View Full Version : What upgrades would you next like to see on your technics 1210?
Wakefield Turntables
05-01-2011, 18:39
I was giving this some thought the other day and I'd like to try a couple more things to improve my 1210. The first would be some of the modifications mentioned in the thread http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8920. The second would be a complete plinth replacement possibly made out of a single billet of Aluminium thats CAD/CAM milled. I think the 1210 looks a little childish and to be honest when you install have the Mike new mods things like the pitch control, and the strobe light are not really needed unless you intend to go back to using the standard platter.
Epicurus
05-01-2011, 21:36
Here's the list I've made:
1. Audio Origami rewire and foam filling for the stock arm
2. Audio Origami rewire for the stock headshell
3. External PSU that will maintain functionality of the deck's onboard on-off switch
4. Funk Achromat or Puresound copper platter
Then will be the moment for the rest of the system to be upgraded...
chris@panteg
06-01-2011, 10:07
Here's the list I've made:
1. Audio Origami rewire and foam filling for the stock arm
2. Audio Origami rewire for the stock headshell
3. External PSU that will maintain functionality of the deck's onboard on-off switch
4. Funk Achromat or Puresound copper platter
Then will be the moment for the rest of the system to be upgraded...
I wouldn't bother with the stock headshell , get the Sumiko HS12:)
Also add to your list the Oyaide mat .
tommy6206
06-01-2011, 13:38
just more vinyl :)
Hi Rexton. Just wondering did you get a new cartridge sorted out in the end?
Wakefield Turntables
06-01-2011, 14:01
Nope not yet. I have a OTC 09/II sitting on the end of the V at the moment and it sounds lovely :fingers: I've been considering the latest Benz wood or possibly LYRA, or maybe even back to Ortofon, I had the Rohman for a while.
This is my long-term upgrade plan:
Cardas rewire of the Rega RB300
External PSU; I'm thinking Time-Step or Paul Hynes
Mike New bearing if I can ever afford it (realisticly I can only afford the improved stock bearings from Applied Fidelity or Time-Step)
Isonoe feet
Applied Fidelity platter mat
I'll better start saving...sigh... (I'll probaly end up spending any extra cash on vinyl anyway)
Reid Malenfant
06-01-2011, 14:57
Me, i'd like to see this billet plinth you are thinking about :) Go on, you know you want to ;)
Nope not yet. I have a OTC 09/II sitting on the end of the V at the moment and it sounds lovely :fingers: I've been considering the latest Benz wood or possibly LYRA, or maybe even back to Ortofon, I had the Rohman for a while.
I'd recommend the Benz LP-S, I've been using one with an SME-V. The only other mod I've done on my Technics is the MN bearing, still holding out on a PSU mod for the moment. The LP-S might stretch the budget a little but you can get one in the UK for under £1600, I believe they're of the order of £400 to factory re-tip though which is pretty good going at this level. Not sure where it fits on the 'cuddly<->visceral attack' spectrum :scratch:, it's one of those rare bits of kit that really gets out of the way and just plays music.
Well having had me new Techie for a 2 week period this is what has happened/will happen:-
Fitted Isonoe Feet
Fitted RB300 with full silver cardas re-wire
Fitted Nagoaka MP150 cartridge
Oyaide MJ-12 Mat
Oyaide STB-MS Stabilizer
Blue Horizon Mat on Top
Furutech SK-12 Brush
.................................................. .....
Next is a Time Step PSU arriving tomorrow
It sounds so good I won't be getting a better PSU or a bearing or a platter but another arm a bit later and a better cartridge.
http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt309/themainsman/Turntable%20Pics/DSCF3752.jpg
Are you happy with the Nagaoka David? I know Marco rates them, and having acquired the predecessor (MP-15) from Dave DSJR last year I think it is fab, but I haven't masses of experience to compare them against others - I know a few other members have got MP-xxx and seem to be happy?
Yes I am happy mate, thanks for asking.
Whats the difference between oyaide with and without the blue horizon.
Well I put sister sledge on last night and I could hear more of the background singers with the BH mat on as I had actually taken the BH mat off earlier to lift the platter off and play about, also the bass was a lot more in your face but still punchy and clear, sorry if I don't use all that lower nosie floor bollocks that audiophiles use, one of my nick names is george integrity whitebread if you have ever heard of him, his motto is...I say what I like and I like what I say..............my way of reviewing music
BTW I have a few BH mats left if anyone wants to audition one, just pay me postage and if it's not for you send it back, if you like it AOS members price £58.00
Wakefield Turntables
06-01-2011, 16:23
Me, i'd like to see this billet plinth you are thinking about :) Go on, you know you want to ;)
I'd really like to try and get this sorted as well. I have quite a few issues with how the SME V is mounted on my 1210, one of the main problems being the stupid 90degree tonearm mount that they insist on using. This is probably where the 1210 will no longer look like a 1210! We'll probably also have to be careful as well as the sonic character of the 1210 would also be dramatically changed, maybe for the worse??
