My SL-1200, Success!

[RickeyM]

Success as in nothing blew up and it still works. Rescued from DJ duty. It's been painted black, tonearm rewired, new RCA cable, the PS removed and blue LED's fitted. It's been torn down too long for my memory to make a clear comparison of the before & after sound but the few LP's I've spun sound very good. The noise level is, well, with the needle resting on a album... she's dead silent! No hum or hiss at all. The paint job could have used a couple more rounds of painting & sanding but it will have to do. I was getting a real itch to put it all back together and go for a spin.
It started out as a dual voltage deck but two things I'm certain aren't gonna happen. One is a $1k platter and two, me taking it somewhere to run it on 240v. Therefore the bits for 240v operation were omitted. The enclosure for the PS was a bit of a throw-together just to see if it worked. I may get fancy with it or I may just put a cover on it and call it done. I got some Dynamat Extreme to apply to the bottom of the platter but other than that, the next upgrades will be a really nice cart and phono stage.

In the meantime I'll hang around here, reading/learning and getting more ideas :eyebrows:

http://natedigiddy.smugmug.com/ComponentMods/SL-1200Mk2/i-Nk3hCt3/0/L/104_1238-L.jpg

http://natedigiddy.smugmug.com/ComponentMods/SL-1200Mk2/i-CjM9gPD/0/L/104_1250-L.jpg

http://natedigiddy.smugmug.com/ComponentMods/SL-1200Mk2/i-XfRbK3N/0/M/104_1220-M.jpg
http://natedigiddy.smugmug.com/ComponentMods/SL-1200Mk2/i-FcgtfQJ/0/M/104_1244-M.jpg
http://natedigiddy.smugmug.com/ComponentMods/SL-1200Mk2/i-2c45g7h/0/M/104_1246-M.jpg

[Andrei]

Looking good so far Nathan - you gotta love those Blue LEDs! Couple of questions in relation to the pics: What are the feet and what is that mat?

[RickeyM]

Hi Andrei. The feet are something I saw posted over at Audiokarma (http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=247441) I'm still evaluating them but they seem to be working. The floor in my listening room is linoleum over concrete so I don't know how they'd work on other flooring. The mat is an experiment. That mat is a 1/4" piece of a acrylic that I had laying around so the experiment isn't costing me anything. I cut a round piece with a router and wet sanded it with a series of 1000/1500/2000 grit sandpapers. I was going to go at it with some rubbing compound then polishing compound and then scratch remover, but it has a frosted look to it so I didn't bother :) The platter spin-up is still brutally fast so I don't think the added weight will harm anything. I'll see if it gives any audio advantage.

[Macca]

Looking really good. The dual voltage versions are very rare in the USA according to what I have read.

[RickeyM]

My setup currently has the TT on a "Lowboy" DIY Flexi rack that has a concrete slab floor under it. I swapped out the walking cane feet/plumbing cap "feet" for a set of Dayton Audio speaker spikes. In my setup, the speaker spikes are definitely better. Tighter bass and clearer highs. The mounting studs for the spikes are the same size as the studs in the stock feet so they screw right on. Also that spiffy, frosted looking "mat" flunked the test as well. The cork/hard rubber mat I'd been using bested it. More resolution & better detail. I'll be keeping that until I can get a serious matt.

Next up, Dynamat for the underside of the platter.

[Andrei]

My setup currently has the TT on a "Lowboy" DIY Flexi rack that has a concrete slab floor under it. I swapped out the walking cane feet/plumbing cap "feet" for a set of Dayton Audio speaker spikes. In my setup, the speaker spikes are definitely better. Tighter bass and clearer highs. The mounting studs for the spikes are the same size as the studs in the stock feet so they screw right on. Also that spiffy, frosted looking "mat" flunked the test as well. The cork/hard rubber mat I'd been using bested it. More resolution & better detail. I'll be keeping that until I can get a serious matt.

Next up, Dynamat for the underside of the platter.

You will find that with the Dynamat the choice of turntable mat is less critical. The Dynamat will get rid of all resonance in the table and so the role of the mat will be simply to be a good surface for the LPs, rather than that in addition to isolation.

[RickeyM]

You will find that with the Dynamat the choice of turntable mat is less critical. The Dynamat will get rid of all resonance in the table and so the role of the mat will be simply to be a good surface for the LPs, rather than that in addition to isolation.

Sounds like I should do some more evaluating once the Dynamat is on.

[ChrisKemp]

Looking real good. And I have the 1210M5G, so me love tha blu led's:eyebrows:

[RickeyM]

My setup currently has the TT on a "Lowboy" DIY Flexi rack that has a concrete slab floor under it. I swapped out the walking cane feet/plumbing cap "feet" for a set of Dayton Audio speaker spikes. In my setup, the speaker spikes are definitely better. Tighter bass and clearer highs. The mounting studs for the spikes are the same size as the studs in the stock feet so they screw right on. Also that spiffy, frosted looking "mat" flunked the test as well. The cork/hard rubber mat I'd been using bested it. More resolution & better detail. I'll be keeping that until I can get a serious matt.

Next up, Dynamat for the underside of the platter.

UPDATE: I did a knuckle tap test on the body of the TT and the rack it sits on. It could clearly be heard through the speakers so back on went the sand filled rubber feet. Did the "test" again and very little of the knock could be heard through the speakers. I've also got some other ideas that may make that acrylic mat work after all. We'll see.