Apologies for pasting this from comments I've made elsewhere, but I feel it may be of some interest (hopefully!) to those wondering where, in my very humble opinion, the 1210 sits in the grand scheme. Before reading the following mutterings of yours truly, I should add that I
will be trying the Time-Step psu because I have been assured it is
mandatory to make the Technics sing. We shall see.
Well the weekend has been spent doing a whole lot of listening and setting up. The OL armboard doesn't sit flat to the plinth properly so I had a couple of hours' yesterday finally getting it all level - the azimuth on the cartridge was a fair way out (it was 1mm difference in height across the headshell) so clearly wasn't helping matters.
Where do we sit now in sound & music terms though?
Listen to the Technics (in its current form) for a short 15 min 'fix' and it sounds stunning. It appears to have no lag whatsoever in the bass, it's faaaaaast on transients and really lets the Dorian show its stuff in terms of lightning-quick attack on drumkit etc. It shows some quite stratling sonic pyrotechnics and is to my mind beyond criticism as to its power and punch. The HFW test of this set-up was spot on in its observations (my rig is pretty much identical apart from the mat and Isonoe feet).
There is one thing which does bother me though, and that one thing is probably the reason why I don't think it'll end up staying.
As I said, on the 'quick' listen it shows itself to be extremely impressive (hence some of my comments above) but on longer-term listening it fails to satisfy. Why? It simply doesn't allow music to breathe. I've put on records which I know inside-out (some piano music which I know well because I've played some of it myself) and the Technics tends all dynamic shading with the same brush. To use a Tom Fletcher-esque analogy it seems to want to crack everything with a sledgehammer be it a paving slab or a small egg. This tends to kill rhythmic patterns - I'll try to explain: Take a standard-issue 4 or 8 bar phrase - within those phrases lie 'moments' which are either forced or held back and in doing so it lets the music gain shape and interest. It simply makes the music sound, well, like 'music'. Because the 1210 is charging around hitting everything with a baseball bat these moments get lost and all sound the same. There also seems to be little if any decay - body resonance on solo piano isn't very convincing and there's not much sense of 'being there' either.
This is going to sound slightly abstract (sorry!) but on some records I'll get my Clarinet out and play along with the music, simply because the system makes me want to join in the session. It's all good fun. I haven't felt the urge to do this with the 1210 as it's not communicating that sense of music-making and the energy contained within it. I just find my mind starts to wander after 20 mins or so.
Now, one could of course argue that 'well the Rega arm's not right for it' or 'you should use a different mat' or 'the Dorian's no good for it' etc etc. My answer to the arm issue is that every time I've listened to a Rega turntable (from Planar 2 up to the P9) it has an absorbing and fun way of making music enjoyable. Sure they have their faults but they use the same arm as mine and do a perfectly good job. The Dorian, in every other turntable I've used it in, has an effervescence which is truly addictive and I know from experience it can do the subtlety thing really well too. Not much gets away from it.
Of course I could go on and add the psu but I have no desire to - all the stuff I've done to it so far is bolt-on and can be removed with no evidence of it having been there. From previous experience, once a turntable has set its stall out it doesn't tend to shift that far away from it, despite any mods it may receive on its journey. A good example of this was probably when I added a Lingo to my LP12 many years ago - clarity improved but the turntable's character remained strong, perhaps even more so. Changing the arm on the 1210 has brought about a stunning difference in terms of clarity and dynamics (believe me when I say the difference over the std arm is huge) but the turntable's musical qualities are largely the same. If one likes what the Technics can do from the outset (and forgive its slightly wayward and coarse presentation, knowing this can be cured pretty much entirely, and not at much cost) then it's a great choice, and for the money represents superb value especially as I feel it can compete with stuff at several times its cost - you just have to like what it does, and if you do, then it's brilliant. For me though it's ultimately somewhat unrewarding.
Just because I felt I had to I put the Lyra in the LP12 late sunday afternoon which proved to be a very interesting exercise. Admittedly it didn't have as much punch and drive as the 1210 and didn't sound quite as detailed (it wasn't far off though) but for sheer musical enjoyment it completely murdered it.
I put on Rachmaninov 2nd Symphony (LSO/Previn) - a proper goosebumper if there ever was one - second movement. The upper strings and woodwind enter with their theme (after the French Horns' initial motif) which is in a quick, almost scherzo style. On the Linn, one can here the shape of each phrase clearly, which is down to the LP12's ability to separate the dynamics and rhythmic shape. It makes the listener fully aware of what the players are
doing (ie shaping the phrase) and
why (ie the composer wrote it!). On the 1210 it's completely missing. There's little or no subtlety in its dynamic separation of low-level detail. Roll out the big guns (concert bass drum and lower strings) and it sounds awesome in terms of wham-bam - it's an extremely powerful performer - but it feels like it needs this to impress, but is unable to do the stuff that makes music...music.
Still, when the psu arrives it will be very interesting to see if it can help this aspect of its performance. I hope it does, as if it can it will make for a very persuasive package. If not, it will be a lesson learned.