Wakefield Turntables
06-01-2011, 16:25
Well having had me new Techie for a 2 week period this is what has happened/will happen:-
Fitted Isonoe Feet
Fitted RB300 with full silver cardas re-wire
Fitted Nagoaka MP150 cartridge
Oyaide MJ-12 Mat
Oyaide STB-MS Stabilizer
Blue Horizon Mat on Top
Furutech SK-12 Brush
.................................................. .....
Next is a Time Step PSU arriving tomorrow
It sounds so good I won't be getting a better PSU or a bearing or a platter but another arm a bit later and a better cartridge.
http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt309/themainsman/Turntable%20Pics/DSCF3752.jpg
Well done mate, that looks like a lovely setup and is quite similar to what I had before I performed major butchery on my 1210 :lol: What cables are you using at the minute on your 1210 and have you noticed any major differences??
Well I put sister sledge on last night and I could hear more of the background singers with the BH mat on as I had actually taken the BH mat off earlier to lift the platter off and play about, also the bass was a lot more in your face but still punchy and clear, sorry if I don't use all that lower nosie floor bollocks that audiophiles use, one of my nick names is george integrity whitebread if you have ever heard of him, his motto is...I say what I like and I like what I say..............my way of reviewing music
BTW I have a few BH mats left if anyone wants to audition one, just pay me postage and if it's not for you send it back, if you like it AOS members price £58.00
Thanks. Compared to my Arcam cdp the technics has a sweeter midband ( female vocals are spot on ) a much bigger deeper soundstage and just easier to listen to BUT....the Arcam has a much punchier sound. Now i know what a technics is capable of in a club enviroment so something is not right and one possibility is using a squidgy mat as opposed to a hard mat.
However i would have thought a thin layer of compliant material on top would aid in unwanted resonance feeding back into the pick up.
Sorry for babbling , just me trying to make sense of it all.
I think I'm pretty well there. My next wish is for an Ortofon SPU head after having heard Marco's on my Dynavector arm, but I'll have to wait a while for that.
Well done mate, that looks like a lovely setup and is quite similar to what I had before I performed major butchery on my 1210 :lol: What cables are you using at the minute on your 1210 and have you noticed any major differences??
The cardas cable is a full loom from headshell, through the arm and terminated with phonos into the amp, I chopped the thin mains wire off that comes out of the techie and wired a female iec about 6 inches from the end to start with and used my usual black rhodium jazz cable to connect it to the mains, cannot say what improvements I heard cos people will think I made it up to sell more cables (as usual), the first time I saw on RA's website about cutting the wires back when your mains lead is hard wired into your equipment I thought what a load of b...ox, it isn't though!
When the PSU arrives tomorrow I will wire the BR mains into that and probably replace the fuse as I know what better fuses do to my system.
To me it sounds brilliant now, how I can get better I don't know, oh it will when I get my vinyl back from the cleaners next week.
If you have a 5 pin din connection the oyaide tone-arm cable is fantastic that comes from 3 customer feedbacks, the furutech one is even better but twice the price of the oyaide.
Thanks. Compared to my Arcam cdp the technics has a sweeter midband ( female vocals are spot on ) a much bigger deeper soundstage and just easier to listen to BUT....the Arcam has a much punchier sound. Now i know what a technics is capable of in a club enviroment so something is not right and one possibility is using a squidgy mat as opposed to a hard mat.
However i would have thought a thin layer of compliant material on top would aid in unwanted resonance feeding back into the pick up.
Sorry for babbling , just me trying to make sense of it all.
The Oyaide mat needs something on top I think, you can have a BH mat for audition FOC Colin if you think it may help?
One final thing, when I get my Jelco arm later this year. this will be going on the end of it, who needs platters and bearing up-grades when you have this baby????
http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt309/themainsman/Furutech/furutechag-12.jpg
Furutech AG-12 Tonearm Cable (http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/ourshop/prod_1186040-Furutech-AG12-Tonearm-Cable.html)
Wakefield Turntables
06-01-2011, 21:31
One final thing, when I get my Jelco arm later this year. this will be going on the end of it, who needs platters and bearing up-grades when you have this baby????
http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt309/themainsman/Furutech/furutechag-12.jpg
Furutech AG-12 Tonearm Cable (http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/ourshop/prod_1186040-Furutech-AG12-Tonearm-Cable.html)
Nice to hear that you have pimped your 1210! I too intend to "hard wire" the various PSU cables to get rid of the various "kettle plug" connectors, with regards to the tone-arm cable I have a Nordost TYR cable which sounds sublime. I'd rethink about the platter and bearing, altough just get used to your system and enjoy it, there is always the urge to do more upgrades.
