Seeking advice from the SL1200 fan s

I asked the people that make the lifter about my modded 1200 w/the fluid damper assembly and they never replied my email.

The Ortofon X5 I got for $110 from member 2Juki in Hong Kong. Sesarch the classifieds. It is unbeatable for the money. Break in is nasty--be warned.

The 1200 *needs* to be properly isolated. Wall mounting sounds very good.

People who bash the 1200 only reveal their prejudices and lack of knowledge about what makes a good turntable. First of all, although the 1200 is direct drive, there is NO physical contact of a motor with the platter--end of vibration transmition by the motor argument. The 1200 has a magnetically driven motor. These same people would buy a feeble glass and particle board turntable in a heartbeat because it is an European "audiophile" product--yeah, right.

I am glad you're joining the 1200 club. It is a very neutral sounding deck, extremely reliable and FUN to use...

Just to clarify for Brad, the platters on ANY direct drive are mechanically fastened directly to or are a part of the motor, hence the term "direct drive". In many cases, the platter is an integral part of the motor, forming either part of the stator or part of the rotor. In order for the platter to turn, the motor must contact the platter either indirectly (belt or wheel drive) or directly by being mechanically fastened or being an integral part of the motor (direct drive).

Also, ALL electric motors are electro-magnetically driven and ALL electric motors make noise. The trick is to minimize the noise as much as possible. Glass, acrylic or MDF dampen noise far more effectively than a thin piece of aluminum.

Regards
Jim

Quote: "Glass, acrylic or MDF dampen noise far more effectively than a thin piece of aluminum." True.

The 1200 platter is damped on the underside and comes with a thic mat. Rumble is a mere -78 dB.

I have placed a Bob Regal Foot next to the tonearm gimbal ind it has *really* improved performance. One of the trick to the 1200 mods is to control internal resonances. Kevin of KABUSA is working on an outboard power supply for the same reason.

Overall, the suspension of the 1200 is made like those of the best turntables--people actually dance while the 1200s work!!!

Jimbo, how could a platter form part of the stator? The platter must rotate by definition. BTW, Rockport 'tables are direct drive, and are said to be the world's best. Obviously, this doesn't imply anything about the Technics machine, but it does show that DD need not be considered inherently inferior to belt drive. (Although at the prices Rockport asks, it *may* show how tough it is to engineer out some side-effects of DD. Then again, as many folks have posited, the scale on which Technics has produced quality DD 'tables may hide the cost such machines would require if produced by a high-end co. As you may have noticed, the HE TT co's all buy their outboard motors from contractor suppliers rather than make their own.)

Zaikesman- We're getting a little off-topic here. My initial post was only to clarify a previous post by another member. But, to briefly answer your question on a platter being part of a stator, the outer part of the motor which is typically the stationary (stator) becomes the rotating part and what we typically think of as the part rotating on a shaft (rotor) is stationary. (Look at a typical ceiling fan motor- the outer "stator" part is rotating, not the shaft.) Sometimes this is called an "inside out" motor. Technically, the outer (rotating) part is no longer a stator, but is often called that. The "stator" coils can be placed directly underneath, and be part of, the platter.

At the very pinnacle of design and for certain applications, DD can be excellent, but at a very high cost. In the real world, DD is generally very inexpensive to produce while belt drive generally is more cost-effective for higher end audio use. Since I don't have $50,000 to get a top notch one of each, I can't really say which one is better at that level. At $500 to $3000, I can tell you with certaintee which I would prefer for a strictly audio application.

If somone would like to explore these topics further, please let's start another thread as we're already pretty far off topic on this one.

Regards
Jim