I am certainly not stating "Throw away your Goldmund and get a Technics!"; what I AM saying is that all of the tables I mentioned were entry levelish in nature. The modded Technics holds it's own pretty damn well, it has surpassed all of them I mentioned in one or more areas and the overall versatility and "set it up and forget it" nature of the Technics is pretty damn nice. |
10-13-11: Audiofeil
I bought a 1210M5G a couple years ago...
However, the stock tonearm is the major drawback of this table. You can change the bearing, isolate the table with fancy devices, re-wire the arm but a lipsticked pig is still a pig.
If you fancy using this arm with any serious cartridge, you're already bottlenecked by the arm.
I'm not saying the Technics arm is better than an RB500 or 700, but when the drive mechanism and tonearm resonances are controlled and the noise drained out via a platform or plinth, the overall package is surprisingly satisfying. And when you hit that tonearm performance bottleneck, there are armboards available for mounting a Rega-compatible, a Jelco, or SME tonearm on an SL12x0 series. As much as I like my current rig, my next step would probably be to mount a Jelco or SME arm and still be ahead of the price/performance curve. The SL1200 was always meant to be a mid-level enthusiast's turntable. It was also available as the SL120, which had an SME armboard instead of a tonearm. I suspect that that's more the way the engineers intended it. |
compared top of the line mods on 1200 vs. used stock vintage oracle alexandria and most of praises after side by side went to vintage oracle. speaking of around $1100 for new 1200 vs. $400 used vintage oracle. math rules! |
I certainly am not trying to start an argument or controversy or anything of the sort. I am stating this for the sake of fellow analog lovers. How I even wound up with this thing is funny. At the time, I owned a Linn LP12 with the Basik arm. The Linn was a 1980 model with no updates. Sounded nice though. I was in a pawn shop that was going out of business and everything was "make an offer". There sat this SL1200 MKII in like new condition. I offered $50. He said $100. We settled on $80. I had never heard one I had no desire to own one. I bought it to "flip" it. Before walking out the door, this guy hands me a chrome cover (steel, fits over the cast aluminum top of the turntable and totally covers all the aluminum, allowing only the controls, tonearm and platter to show) and he says "You might as well take this too. It fits nothing here." I have just played with and experimented with this thing and it really does not take much to make it really sing. After some tweeks, I discovered that it resolved better than my Linn (plus it did not go out of whack every time the barametric pressure changed). In detail, the turntables that in some way or another this modified Technics has bettered are: Sota-Comet, Rega Planar 3 with motor upgrade in 1999, Thorens TD320 with Audioquest PT5 arm, AR ES1 with Sumiko Premier MMT, Linn Axis, Dual CS5000, and I forgot about the VPI HW19 JR with the MKIII platter. The modded Technics: Is more 3 dimensional with more images that are both more forward and further rearward- The bass is dynamic as all hell. It is tight and defined with superb pitch definition- The midrange is unravled in a sense.... Example: On Abby Road, the song Something in the Way She Moves there is a spot where there is organ, bass guitar and electric guitar. Normally (with EVERY other table I have owned) these would all be homogenized to the point that you could kind of tell what all was making up these notes, but with the modded Technics they are clearly individualized; the timbre of each instrument being revealed. In a nutshell, the modded Technics offers the pitch stability, freedom from peaks or dips or bloat in the bass yet with bass slam, the separation of voices and instruments......things that are actually strong points of CD yet with the musical harmonic structure of analog. Overall, pretty cool. Without the mods, you get tastes of this, but the mods solidify it. It started out as money making purchase, then an experiment, now I am trying to de-throne it without mortgaging my home doing it. (LOL) I am not looking to stir any pots, I am not looking for validation, I am simply stating what I (and numerous audiophile friends) have heard. By the way, the motor has no trouble at all getting up to speed. It's like the extra weight isn't even there. All this performance with so little maintenance. Kind of neat, but it does make my "snob meter" go off every once in a while. |
I initiated my vinyl renaissance 4-1/2 years ago by purchasing an SL1210 M5G. I have done some similar tweaks to similar effect. I don't have the KAB power supply, but I have his fluid damper for the tonearm. I don't have a 454g weight but I have a KAB record grip. Instead of an acrylic/rubber mat sandwich I have a felt/sorbothane sandwich. Instead of stuffing the armtube with cotton and shrink wrapping it, I wrapped it with PFTE pipe thread tape, including the knurled collar for attaching the headshell. I also have a Sumiko headshell plus an LP Gear Zupreme one, which is very similar and both have the high quality cartridge leads and tags. Finally, instead of a chrome/steel plinth cover, I've platformed the turntable onto a very thick and heavy maple butcher block cutting board, with a Vibrapod assembly between the turntable and board, and gel pads between the board and the shelf it sits on. Every one of these tweaks has contributed significantly to more clarity, lower noise, better dynamics, and extended frequency range. Upgrading from a lightweight cutting board to the 30-lb. behemoth I have now was particularly significant.
