The Mike New Technics Bearing

[prestonchipfryer]

Installing a MN bearing in the SL12XX is by far one of the best upgrades that can be applied. The sound quality improvement is very obvious above the stock bearing. The MN ETP platter is another big leap forward. I have been running the bearing for more than two years and the platter for almost two years (Feb). So I would say that the two together are a must for an effective upgrade and are worth every penny.

John

[Marco]

Never a truer word was spoken!

Marco.

[RobbieGong]

Installing a MN bearing in the SL12XX is by far one of the best upgrades that can be applied. The sound quality improvement is very obvious above the stock bearing. The MN ETP platter is another big leap forward. I have been running the bearing for more than two years and the platter for almost two years (Feb). So I would say that the two together are a must for an effective upgrade and are worth every penny.

John

Defo ! - A match made in heaven.

[costerdock]

Defo ! - A match made in heaven.

Say it ain't so....not another upgrade! Perhaps next Christmas

[CageyH]

That is my plan.
Hopefully next years annual bonus will cover that and a cartridge.

[Mike_New]

Hi Folks,
In spite of the fall off in sales of my Bearing, I still get private enquiries from individuals asking for advice on what to buy first for their SL1200. Bearing, Power Supply, New Arm, Platter, expensive alluminium Mat, Cartridge, or whatever??!

I recently got an email from one very keen audio enthusiast in Asia (among others) who I reckon has purchased all of the above options and more. But only now is he considering one of my Bearings, as he does not feel that he has obtained any real improvement!! Except that he must wait some time as he has spent all of his money. All he has done IMO is to spend a lot of money to merely enhance the audio shortcomings evident at the very start of the reproduction chain. The Bearing. And for which no amount of spending on expensive options down the chain will do absolutely nothing to correct.

As an analogy, it is a bit like a car buff fitting a new expensive short-shift close-ratio gearbox, LS Differential, wide mag wheels and expecting that the original side valve engine will make it go any faster; it will not.

The single most important component of the reproduction cycle of the Turn Table has to be the quality of the bearing on which everything is supported and rotates This is even more critical on a belt driven TT as the belt tension imparts a side thrust on the bearing which must cause wear, but it does bias the spindle in one direction possibly damping out any tendency to wobble if the bearing is slightly worn.

Ideally, in the SL1200 there is no side thrust and the bearing can be regarded as being merely there to prevent the platter from tipping over (ignoring the 2 grams of Cartridge loading of course). The spindle and platter, happily spinning on the bottom support.
Now if the bearing is a loose fit in the bearing housing or the housing itself is less that rigid, as is the case with the low cost, fragile OEM unit, then the whole assembly will vibrate or resonate at some frequencies which will distort the sonic quality of reproduction. No amount of additional options such as expensive mats will do anything to ameliorate the situation, and may in fact make it worse.

[Marco]

Hi Mike,

Nice to see you popping in again. Hope you are well

Marco.

[Mike_New]

Hi Marco,
Yes I am well, it's just that things have slowed down a bit recently concerning the good old Techie, so I have not had a great deal to talk about. Although people continue to contact me directly, they are always keen to know what my Bearing can do but seldom go any further, if only they new what they are missing out on!!!

[Wakefield Turntables]

Mike we are bored in the uk you need to design some more mods!

[Marco]

Hi Marco,
Yes I am well, it's just that things have slowed down a bit recently concerning the good old Techie, so I have not had a great deal to talk about. Although people continue to contact me directly, they are always keen to know what my Bearing can do but seldom go any further, if only they new what they are missing out on!!!

Obviously you're preaching to the converted... Anyway, glad to hear that you are well, old chap

The problem is that some people don't fully embrace the value of upgrading a component that they cannot see (as buying a new and better T/T bearing doesn't result in obtaining something nice and shiny to look at and admire when a record is playing). Neither do they 'get' the significant influence a fundamentally superior bearing has on music reproduced by a turntable, as you have so eloquently outlined, which is why their money goes instead on what are at that stage 'superfluous fripperies' in comparison, but act nicely as 'shiny new visible things', as highlighted by your tale of the Asian chap.

I shake my head in disbelief when I read sometimes (admittedly only occasionally) from people who've bought your bearing saying that they considered that the improvement over the stock Technics one was only 'subtle', and that the same money would have been 'better spent' elsewhere (you guessed it, on an arm or cartridge, etc). Well a better arm or cartridge won't address the same issues as a better bearing does!

As for a "subtle improvement"? Not in my system it wasn't......!!

On a turntable, you have to 'max out' first on the components of intrinsic importance that a) ensure that the platter spins consistently at the right speed under load (from the stylus), b) ensure that the ingress of vibration, subsequently resulting in problematic resonance, muddying the signal in the process, has been minimised, and c) that the PSU is capable of delivering consistently clean power to the motor unit during playback, ensuring therefore that a) b) and c) perform their respective tasks seamlessly and to the highest possible sonic and electrical standard.

Then and ONLY *then*, once that has been successfully achieved, and the optimal 'infrastructure' put into place, in order for music to be accurately reproduced, should one turn ones attention to the items that extract the musical information from the record grooves!

Of course, whilst the above are undisputable facts, practicalities raise their ugly head, such as how much one has to spend on a T/T, or where perhaps some other area of the T/T requires more pressing attention, so if you've got a Techy sitting there, whose tonearm has been shagged by a ham-fisted DJ, fitted with an equally knackered Stanton 500AL, then the least of your worries will be the bearing, or if you're simply lightly modifying the turntable and have no intentions of taking things too far....

However, in circumstances where the highest possible performance is sought from the Technics, or the building of a T/T that, once judiciously modified, can compete with the very best, then one must always start at the beginning: and that's from the plinth (by upgrading the poor quality stock feet) and platter (by upgrading the sonically dire stock rubber mat), and forward from there onto the bearing and PSU.

The fact is, only then, once attending to those fundamentally all-important areas, will you be able to hear the full potential of your 'fancy new' tonearm and cartridge!



Marco

P.S Mike, I'm waiting on a bearing base plate from David, as it's the final piece in the jigsaw for me. Does he have the required drawings, in order to get them produced in the UK?