SL-1200MK2 arm and phono lead upgrade

[Trackside]

Is this really an essential / major sonic gain? If so I was thinking of a single length between the headshell socket and the outboard phono stage using Cardas tonearm cable ( stripped back where it enters the tonearm base). I'm assuming the procedure is;
Remove tonearm assembly and phono to tonearm circuit board, attach ends of cardas to ends of old wire, detach headshell collet and pull new cable through?

[cafe latte]

No it is not relly essential. The stock rca is of good quality provided your table is not one of the last produced (2009-2010). There was a small batch which mine was one of which has a bad batch of leads which were very high capacitance which is not good, the rest are fine. The arm wires are not excellent, but they are short and of low capacitance and resistance so wont have much inpact on sound quality. Wire is a touchy issue with hifi, but no wire company in all these years has yet agreed to put there products up for independant testing which speakes volumes and non of the companies has done blind testing of there products to prove there wares either, hmmm...
As long as your turntable does not have the high capacitance wire dont worry about it and spend your money and time on a better cart or stylus. If you are worred that you TT has the problem later cables. Here is a link which shows the bad cables, it is an internet seller but the description of the bad cables and the pics are good.
http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/m1200.htm
Hope this helps.
Regards
CL

Edit.. I dont know why the link does not go directly to the page I copied, strange!! Anyway go to news report and you will find the page you need.
CL

[Trackside]

Thanks for the link - my RCA's don't look like either of those as they are smooth barrelled with a circular ribbed area near the rear. I'm pretty sure though that my deck is pre 2009 but I'll check the serial number anyway. Also I'm running a low output MC cart (DL-103 ) so capacitance shouldn't be a big issue.

[Dezie]

Hi Trackside.

I upgraded my wiring and I can tell you it's the best mod you could possibly do to your tt. The difference is obvious, unlike for example a record clamp which requires you to concentrate in order to justify your Purchase!

I retained my headshell but there's no reason why you shouldn't do a straight through job. Just be aware that you'll lose the option of swapping cartridges in seconds.

You're right about striping back the cards outer layer where the wire exits the arm.

The only other upgrade i've done and can recommend is a replacement mat. I went for the Achromat which at £75 wasn't cheap but again made an audible difference.

I will get around to isolation feet and possibly an external power supply but frankly the tt sounds so good now I'm in no hurry! The mods i've done have addressed the only issues I had with my Technics.

Hope that helps and god luck whatever you decide to do.

[cafe latte]

Hi Trackside.

I upgraded my wiring and I can tell you it's the best mod you could possibly do to your tt. The difference is obvious, unlike for example a record clamp which requires you to concentrate in order to justify your Purchase!

I retained my headshell but there's no reason why you shouldn't do a straight through job. Just be aware that you'll lose the option of swapping cartridges in seconds.

You're right about striping back the cards outer layer where the wire exits the arm.

The only other upgrade i've done and can recommend is a replacement mat. I went for the Achromat which at £75 wasn't cheap but again made an audible difference.

I will get around to isolation feet and possibly an external power supply but frankly the tt sounds so good now I'm in no hurry! The mods i've done have addressed the only issues I had with my Technics.

Hope that helps and god luck whatever you decide to do.

The cable debate has been running here on VE for as long as I can remember I assure you changing leads wont make a blind bit of difference, unless you want to here a difference of course. The problem with this sort of 'upgrade' is first perception bias and second our rubbish brain that has little memory for how something sounded that it heard a few milli seconds ago let alone how your turntable sounded before you rewired the turntables leads and arm! I have rewired my technics rcas, mine now has phono sockets underneath so I can plug in any leads of any quality, not that this makes any difference at all. I only did my leads because mine were the faulty ones (high capacitance), infact it was me that worked out that some Technics leads have an issue so I started a thread here on VE. viewtopic.php?t=29590
If rca leads could make a night and day difference the companies that make the over priced exotic leads would for sure set up blind tests to prove there wares, but NON of them as yet have done such a test ever, This speakes volumes to me.

