Is the KAB Fluid Damper worth it if...

The KAB Electro-Acoustic TD-1200 Tonearm Fluid Damping System is one of the last KAB mods I have left to try. I think the Record Clamp is the only one I'm missing.

Is the TD-1200 worth it? With out question. This is a very impressive modification to the stock tonearm on the SL1210M5G. I have to give Kevin utmost respect and credit for his line of modifications to the Technics 12xx turntable. His designs are elegant and simple to install and they definitely are educational.

The Fluid Damping System brings coherency to the for-front for benefits to my system now. Sounds are now fully flushed out and filled where before they were somewhat hollow. From the bottom up to the top, the lows to the highs are now fully fleshed out with body, very nice. I have a Graham Phantom I've been thinking about mounting, but I've lost a little motivation now, I don't know, I may get to it soon. But the Technics 12xx is seriously ready for enjoyment.

Might be a silly question but does the dampen help lower the noise floor on this tt because i like the sound of the tt but the noise floor even with a nice benz micro ace is too high for this analog newbie but grizzled digital vet!

Thanks

Michael

" noise floor is too high for this analog newbie but grizzled digital vet!"

Damper might help.. but unless your cleaning and treating with good wet/vac solutions on your vinyl media it will never improve to that extent, clean and it will.

Just installed my TD1200 last week to my SL-1210M5G with a Goldring g1042 cart on stock headshell. I had the tt a couple of months with out the damper so I had plenty of time to listen without it. I had lots of fun with the table. many positives and there are some areas that are not great. Take the new album ON Rainbow by Radiohead, the music seemed to come from different palces in the soundstage but never got back together to make music- the damper brought it all together and just seemed to make it sound more like a live performance would. It had made that difference on several different albums that I have listened to. Some, though, didn't sound any different at all, or very little. On my better pressings it did make a nice improvement and the Goldring cart seems to have some pretty nice range to really dig out the info in a groove. The Gring 1042 is at an awkward price point at around $400- but it is an incredible cart with this table. Lush comes to mind as I can't seen to get enough s of it. I just crossed the 50 hour mark and it continues to impress.

Is the tonearm dampen something a newbie can install? One that is not mr diy?

Michael

Ps sure wish the technics 1210M5g could use any phono cable you want because the attached one looks cheap! Yeah perhaps can ship to kab but thats a pain! Anyone change out the phono cable?