Qwin
17-11-2020, 21:47
An SL-1200 MkII deck I did up and veneered for my other half a few years back needed some TLC.
The original arm had been on several decks and the bearings were about done.
I've never liked the Plastic yoke for mounting the bearings on the Technics arm, yes it is elctro plated plastic, I drilled one and got a surprise.
I didn't want to spend mega bucks, so a used Rega was on the cards and I picked up a nice Moth badged RB250 on ePay for a good bit less than the price of a used Techie arm.
Fitting the Rega arm is not straight forward, the Rega Platters sit high up, while the Technics sits low into the plinth. Consequently the Rega arm has to be mounted well down into the Technics mounting well, which causes problems of its own, but all these things can be resolved.
I also wanted to use Baerwald alignment and had read the stories about cartridges barely fitting in the slots and exaggerated twisting of the cartridge being needed.
After a bit of research it appeared this was due to the arm being mounted at the stock Rega Spindle to Pivot of 222mm. To achieve the Baerwald Null points, the effective length has to be increased, hence cartridges at the end of the slots.
If the arm is mounted at 219.5mm the Baerwald Null points can be achieved at the stock Rega effective length of 237mm and twist is down to only 1.22 deg.
With this in mind I set to on my project:
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/Tech2/T2_027.JPG
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/Tech2/T2_028.JPG
I treated the deck to a new Lid, Platter matt, continuous Copper Litz rewire and an Ortofon 2M Blue.
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/Tech2/T2_029.JPG
The Armboard is Ebony and was custom made by Steve at Magna Audio. Michell adjustable VTA and Technoweight were fitted.
I modified the Rega arm lift to bring it up to a suitable position, the stock item is almost unusable when mounted in this location.
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/Tech2/T2_030.JPG
This is what the cartridge looks like mounted for Baerwald at 219.5mm S to P. The 1.22 deg twist is barely noticeable and its well positioned in the slots.
The full project and a Baerwald alignment protractor for Rega arms mounted at 219.5mm can be found on my website blog here:
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Tech2_HTML/Tech2_Thumbs.html
I hope she likes it :)
The original arm had been on several decks and the bearings were about done.
I've never liked the Plastic yoke for mounting the bearings on the Technics arm, yes it is elctro plated plastic, I drilled one and got a surprise.
I didn't want to spend mega bucks, so a used Rega was on the cards and I picked up a nice Moth badged RB250 on ePay for a good bit less than the price of a used Techie arm.
Fitting the Rega arm is not straight forward, the Rega Platters sit high up, while the Technics sits low into the plinth. Consequently the Rega arm has to be mounted well down into the Technics mounting well, which causes problems of its own, but all these things can be resolved.
I also wanted to use Baerwald alignment and had read the stories about cartridges barely fitting in the slots and exaggerated twisting of the cartridge being needed.
After a bit of research it appeared this was due to the arm being mounted at the stock Rega Spindle to Pivot of 222mm. To achieve the Baerwald Null points, the effective length has to be increased, hence cartridges at the end of the slots.
If the arm is mounted at 219.5mm the Baerwald Null points can be achieved at the stock Rega effective length of 237mm and twist is down to only 1.22 deg.
With this in mind I set to on my project:
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/Tech2/T2_027.JPG
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/Tech2/T2_028.JPG
I treated the deck to a new Lid, Platter matt, continuous Copper Litz rewire and an Ortofon 2M Blue.
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/Tech2/T2_029.JPG
The Armboard is Ebony and was custom made by Steve at Magna Audio. Michell adjustable VTA and Technoweight were fitted.
I modified the Rega arm lift to bring it up to a suitable position, the stock item is almost unusable when mounted in this location.
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Project_Images/Tech2/T2_030.JPG
This is what the cartridge looks like mounted for Baerwald at 219.5mm S to P. The 1.22 deg twist is barely noticeable and its well positioned in the slots.
The full project and a Baerwald alignment protractor for Rega arms mounted at 219.5mm can be found on my website blog here:
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Tech2_HTML/Tech2_Thumbs.html
I hope she likes it :)