Calling all SL-1200/1210 owners!

[Steve Toy]

http://www.dialsoundlight.co.uk/d-commerce/page10.html

A new lid is £33 which is about €42.

[Peter Stockwell]

Steve,

Thanks for that link.

I cleaned up the lid, it's got some micro scratches. THe lid is pretty soft on the SL1210, There has to be a higher quality solution somewhere, but the lid can wait

Peter

[Marco]

Hi Peter,

I missed your reply below because I sent my last post one minute after yours

Just getting the PS and the tonearm rewire organised. enfin, ordered at least. Spent most of the day re-organising the kit. The Naim stuff is almost all on one stack, the SL1210 and the phono stage on it's own stand. Can't run two tables at the same time; my Garrard is a thing of beauty but it's now being confined to the cellar until a resurrection some day.

The Garrard is a thing of beauty and for that reason I wouldn't be in a hurry to get rid of it. It's still a classic.

The strong points are immediately obvious, solid constuction, no bloody wobbly bits to go out of kilter. Ease of use that audiophools have long forgotten about, almost instant Start and Stop.

Yep, the 1210 is a joy to use. No pissing about with bloody rubber bands (and the sonic limitations they impose). Touch button speed change is also so much more practical.

Musically it stuffs any beltdrive wobbledeck I've ever heard. Why ? Because it doesn't tell any lies about pitch or timing! For me that's really the heart and soul of the music. It only took me 5 minutes to decide to retire the Garrard 401/Bastin plinth psu/Spacearm.

I totally agree. The rock-solid pitch and timing is a by-product of the almost totally accurate speed stability; something which 'rubber band' decks could only dream of achieving. I now can't listen to most belt-drive T/Ts as the levels of wow and flutter they induce, and how this manifests itself on the music, gets on my nerves. The thing is you don't realise there's anything wrong with belt-drives until you hear a good direct-drive T/T - it's an effect that only becomes obvious when your ears are attuned to the difference. I am somewhat surprised though at just how quickly your 401 has been retired!

A friend has a CDS3/555PS based system. What the SL1210 does, reminds me of that. That is, it keeps everything in perfect order, whilst still allowing all the naturalness and life to come through.

I know exactly where you're coming from. The top Naim CDPs have a natural 'ease' about them that makes their handling of all genres of music thoroughly convincing and addictive (the 555PS is special, but it should be!) The 1210 does a similar thing in that music simply washes over you with an effortless quality and little sense that it's being processed in any way. The deck never seems to be under stress no matter how complex the music is being played.

I've not had so much fun with LP for months, maybe years.

Great stuff, and that's exactly how I felt when I first got my 1210 - and how I continue to feel now! I hope there are plenty of good record shops in Paris because, trust me, your compulsion to play vinyl now will be greater than ever

Enjoy!

Marco.

[Peter Stockwell]

Hi Peter,

The Garrard is a thing of beauty and for that reason I wouldn't be in a hurry to get rid of it. It's still a classic.

I just can't bring myself to sell the Garrard, it needs a dignified setting. But I don't have the space to have it set up in permanence, and as you so succintly put;

The 1210 is a joy to use.

I am somewhat surprised though at just how quickly your 401 has been retired!

Henry Cooper was a great Boxer, but then came Mohammed Ali.

The top Naim CDPs have a natural 'ease' about them that makes their handling of all genres of music thoroughly convincing and addictive (the 555PS is special, but it should be!)

I think the 555PS with a CDS3 is great, but it's overkill for a CDX(2), I didn't like the effect it had. Digressing a little, I was looking at notching up the Naim ladder but audionning the suspects at the next level didn't find any wothwhile improvements and it meant mucho dinero too.

On the otherhand a listen to an SL1210, admittedly at home, and I was convinced. As Gromit put it, its a wake up call. I can already here a voice saying there's gotta be stuff that has all the Naim virtures and be a lot cheaper. Those are dangerous thoughts, although a 1 box CD player equal to a CDX/XPS or better would be nice. The missus would be glad of less box clutter. Especially if it could be had for peanuts.

Great stuff ...I hope there are plenty of good record shops in Paris because, trust me, your compulsion to play vinyl now will be greater than ever

Well, I did order two LPs this week, which is more than I ordered for the last year. I do have a real problem for LP storage.

cheers


Peter

[Mike]

I've just ordered an Acromat but at the moment I'm baulking at the SDS jobbie, £85 seems a wee bit steep TBH. The deck only cost me £80!

Anyone got a spare I can try?

[Peter Stockwell]

I've just ordered an Acromat but at the moment I'm baulking at the SDS jobbie, £85 seems a wee bit steep TBH. The deck only cost me £80!

Looked at that way, it certainly is excessive; i'm still my head about the £400 service I had done on my Garrard (by Slatedeck, it was the ultra deluxe bring everything up to impeccable and add the bearing mod service and included a sizeable sum for shipping) and the fact the SL1210 I just bought cost half that.

I ordered the SDS isoplatmat directly from the Very Nice Lady at SoundDeadSteel. You're maybe in their backyard, they're in Northumberland, perhaps the Nice Lady would let you have one from the factory door? There's no distributor for SDS in France, is it only Origin Live that sells them in the UK ? I'll post my verdict asap.

The Achromat is cheaper ?

regards

Peter

[Marco]

Mikey, what are you bothering with Isoplatmats for when your deck's not even up and running yet!

I'd lend you mine no problem but I fear I might not see it again for quite a while by the time the deck's surfaced from its box and the platter is in a position to rotate and play music via your D.I.Y phono stage



Marco.

P.S Peter, I dealt with the very same lady.

[Yomanze]

I've just ordered an Acromat but at the moment I'm baulking at the SDS jobbie, £85 seems a wee bit steep TBH. The deck only cost me £80!

Anyone got a spare I can try?

I'm getting very good results with the SRM/Tech acrylic mat (£35 inc P&P), which is excellent for metal platters & effectively damps ringing. Looks f*cking cool too

link

[Marco]

Yom,

How heavy is the SRM? The point is it needs to be of high mass (and the right material) to dampen the resonance in the platter, which is quite considerable with a 1210 when no mat is in place. That's why a thick rubber mat is supplied with the deck, although as we all know this sounds shit hence why the use of Isoplatmats and/or Achromats is necessary. It's not a glass platter we're talking about, which it seems the SRM was primarily designed for.

The Isoplatmat is pretty heavy so for the SRM to work properly on a 1210 it needs to be at least as heavy or as heavy as the stock thick rubber mat. However if it's not as heavy it could be used to interface with the record instead of an Achromat, in conjunction with an Isoplatmat.

Marco.

[Yomanze]

It weighs 250gm and is designed for alloy or glass platters. I don't use it any other mats. Flicking the SL1210 platter without the acrylic mat or with a felt mat definitely makes it ring, but flicking with the acrylic mat on gives a dull thudding sound without any hint of ringing at all - my test material consisting of my nails & ears right close to the platter lol.