Were ther any modified SL1200 decks at Scalford?

[indus]

Hi there

Unfortunately I missed the wonderful event. Could anybody tell me whether there were any well modified Technics 1210/1200 decks at Scalford and if so how did they fare?


Thanks

[Purite Audio]

I am
pretty sure Marco from AOS had his heavily modified 1200, 'gromit' Richard was using his technics too I believe, I don't think anyone was running standard to modified side by side comparisons.
Keith.

[indus]

I am
pretty sure Marco from AOS had his heavily modified 1200, 'gromit' Richard was using his technics too I believe, I don't think anyone was running standard to modified side by side comparisons.
Keith.

Thanks Keith. I was actually wondering how the modified Technics fared in general, not as compared to standard but as compared to other stuff there.

Thanks

[bmtell]

I had a quick listen to one of the 1210's in the Aos room. It had a Dynavector arm on it. Didn't rate the sound much, but it might have been just the speakers not working that well in the room.

[Papa Lazarou]

I've never understood why anyone would spend a small fortune modifying a 1210. Just buy the superior SP10 and be done with it.

[alfie2902]

I think they compare very well to other turntables, but only after quite alot of money has been spent on mods. PSU's, bearings & platters don't come cheap & after you've spent all that cash I'm not so sure they are any better than a well fettled SP10 that will probably cost less in the long run!

I know the modded 1210 owners believe once fully modded they sound better than an SP10, but that's after they've thrown £2-3K at them. Vantage Audio do a cheaper range of mods though & the mods can be done as & when the cash is available.

[fraser.]

I don't really get it either. I've owned a few techni and they are good even as stock. Wouldn't spend a lot of money on it though.

Reminds me a bit of boys doing up their corsas with z20lets etc. Just buy a decent car ffs!!

[bmtell]

I've never understood why anyone would spend a small fortune modifying a 1210. Just buy the superior SP10 and be done with it.

That's what I did. Moved the 1210 on after a month. 1210's are alright, but I wouldn't spend the money that some people have on them. By the time you've replaced everything 'cept the motor and pcb you're quite a few grand out of pocket. And you've still got summat that looks shit (imho).

[Papa Lazarou]

I compared the Voyd to a modified SL1210 with Origin Live arm etc at Lefty's house a year ago. Not even close.

[MJ]

Nice enough decks as standard.

Spend about 70 - 80 quid doing the obvious (feet, mat), add a half decent cart and you've now got a fair bit nicer deck.

Beyond that, move out of the entry level deck market IMHO.

[griffo104]

Modified SL1200/1210. the hifi equivalent of Trigger's broom.

[indus]

Some interesting comments. I think the issue with the SP10 is that are they obviously a lot rarer than the sl and so more difficult/expensive to source and require a lot more work to get the many neglected ones back up and running.

I think the fascination (for me anyway) comes from the fact that these decks are intimately intertwined with the sort of music I listen to ie dance/hip hop etc. I wonder if when you've compared a modified deck to others and felt they fell sort you've listened with other kind of music. Whenever I've been at a show and heard turntables being played ie Michell etc its always stuff like jazz, or a single person crooning with a strumming guitar in the background ie never beat driven music. May be that is just coincidental?

The other attraction to me is that it is so sturdy and doesn't need you to get a tool box out to change the speed.

The mods are not as expensive as you think. The main mods are PSU and bearing.Depending on who you buy these from it could cost as little as £500. The other stuff like arm, cart etc you would have had to buy for most other decks anyway.

As for it looking ugly, that is subjective, I don't think it looks ugly at all.

Many reviews (for what they are worth) have remarked favourably on the performance of modded sl decks

[BobC]

I think they compare very well to other turntables, but only after quite alot of money has been spent on mods. PSU's, bearings & platters don't come cheap & after you've spent all that cash I'm not so sure they are any better than a well fettled SP10 that will probably cost less in the long run!

I know the modded 1210 owners believe once fully modded they sound better than an SP10, but that's after they've thrown £2-3K at them. Vantage Audio do a cheaper range of mods though & the mods can be done as & when the cash is available.

Keep quiet about the you know what deck....we will let all the Techie owners carry on in blissful ignorance

[griffo104]

Some interesting comments. I think the issue with the SP10 is that are they obviously a lot rarer than the sl and so more difficult/expensive to source and require a lot more work to get the many neglected ones back up and running.

I think the fascination (for me anyway) comes from the fact that these decks are intimately intertwined with the sort of music I listen to ie dance/hip hop etc. I wonder if when you've compared a modified deck to others and felt they fell sort you've listened with other kind of music. Whenever I've been at a show and heard turntables being played ie Michell etc its always stuff like jazz, or a single person crooning with a strumming guitar in the background ie never beat driven music. May be that is just coincidental?