As a side note many of the mods for Technics are snake oil, the external psu will make a difference for some sensitive carts and the arm damper IMO will work too, but just be aware there is a lot of over priced rubbish out there. Also the only thing you will achieve wiring the headshell perminantly to the arm is completely ruin the TTs arm
One of the best mods you can do on a Technics is a better cart (My other turntable is a Commonwealth idler drive which has a 12 inch arm and is in a 32kg black bean plinth. Does it sound better than the Technics? No just different ).
Regards
CL

[Trackside]

I'm going to do the rewire but not because I believe it will sound better but because of the precision setup facilities offered by this deck I'll be able to do a very accurate before and after recording and post them for others to listen to. I'm not convinced by the other mods I've seen - even if they do improve the sound the cost / benefit does not add up and the problem they claim to solve I'm simply can't hear or measure;
Pitch stability is to my ears perfect ( and it wasn't on any other belt drive TT I've owned or listened to)
Transformer hum is lower than that from an AC synchronous motor and below the noiefloor of the vinyl anyway.
The main bearing is superb - silent, low friction with very close tolerances and the nature of the DD system means it doesn't suffer from the lateral forces ( and the potential problems this creates) that a belt drive imposes on the bearing.
The arm is very good - the bearings especialy are superb and the 'float' is better than my RB300. The bearing housing is a very solid structure which betters many contemporary designs I've seen.
The plinth is a marvel of vibration and resonance control - so many decks I've tested by lowering the stylus onto a stationary record and taping various parts have 'sung' in the mid and upper frequencies. The SL-1200 is dead in all but the bass which is the hardest to control and even than it's not a peaky response. If you listen to this in a loud environment then mods to improve structural isolation are likley to be beneficial - I'm not so it's a non issue.

[cafe latte]

I'm going to do the rewire but not because I believe it will sound better but because of the precision setup facilities offered by this deck I'll be able to do a very accurate before and after recording and post them for others to listen to. I'm not convinced by the other mods I've seen - even if they do improve the sound the cost / benefit does not add up and the problem they claim to solve I'm simply can't hear or measure;
Pitch stability is to my ears perfect ( and it wasn't on any other belt drive TT I've owned or listened to)
Transformer hum is lower than that from an AC synchronous motor and below the noiefloor of the vinyl anyway.
The main bearing is superb - silent, low friction with very close tolerances and the nature of the DD system means it doesn't suffer from the lateral forces ( and the potential problems this creates) that a belt drive imposes on the bearing.
The arm is very good - the bearings especialy are superb and the 'float' is better than my RB300. The bearing housing is a very solid structure which betters many contemporary designs I've seen.
The plinth is a marvel of vibration and resonance control - so many decks I've tested by lowering the stylus onto a stationary record and taping various parts have 'sung' in the mid and upper frequencies. The SL-1200 is dead in all but the bass which is the hardest to control and even than it's not a peaky response. If you listen to this in a loud environment then mods to improve structural isolation are likley to be beneficial - I'm not so it's a non issue.

If you really want to rewire, PM me and I will explian the best way to fit phono sockets so you can use any leads. All the same I use a Denon dl160, sure m97xe, stanton 881 with jico stylus, stanton 681 again with shibata jico and a Decca super gold which is a rather special cart. All sound amazing on the Technics but I promise you will not here differences with leads. Save your money and time to but a damper or a better cart. 20 years ago my friend who owned a hifi shop at the time in the UK (bust now due to the times, and I now live in Aus) preached the differneces of wire. I spent an evening in his house with speaker and interconnect wire that costs more than my hifi (The Decca alone is a grand). Anyway I did the switches and he could not tell the difference between a few grand of wire and mains cable and Tandy interconnects, neither could I if I am honest.
What makes a bit of difference in my opinion is damping the arm with a tiny bit of cotton wool at the ends of the arm tube, again dont do it without pming me as it can be over done, also remove the lid to play as it will add a lot of smere to things.
I would be adding an arm damper and an external psu (if my cart needed it) and spending money on a better cart before doing a rewire, but if you want to do this please conact me as there are mistakes you can avoid, rewiring the arm and rcas is not hard, but it can be messed up.
Regards
CL

