Upgraded TT to Technics SL1200 mkII

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  • erniejade
    erniejade Posts: 6,321
    edited June 2010
    on my 1200 i did not use the weight and i am running it at 1.5.
    Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's.
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  • Erik Tracy
    Erik Tracy Posts: 4,673
    edited June 2010
    erniejade wrote: »
    on my 1200 i did not use the weight and i am running it at 1.5.


    Thanks!

    What did you set the anti-skating to?

    And what did you set the tone-arm height to?

    Sorry to be a bother with all the questions, but the 1200 has way more detail to the setup than my current Sony. Any tips from 1200 MkII users are appreciated! :)

    H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music.
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  • Erik Tracy
    Erik Tracy Posts: 4,673
    edited June 2010
    Well got my 1200mkII set up in my rig today.

    The 1200 instructions are pretty well written and straight forward to follow.

    Good thing I had a magnifying glass though - some of the pictures are a bit small for my aging eyes - I have to hold them a bit aways to see them in focus - but then I can't see the small detail :p

    The included overhang tool is slick - I got the Denon DL-160 cartridge dead on to the overhang and lined up square to the headshell.

    Next was VTF - and with my ancient but trusty Shure SG-2, I got the arm zeroed, then dialed in to 1.6grams (to start) per the Denon instructions.

    The 1200mkII will even allow you to set the height of the arm in relation to the cartridge to the platter. The instructions have a neat table that correlates the height of the cartridge to the setting on the TT deck. Using the Denon spec sheet, I dialed in the arm height to be just a tad over 2.5mm.

    I leveled the TT on my rack in various setttings by setting the level on the platter and rotated it around - pretty dead level in any orientation.

    Cabled and grounded I turned it on and for my first LP, I put on the MF 180g issue of the first Cars album - first song "Let the Good Times Roll" - kinda appropriate I thought. ;)

    I was impressed with both the LP and the TT - never heard the Cars album like this. Crisp, clear, open, detailed but still very 'vinyl'!!

    The Denon/Technics combo is a nice synergy - I was hearing musical nuances I hadn't heard before - very enjoyable musical experience.

    The only thing that I noted was that the bass seemed a bit 'confused'. Not focused.

    I thought it may be the cartridge or maybe the mix on the LP.

    So, I figured - if any album I had that would show the bass it would be my 180g copy of ZZ Top's "Tres Hombres" - a trio group has got to have good bass, right?

    Sure enough - as soon as 'Waitin for the Bus' started - clear defined and focused bass. Cool! LOVE this album!

    So far - I'm diggin' my new TT setup!

    H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music.
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited June 2010
    Awesome Erik! After you become accustomed to the sound of the music your TT/cartridge/tonearm, you can start tweaking your settings you set above. Give me a call and we can discuss this.

    If you buy the Clearaudio Twister Clamp and apply it on each record, it will give you consistent deep tight bass, a blacker backround, clearer more stable imaging and soundstaging and more . . . it is designed much like my clamp and uses delrin as the base which is an excellent mechanical impedance match with vinyl and a lock brass collet which will get a tenacious grip on the spindle and you can adjust the down force of the clamp to take out any record warps and force the record to make intimate contact with the platter. These two features are what will cause the improvements listed above.
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  • Erik Tracy
    Erik Tracy Posts: 4,673
    edited June 2010
    Just got my Clear Audio twister clamp and the LPs I picked up from George....spending a sunny San Diego Saturday spinning the vinyl and sipping some wine....life is pretty good about now! :D

    H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music.
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  • hearingimpared
    hearingimpared Posts: 21,137
    edited June 2010
    Erik Tracy wrote: »
    Just got my Clear Audio twister clamp and the LPs I picked up from George....spending a sunny San Diego Saturday spinning the vinyl and sipping some wine....life is pretty good about now! :D

    Awesome, PM me your address, I'll try to dig up a delrin shim or two but I can't promise it as I think I am out but I'll keep digging.
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  • Erik Tracy
    Erik Tracy Posts: 4,673
    edited June 2010
    Montreux Summit Vol 1 - this is sooooo cool! :D

    H9: If you don't trust what you are hearing, then maybe you need to be less invested in a hobby which all the pleasure comes from listening to music.
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