The other attraction to me is that it is so sturdy and doesn't need you to get a tool box out to change the speed.

The mods are not as expensive as you think. The main mods are PSU and bearing.Depending on who you buy these from it could cost as little as £500. The other stuff like arm, cart etc you would have had to buy for most other decks anyway.

As for it looking ugly, that is subjective, I don't think it looks ugly at all.

Many reviews (for what they are worth) have remarked favourably on the performance of modded sl decks

Well let's put it this way.

The SL1200/1210 was the deck of choice of any self-respecting DJ pumping out tunes a silly decibels in clubs with a shed load of people dancing their arses off. And yet at home they need to have new feet, new mat, new PSU, new bearings, etc to make music at normal acceptable household volume levels. audiophile bollocks. As others have said the deck itself is good enough, just slap a half decent MM cart on it and enjoy it.

As for Michell. I've got an Orbe. I've got James Lavelle, Unkle, Luarent Gaurnier, Photek, Meat Beat Manifesto, Asian Dub Foundation and other stuff that's even noisier and more extreme and I love the deck.

It also costs as much to buy new as it does to piss about modding the deck in question. Other decks are just as good as well, and in some cases better, and it's not the only option out there.

[vacdac]

Hi Indus,

You do realize of course, if going for a 1200/1210, you'll deffo need a speaker upgrade too, you'll be requiring some loverly "Red Rimmed"(meh!) Cerwin Vega jobbies as endorsed by our resident sage Chumpy.

.

vacdac.

[freefallrob]

The standard SL1210mk2 is a solid record player/turntable out of the box, stick an Audio technica AT120e or Ortofon 2M BLUE on it, set it up well and enjoy. You can faff with it, but diminishing returns kick in pretty early in my view. A RB300/1 is a sound improvement in my opinion over the standard arm but YMMV, and of course you loose some of the 'useability' of the original. A felt mat on top of the rubber one works well, as does a nice set of litz headshell leads (standard arm). Make sure the rubber part of the feet is not touching the rubber base, this livens it up a bit.

[indus]

Well let's put it this way.

The SL1200/1210 was the deck of choice of any self-respecting DJ pumping out tunes a silly decibels in clubs with a shed load of people dancing their arses off. And yet at home they need to have new feet, new mat, new PSU, new bearings, etc to make music at normal acceptable household volume levels. audiophile bollocks. As others have said the deck itself is good enough, just slap a half decent MM cart on it and enjoy it.

As for Michell. I've got an Orbe. I've got James Lavelle, Unkle, Luarent Gaurnier, Photek, Meat Beat Manifesto, Asian Dub Foundation and other stuff that's even noisier and more extreme and I love the deck.

It also costs as much to buy new as it does to piss about modding the deck in question. Other decks are just as good as well, and in some cases better, and it's not the only option out there.

Not sure if it is audiphile bollocks (but will let you know once I start using it!) in that just because its good at pumping out music in a club doesn't mean its soundstage etc can't be improved.

As for the orbe costing the same as 'pissing about' with the Techie, again I'm not sure. The orbe costs about £3k doesn't it? A second hand sl is £250 (though I paid more for mine) and then even for the best PSU and bearing out there it is another £1000. £1250 is not the same as £3k. I'm not saying for a moment that the Orbe wouldn't sound much better, but the costs are not comparable.

[indus]

Hi Indus,

You do realize of course, if going for a 1200/1210, you'll deffo need a speaker upgrade too, you'll be requiring some loverly "Red Rimmed"(meh!) Cerwin Vega jobbies as endorsed by our resident sage Chumpy.

.

vacdac.

Excellent! LOL

[bmtell]

Not sure if it is audiphile bollocks (but will let you know once I start using it!) in that just because its good at pumping out music in a club doesn't mean its soundstage etc can't be improved.

As for the orbe costing the same as 'pissing about' with the Techie, again I'm not sure. The orbe costs about £3k doesn't it? A second hand sl is £250 (though I paid more for mine) and then even for the best PSU and bearing out there it is another £1000. £1250 is not the same as £3k. I'm not saying for a moment that the Orbe wouldn't sound much better, but the costs are not comparable.

You can add on to that the cost of some new feet, an arm and a platter as the stock items are pretty poor in comparison to most average decks available today. The stock Orbe Se comes in at around £2.5k. Call it £3k with a Technoarm. I'd be interested to hear a comparison.

[Tarzan]

l know which deck l would rather have owned both.