Technics SL1200MK2 Cartridge Discussion

Perfectionist,

Mine has no fluid damper yet, only Cardas rewire. I will spring for the damper down the road. But having owned an RB250 and now the Technics. I see nowhere does it fall short of the RB-250. Both are very nice arms for the money. IMO I think there is no real reason to swap it out for the RB250 or RB300. Maybe higher end Regas but who knows. But hey it's anyone's money to spend. But I think it is simply ridiculous for anyone to think the Technics arm is poor construction. I agree many cottage industry arms are no better but owners of them want to think so given how much they may have spent.

I'm not saying the arm on the SL12xx series is as good as it gets. But for the price of it all it delivers in spades.

I hear you guys on the arm. Personally I kinda like VTA on the fly, so keeping the arm is probably the best. As for the arm mods, the KAB Cardas rewire is only to an RCA plate? Don't they have something that goes straight to RCAs or even XLRs?

If I were to do up a no-holds-barred Technics, I supposed it would look like:

KAB SL1210 M5G with:
Outboard PS
Threaded record clamp
SDS Isoplatmat
Isonoe feet
Cardas tonearm rewire into XLRs
Sumiko HS12 headshell
Fluid damper
Denon 103R w Soundsmith OLC retip
Aqvox Phono 2 MkII

Now that would be sweet!

Cmk,

Yes it is to a nice quality plate with Gold plated plug ins and a nice grounding post. I do not think they do a complete one piece run through but you may want to email Kevin at KAB about this.

This said I have no fear in the gold plated termination and so because it allows me to easily swap other cables if I want.

Interesting tip on the Mothers product Perfectionist. Have you tried it on your M5G yet?

Before settling on the 1210, I owned a VPI jr/PT6 and Tecnodec/modded RB250 and I think that the Technics deck sounds better than both. Granted, there were a few minor changes and tweaks here and there in my system, but the fact that the Technics sounded better to my ears at the end of it all really says a lot about its value.

Regarding the Technics arm, I agree that it is a pretty high quality arm. I was skeptical before I got a 1210 because it didn't seem to look the part of a high quality arm but I would have to say that this thing really holds its own. It is the most full-featured arm of the bunch and feels really precise. One thing I liked iss that the cueing mechanism drops faster than the RB250 or PT6. I was a little nervous at first but realized that it drops fast enough so that you can usually get the needle exactly where you want it without the anti-skating pulling it a few grooves back, but slow enough not to destroy the suspension.

Carts used for all 3 tables were the Denon DL-160 and Dynavector 10x5. Strangely enough, both carts tracked better in the Technics for some reason than the other two tables. I was using the Sumiko headshell with the Denon and stock headshell with the Dyna. I tried the Dynavector in the Sumiko and thought it sounded better in the stock headshell. I guess adding mass at the headshell and counterbalancing with the aux weight was a little too much for it, plus compliance is slightly higher than the Denon. YMMV with other carts.

The only thing I'm waiting on now is the fluid damper but Kevin says that they are in production and wont be available for a few weeks.

I have been listening to the Technics again tonight. I really cannot say that the VPI did any better soundwise. If anything, the Technics has a wider image (different cartridges, but I was using a more expensive cart on the VPI) and keeps me putting more discs on.

I went from my music server and of course the difference is big. The music just has more resolution and body to it. I'm really glad that I didn't give up on vinyl and went for the SL1210. It should have been my first stop.