Printable View
Hmmm... I gave my son my QL1. I could always say I let him "borrow" it; or, I could just ransack his room and rob him blind! I always did like the deck. There was just a hint of W/F, probably a small matter to work out. This post has me thinking of further possibilities.Quote:
Originally Posted by chris@panteg
Hi Biff
Yes you could but... if you read my last paragraph again ! This is perhaps the drawback of this deck , as going back to my P22 cartridge with a cheap £9 stylus was a bit of letdown !
Still sounding good but the 205 made the deck sing and as Richard tells me they are going for silly money on eBay , as much as £300 :eek: crazy .
There is an alternative however , an SAS sylus from Jico for my P22 will give me something of the 205 clarity for about £70 .
I think i will get the Jico stylus but in the meantime use my AT3482 as its quite a bit livelier than the cheap stylus i have on the P22.
One last point i need to make and its important i think , i am not saying go out and buy a QL1 , get it modded and serviced and you have a world beater , i just like the deck and its design but i wanted it restored and improved a little , i use it in my 2nd (family) system .
You could buy a Rega RP1 or Project deck and get better results , i just like this quirky and clever piece of japanese engineering:)
Personally, I doubt it! ;)Quote:
You could buy a Rega RP1 or Project deck and get better results...
Marco.
Hi Chris
Richard and his son are a genuinely decent lovely couple of blokes. Very nice to meet them at last.
The work he's done is fantastic and here's a link to some photos he took and has put on his site:
http://www.vantageaudio.com/info/KL101.htm
I don't think it fully captures what a shocking state the actual chasis was in when I got it as I had to remove a load of lacquer / varnish that had corroded, gone yellow and was flaking off.
They said the person who had previously owned it had tried a refurb but made a hash of it. Richard also reckons its been a well used, but not well loved SP10, however it now sings.
In the photos you can see the DIY PSU that came with it which Richard and son decribed as the worst PSU he had ever seen. Dangerous was how he actually described it. He rebuilt it FOC to keep me going until his new batch of PSU's are ready.
The SP10 is now set up as best I can get it and sounds great to be honest so far. It's got the LAD / Jelco arm and MP20 mounted with an acrylic mat until your old Herbies mat gets here.
Stunning sound. Sings beautifully. And the best thing? As I sloly upgrade the mats / feet / plinth / arm / carts / PSU it will only get better and better and better.
He's got my SL7 for a service and maybe a few upgrades dependant on the cost. I'm tempted by the JICO stylus for the P202 cartridge on mine too. Richard says it will be a definite improvement over the elliptial styli that you and I are both using.
I could see myself passing a lot of work his way in future as I'm also tempted by having the 1210 PSU mounted externally. He told me the same as you that the original Technics PSU is a piece of precision electronics but just needs to be mounted externally in an enclosure.
Very tempting.
I am a smiling little TT freak today.
Hi Marco
Thanks :) yes i think so too ! Fitted with the 205 , that was a surprise , i heard it was good , if the Jico can give me some of that , i will be a happy chappy .
Richard tells me the QL1 and DL1 along with the SL10/SL7/SL15 are the best of Technics linear tracking TT's , there also a programmable version of the QL1 ,the SL-QL15 .
Further upgrades are a new sub-base , better feet , outboard psu and a new platter made from either bronze, copper or brass , with copper being Richard's preference , he can do the same with the 1200/1210 also .
He machine's them to the same weight/mass as the original .
Marco , i know you will want to know this ! He does not have problem with the MN platter if you prefer it over the stock item ! all well and good , its just for him the motor to platter interface is already optimum and Technics got it right in the 1st place , here for the benefit of other's reading this , is a quote from Richard .
'
The fundamental design of this motor does not depend upon over-specified platter mass. The design is more dependant upon the number and position of the pole pieces in relation to the mass of the platter. Peak and/or optimum perfomance for all this was worked out many moons ago.
But if you go for the high mass platter route and prefer it , then that's fine .
Richard's philosphy about upgrading these DD's is to start from a reference point that you are happy with and work from there , with an emphasis on ' if it can be improved for minimal cost ' going to something at higher cost then you have to stand back and say to yourself ' well for that money i can have an SP10 or LO7D , the LO7D is Richard's preffered deck BTW.
You see what he's saying here Marco , with my QL1 i could have gone much further but Richard pointed out ' there is a point when its simply not worthwhile .
He believes the 1200 to be an excellent deck but that the SP10 is a step up , but at the end of the day its whatever you are most happy with ! That's what counts :)
Hi Jason
I posted the mat on tuesday:scratch: ,you should have it monday at the latest , let me know and i will chase it up if not .