Nice to hear that you have pimped your 1210! I too intend to "hard wire" the various PSU cables to get rid of the various "kettle plug" connectors, with regards to the tone-arm cable I have a Nordost TYR cable which sounds sublime. I'd rethink about the platter and bearing, altough just get used to your system and enjoy it, there is always the urge to do more upgrades.
Hi Rexton,
I have used Valhallas, Brahmas and Vishnus in my system, Heimdall and Tyr over the years, not tone arm cables though, not rubbishing the brand but there is a LOT of marketing hype with Nordost, I found a mains cable that I sent to a long time Valhalla user and he sent me a box back, I opened it expecting my loan cables in there but they were full of Valhalla power cords he now uses mine, sorry to go off topic.
I am sure the platter and bearing works well but not for me just yet, now if we could get Marco to take his pimped up Techie to the Bristol show and plumb it into some decent gear I may be convinced to go Mike New.
My next one will be a TimeStep PSU (missed Martins one - DOH!) from the next person to upgrade to a Paul Hynes or similar, if I'm quick enough - then decent feet (dunno what yet) then look into Funking my arm... but that's a looong way off!!
Jason
Wakefield Turntables
07-01-2011, 11:49
Hi Rexton,
I have used Valhallas, Brahmas and Vishnus in my system, Heimdall and Tyr over the years, not tone arm cables though, not rubbishing the brand but there is a LOT of marketing hype with Nordost, I found a mains cable that I sent to a long time Valhalla user and he sent me a box back, I opened it expecting my loan cables in there but they were full of Valhalla power cords he now uses mine, sorry to go off topic.
I am sure the platter and bearing works well but not for me just yet, now if we could get Marco to take his pimped up Techie to the Bristol show and plumb it into some decent gear I may be convinced to go Mike New.
I think that there is a lot of marketing with all cables to some extent. I've tried quite a few brands in my time including Van den Hul, QED, Atlas, Chord, and whilst this is not a full representation of all existing cables I find myself going back to the Nordost brand. I've got Atlas speaker cable between my pre-amp and ATC's at the momeny but fancy try nordost SPM to see how that works. With regards to the original topic of the thread I think I may be doing some more internal mods to the PCB and earthing point!!
kininigin
07-01-2011, 12:02
my next upgrade will be a tonearm of some description,either AO rewire,Funk Firm arm mod depending on cost or a jelco.
Spectral Morn
07-01-2011, 15:11
I am using a Graham IC70 cable with XLRs on it so I can go balanced into my BAT VK10se phonostage :)
Regards D S D L
WOStantonCS100
08-01-2011, 07:21
I'm planning to acquire a Trans-Fi T3 Pro arm this year, hopefully sooner than later. I already have the Origin Live arm board, from a project I decided against.
chris@panteg
08-01-2011, 12:06
For me this year , its mainly making the best of what i have or in other word's fine tuning my deck , the only major expense will be a new cartridge and hopefully a Record cleaning machine .
I'm still not sure about my DL160 , i seem to be getting a lot of mistracking and end of side distortion seems excessive ' i think there is something amiss , an album i bought a while back , Macca's ' The Fireman ' on track 2 there is a lot of splashy sibilance around paul's vocal ! yet with the stock techie arm it was fine ? bit puzzled and agitated by this .
That doesn't sound right, Chris. Do you have another cartridge to compare with?
chris@panteg
08-01-2011, 12:20
Hi Martin
No alas i sold an AT120e a while back :doh: should have kept it .
The thing is it still sounds sort of ok but another example Steve Mcqueen Prefab Sprout which i have not played in ages , Paddy's vocal is really splashy ! it sounds like its mistracking badly , i looked at the cantilever and it looks ever so slightly off to me but as i wear spec's i can't be sure , some records still sound good but the Fireman album is new ! and a top quality pressing , with my old techie arm there was no sibilance or mistracking this is what's bugging me .
The SME seems to line up perfectly , i'm scratching my head here:scratch:
chris@panteg
08-01-2011, 12:33
I'm wondering whether it might be worth starting another thread about cartridge problem's and set up or something along those lines ?
It could be useful, but I'm coming to the conclusion that your DL-160 is broken :(
chris@panteg
08-01-2011, 12:53
Well over 2 years and how many hours on it , god know's but it must be nearly 7-800 hours as i use it almost every day and sometimes 3-4 hour's especially at weekends , i'm not sure whether i should remove it as i don't want to wreck my precious vinyl .
My stepson now has a Techie (SL-D33) would you believe it ! though he plays Pendulum , not quite my taste:rolleyes: .
I will try the Fireman track on that , just hope its not groove damage as then the 160 will be orf .
