Moerch Tone-arm upgrade experience?

[Mille162]

I’ve got an offer from someone finished with this hobby to buy his 12” Moersch DP-6 blue dot tonearm in 24k gold. Its unfortunatley Going to need a custom board to mount it, however the price is just too good to pass up. Anyone have any experience with these arms, either on a 1200, or any other table?

Was debating an arm upgrade (at full price) or moving the 1210 to a second room and replacing the entire table with a Mcintosh mt-10...this offer from my friemd has me thinking though! This is where I’m currently at with my set-up:

Technics SL1210 M5G
-Mike New Bearing
-Herbies Way Excellent II 4mm mat
-Timestep HE III PSU
-Ortofon Quintet Black S MC Cartridge
-Ortofon LH4000 Headshell
-Ortofon LW800S Headshell Leads
-Isonoe Feet
-Transparent Audio RCA box
-Transparent Audio RCA Super MM2 interconnects
-Transparent PRPL2 power cord

Feeding into Mcintosh C50 preamp (loaded at 25ohms), Mcintosh MC452 amp, Egglestonworks Rosa speakers. All matching Transparent Super level connections throughout.

[Ammonite Audio]

You're probably already aware of this, but you cannot fit a 12" arm to a Technics SL-1210 without resorting to some sort of outrigger mount; indeed fitting a tonearm longer than around 9 1/2" to a Technics is usually not possible.

That aside, I have no experience of Moerch arms, nor the McIntosh turntable, but there are plenty of lovely 9" tonearms that will fit very nicely on a Technics and it's not hard to improve on the standard tonearm. If you like the sound of the Technics and the way it plays music, I'd invest in a replacement 9" arm rather than think about a whole new deck.

[Mille162]

You're probably already aware of this, but you cannot fit a 12" arm to a Technics SL-1210 without resorting to some sort of outrigger mount; indeed fitting a tonearm longer than around 9 1/2" to a Technics is usually not possible.

That aside, I have no experience of Moerch arms, nor the McIntosh turntable, but there are plenty of lovely 9" tonearms that will fit very nicely on a Technics and it's not hard to improve on the standard tonearm. If you like the sound of the Technics and the way it plays music, I'd invest in a replacement 9" arm rather than think about a whole new deck.

I can’t really find any examples of anyone who has done it but rough measurments had me thinking I could make a generic baseplate and the 12” arm would work. It a very highly regarded and reviewed arm and i’d Be getting it as about 1/4 retail and I know it’s new and never installed (he has two and the second one was for a 2nd cartridge on a multi-arm setup that he never got around to installing). Given the popularity of the 1200model and the trend for audiophiles to go with 12”arms, I really expected to find more people who have attempted this. I was previously considering the Origin Live Conqueror but this Moerch seems to have better reviews (and would be about 1/2 the price for me!)

Has anyone heard of someone putting a 12” arm on (any brand)?

[User211]

I can’t really find any examples of anyone who has done it but rough measurments had me thinking I could make a generic baseplate and the 12” arm would work. It a very highly regarded and reviewed arm and i’d Be getting it as about 1/4 retail and I know it’s new and never installed (he has two and the second one was for a 2nd cartridge on a multi-arm setup that he never got around to installing). Given the popularity of the 1200model and the trend for audiophiles to go with 12”arms, I really expected to find more people who have attempted this. I was previously considering the Origin Live Conqueror but this Moerch seems to have better reviews (and would be about 1/2 the price for me!)

Has anyone heard of someone putting a 12” arm on (any brand)?

I have a DP-6 but on a Michell deck. You could always buy a 9 inch arm wand as I would guess that would be the only difference between yours and a standard DP-6 I suspect?

Just a fairly obvious thought if it hadn't crossed your mind already.

Bloody good tonearms, though. Enjoy.

[Vrajbasi]

Lovely tonearms and a very enthusiastic designer who provides excellent service simply stunning indeed. I loved the DP6 I once owned on a Amazon turntable. I have a friend who has a DP8 who prefers it to his Graham phantom 111 at nearly double the price these days. The Moerch tonearms are very musical and graceful not all Bums and tits etc just highly musical.