SL1200 upgrade tonearm or replace cartridge?

02-07-13: Zenblaster
Don't forget that all the damping and wrapping come at a price. These are fixes to tame resonant frequencies, to move towards a more musical and less analytical presentation. I would love to put my 10' vpi tonearm from a Traveler on my KAB 1200 deck, I just can't seen to get past this gastly Technics tonearm. It just seems to take some of the life out of the music.

I don't get what you're trying to say. All the damping tweaks I mentioned improved the sound. It didn't just reduce midrange glare, it improved inner detail, linearity, microdynamics and macrodynamics. The sum total is that with these tweaks the music is more lifelike and involving.

The only place I encountered overdamping is if you put too much silicone goo in the KAB damping trough--then the dynamics flatten out and the music turns lifeless. This is the universal symptom of overdamping. This is easily fixed by filling the damping trough only one-third full.

Each tweak fixed something different. The record grip damps spindle and surface noise. The mat damps platter ringing; the tonearm wrap damps tonearm ringing. The brass cones/vibrapod/cutting board drain extraneous vibrations out of the chassis; the gel pads under the cutting board isolate the turntable from room vibrations. Each tweak addresses a different set of vibrations and resonances.

As for "coming at a price," it was $150 for the KAB trough, $10 for a used sorbothane mat, $50 for the headshell, $20 for brass cones, $56 for Vibrapods, $25 for a rubber record grip, $89 for a big, heavy cutting board and $30 for two computer keyboard gel wrist pads. The results were improved musical reproduction in every way with no subtractions.

I'm saying that I made the error of putting too much effort and modifications (and money) into a, relatively speaking, poor tonearm. Any of the aftermarket tonearms that the op mentioned will get you further up the food chain, by far, than any modification and tweak you can make to a $50 tonearm. I know I may be stomping on hallowed ground but I have owned and used a Kab 1200 for years. Ease of use, quick cart changes,great sound, I love it, I even have an Ortofon 2mBlack on it as I speak. The VPI Traveler that I've been trying out is just in a different league and most of that difference comes from the tonearm.
It's the law of diminishing returns.

Has anyone tried a VPI tonearm, such as a JMW 9t on a SL1200?

I kind of share zenblasters view why put money and effort into something that is fundamental flawed.

Johnny I've tried the Teflon wrap, the improvement was marginal at best.

Nick, I've pasted two links I used while researching changes/replacement of the arm on my 1210MKII. Lots of really good information.

http://www.soundhifi.com/sl1200/index.htm#other

http://theartofsound.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=46

Good Luck

Zenblaster: I agree with you. I've read enough testimonials of good tonearm swaps to agree with you that at some point you're throwing good money after bad on the SL12x0 stock tonearm. Technics must have realized this too, as they originally also offered the SL120 with an armboard drilled for a SME 3009.

In my case I added the KAB trough because I had just bought the turntable and had $150 to damp the supplied tonearm, but not $700-2000 to replace it. After that, I have less than a nickel's worth of pipe thread tape and a reasonably priced aftermarket headshell. After that the tweaks are things the Technics would need anyway for vibration and resonance control, and they don't add up to a lot of money.

At this point the only thing left is to upgrade the tonearm to get that more holographic soundstage and deeper inner detail. When the time comes I'll probably get an SME arm board from Sound Hi-Fi of England and search for a reasonably priced (?) used SME 309 like Jeff Dorgay (of Tone Audio) did.

Nick_sr: I think the improvement realized with the tonearm wrap is system-dependent. I have an Audio Technical AT150MLX which has a reputation for being forward and bright. Wrapping the tonearm quelled that bright spot. I suspect with a mellower signal chain or a cartridge with a kinder upper midrange, the tonearm wrap wouldn't do as much. You *do* have to also wrap the knurled collar that attaches the headshell to the arm to get the full benefit. That collar rings at least as much as the rest of the tonearm as a very resonant ping.