technics SL-1210 DIY pocket money upgrades

I'm a bit loath to post yet another thread about the SL-1210, so apologies in advance. However this one is a bit different - and yes, I've read all the other 1210 threads but most of what has been posted in them is not applicable to my situation.

As I posted in my intro thread, long term illness means that I'm mostly confined to home. Another downside is that I have very little money left at the end of the month after the essentials are paid for - £20-£50 at most in a good month (and there's not many of those!). I really don't know how people on benefits can afford to live the high life or even go out drinking, I can't!

Anyway, the point is that my 1210 Mk2 is totally stock, with a Denon 160 cartridge which I love! Reading the threads here have made me again think of upgrading my 1210.

The good news is that I'm ok with a soldering iron and taking the deck apart, and I have a nice reel of silver solder gathering dust, and have a Hi-Fi News Test disc and a multi-meter. The bad news is that I don't know one end of a resistor from the other end of a capacitor, but can follow instructions if need be.

The cartridge is Baerwald aligned, and I took out the rubber washer between the headshell and arm years ago (I figured that one out for myself!)

Given a maximum budget of £20 - £50 for each upgrade, what would you suggest?

Rewire arm with some nice Cardas or Litz stuff, make up a better phono lead from the PCB under the arm to your amp/phonostage. I think that would cost you around £30.Sumiko headshell too would be good, about £30 as well AFAIK.

Better feet will help (Dave C's ones are reccommended and about £20 IIRC) and then you might want to save up for a better mat - but other than that not a lot without spending more... you could try the 'blob of wax under the bearing' mod (search on here) for a free reversible upgrade (?) too.

Jason

Ok, thanks. I didn't realise the cable was so cheap.

Does this cable sound like the genuine article http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=110459761283

If so I can have one continuous run to the phono plugs.

Hows about moving the internal PSU to an outboard wooden box (home made)? Would the benefits outweigh the work involved? I can always bypass the original switch and move it to the outboard PSU. And can the original PSU be upgraded in any way without having to buy Dave C's one? Not that I don't want to buy his PSU, just that I can't afford to.

Hows about filling the tone arm with expanding foam? Tricky, but do-able I think (once it's rewired of course!).

As for the feet, for some reason if I (even lightly) tap what the turntable is sitting on, the vibration goes straight to the cartridge. Will the Sorbothane feet eliminate this?

I have a 300g weight that made improvements to the bass in my circumstance. I think they can be bought for £35 off eBay.
The timestep made a big difference and aparently some of that is down to removing the old psu.. With that in mind I guess putting the psu outside of the tt would be a good idea... But that's just a guess based on limited knowledge ... dave?
the mat that dave sells is good at reducing the ring in the platter
I put mine on a bit of wood with sorborthane feet under it. I'm not sure I'd my logic was sound but I felt I was then getting benefit of the feet and the sorborthane feet!

Depending how capable you are you could diy a nice little external psu, it shouldn't cost too much.

After I've finished various other projects I'll hopefully be starting some mods on the Techie sometime later including trying various psu's, the supplied one and its transformer isn't that great

There is a velleman psu that is apropriate for use with the 1210 aparently ... Again I know very little... But someone might!

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Originally Posted by hamish

There is a velleman psu that is apropriate for use with the 1210 aparently ... Again I know very little... But someone might!

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Now that would be interesting. I live just down the road from http://www.esr.co.uk so I could save on the postage.

What does anyone think about putting expanding foam into the tonearm?

Edit: I was very interested in the DIY power supply for Technics SL1200/1210 Thread. It says there that Jonners made a regulated 21V supply.

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Originally Posted by hamish

There is a velleman psu that is apropriate for use with the 1210 aparently ... Again I know very little... But someone might!

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Presume its this one http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=3488
Should be a cheap way to start

Or look for K18231A http://www.esr.co.uk/velleman/products/index_kit.htm

I'm currently running a Paul Hynes psu module, but the Velleman board that Leo has linked to is quite suitable. You also need a transformer, and I would attach a small heatsink to the LM317.

Yes, if you can afford it Paul Hynes regged psu's are brilliant:eyebrows: something like a PR3 + transformer in a suitable case would take some beating

Mats - ask HiFi Dave how much he'll sell you a NAS Space-Mat for - I haven't compared it with the custom Herbies/Sound HiFi mat Dave Cawley sells, but I think they may be similar - a loaded foam of some sort that stays squigded for a while when compressed and not very expensive at all. The Space-Mat won't be quite small enough diameter to clear the lip on the Techie platter, but depending on the severity of the lip on current production (my SL150 lip is very slight) it may not be the issue as it can with rubber type ones...

Re-wiring is always a good idea and possibly getting the later arm (two or three months to save at £25pm) which I believe is titanium... Otherwise, Johnnie at Audio Origami has had good results with damping inside the arm pipe. You could try some spira-tube on the outside of the pipe and I think there may be some custom counterweights available for "mass-loaded" Techie arms.

Sorbothane boots are a great idea too and I'd ask Dave Cawley about the regulator mod, which may possibly work with the otherwise standard power supply.

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Originally Posted by Kris

Ok, thanks. I didn't realise the cable was so cheap.

Does this cable sound like the genuine article http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=110459761283

If so I can have one continuous run to the phono plugs.

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Take a look at item No.143-378 HERE. It's about two thirds of the way down the page. Many people have used this to great effect. :)

Litz is good, as well as a pipe cleaner pushed down the armtube for damping.

Dave

I like the pipe cleaner mod, Dave.

Soak it in a good single-malt whisky first for an even more damped presentation. ;)

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Originally Posted by Alex_UK

Soak it in a good single-malt whisky first for an even more damped presentation. ;)

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'There 's no such thing as a 'good single malt whiskey - they're all good'

(George Cowley - The Professionals)

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Originally Posted by Macca

'There 's no such thing as a 'good single malt whiskey - they're all good'

(George Cowley - The Professionals)

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I love it! (and The Professionals)

Sorry for the digression - great tweak, Dave, which presumably would work on other tonearms... worth a try, anyway.

I just wanted to say thank you for all your suggestions. Come the New Year, I'll start my Tekky project.

I posted elsewhere a pic of my Australis Electroacoustics MM1 phone stage. Seeing as it's related to my Tekky, and quite a rare beast of a kitten, here's what it looks like on the inside:

http://www.thealizone.com/photos/audio/mm1_inside.png

I don't know how it sounds because I've never directly compared it to anything. Sounds ok to me with my Denon DL-160.

The outboard plug top power supply runs the heaters and the HT only. The amplifying circuits are well isolated (apparently!). 2500ohm out, two stage design, CCS loads. Metal film resistors, Panasonic Electrolytics, Wima coupling caps, ceramic valve holders. RIAA is correct and includes the 4th time constant (whatever that means!). The valves are standard Philips JAN 6922. Never got round to upgrading them . . (and wouldn't know what to upgrade them to anyway!)

Designed and built by John Broadwood who apparently is a well known high end audio designer.