My Second “Techie” – well all of it!

[Qwin]

[Marco]

Dunno how on earth I missed this thread first time around, but (somehow) I did!

Utterly awesome work, Ken. The tonearm, in particular, is a revelation, which TBH alone you should consider offering as an upgrade service, charging appropriately for it, as when you consider what the Funk FX-1200 costs, which is essentially the same thing, whatever you produced would still be a bargain - and many Techy owners would love to upgrade their tonearms like this, whilst retaining the adjustability of VTA 'on the fly'....

It's a little sideline business we could set-up here for you, if you were interested, in the same way as Speedy Steve does with his armboards and counterweights, and Shuggie does with his collars for the Jelco. I have an idea how it would work - and if done right (in terms of promotion), there would be no shortage of customers. Just think how many SL-1200/1210 owners (and respective stock tonearms) there are out there!!

If you're interested, PM me and we can discuss the details

Anyway, threads and projects such as this are a credit to the AoS community, so give yourself a big pat on the back, mate!

Just a couple of comments: given the attention to detail you undertook with this project, I'm surprised (unless I missed it) that you didn't address some of the inherent weaknesses of the stock platter, by applying some further damping?

One idea, if anyone else should decide to undertake this build, is to do as Technics have done with their new (ridiculously priced) £4k turntable, and that's bond a brass (or copper) plate to the top of the platter, covering its circumference, as well as adding some further damping underneath, both of which will help reduce resonance (the stock platter rings like a bell), and add some mass, which may provide some other benefits.

I'm pretty sure carrying that out would combine to provide some significant sonic gains

Also, (and I'm sure that you simply used it for photographic purposes), never *EVER*, use a felt/slip mat on Techy, or even the supplied rubber one, as it completely KILLS the sound!

Upgrading the stock mat and support feet are the first two things that everyone should do, when buying an SL-1200/1210, as those simple things alone (neither of which were designed for hi-fi purposes) can totally transform the sound of the turntable, and improve it dramatically.

Marco.

[Qwin]

you should consider offering as an upgrade service.

Well, thanks but no.

Have a look at my workshop facilities and you will understand.



Everything was made on this table in my kitchen, including the concrete deck! I don't have a garage or a shed.
I'm just not geared up for making more than what I do for myself. Also, I have enough ideas in the pipeline to keep me going till the end of the year as it is. For instance, the layout on the bottom left is for a six channel amplifier with built in active crossovers exclusively for the Yamaha NS-1000M. When I perfect my current crossovers they will be used in this project.

I get regular requests from folks all around the world, wanting me to make anything from regulator/PSU's to arm mods, deck/speaker veneering to new complete turntables, I don't take any of it on, I can't.

These projects are only scratching the surface of what I can do, given the right facilities. Half the battle (and fun) is finding ways of making things with what I can adapt/modify from off the shelf and with the basic tools that I have.

My background is in product design. I worked for the Pifco Group for ten years, which included Russell Hobbs, Carmen and Salton. When we were without a model maker, I used to make models of hair dryers, steam Irons and coffee makers etc good enough to photograph for the products advertising brochure and when the actual product wasn't available I did just that, on several occasions. This is where I picked up many of the skills that have transferred to this hobby.

Give me a lathe, milling machine and spray booth and I could really let rip.

[Marco]

Excuses, excuses!

Lol - no I see what you mean. However, it's probably more that, beyond simply for yourself as a hobby, you can't really be arsed, as if not, you'd *find* a way (where there's a will, and all that)..... But you have to WANT to do it.

I'm sure that 1000s of (now) successful businesses have produced products that were originally born on kitchen tables...!

You didn't answer my point about the platter

Marco.

[Qwin]

Done the numbers, no money in it on a commercial basis.

Remember I did this for a living for 30 years and have had my own company. Done some big budget projects with Jaguar etc, my tooling budget was nearly a million pounds a year with one company I worked for, so I know how to evaluate what is worthwhile pursuing.

This particular project answered the design criterion that I set out at the beginning, which was to make a simple cheap deck for my girlfriend.

