Is the KAB Fluid Damper worth it if...

Radioheadokplayer:

Lowering the noise floor is a cumulative process and the fluid damper represents one increment. The biggest is clean records, but the biggest for the Technics is how you platform it. If you don't want a multi-layer approach, at least get the Isonoe feet from KAB. If that's more than you want to spend, then do what I did and replace the feet with Dayton threaded brass cones from PartsExpress situated on a $25 or $50 butcher block cutting board from Ikea or Cuisinart respectively, placed on the proper weight-rated Vibrapods or Mapleshade's cork/rubber Isoblocks. Next, get some Technics bearing oil and put a few drops into the bearing well. You'd be surprised what this does and how commonly it's ignored. Oh, yeah, and the Sumiko or LPGear ZuPreme headshell. It's more rigid and less resonant.

Also, some stylus shapes are reputedly quieter than others. The MicroLine stylus in particular (used on several Audio Technica cartridges) is cited by reviewers for this characteristic.

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?

The M5G cable may look generic but it's not. I believe it's OFC litz wire. At least it's OFC. I've lived with my M5G for over a year and have made lots of mods and upgrades, but haven't felt any urge to upgrade the cable. It's fast, extended at both frequency extremes, clear and transparent, and a good capacitance match. For reference, I'm used to using Kimber Hero, JPS Superconductor, and Audioquest PSC+ (high purity single-crystal copper) as interconnects. To the M5G's credit, I have been able to easily tell differences in cartridges, turntable mats, the fluid damper, and downstream improvements in the phono and line stages. A low-rez interconnect would obscure those changes. The transparency and speed of my 1210 M5G is remarkable. I never would have thought I could get the sound out of it that I do, though it's been a year-long evolution.

You can extend the top end a bit by separating the left and right leads, and can lower noise by then twisting them together.

johnnyb53,

is it easy to replace existing tt feet with the dayton brass cones?

are we talking vibrapods cones or isolators....4 right?

06-24-08: Radioheadokplayer
johnnyb53,
Is it easy to replace existing tt feet with the dayton brass cones?
Are we talking vibrapods cones or isolators....4 right?

As luck would have it, the threads included with the Dayton cones are size M6 (metric), a screw-in replacement for the original feet.

You *could* remove the feet and replace them with Vibrapod cones, with the footer threads resting on the balls of the Vibrapods, but I haven't tried that yet, and you would have to have some other means of leveling the turntable.

I was talking about regular Vibrapods *under* the cutting board, with the brass cones above, between the turntable and the top of the cutting board.

06-24-08: Tvad
This is an interesting discussion regarding isolation and coupling with the turntable.

Hard cones are coupling devices. They don't inhibit transmission of vibration. Vibrapods are isolation devices akin to using sorbothane.

So, it's interesting that someone finds a mix of isolation and coupling to work for them.

That's exactly my intention and it's based on the Mapleshade model. I use the brass cones under the turntable to transfer vibration into the butcher block cutting board. To increase this function I would like to replace the Dayton cones with Mapleshade Heavyfeet and get a second cutting board and epoxy them together to increase the mass that absorbes the vibration (but for that money I decided to get a Cambridge 640p phono stage instead for now).

I put Vibrapods under the cutting board to isolate the entire structure from the stand and room, and perhaps to help dissipate the vibration that the cones transfer into the cutting board.

At least, that's my theory.

That's why I see the Isonoes as a sort of standalone solution, to dissipate the SL12x0's plinth vibrations and also isolate the table from in-room vibrations. If you use Mapleshade Heavyfeet instead, it's probably better to platform them onto a Mapleshade block or cutting board, and isolate the whole thing with Isoblocks between the board and the shelf.