technics SL-1210 DIY pocket money upgrades

[DSJR]

Mats - ask HiFi Dave how much he'll sell you a NAS Space-Mat for - I haven't compared it with the custom Herbies/Sound HiFi mat Dave Cawley sells, but I think they may be similar - a loaded foam of some sort that stays squigded for a while when compressed and not very expensive at all. The Space-Mat won't be quite small enough diameter to clear the lip on the Techie platter, but depending on the severity of the lip on current production (my SL150 lip is very slight) it may not be the issue as it can with rubber type ones...

Re-wiring is always a good idea and possibly getting the later arm (two or three months to save at £25pm) which I believe is titanium... Otherwise, Johnnie at Audio Origami has had good results with damping inside the arm pipe. You could try some spira-tube on the outside of the pipe and I think there may be some custom counterweights available for "mass-loaded" Techie arms.

Sorbothane boots are a great idea too and I'd ask Dave Cawley about the regulator mod, which may possibly work with the otherwise standard power supply.

[Mike]

Ok, thanks. I didn't realise the cable was so cheap.

Does this cable sound like the genuine article http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=110459761283

If so I can have one continuous run to the phono plugs.

Take a look at item No.143-378 HERE. It's about two thirds of the way down the page. Many people have used this to great effect.

[Dave Cawley]

Litz is good, as well as a pipe cleaner pushed down the armtube for damping.

Dave

[Griffster]

I like the pipe cleaner mod, Dave.

[Alex_UK]

Soak it in a good single-malt whisky first for an even more damped presentation.

[Macca]

Soak it in a good single-malt whisky first for an even more damped presentation.

'There 's no such thing as a 'good single malt whiskey - they're all good'

(George Cowley - The Professionals)

[Alex_UK]

'There 's no such thing as a 'good single malt whiskey - they're all good'

(George Cowley - The Professionals)

I love it! (and The Professionals)

Sorry for the digression - great tweak, Dave, which presumably would work on other tonearms... worth a try, anyway.

[Kris]

I just wanted to say thank you for all your suggestions. Come the New Year, I'll start my Tekky project.

I posted elsewhere a pic of my Australis Electroacoustics MM1 phone stage. Seeing as it's related to my Tekky, and quite a rare beast of a kitten, here's what it looks like on the inside:



I don't know how it sounds because I've never directly compared it to anything. Sounds ok to me with my Denon DL-160.

The outboard plug top power supply runs the heaters and the HT only. The amplifying circuits are well isolated (apparently!). 2500ohm out, two stage design, CCS loads. Metal film resistors, Panasonic Electrolytics, Wima coupling caps, ceramic valve holders. RIAA is correct and includes the 4th time constant (whatever that means!). The valves are standard Philips JAN 6922. Never got round to upgrading them . . (and wouldn't know what to upgrade them to anyway!)

Designed and built by John Broadwood who apparently is a well known high end audio designer.