I looked at one of the modified platters available at the time, from Inspire HiFi, but baulked at the price. After I had looked at what was available platter wise for this project. I decided instead to modify one that I had, to make it fit a Technics motor and that became deck No 3.

You were right about the mat, it was just to show the rotation, with the lettering.

[niek]

I really like what you did to this turntable, great work! Also very impressed with the tonearm and would like to do the same. I was trying to find the same headshell as the one you used, but I am having a hard time to find it. Can a generic ADC headshell be used? Or would it be possible to have the Baerwald with a SME headshell that is in an angle like the AT-HS3? It would also make it possible (I hope) to use the SME connector. Or would that impact the weight too much?

[Qwin]

You can use what ever headshell suits the geometry you want to use.
The offset angle of the cartridge is not an adjustable variable, it is determined by the Geometry type you choose.
The effective length and the spindle to pivot distance, combined with the null point radius, calculates an offset angle and overhang which are fixed.
It's best if the headshell angle is the same, or very close to this offset, so the cartridge sits square in the mounting grooves.
So start with your known elements and calculate the headshell angle you require.

I steer away from interchangeable headshells as its adding a connector in the delicate signal path, I run continuous leads from cartridge tags to phono stage, but that's my choice. The ability to swap cartridges easily may be more important for you, its almost irrelevant to me, as I can't afford to have multiple cartridges, I only use one cartridge and stick with it.
Note: The SME headshell has no offset angle, it is just a straight extension of the arm. The offset is created by the "S" shape of the arm, so you couldn't fit one to a straight arm.

I did another mod adding a Rega RB250 to the SL-1200 MkII. It might be worth a read regarding Baerwald/Technics geometry and note the calculator I used.
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Tech2_HTML/Tech2_14.html

The Spindle to Pivot distance on the SL-1200 means the effective length of the stock arm is not long enough for true Baerwald geometry, which leads to the cartridge being mounted at the end of the slots and twisted in the headshell. You have the opportunity to rectify both of these issues.
Ideally the Spindle to Pivot should be shorter, but that is very difficult to change on a std deck/arm.

Use the stock spindle to pivot distance in the calculator, use Baerwald Null points and see what effective length and offset angle are required to achieve these.
Find a headshell close to this offset angle, within 1 deg and cut your arm length to suit, the cartridge should mount in the centre of the headshell slots when the stylus tip is at the correct effective length, adjust the arm tube length until this lines up.
Use the Vinyl Engine data base to find a mass produced arm with the correct headshell offset and look for one of these headshells, used on ePay. This is what I did.

[niek]

Thanks for your quick reply, I will start reading and calculating

[niek]

You can use what ever headshell suits the geometry you want to use.
I did another mod adding a Rega RB250 to the SL-1200 MkII. It might be worth a read regarding Baerwald/Technics geometry and note the calculator I used.
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/Tech2_HTML/Tech2_14.html

Just curious: when you compare the Rega RB250 to your DIY carbon SL tonearm, which one do you prefer?

[Qwin]

The Rega was a replacement for my Carbon arm, which had been on three different decks I owned and was a used purchase anyway.
The bearings had worn out on the arm and I was having difficulty setting it up.
So the Rega arm was an improvement.
With the correct spindle to Pivot and effective length it sounds really nice using Baerwald alignment on an Ortofon 2m Blue. The Ebony armboard and isolation from the die cast plynth, the ebony board sits on Nylon spacers, seems to work. Several folks have said the Rega arms sound dull and lifeless on a Techie. I can only say that with my combination of armboard/geometry, counter weight, litz wiring and ancillary equipment, it sounds very nice, better than my DIY Carbon arm ever did and better than the stock Technics arm. Not massively better, but noticeable. I'm sure there are better arms to use, but I wasn't into spending a lot and picked up the used RB250 very reasonable, the Ebony arm board cost nearly as much. The main thing, is my Girlfriend, who I was doing the work for, is very pleased with the result, both in the way it sounds and looks.