[cyp21]

I dont think the Technics stock arm is a bad arm but i have heard a arm re-wire is supposed to be a worthwhile upgrade. Also damping might be worthwhile upgrade but im no expert. haha

[tg_ve]

I have no interest in entering into a wire/cable debate.
After 5 years of owning an SL-1200 and trying various arms, mats, feet etc and having some years ago purchased the parts to rewire the stock arm (4 wire Cardas phono cable, clips, Eichmann bullet plugs and Cardas Quad Eutectic solder).
I have just this last few days rewired the arm much as the OP proposes, continuous run from headshell socket to phono plugs.
I am also running a DL-103 and an Achromat on this table, I regularly use various other cartridges and wished to retain the ability for quick change so only briefly entertained the idea of running direct to the cartridge pins.
IMO this rewire was well worth the trouble.
It was fiddly and time consuming, not to be hurried and there are "gotchas" as alluded to by CL.

I had previously concluded that I would need the damper trough to obtain satisfactory performance from the 103 on this deck, putting its slightly rough edges compared to its performance on my other deck with a Michell Tecnoarm, down to resonances in the arm, most of this seems now to be gone and while I will probably still do the damper trough mod at a later date, the urgency is now reduced.
Is this result imagination, wire, solder, plugs or all of them together ? - I don't care, I'm happy with result.

[Trackside]

Thanks for the info - I got similar sonic benefits from putting heatshrink on the armtube - did you damp the armtube internaly when you did this mod?

[tg_ve]

Thanks for the info - I got similar sonic benefits from putting heatshrink on the armtube - did you damp the armtube internaly when you did this mod?

Only to the extent of slipping a length of loose fitting fabric sleeving over the wires from the headshell end.
It occurs to me that some of damping effect may well be attributable to the way I did the internal wiring. I stripped all the jacket, braid and teflon from the two twisted pairs but left them as twisted pairs for the noise rejection benefits.
This resulted in a need to carefully adjust the positioning of the slack.
The wires take a somewhat tortuous path from the PCB to their exit under the tonearm, the twisted pair configuration creates significant resistance to the turning of the arm in the bearings compared to the light and loose arrangement of the stock wires. This is mentioned on the Kabusa site in their description of the Cardas wires available, where it is noted "KAB only recomends these wires for tonearm rewiring, especially, if you are planning on tracking below 2 grams. The thicker wires below will produce greater friction which will influence arm performance at lighter tracking forces." The "thicker wires below" being the rubber jacketed one I used.
This might be overcome by separating the strands, since my main other cartridge is another fairly heavy tracking AT33 mono, I am not overly concerned and OK with the result I have. I connected the braid to the earth connection on the PCB and retained the original arm earth wire and PCB connection of that leaving the PCB in situ and clamping the new cable to it with a cable tie.
I stripped and separated the two pairs at the plug end creating a "Y" end for the phono plugs and put heatshrink over each pair, I then slipped some of the stripped braid over that and meshed it to the main braid and overlaid that with a second heatshrink and a separate piece of larger heatshrink over the join to give a reasonably sturdy end arrangement although pulling the plugs out by grabbing the wire would definitely be a "no no".
I should close by saying that what appears to be improved damping, does not account for the totality of the perceived improvement, which puts the 103 much closer to my DL-301 for resolution whilst retaining the 103 "chutzpah".
Hope this helps a little.

[Trackside]

Thanks for the extra info. I may give it a go sometime in the near future. I rewired my RB300 with cardas in the same way but wasn't immediately struck with obvious sonic improvements but I guess it's nice to know it's there and there is nothing holding it back as it were.

[tg_ve]

Just a quick postscript, I have now run a cartridge tracking at 1.1gm without any tracking issues.

[dogpile]

Is this really an essential / major sonic gain? If so I was thinking of a single length between the headshell socket and the outboard phono stage using Cardas tonearm cable

It would be the best upgrade you can do for this table (IMO).
Minimal expense with maximum sonic gains if you DIY.

I used Discovery tonearm wire for my mod as I find it easier to work
with vs. the Cardas.

Let us know how it turns out!