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Technics 1210GR

A

amazement

pfm Member
Is the stock arm on the 1210 GR up to taking an MC cartridge? Having just purchased a new one of these i’m quite surprised the arms is better than I thought it would be considering the cost and the deck as a whole seems in another ball park compared to any Rega or Project deck i’ve seen.

What carts would suit, Audio Technicas i’m particularly fond of, Ortofons ?
 
amazement said:
Is the stock arm on the 1210 GR up to taking an MC cartridge? Having just purchased a new one of these i’m quite surprised the arms is better than I thought it would be considering the cost and the deck as a whole seems in another ball park compared to any Rega or Project deck i’ve seen.

What carts would suit, Audio Technicas i’m particularly fond of, Ortofons ?
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Be interested to read what people suggest having just bought a 1200GR today - arriving next week. Sounds like you're pretty happy with the deck?

I'm going to try my old 10x5 and AT-F7 then I may buy an OC9 or try one of the Ortofons.

Also looking at Headshell and Mat upgrades.

Gus
 
I’ve got the 1200G and I’ve read the arm’s effective mass is 12g which is rather light. Don’t know if the GR has a different mass but it might be hard to find a compatible MC.
 
I had a Benz Micro Ace S L mounted on an Ortofon L2000 headshell which worked well with the 1210GR, never had any issues tracking and sq was very good. However I really recommend changing the arm at some point - the 1200/1210 is a great tt with the arm being the weakest point.
 
i’ve just ordered a Jelco magnesium headshell to use over the stock shell, which isn’t too bad really currently with AT 440 MLB in it. First impressions are really rather good. I can’t believe the timing on this deck having only ever owned/used belt drives it just grooves along solidly.

I really want to know the maximum cartridge that can be used with the arm. Reading elsewhere on here shallow cartridges are out as the arm won’t go lower only higher. It’s just right for the 440 set to zero on the arm so any cartridge under 17.3mm is out without a thicker mat or spacer.
 
mikechadwick said:
I had a Benz Micro Ace S L mounted on an Ortofon L2000 headshell which worked well with the 1210GR, never had any issues tracking and sq was very good. However I really recommend changing the arm at some point - the 1200/1210 is a great tt with the arm being the weakest point.
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Agreed the arm is it’s achilles heal and ripe for changing, a nice SME 309 or Jelco me thinks.
 
Interested to hear how you get on with the 10x5 @Amber Audio - I've not tried mine yet either but it should just meet the min cart-height requirements.
 
Nagraboy said:
I’ve read the arm’s effective mass is 12g which is rather light. ... it might be hard to find a compatible MC.
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How so?

12g is still a little bit more than, say, the Rega RB-300 or the SME V. And if those are not MC-carrying arms ...

When I tested the SL-1200 MkII many years ago I got excellent results with a fairly upmarket Benz.
 
Jelco 550/850/950 & Funk FX3 work very well .. & ANY cartridge can be used ( better be quick & grab a jelco while you can )
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amazement said:
Is it an easy operation to perform, what’s involved?
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The hardest part was getting the base off - two screws were bastards to remove. Once that’s done it’s pretty straightforward. You can get an arm board from Hugo@AmmoniteAudio and he supplies arms as well. It’s really worth the effort - massive improvement, no exaggeration.
 
daytona600 said:
Jelco 550/850/950 & Funk FX3 work very well .. & ANY cartridge can be used ( better be quick & grab a jelco while you can )
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88596kk_m.jpg
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checking on the vinyl engine calculator, if the Technics SL1200G arm has an effective mass of 12g, and a Koetsu a compliance of 5, that gives a figure of 15Hz which is far outside the ~10Hz range. Thing is, I don’t know if it’s really 12g or not, or whether the 12g figure includes the bundled headshell or not. I’m doing fine with my £258 Audio Tachnica VM540ML/H which comes ready-fitted on a 10g headshell, but changing to another cart would appear to be a complete stab in the dark. I’ve had so many problems with turntables that I daren’t change from what I’ve got tbh. Just not worth the risk of having an expensive cart mistrack and driving me to distraction again.
 
The stock arm works great with AT carts. Add a slightly heavier (10-15G) headshell and use the aux weight as well as the main counterweight.
 
I have used a Goldring Eroica-L / ZYXYatra R100 and a Shelter 5000 all successfully , If you are in trouble you can add weights to the screw in thread on the arm or use a differen weight headshell
 
The standard SL1200 Mk2 arm takes an AT33PTG perfectly well and sounds great, so I see no reason why the arm on the GR should have an issue.
It's actually a good medium mass arm, well made - if Jelco badged and sold it today with a Rega/SME mount they could command £500-£1k for them easy.
 
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