technics sl 1200 gae

The man to talk to in the US is Kevin at KAB. He is a real authority on Technics turntables.  I haven't spoken to him in awhile but my guess is that he will suggest a rewire of the arm and the fluid damper.  I think you will find him straightforward about the reasons for these mods.I have looked at the Timestep site and read comments from the owner on chat sites  online.  Let me just say I don't feel 100% confident about what they do.The arm on the 1200G is really good.  If you go with the Timestep arm you will lose the ability to quickly change cartridges.  Since you collect older records (as do I) you won't be able to go between mono and stereo carts very easily.  A fancy steak knife is a wonderful thing but sometimes a Swiss Army knife is of more utility.I agree with tzh21y that the sound of the table will improve after a few hundred hours of run in.

You are limited with a choice of tonearm for SL1200GAE plinth, but you have no limits with SP-10mkII or SP-10R (except for the very short arms), you can use "10.5 or "12 inch tonearm easily.

We've installed 12" arms on that plinth, so not sure what is meant by this comment.
In general though, the new SL1200 would be my choice over any Linn or VPI, price no object, regardless of 33 or 45 RPM. 

@atmasphere Each you promote one particular arm you have to remind our readers that you are a dealer of that arm, i think it’s a good arm, but TriPlanar is not for everyone and construstion of that "12inch arm is unusual, the arm tower and pivot are two different things, only for this reason you can mount "12inch TriPlanar on GAE. But it’s an exception, because even Technics own EPA "10.5 series does not fit into SL1200GAE, not only a normal "12 inch tonearm like this, because spindle to pivot mounting distance is (304,75mm) is way out of the "plinth" of the GAE.

In my opinion one of the best arm for GAE is REED "9 (
205.5mm distance) or "10.5 (236.1mm distance), longer Reed "12 (with 283.8mm mounting distance) can’t be mounted for example. Also i know for sure that many classic "10.5 or "12 inch tonearms are impossible to mount on GAE for the same reason.

GAE is too small turntable for 99% of the "12inch tonearms. 

@chakster
Just so you know, I'm not a dealer for Triplanar. I have two of them- I like them, but I'm not a dealer.

The arm tower allows adjustment of the VTA on the fly. The concept has been copied by VPI, Durand and others so it must work :)

I designed an arm board that allows you to mount longer arms, and while the dust cover can't be used, longer arms like the Reed can.

chakster,

atamasphere has mounted a Triplaner Classic SE on my Technics 1200G TT.  It gives me superb performance. I am happy with it.

At least one member bought a used Triplanar, bought an armboard off ebay, mounted it himself. So the used and DIY route can be taken. Only you limit yourself.

chakster, You are always whinning about the cost of everything. Perhaps if you saved your "nickles" in whatever currency you use, got a 2nd job,and stopped buying 30+ vintage cartridges, multiple TTs, tonearms and phonostages. Just maybe you could join us in the 21st Century.

Please Do Stop whinning  about your poor financial status. Its boring