TECHNICS SL1200 MKII.......THE REAL FACTS

I initiated my vinyl renaissance 4-1/2 years ago by purchasing an SL1210 M5G. I have done some similar tweaks to similar effect. I don't have the KAB power supply, but I have his fluid damper for the tonearm. I don't have a 454g weight but I have a KAB record grip. Instead of an acrylic/rubber mat sandwich I have a felt/sorbothane sandwich. Instead of stuffing the armtube with cotton and shrink wrapping it, I wrapped it with PFTE pipe thread tape, including the knurled collar for attaching the headshell. I also have a Sumiko headshell plus an LP Gear Zupreme one, which is very similar and both have the high quality cartridge leads and tags. Finally, instead of a chrome/steel plinth cover, I've platformed the turntable onto a very thick and heavy maple butcher block cutting board, with a Vibrapod assembly between the turntable and board, and gel pads between the board and the shelf it sits on. Every one of these tweaks has contributed significantly to more clarity, lower noise, better dynamics, and extended frequency range. Upgrading from a lightweight cutting board to the 30-lb. behemoth I have now was particularly significant.

Anyway, I agree that the Technics is a great fundamental platform and easy to improve with low cost tweaks and accessories. I can go to my local store and listen to turntable rigs up to around $7K and not feel like I'm missing anything, and may have an advantage in speed accuracy and the sensations of better pitch, rhythm, and propulsion that come with it. Only at the $12K DPS/Ayre rig do I begin to acknowledge an improvement.

I certainly am not trying to start an argument or controversy or anything of the sort. I am stating this for the sake of fellow analog lovers. How I even wound up with this thing is funny. At the time, I owned a Linn LP12 with the Basik arm. The Linn was a 1980 model with no updates. Sounded nice though. I was in a pawn shop that was going out of business and everything was "make an offer". There sat this SL1200 MKII in like new condition. I offered $50. He said $100. We settled on $80. I had never heard one I had no desire to own one. I bought it to "flip" it. Before walking out the door, this guy hands me a chrome cover (steel, fits over the cast aluminum top of the turntable and totally covers all the aluminum, allowing only the controls, tonearm and platter to show) and he says "You might as well take this too. It fits nothing here." I have just played with and experimented with this thing and it really does not take much to make it really sing. After some tweeks, I discovered that it resolved better than my Linn (plus it did not go out of whack every time the barametric pressure changed). In detail, the turntables that in some way or another this modified Technics has bettered are: Sota-Comet, Rega Planar 3 with motor upgrade in 1999, Thorens TD320 with Audioquest PT5 arm, AR ES1 with Sumiko Premier MMT, Linn Axis, Dual CS5000, and I forgot about the VPI HW19 JR with the MKIII platter. The modded Technics: Is more 3 dimensional with more images that are both more forward and further rearward- The bass is dynamic as all hell. It is tight and defined with superb pitch definition- The midrange is unravled in a sense.... Example: On Abby Road, the song Something in the Way She Moves there is a spot where there is organ, bass guitar and electric guitar. Normally (with EVERY other table I have owned) these would all be homogenized to the point that you could kind of tell what all was making up these notes, but with the modded Technics they are clearly individualized; the timbre of each instrument being revealed. In a nutshell, the modded Technics offers the pitch stability, freedom from peaks or dips or bloat in the bass yet with bass slam, the separation of voices and instruments......things that are actually strong points of CD yet with the musical harmonic structure of analog. Overall, pretty cool. Without the mods, you get tastes of this, but the mods solidify it. It started out as money making purchase, then an experiment, now I am trying to de-throne it without mortgaging my home doing it. (LOL) I am not looking to stir any pots, I am not looking for validation, I am simply stating what I (and numerous audiophile friends) have heard. By the way, the motor has no trouble at all getting up to speed. It's like the extra weight isn't even there. All this performance with so little maintenance. Kind of neat, but it does make my "snob meter" go off every once in a while.

I bought a 1210M5G a couple years ago in order to play my vintage moving magnet cartridges. The interchangeable headshell feature is terrific; it allows quick cartridge changes which is super for comparisons.

However, the stock tonearm is the major drawback of this table. You can change the bearing, isolate the table with fancy devices, re-wire the arm but a lipsticked pig is still a pig.

If you fancy using this arm with any serious cartridge, you're already bottlenecked by the arm.

At the end of the day, the 1200 series is legendary and one of the best bargains ever but let's not get carried away.

IMO

compared top of the line mods on 1200 vs. used stock vintage oracle alexandria and most of praises after side by side went to vintage oracle. speaking of around $1100 for new 1200 vs. $400 used vintage oracle. math rules!

10-13-11: Audiofeil
I bought a 1210M5G a couple years ago...

However, the stock tonearm is the major drawback of this table. You can change the bearing, isolate the table with fancy devices, re-wire the arm but a lipsticked pig is still a pig.

If you fancy using this arm with any serious cartridge, you're already bottlenecked by the arm.

I'm not saying the Technics arm is better than an RB500 or 700, but when the drive mechanism and tonearm resonances are controlled and the noise drained out via a platform or plinth, the overall package is surprisingly satisfying.

And when you hit that tonearm performance bottleneck, there are armboards available for mounting a Rega-compatible, a Jelco, or SME tonearm on an SL12x0 series. As much as I like my current rig, my next step would probably be to mount a Jelco or SME arm and still be ahead of the price/performance curve.

The SL1200 was always meant to be a mid-level enthusiast's turntable. It was also available as the SL120, which had an SME armboard instead of a tonearm. I suspect that that's more the way the engineers intended it.