Its ok Chris the mat's at the postal depot waiting for me to collect it. I just haven't been able to collect since Thursday but should do tomorrow.
If he thinks the regulator on the 1200 is ok how come he has a PSU advertised on his site :scratch:
Hi Colin
Good question , Richard never spoke to me about the regulator ? but what he did say was to remove the internal psu components and house them in a separate case ! this requires some care but he can do this safely or alternatively a completely new bespoke psu from scratch .
He is not saying doing this is the best option ! Just an alternative way if your on a budget , his own psu or a PH , Timestep or whatever can take things further , its simply a question of how far you want to go.
With my QL1 i could have the internal psu placed in a case or a completley new bespoke item made up , but also the internal psu tightened up and tweeked a little , the latter option i felt was best for me :).
Hi Chris,
It's a lovely little deck that with some judicious fettling (I'm sure Richard knows what he's doing here) will outperform quite a few modern T/Ts.Quote:
Thanks :) yes i think so too ! Fitted with the 205 , that was a surprise , i heard it was good , if the Jico can give me some of that , i will be a happy chappy .
That's all good and well, and I'm not saying he's wrong, per se.Quote:
Marco , i know you will want to know this ! He does not have problem with the MN platter if you prefer it over the stock item ! all well and good , its just for him the motor to platter interface is already optimum and Technics got it right in the 1st place , here for the benefit of other's reading this , is a quote from Richard .
The fundamental design of this motor does not depend upon over-specified platter mass. The design is more dependant upon the number and position of the pole pieces in relation to the mass of the platter. Peak and/or optimum perfomance for all this was worked out many moons ago.
However, the fact remains that the stock platter is quite resonant and not particularly well made (although it's ok considering it was built to a price). Upgrading it by fitting one of Mike New's beautifully engineered Copper Composite Platters, massively improves the audio performance of an SL-1200/1210, as a result of removing the undesirable sonic signature (I can explain this, if necessary) imparted by the inferior stock platter.
Trust me, anyone who doubts this would soon have their ears opened after one spin of an album! Quite honesty, there is no comparison. I can't put it any more succinctly than that.
Has Richard heard a Techie fitted with an MN bearing and platter? If not, then he should A.S.A.P, as all the theories in the world about how 'perfect' Technics made the original design, mean zippo without the relevant experience of hearing what the effect is of some of the current modifications recommended here on AoS! ;)
As you know, I love the L-07D. Before I had the MN platter and SR5 fitted, it was the best D/D deck I'd ever heard. However, since fitting the above items, the performance of my T/T has increased quite considerably. Therefore, I would like to revisit the situation by taking my T/T to Dave's to compare again to his L-07D, where I suspect this time it will give it an even closer run for its money.Quote:
Richard's philosphy about upgrading these DD's is to start from a reference point that you are happy with and work from there , with an emphasis on ' if it can be improved for minimal cost ' going to something at higher cost then you have to stand back and say to yourself ' well for that money i can have an SP10 or LO7D , the LO7D is Richard's preffered deck BTW.
I also love SP10s, and I've heard a few very good ones, but quite simply I've not heard any SP10 sound as good as my 1210 currently does, and in that respect, I'd put my T/T up against any SP10 out there fitted with the same arm and cartridge. Therefore, based on considerable relevant experience, I'm afraid I don't buy the notion that an SL-1200 or 1210 can't be made to equal or outperform a stock SP10.
The policy of 'improving things for minimal cost', as far as the SL-1200/1210 goes, is laudable (indeed AoS champions SPPV), but in this instance it only gets you so far. The really 'big hitting' modifications to the Techie sadly are also those which cost the most money, such as Paul Hynes SR5 PSU and Mike New's bearing and platter. Until Richard hears exactly what those items do, when fitted to an SL-1200/1210, he'll remain ignorant of the sonic influence they have. It's that simple.
Well, I'm sorry; Richard and I will have to agree to disagree on that one. Perhaps I should visit him and take my (highly) modded 1210 with me, so he can compare it to one of his SP10s? I'm sure that the exercise would be educational for both of us! :cool:Quote:
You see what he's saying here Marco , with my QL1 i could have gone much further but Richard pointed out ' there is a point when its simply not worthwhile .
He believes the 1200 to be an excellent deck but that the SP10 is a step up...
Indeed. Happiness is in owning a killer T/T and a sizeable record collection! :eyebrows: ;)Quote:
...but at the end of the day its whatever you are most happy with ! That's what counts
Marco.