7551fcda323eca11abc9af7c4182def&oe=570D05DBł
It's pretty good :-)
And finally is arrived the last step of the upgrade (except for the new glossy black faceplate).
It has been strongly inspired by Mike New Baseplate, I have used a copper 2 mm baseplate hand have drilled the center hole to hold the bearing and the other 3 little holes that holds the bearing supports, a little larger than their size so that the new copper base can lean in planar way on the surface.
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/t31.0-8/12514044_10208168401306525_8519917041822273217_o.j pg
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t31.0-8/10286969_10208168401586532_784709589431024872_o.jp g
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/t31.0-8/1502587_10208168401066519_7803196866678424459_o.jp g
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlp1/t31.0-8/12401789_10208168402066544_5691062736869668962_o.j pg
A prototype of antistatic trap, based on tnt-audio project.
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xal1/v/t1.0-9/12540886_10208212692453776_7356059494647229261_n.j pg?oh=a23483c3e35dfe12eff518de50398f3f&oe=573AB915
It works!
A prototype of antistatic trap, based on tnt-audio project.
It works!
Do you have a link to this?
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/stat_trap_e.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/stat_trap_e.html
http://www.orologiepassioni.com/listing/skin2/immagini/like.gif
A prototype of antistatic trap, based on tnt-audio project.
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xal1/v/t1.0-9/12540886_10208212692453776_7356059494647229261_n.j pg?oh=a23483c3e35dfe12eff518de50398f3f&oe=573AB915
It works!
Looks exciting. That really is an improvement on the cheap side.
Wakefield Turntables
18-01-2016, 09:56
Could be worth a try.
The latest update has a cartridge directly from the late 90s, that hsa been fully regenerated with a new damper and stylus.
I'm still undecided to define the new entry a charming old lady or an attractive twenty years old girl, or a mix of both :-D
Here it is, my Van den Hul Grasshopper IV GLA
https://melius.club/uploads/monthly_2018_06/00C7D6DA-A9BE-4080-9F3F-AADEAF19D7E7.jpeg.42fbe4c15e5c0328246ebb14f6da3211 .jpeg
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