Stratmangler
08-01-2011, 12:59
Has the suspension rubber stiffened with use/age ?
It's reason why I retired my DL110 after not a huge amount of use.
chris@panteg
08-01-2011, 13:27
Hi Chris
It does seem to have a little and i have used mine a hell of a lot.
I tried tom's SL-D33 in my downstairs system , it has a brand new stylus EPC or S 30 p-mount and played ' 2 magpie's ' from the Fireman album and the sibilance and slight splashyness is still there , though i must say it sounds worryingly good :eek: , compared to my other deck's it seems quite flimsy but its a tidy sounding TT .
So its the record then , :hmm: could the Techie arm have had iffy bearings and caused this , even so i am going to go with Marco's suggestion of a Nagaoka cart , as its time for a change but i may go for the MP110 to tie my over for 6 months or so until i can afford something like the AT33EV .
Planned upgrades in likely chronological order :)
1. Grover Huffman phono cable to A/B against the Ohno Silver Cable I built for my SME V
2. Vaseline for my Achromat
3. Isonoe Feet (not that I am convinced they will matter in my rig, but...)
4. Hynes dual internal regulator mod to supplement the DIY SR5 in use
5. Aftermarket plinth
2. Vaseline for my Achromat
3. Isonoe Feet (not that I am convinced they will matter in my rig, but...)
Is petroleum jelly even called Vaseline in California? :)
I find the Isonoes astounding, their ability to isolate is nothing short of amazing and they lighten and tighten the sound from the Technics.
Chris, you will enjoy the Nag mp110:)
chris@panteg
09-01-2011, 16:38
Chris, you will enjoy the Nag mp110:)
Thanks :)
If all goes to plan at the start of next week all being well, l will be looking for recommendations for a new mat, that Oyaide looks shexy, and l will be asking questions on this forum:eyebrows:.:)
Chris, is the NAG110 going on the 309?
chris@panteg
09-01-2011, 20:43
Hi Andy
That's right , its a bit awkward at the moment as i want to go a bit higher ,i really wanted the MP200 ! but my road tax is coming up and council tax , and getting my other deck serviced at Vantage audio could have bought me something quite bit better , but however the cartridge can wait i guess .
I might use the QL1 in place of my 1210/309 for while and wait until my finances are a bit better ? couple of month's won't hurt , can't wait to try it actually , Richard has virtually finished it now and seems very pleased with how its sounding .
Is petroleum jelly even called Vaseline in California? :)
.
It is :)
Hi Andy
That's right , its a bit awkward at the moment as i want to go a bit higher ,i really wanted the MP200 ! but my road tax is coming up and council tax , and getting my other deck serviced at Vantage audio could have bought me something quite bit better , but however the cartridge can wait i guess .
I might use the QL1 in place of my 1210/309 for while and wait until my finances are a bit better ? couple of month's won't hurt , can't wait to try it actually , Richard has virtually finished it now and seems very pleased with how its sounding .
When i asked Analogue seduction which cart would match the technics and had low surface noise thet recommended the Nagaoka 150 chris, so i think it would be a fine cart.
chris@panteg
10-01-2011, 08:25
Hi Colin
Yes indeed , what interest me about the MP200 though is the boron cantilever , a lot of the Technics cartridges from the early 80's used boron ,quite keen to hear one :)
Guys,
I've always said that Nagaoka carts are gems, haven't I? :)
Anyone interested in these cartridges should check out KK's review of the MP500 in this month's HFN.
There's some info in the article which outlines why Nagaoka (rather like Jelco) are a cut above most manufacturers in their field in terms of self-sufficiency and the ability to produce really special products at less cost than some rival manufacturers with more 'desirable badges'....
Trust me, Nags are about to catch on big time. The mid to top models are set to become the next 'big cartridge thing', like the AT-33PTG was recently before the price hike ;)
My advice would be to get in now while you can at the current prices!
Marco.
Some of us who already use Nags know that don't we matey!!!???
Anyone been able to compare the old and new nagaoka's?
I have an MP 20 cart I'm using on my LAD arm on a 1210. Sounds bl***y marvelous but just wondering if the MP200 is another step up?
The styli should be interchangeable shouldn't they?
chris@panteg
12-01-2011, 00:28
I think so jason , your MP20 would be the current MP200 , could be a step up i don't know .
Wakefield Turntables
12-01-2011, 11:25
I'm wondering whether it might be worth starting another thread about cartridge problem's and set up or something along those lines ?
Well i think this might be a good idea. I think one of the upgrades I'm going to get this year is a copy of the Adjust+ software by Dr. Feickert for hopefully the ultimate cartridge alignment. Yes, I understand that various tools are out there for free but this is something which I believe will given a sonic improvement from the 1210 and enable me to see a little more accurately how my set-up works, such as wow & flutter with the mike new bearing & platter!!
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