Seeking advice from the SL1200 fan s

SL1200's have easily adjustable and repeatable VTA control. Overhead is set at the headshell, so cart swaps are fairly simple. BTW, in theory, fluid damping should improve transient response in particular, by keeping steep amplitude impulses from being dissapated in exciting the arm, so the energy is directed into moving the cantilever where it belongs. The viscous fluid permits the arm low frequency movement, such as following the record groove or a warped surface, but progressively attenuates higher frequency arm movements, where transients live. (Yes, I have a 1200, and am on the verge of trying the damper for myself, and am considering the 78 rpm mod down the road.)

Sorry, second sentence, first word should have been "overhang", of course. Sean, when I get the damper, I'll post my experience. My own theory about Merrill's observation would be that damping may attenuate some tonearm ringing, which might seem (like many resonances do unless you get used to their absence) to in some way add "excitement" to the presentation. But this is only my theory; what do I know yet, since I haven't tried it?

Kenny also recommended that I try the X5, but I wound up spending more and getting a B-M Glider M2 from Bob at the Elusive Disk, who I felt was the best to deal with. Various input I got said it was the best in the around $600 range (w/trade), and I haven't had any problems with it in the 1200, but the shopping experience underscored for me how compromised your ability to choose is when you can't actually audition anything in your system beofore committing. No shops in my area (DC) could play me anything I was considering, much less do a comparision. You've almost got to go on faith unless you know someone who owns a cart you're interested in.

Jimbo, how could a platter form part of the stator? The platter must rotate by definition. BTW, Rockport 'tables are direct drive, and are said to be the world's best. Obviously, this doesn't imply anything about the Technics machine, but it does show that DD need not be considered inherently inferior to belt drive. (Although at the prices Rockport asks, it *may* show how tough it is to engineer out some side-effects of DD. Then again, as many folks have posited, the scale on which Technics has produced quality DD 'tables may hide the cost such machines would require if produced by a high-end co. As you may have noticed, the HE TT co's all buy their outboard motors from contractor suppliers rather than make their own.)