New upgrade alternatives for the Technics SL12x0


Up to now, if you wanted to do something about the Technics SL12x0 series tonearm, you either got KABUSA's fluid damper or the Origin Live adapter armboard, enabling mounting of most Rega-mount arms (including the Origin Live line.

If you wanted a better power supply, you could get the one from KABUSA.

Well, there's a new vendor in the UK, Sound Hi-Fi, a comprehensive British high end vendor who also offers some interesting modifications of the SL12x0 series here.

He has armboards for SME and Jelco tonearms. Why no Rega? Owner/operator Peter Cawley doesn't feel that the Rega is a particularly good match for the Technics.

Consider this: When Panasonic released the 1st gen SL1200, they also offered the SL120, the same turntable, but with no tonearm. It came with an armboard for the SME Type III Improved. SME was probably the number one tonearm choice for Technics take-no-prisoners pro model, the SP10.

Peter also likes Technics/Jelco matchups very well. So if you can get ahold of an Audioquest PT6 or PT9 ... Here's a 9-page thread from mostly last December where an SL1210 enthusiast (who already had several KABUSA mods) introduced Sound Hi-Fi to the Analogue part of the Art of Sound HI-Fi forum in the UK. During this thread he upgraded to a Jelco arm and the review is pretty interesting.

Notice that Peter has his own external power supply, 78 rpm mod, and three different aftermarket feet including the Isonoes. His type 1 feet are actually just Foculpods. Also, his turntable mat is sourced from Herbie's.

Marco's review in this thread mentions the Technics' tonearm's persistent upper midrange "spotlighting", something I usually call "glare." Following that hint, I wrapped some very thin, lightweight plumber's tape (the Teflon kind for sealing threads) around my tonearm including the headshell joint, and voila! The midrange calmed down and with it I got a more relaxed sound with better ambience retrieval and a fuller, yet better defined bass.

Anyway, I recommend you follow the links and do some reading/surfing. I found it quite enlightening to find another pocket of SL12x0 enthusiasts and an alternate source of upgrades and modifications.

Also, notice that Peter sells Avid, SME, Clearaudio, and Marantz turntables, and SME, Jelco, and Hadcock arms, so if he has an axe to grind, it's a pretty broad one.
johnnyb53
hey johnny
do you have a fluid damper on your 12x0?

any pics of your tape tweak? or more detailed description of the amount of tape(single wrap, double?) and specific locations.

checking out the hifi thread next...thanks
cheers, ed
04-29-09: Edo_musica
hey johnny
do you have a fluid damper on your 12x0?

any pics of your tape tweak? or more detailed description of the amount of tape(single wrap, double?) and specific locations.
Yes, I have the fluid damper. It helped in many ways in refining the sound and improving tracking, but there was still a persistent midrange glare that the arm wrap significantly reduced.

Sorry, no pictures of the wrap. I'll see if I can get around to that. In the meantime, I'm talking about that really thin, very light teflon tape used to seal pipe threads. I wrap it from just in front of the arm rest all the way up to the headshell. In fact, from flicking the tonearm, headshell, and collar, it sounded to me like the collar itself rang a fair amount. So after I wrapped the arm, I put the headshell back on, and then I wrapped some more around the collar itself to deaden it.

Basically I use a single layer and overlap it by about 1/4 the width as I spiral it up the arm. But it's really hard to keep this tape totally flat when wrapping it, some of it doubles up slightly along the way.

The really good news is that this tape adds very little mass to the tonearm. I reset the tracking force after applying the tape and I don't think it changed by more than 0.2 g.

Other arm wraps A-goners have reported are:

--Tonearm wrap available from Music Direct for $19.95
--Shrink tubing like the kind used to bundle or terminate wires
Looks interesting BUT buying from Kevin in NJ sounds far simpler than shipping from the UK to US, no?