SL-1210 upgrade path

[MartinT]

Dave, if I read that right I do not need the new plate style for my Jelco with its VTA adjustment and lack of need for decoupling?

[Marco]

Marco, do you want to bring your SL-1210 to http://www.chestergroup.org/index.ph...k=detail&id=11 and chat with AOS members? I'll give you some room on our stand for free if you buy the coffee?

Sounds like a plan, Dave - thanks for that

It will depend what I'm up to nearer the time, but I like the idea. We can chat about it more when I come down to visit and get the arm plate fitted and indulge in general shenanigans, which I presume will be before the London show?

Marco.

[Peter Stockwell]

So our new plate is made of three blocks of aluminium. The dissipation of this effective 'lump of metal' is very good indeed. Tweakers can try very thin layers of rubber or even blotting paper, either on one or both layers. For the DL-103 best results will be obtained with everything locked up solid. The extra cost is going to Germany and also having them anodised in silver and black.
...

As for a Rega version, well we are talking about improving the SL-1200 and a standard Rega arm does not fare well in our system. We will be dumping our Rega arms and a couple of original Soundsuport plates on eBay in a few weeks.

Our quest is all about fidelity not fashion. www.SL-1200-MK2.com

Interesting info there. I presume when you are talking Rega arms, you mean the unmodded 250 ?

I'm still itching with impatience to get my new arm installed, I hope that your supplier is true to their promise.

I listened to what was my Garrard 401/Spacearm with a Benz Ace cart, into some vintage McIntosh pre and power with Rogers LS5/9 and LS3/5a speakers. When I got home I had a listen to my SL1210, and I much preferred my system with the Teccie. I regret the 401 as an "objet d'art" but I have to think that DD pedigree TTs throuroughly made it obsolete.

I do wonder how an SME 10 stacks up against a Time Stepped or Kab'ed SL1210, tho' ?

cheers

[Pete]

I do wonder how an SME 10 stacks up against a Time Stepped or Kab'ed SL1210, tho' ?

cheers

The SME 10 arm was fairly easy to set up, but it has very little clearance between the arm lift and the bottom of the arm tube, which can be a problem if you want to set up a cart slightly tail high. It seems the little lift arm doesn't go all the way down, maybe that's the design??

Compared to his Thorens 125MkII, my buddy said he could hear more powerful and controlled bass. He is running 'The Statement' Grado cart.
Nice sounding system, but his Modwright Phono tube stage has a hum.

Its hard to compare my system to his, since he has Conrad Johnson tube gear out to his Martin Logan CLS speakers. I doubt he would want to move his table now or do cart swaps.

His system has a warm sound to it and is a little rolled off to my ears, and little short on dynamics. But this is how he likes it.

[Peter Stockwell]

Its hard to compare my system to his, since he has Conrad Johnson tube gear out to his Martin Logan CLS speakers. I doubt he would want to move his table now or do cart swaps.

His system has a warm sound to it and is a little rolled off to my ears, and little short on dynamics. But this is how he likes it.

I listened to a system like that yesterday, with my old turntable in it, sounded muffled. I have limited experience of Martin Logan speakers, the only system I heard with them sent me to sleep.

[Pete]

I listened to a system like that yesterday, with my old turntable in it, sounded muffled. I have limited experience of Martin Logan speakers, the only system I heard with them sent me to sleep.

Yup, a bit lacking in transparency and dynamics. Too many tube stages (phono, preamp, amp) ...

[Peter Stockwell]

Yup, a bit lacking in transparency and dynamics. Too many tube stages (phono, preamp, amp) ...

inneresting, the one I listened to yesterday was a restored 60s McIntosh preamp, an 80s trannie power amp and some Rogers LS5/9s. It didn't sound bad, but it didn't sound right either.

[Marco]

That's a very interesting comment. It almost presumes that tube gear is automatically lacking in transparency and dynamics, which is an absolute and utter fallacy...

Well, allow me to correct that - poorly designed 'badge' tube gear might be like that (I've often heard this criticism aimed at CJ equipment), but not stuff that's been properly designed from the ground up where the money has been spent where it matters, under the hood, and where the circuit used isn't simply some re-hashed, poorly implemented copy of an ancient 1950s Quad design or whatever...

The reason that I moved from solid-state gear to tubes in the first place is because of their (massively) superior transparency and dynamics, compared even to my 200W £6000 ECS monoblocks, each one sporting a 1500VA transformer! This is certainly what my Croft preamp and 30W Class A KT88 Copper amp deliver in spades

This stereotyping of tube gear as being somehow 'warm and soggy' sounding needs to be dispelled once and for all for the over-hyped nonsense that it is.

Sorry for the 'rant', Pete, but I think that your friend should consider buying some decent tube gear and then he'll get all the transparency and dynamics he can handle - or perhaps that isn't quite his thing?

Marco.

[Ali Tait]

I don't think it matters how many valve stages you have.If they are correctly designed,the system will sound great.There are also the impedance matching issues to think of.I feel this issue is often overlooked in making components work well together.

[Marco]

Indeed, Ali. Your Chinese SET amp most certainly doesn't lack transparency and dynamics

With the right music, it would wake the dead!

Marco.