Anyway, I agree that the Technics is a great fundamental platform and easy to improve with low cost tweaks and accessories. I can go to my local store and listen to turntable rigs up to around $7K and not feel like I'm missing anything, and may have an advantage in speed accuracy and the sensations of better pitch, rhythm, and propulsion that come with it. Only at the $12K DPS/Ayre rig do I begin to acknowledge an improvement. |
I bought a 1210M5G a couple years ago in order to play my vintage moving magnet cartridges. The interchangeable headshell feature is terrific; it allows quick cartridge changes which is super for comparisons.
However, the stock tonearm is the major drawback of this table. You can change the bearing, isolate the table with fancy devices, re-wire the arm but a lipsticked pig is still a pig.
If you fancy using this arm with any serious cartridge, you're already bottlenecked by the arm.
At the end of the day, the 1200 series is legendary and one of the best bargains ever but let's not get carried away.
IMO |
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Are we supposed to respond to try to convince you otherwise? |
There is something to be said for tts made back in the day when they were actually common and popular with the masses.
Most of teh better newer "audiophile" tables are good no doubt, but more of a boutique type item which is different. They have a lot to offer the target market but also do not come cheap.
Nothing wrong with either, just making an analogy. |
I started off with a technics 1210, and have been very happy with it. Every now and again I get the urge to "upgrade" to a system that would impress an audio snob, but at the end of the day I know I would not come close to reaping the aural benefits of investing four times the amount I have already spent on my current setup. It's a shame that the 1210 was discontinued, but not that suprising. I guess manufacturing an heirloom product is a little incongruous with our culture of perpetual obsolesence. I'm not an audiophile, but to me one of the simple pleasures of life is coming home on a Friday, and pouring a glass of wine while Monk or Otis spins on my Technics. To reiterate it's bloody shame that it is no longer commercially available at $399. |
OK, so your Technics sounds better to you than did your "Sota, Rega, Linn, AR, Thorens, Dual". Each of those brands comes in several flavors (except for the AR). If you owned the low end of each line, your results with the SL1200 are not at all surprising or remarkable, IMO.
Now as to the "steel plinth cover", I am a bit confused. Is this kind of a "cap" that sits over the plinth so that the platter and tonearm poke through it, or are you talking about what is in effect a dust cover?
Finally, it's a wonder the platter can still rotate with all that added mass from your aftermarket platter mat and record weight. Theory says that adding so much mass might compromise the proper operation of the servo system, which was designed to cope with the inertial mass of the stock platter and mat. Also, the bearing is under extra stress, which may or may not be a longterm issue. But if the net result pleases you, it's all good. I do think that getting rid of the stock rubber mat (or in your case, covering it with another mat) is a good move. |
-Armtube stuffed loosely with cotton.
-Heat shrink tubing on outside of arm tube.
The above is brilliant. Great idea.
I also use the Sumiko head shell and wires. And yes they do help.
-John |
You are an audio snob. Not that there is anything wrong with that. :] Pride of ownership goes along way. You should love your gear just to look at it. Sound, sight and feel all matter, if it matters to you. |
Imagine what you could do with one of the high-end Japanese direct drive tables, say an SP10 MK ll . I think you'd be able to put away your shame. :) |
Where does one get such a plinth? |
