Stick a fork in me - i'm done
I'm going to try and avoid the well trodden paths of the 12 upgrade threads in an attempt get to the point succinctly.
I chopped in my gorbe/evo/304 early last year after reading what HiFi world and Marco had to say about the 12 (damn you :))
It was all going to be so easy. one for one.
Putting it bluntly i feel there is no better outofthebox TT than a fresh 12.
The only original upgrade i had planned for was a rewire of the stock arm
several trawls later and i discovered that in order of importance i would require:
1/. psu
2/. rewire
3/. headshell
4/. counterweight
5/. mat
6/. feet
Bang! goes the budget
I could skip right to the end here and say outright that had i bought the Terminator first i may have found myself in a position where i didn't feel the need for any of those above mentioned steps. we'll come back to the psu (don't fret)
I've found that there are things that make small but noticeable differences and those which fundamentally change the characteristics and therefore quality of the setup. It's no real suprise that they are matched by price.
I'm trying hard to elucidate the relevance of each step of the process but keep getting dragged back to the 2 or 3 main events in the upgrade chronicle
If you want or expect this deck to be an audiophile piece of equipment, the psu and tonearm are paramount.
So, the KAB ps1200 takes the deck off the world of 1s&2s shelf and moves it closer to a HiFi store item.
What it does straight away is lets you know that one or more parts of the deck are no longer upto the task.
There are reams of text re: the psu so i won't add to it here
Tonearms then. I got a Cardas wired arm from KAB and then had J7 knock it all together (a mighty fine job he did too). fitted a Sumiko headshell and a Thruno 3piece c/w. At this point the arm really looked and sounded the tits.
I was however running an Ortofon Samba, not a bad little cart, but once again clearly a weak (read cheap) link in what is building toward a more expensive system.
It was around this time that i lost a little heart in the project, a common thread atm. Basically although the deck was ticking all the boxes, i wasn't getting the FOOK ME!! factor that i expect from my kit.
Was it time to start chasing my tail with the smaller, yet no doubt worthy upgrades such as mats or feet, Or was a more expensive cart the answer?
Enter Vic and the Trans Fi Terminator.
I had a word with Vic re: fitting a Term to a 12 specifically how the armboard situation would be addressed. I sent the armboard from my teccy and he cut a slotted armboard from an mdf type product. He now has a template so i'm sure for a premium he'd do one for you in alloy.
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...000_0408-1.jpg
As ever Vic does a satisfaction guarantee so i thought i'd give it a shot.
Set up is far simpler than it looks, it really is right or wrong (give or take).
Initial vta is established using spacers
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...og/termy36.jpg
Now i don't wish to start a fight here but to my mind all gimbal tonearms are variations on theme. Of course there are great ones out there but i have never owned one which Blew me away. I've never paid more than £500 for one so maybe that's my problem.
Adding an air bearing arm to the direct drive is amazing. Bass appears from nowhere and the tracking is second to none. It would appear that the wow factor i had lost with the sale of the EVOwas not going to be replaced unless i got another air bearing arm.
There is no issue with pump noise. enough hose is supplied for you to place the pump in another room. Alternatively you can drill a hole in the wall like i have done and remotely turn it on.
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...og/termy32.jpg
and to fine tune the air flow you can use one of these natty things from the garden centre
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...g/000_0419.jpg
i believe the term is heath robinson:)
At this time Marco and others pointed me towards Mark Grant cables for the outputs. £40 or so for 2pr - worth every penny.
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...og/termy35.jpg
As with the psu the Terminator once again shows up weaknesses.
This time it was the Ortofon cart. the best way to describe the problem is that it didn't have the level of class required.
Buying a cart is a nightmare and i made the wrong choice straight away based on price. I managed to secure a DL304 for £260 when i could have had the 103SA or OC-9 for around £360.
Again, the Denon is a great cartridge. It's excellent with mids and highs and if my musical taste was acoustic or classical i'd probably have kept it. It lacked the bass attack of the more rough and ready Samba so after 5 hrs use i knew i had a £260 quid bit of s/h metal i no longer wanted :doh:
I then spotted the OC-9 on sale at lpgear in the states which i could have for £280 inc customs and delivery. I sucked it up, told my missus to look the other way and bought it.
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...og/termy33.jpg
And this is where we wind it up. It's rare that these things happen but - I think my tt setup is now PERFECT
Really, i can't find fault with it. Everything is right. It makes me smile, tap my feet, the bass resonates through my listening chair and the rest is crystal clear.
It's a strange one really. Is the 1210 a bargain? out of the box-yes.
To get it singing you're looking down the sharp end of an extra 1K. It's probably worth knowing that before you start :doh:
The odyssey is over and now the real fun can begin :gig:
ps - i'll probably faff around with different feet and mats in the future - it's an illness
