SL-1200MK2 arm and phono lead upgrade

[cafe latte]

I would be surprised if much of the slight gain sonically is not the rubber o rings damping the arm. When I rewired my arm I put a pinch of cotton wool in each end of the armtube to help damp it as the Technics arm is rather lively. Before and after tapping the arm confirmed the cotton wool made a big difference and I bet your O rings are doing much the same, you should be getting a slightly cleaner more open treble with a damped arm. The Kab damper is damping, but not the actual arm ringing, but the stylus in the groove, the Kab damper is on my shopping list too. What are your thoughts on the Kab damper, how much difference do you think it made? I imagine tracking should be better but I have not heard a TT yet modded with one.
Regards
CL

[Trackside]

The O rings are very loose so unlikley to add any significant damping above the heatshrink which was on there previously which did indeed clean up the sonics when it was done. The KAB damper makes a quite noticable difference - bass is a lot cleaner but the sense that a 'fog' is lifted from the whole tonal range in the music is not subtle. Of all the mods I've done this is easily the most significant.

[cytovette]

I just finished rewiring my SL-1200M3D tonearm so I thought I would chime in on this thread. Mine was a DJ table in the past and had slight bearing issues so I replaced the tonearm with a stock Technics but before I installed it I rewired it with Cardas and dampened with a small cotton ball in each end. I also installed KAB RCA jacks on the back. Shielded Cardas is running from the tonearm wire to the jacks.

So far I have played side 1 of Randy Travis-Storms of Life and side 1 of record 1 from This is the Moody Blues.

Can I tell a difference sonically? Yes, but it is not dramatic.

I would not pay a lot of money to have it done, but as a DIY project the cost is reasonable for the benefit.

[Trackside]

Did you use the 32AWG 4x twisted cardas wire and if so any problems with the stiffness of the wire at the point where it comes up from the pillar and into the armtube? Take your point about the sonic benefits - after another days listening the difference is to me not worth the effort of dismantling the deck let alone paying to have it done.

[cytovette]

Did you use the 32AWG 4x twisted cardas wire and if so any problems with the stiffness of the wire at the point where it comes up from the pillar and into the armtube? Take your point about the sonic benefits - after another days listening the difference is to me not worth the effort of dismantling the deck let alone paying to have it done.

I used the Cardas 33ga separate wires for the arm tube. I also bypassed the circuit board that the tonearm wires and RCA cables solder to on the stock table. I soldered wire to wire, covered the connections with heatshrink tubing, then wire tied the shielded Cardas to the circuit board to stabilize it.