Priority of upgrading SL1200

[Meloski]

I have decided to commit to keeping my Technics SL1200MKII. The plan now is to strip it down, sandblast it and give it a powder coat paint job (color as yet to be determined, maybe a fine sand finish in black) My question is, now that I have decided to give my turntable some love, can you help me create a priority list of performance upgrades and tweaks for my baby?

[Wakefield Turntables]

There is no priority. Have a good read of what other members have done. This will give you some idea of what todo next. I would start by externalising the psu and replacing your tonearm.

[CageyH]

Agree with the above, but it depends on the budget.
New feet and a platter mat also help.

[keiron99]

New feet and a platter mat also help.

Yet in my experience, changing the feet and mat made no discernable difference whatsoever!

[Andrei]

Good question that I am sure has been asked before. For me the first step is to isoloate the TT - so that it is not impacted by floor vibrations. The isonoe feet remain the biggest upgrade for me regardless of price. But if your TT is already in a solid position you would not need that at all, let alone to be done first. If you are going to upgrade step by step, which most of us have done, then only a little planning is needed. A good example is with the tonearm; I made the mistake of rewiring my tonearm, only to upgrade it later. I would have been better off just to replace the tonearm in one go.

[Lynster]

Hi Michael,

You don't mention a budget although looking at your intro thread, it's still early days in your overall hifi development so I'll assume your TT budget is relatively modest. Why I say this is that many here could easily list top of the line bearings, power supplies and arms etc. that may be way over the top of what you may wish to spend so useless advice for you. For example, I personally rate the Mike New bearing as the best single upgrade I've done but its certainly not cheap.

I'd second Andrei's comments and just to put my slant on it, really try to make the most of what you have by care and attention in setup first. Careful placement of your TT to get it set up level on a solid shelf and out of the firing line of the speakers and playing records with the lid off is a lot cheaper than Isonoe feet though I personally have these as well and they do add the final level of refinement. Needless to say, careful alignment of your very good AT cartridge will repay in spades.

I haven't yet had the budget (or desire) to upgrade my arm but rewiring if you can DIY is cheap and certainly in my experience, extremely worth while. The KAB damper made a huge improvement to the stock arm and can be resold later if need be. I damped the magnet assembly under the platter and use an sds isoplatmat to stop platter ringing. One day i'll get an ETP platter but for the time being, these get choices me three quarters the way and again I can always sell this mat later. By the way, I use a Herbies mat over the isoplatmat and love it but a Resomat is cheaper and probably just as good or better on its own or in combination.

Finally, I bought an after market power supply (not top of the line) which gave a worthwhile sonic improvement but I suspect just relocating your original internal supply to outside the TT will be just as effective and far, far cheaper. Check the forum for comments on this.

I love the fact that you enjoy playing music everyday and the Techy gave me great satisfaction even when stock. Now mine is a wow even though I could do more! You don't really want yours out of commission for long so if you pay attention to set up, mat, arm wiring, external PS and at least a check and drop of oil on your stock bearing, it should continue to give great pleasure.

[Meloski]

There really is no budget. Upgrade where i can when i can. Maybe a platter mat first, seems easy and cheap. Thinking about tonearm rewire, external power and disabling the strobe while I have it striped down for painting.

[CageyH]

You can also try cutting a set of squash balls in half and use them as feet.
Another cheap upgrade.

[Frankyc2003]

I suspect just relocating your original internal supply to outside the TT will be just as effective and far, far cheaper. Check the forum for comments on this.

+1. By far the best VFM upgrade you can offer your deck. An after market PSU will do too, but it's a bit more pricy. It depends if you are handy with soldering a few components together.

Feet and Rewire will offer some subtle improvement, but won't propel the deck to any stratospheric heights sound wise.
Then I would offer the deck one of Mike New's bearing. You would have a serious contender by then.

IMHO...

[ChrisKemp]

If I had to do it all over again, I would not bother to spend as much money and time on upgrading the Techy arm with KAB Cardas and KAB Fluid Damper. Get a Jelco 750D instead. Fantastic arm that does alot to improving the TT. Then you upgrade the PSU to an external one (Mains Cables R Us). Then get a Funk Platter. After these three upgrades, you should concider a Mike New Bearing!