How much am I missing with SL1200 mk2?

For two or three hundred dollars, you could upgrade your SL1200 to compete with $1500-2000 turntables, and exceed many of them in certain parameters.

The SL1200's strengths are high torque combined with low noise, rugged construction, speed accurcy, and smooth, slick, user-friendly controls.

The high torque combined with low noise provides good dynamics, bass extension, and rhythmic drive.

The cheap'n'easy tweaks include:

1) A better platter mat; Google around and check some recommendations here. The Herbie's Way Excellent mat is a good place to start, and so are some of those leather or hair-oncowhide models.

2) Get a low-cost record grip; you'll get more consistent tonal balance and s/n ratio regardless of record weight.

3) The stock feet look effective but they aren't. An easy and inexpensive solution is a set of Vibrapod Cones set on top of Vibrapod #2 Isolators. You unscrew the stock feet, set the threaded sockets (that used to hold the feet) onto the steel balls of the Vibracones, and then set those on the Vibrapod Isolators.

4) Wrap the tonearm in Teflon (PFTE) plumbers pipe thread tape. It's one or two bucks a roll; you need about 18" of it, tops.

5) Upgrade your headshell to a ZuPreme from LPGear.

6) Place the turntable on a hardwood butcher block style cutting board. Mine is 3-1/2" thick and made of end grain rock maple. You can also put gel pads or more Vibrapods under the cutting board to improve isolation and vibration reduction.

For a bit more money, add the following upgrades:

7) Have KAB rewire your tonearm with at least OFC copper, or get his very reasonable hyperlitz cable, or the Cardas.

8) Get and install the KAB tonearm fluid damper trough. Fill the trough no more than 1/3 full.

I have done all the above except the tonearm rewire because I have an SL1210M5G, which has OFC tonearm wire.

For a sanity check, I visit my high end store's annual open house where I hear state of the art systems including some pretty sophisticated turntables. Across the street from them is a store that carries Pro-Ject, the full Rega line, and Roxsan. So I'm regularly exposed to $2000-10,000 belt-drive turntables. I never come away from these sessions wishing I had a better turntable. In fact, I marvel at how well my 'table does certain things and how well it holds up against the Rega and Roxsan's strengths.

Oh, yeah: the Audio Technica AT150MLX is wicked fast, articulate, musical, extended, quiet, and linear. Great match for your turntable. I've been using mine for seven years.

Johnnyb53,
Great information in your post!
Thanks!

Try Music Direct if you can't audition locally. I'd suggest giving them a call and talking to Chris or Bes, their vinyl gurus. They can help steer you right and they have a great return policy if you don't like what you buy.

I have a different take(one I will get a lot of grief for). You might be missing the foot tapping quality of music. Does your body want to dance to the music? I've only listened to needle drops, a brief listen to one, and a Technics SP10 mk11(I think.). I'm pretty sure the arm is not too good. Are you getting the reason why someone made the music(I doubt most records are made for the tonal quality of the instruments, but rather they are done to communicate something. Of course, some are made just for the "sound" of the instruments.).

Mmakshak: The strongest trait in quartz-locked direct drive turntables (including the OP's), it's a strong sense of pace as well as dynamics and bass extension. These are the very traits typical of direct drive turntables. Plus, the SP 10 didn't come with a tonearm, so whatever it has is what someone installed on it, post-sale and there's no way we could know what it was.

The weakness in the SL12x0 series was vibration control and damping, which can be inexpensively treated.

Another solution is the new Pioneer PLX-1000, an SL1200-style direct drive turntable with three times the torque (talk about propulsion and timing!), built-in tonearm damping sleeve, damping sheets under the plinth and in the subchassis, and improved feet. It's $697.