SP10 Mk II vs Mk III

I use the same tech as Albert, and I can confirm what he says. But Bill Thalmann would be the first to say that he is not the only man in the world who can restore the electronics of a MKII or III. The point is really that replacing the electrolytic caps throughout is a good idea when resurrecting any of these 30-year-old dd tables. Other upgrades to the parts, e.g., use of Schottky diodes, etc, are icing on the cake.

As regards the added benefits of removing the motor and platter totally from the brushed aluminum chassis to install the works alone in a plinth (be it wood or slate or whatever) is not something to be taken lightly. In the process, all the on-board electronics have to be moved outboard, of course. This makes the leads between the motor and its contol system commensurately much longer than the Technics engineers foresaw. I don't know whether this would have a negative effect on the servo system, but it might. The main weakness of the standard chassis is potentially the way the motor is bolted to it, which might allow movement or bending under stress at start up, but during play flexing should not be a problem. IMO, Albert's idea of supporting the bearing assembly with a steel rod imbedded in a heavy metal block probably mitigates any potential problem with flexing of the stock chassis. In sum, I decided against such a radical procedure. My SP10 Mk2A has been up and running in an 80-lb slate plinth for several months. Of course you know I am going to say it sounds great, and it does indeed.

There's really nothing radical about it. It's rather reversible. The motor is just connected to one of the boards via a 12-pin connector and why do you even need to take the boards out of the stock chassis? Just leave them in there and you will have three pieces of hardware acting as a record player: the power supply, stock chassis, new plinth with motor. I know, they take up space. But making plinth just for the motor will be much easier, just cut a 6" hole on the plinth and mount the motor in it. That's it. As far as length is concern, I don't see extending few feet of cable would be a problem as long as the voltages remain the same. In fact the MK3 did exactly that by removing majority of the electronics onto the power supply chassis. Kaneta in Japan has been doing this type of mod for years. In fact I believe almost ALL direct drive can be benefited from this. I had over 30 direct drive turntables of various cost, and after examining almost all can be improved by removing the motor out of the stock chassis or plinth - most of them are either made of particle board or plastic or thin cast aluminum. They are basically a hollow box with fancy wood veneer. The Monaco turntable takes the same approach by having the electronics separately and have the motor mounted on something really solid. It's funny with the revival of idler drive turntables, all the audiophiles talk about regarding these vintage gems is the plinth. But when it comes to direct drive, it's a different story. Most people only cling on to just a few models like the SP10 or SP15 due their manual operation. And if you want the automatic operation from some turntables then, obviously, they are not good choices.

Currently, I am using the motor from a Pioneer PL-L1000 with a broken linear tracking arm so I decided to use just the motor and drive electronics. Pioneer motor and bearing is first grade with their excellent Stable Hanging Rotor (SHR)inverted bearing that is similarly employed in their flagship P-3 turntable. I installed the motor on a thick butcher block with cantilevered armboard and placed the electronics in a separate chassis. And it sounds excellent. In stock form, the motor is bolted to the bottom suspended plated that is made of wobbly plastic!! What an eyesore! I also have another unit with such mod so sometimes I tape drive one another. It's fun!

Of course not all DD turntables are good candidates. I would avoid doing this with certain brands such as Sony and Denon because they use a magnetic head to pick up signal from the platter's rim for the servo system. It's do-able but it's just more hassle. Some models have the pcb attached to the motor like the Technics SL-1200mk2, so that's not a good one. But the SL-1300/1400/1500mk2 series are excellent choices for such mod due to their detachable motor and nice dynamically balanced platter, which render them a notch above the boring SL-1200 - essentially an SL1500mk2 is an SP15 minus the 78rpm speed. But their tonearm is not as good so here's the chance to try something different.

I have a broken spare SP10, parts unit, that has speed issue so I am thinking of taking the motor and platter out and install on a new plinth and let it be driven by another SP10 acting as tape drive. As much as I like direct-drive I am also very fond of tape-drive with another turntable. I've been using these dual turntable set ups for a year now and I am really liking it.

Now, that's what I'm talking about!

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=vinyl&m=832368

The Steve Dobbins plinth looks great but the triangular plinth is just lovely. It would be nice to hear it as a motor tape-driving another platter since the MK3 has speed adjustment....

Hiho,

Lots of ways to do a plinth. I visited Mike about the time Steve delivered the plinth you linked to. Mike himself will tell you that these rebuilt tables will "play with the big boys" and his reference is the Rockport Sirius.

I like Steve's design and others as well. I agree the triangle design posted to that thread is unique, that's why we audiophiles get involved and do these things.

Yes, Albert, getting involved is one of the major fun of this hobby instead of always being lead by the nose by magazines and the so called experts. Glad to know the SP10 is in the "big boys league" instead of the doghouse.

By taking the motor out of the stock chassis really fires up the imagination, the sky is the limit. And this way the plinth plays an even more important role than before. Glad people are giving new life (and love) to these classic direct-drive turntables as the DD genre was getting very little press time for two decades.

I hope I will get to do that kind of plinth soon. Can't wait to see your new version in the future! :-)

By the way, for those on a smaller budget the SL1300/1400/1500mk2 series, which is essentially an SP15 with tonearm, is also perfect for this kind of treatment.