You have to measure pivot to spindle distance and think about new custom armboard for any toneam you wish to mount instead of the stock arm. Not every arm can be mounted on this turntable.
Tonearm for Technics 1200GR
I’m looking for a medium mass arm to replace the stock arm. Whatever arm is suggested it should have an armboard that can be bought for it as well. I run a Soundsmith Carmen MkII.
Id like to keep the new arm under $1500.
I found a Jelco TK 850s, but it appears to be a high mass arm. I also found a Timestep T-609, but it appears to be a high mass arm as well.
Id like to keep the new arm under $1500.
I found a Jelco TK 850s, but it appears to be a high mass arm. I also found a Timestep T-609, but it appears to be a high mass arm as well.
Showing 9 responses by chakster
You can look at the arm from the top to figure out how much the new arm can be moved within the armboard area. If it’s too far then maybe it will be impossible to use dust cover, counterweight can be out of the Technics plinth. So it depends on each particular arm. Some of them are way different with armtower like Reed or TriPlanar. You can look for the Reed 9’5 (used/demo) maybe ? Great new arm! Some nice vintage 9’5 arms can be mounted easily, like SONY PUA-7 stand alone version (very nice tonearm). Not cheaper version from Sony turntable, but a version that was sold separately, compare two different version of SONY PUA-7. This arm is fully adjustable, top quality, with the best armlift ever, VTA on the fly. Highly recommended! The price is lower than your limit. |
Actually, Reed would be nice, this is the most versatile tonearm for the most critical setup, but it's expensive. The benefit of the Reed is that you don't need a hole in the armboard, except for the 3 short mouting screws from the top. https://www.reed.lt/tonearm/ |
No problem, but i understand why someone willing to change the arm, even in terms of design i can understand that (not only sound quality). The Reed is so much better than any Technics arms including the EPA-100 which was my main arm before i replaced it with Reed 3p "12. I am not familiar with TriPlanar. But any arm with fluid damper collect dust in that fluid bath (for this reason i don't like KAB fluid dampers for technics tonearms, i don't use dust covers on my turntables). |
It is a pity not to be able to know the mass of the arm to correctly interface the cartridge; are you able to know this? @best-groove Since it was top of the line SONY tonearm along with PUA-9, you can look at the Sony cartridges specs for compliance. The arm was optimal for them, but it is also flexible, because there is an optional subweight to mount lightweight or even superheavy cartridges. But again, since the XL-88 and XL-88D cartridges made for use with this arm, i want to remind that dynamic compliance of XL-88 and 88D is 20cu @ 100Hz, we have to convert it to 10Hz for correct measurements, the compliance will be 34cu ! This is relatively high compliance and for SONY PUA-7 it is fine. For lower compliance and heavier cartridges we can add sony subweight. We can also use different (heavy) headshell. I think the arm is perfect for wide range of cartridges from low to mid-high compliance. The arm is so precisely made and it's a pure pleasure to use compared to many arms i've tried. -------------------- More about Sony PUA-7 here: The tone arm was born from the experience of PS-X9 development under the thought of resonance free. Long span vertical bearings, precision radial bearings, etc. reduce fulcrum of fulcrum while maintaining high sensitivity. Unnecessary resonance is reduced by the shell plug of the chucking mechanism. Parallel wiring of litz wire reduces transmission failure due to inter-line capacitance fluctuation. The high rigidity aluminum alloy pipe is adopted, and the bending rigidity 8 times that of the conventional one is obtained. The inside four scan cellar by a special cam is carried. A carbon clad shell SH-165 is included. The output code comes with a litz wire using output plug with a gold-plated plug. -------------------- Universal tone arm SONY PUA-7 specs: Effective length: 235 mm Overhang: 14 mm Full length: 330 mm Height adjustment range: ± 3 mm Needle pressure adjustment range: 0 to 2.5 g Cartridge weight range used (including shell weight): *11.0 g to 19.5 g *19.0 g to 27.5 g (when using sub weight) Attached shell weight: 10.5 g (SH-165) |
@technick There’s nothing wrong with the stock tonearm. It’s actually a very well designed arm and was made specifically for that deck. Nothing wrong until you want to upgrade it You’d be better off and notice a much larger difference by rewiring the tonearm with a higher grade of wire like Cardas, Audio Note, etc. Some vintage tonearm are superior even with old stock internal wiring for some reason. Do you think the new tonearm wires are not good even in GR or G series ? Also look into a fluid damper from KAB. The new arm designed for use without fluid damper, actually i have those dampers on my old technics along with cardas wiring. I prefer the arms without fluid dampers designed like KAB (with open "bath" to collect dust). I think the fluid damper is not necessary, at least some of my favorite tonearms does not have fluid dampers at all and sound fantastic, Reed 3p is one of them (completely different design philosophy). |
@technick I think you're talking about old 1200 series, not a brand new GR the OP asking for. I've done all the upgrades for the old 1210 mkII before i bought SP-10mkII, but i hope a brand new Technics does not require any of them, because it's a different beast and i believe stock wiring must be good as much as the new tonearm. It's not necessary to call KAB for his mods if you own G or GR which must be a huge upgrade comparing to the old 1200 series. Well, just my thought. |