1210 - A deck odyssey

[muffinman]

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.

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

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.

and to fine tune the air flow you can use one of these natty things from the garden centre

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.



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
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.

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

The odyssey is over and now the real fun can begin


ps - i'll probably faff around with different feet and mats in the future - it's an illness

[Peter Stockwell]

£1000 get's you what elsewhere ?

[muffinman]

£1000 get's you what elsewhere ?

Couldn't agree more Peter. It's truly a great set up. yup, better than a hr'd gorbe. And i enjoyed the process

[Peter Stockwell]

There's another thread around here about the Orbe. I read over on the naim forum about one forum member getting a Raven motor for an Orbe, his remark being that pitch was more stable.

The mitchels have always looked great, whereas an SL1210 mearly looks adequate.

I believe what you say about the terminator, and I'll make sure I never hear one that way I won't be dissapointed with my IV.

[Spectral Morn]

Well done Muffin Man


Nice write up and great photos. Thank you for your item. The Terminator really looks the part. You are right having a linear arm air bearing or other is an amazing thing, does make you realize how much of a compromise most 9 inch arms are. I had an Eminent Technology ET2 and I regret selling it but at the time I had no choice.













Regards D S D L

[Tony G]

A most interesting read, thank you Mr Muffin Man.
Certainly sounds like the business, do love the wild pink vinyl

A couple of questions,
the final setup is with the arm base sitting on a pile of washers/spacers ?
What is the purpose of the second (rear) slot?
Presumably the exposed length of cartridge lead gives no problem with pickup of RFI ?
How noisy is the air pump (for those like me who do not have the luxury of another room to keep it in)?
cheers
TG

[Marco]

Brilliant, Gareth - superb work matey, and just the kind of 'professional' review we love to see here on AOS!

Is that a bespoke headshell on the Terminator? It appears to be more 'chunky' than the one I've seen on other examples.

Marco.

[Magna Audio]

Very interesting.
My SL-1210 with PSU will arrive shortly (I'll update my ongoing thread with progress). As a stop gap I an putting a full OL RB250 with either Sumiko BPS EVOIII ot AT-33 PTG on it.

Then it is muck about with feet & mats and sub mounts the deck stands on.

That will be all of an afternoons work After which I'll be on to what new arm - if the SL-1210 / RB250 doesn't blow me away (I am informed that it won't).

The Terminator is interesting. Certainly looks advanced enough and the physics and geometry would seem to stack up.

I've had a quick surf and found some info on it. Found the pricing and the 30day trial which is very fair.

What is it like to use and live with esp after a few beers (hick).

Does it make any noise? - Not a huge issue as the stylus will as will my Tannoy's anyway but 5m of hose got me wondering. Do you have the pump in a pump room?

[muffinman]

A couple of questions,

Hi Tony,
I'll get to your questions in a sec but firstly i would like to make it clear to everyone that this is the first time a Terminator has been fitted to a 1200 and as such it was all done on a 'suck it and see' basis.
All the measurements etc where sent by me to Vic and all the items you see are the result of Him working to my plans. I think he did a great job considering he had no deck to work with.
The actual arm i have on my deck is one of the first prototypes Vic made and as such i got it at a reduced price. The current models are nice and shiny so please dont be distracted by anything which may seem amiss - it's thoroughly acceptable to me. A new model would be pristine

the final setup is with the arm base sitting on a pile of washers/spacers ?

1/. there are nicer chunky plastic spacers provided, which do indeed look the part. when i changed the cart though, the vta was miles out, so i fine tuned using the washers. trouble is, when i got the OC-9 on it sounded so good i didn't want to mess with the set up based on looks

What is the purpose of the second (rear) slot?

2/. this goes back to the 'suck it and see'. this enables a longer wand length by moving the entire assy back a few cm. we were in agreement that shorter was better. the choice remains available but i doubt it needs to stay for future versions

Presumably the exposed length of cartridge lead gives no problem with pickup of RFI ?

3/.If it does - i ain't noticed

How noisy is the air pump (for those like me who do not have the luxury of another room to keep it in)?

4/.the pump is noisy. Vic has a neat hideaway idea that is illustrated on his web page. i think he tucks it away in a foam filled box. It must do the job or the whole excersise would seem pretty pointless

[muffinman]

Is that a bespoke headshell on the Terminator? It appears to be more 'chunky' than the one I've seen on other examples.

Ta Fella
Nope, it's the new improved Varimass headshell which has 3 brass screws on the underside that can be removed to change effective mass. Clever chap.
there are pics on the site.
it also features threaded and unthreaded holes. My one is currently using the unthreaded as my threaded were 1mm out. No worries though as Vic is going to send me a new one out soon.