The Official *Technics SL-1200* Owners Club

I had one of those cheap $9 headshells from ebay laying around, and the azimuth is much better on it. Surprised I got the cartridge aligned with my shaky ass hands, but it sounds great. Love me some grados.
 
I ordered a needle from them this weekend. Today I tried to call them and their phone is no longer in service. Googling them I see a lot of complaints. Are they still in business? Did I just lose $66? You may not want to be recommending Stereoneedles.com to people here.

Update: I have to retract my statement and apologies to eriathomas. I'm not sure why I got a no longer in service message calling Stereoneedles. Monday I tried again and it was answered by the owner. Great guy to talk to. He had shipped my needle and gave me the tracking number. It arrived Tuesday. An OEM AT-120E needle and at a great price. So.. A thumbs up to Stereoneedles.com and thanks eriathomas for referring them to me.
 
Update: I have to retract my statement and apologies to eriathomas. I'm not sure why I got a no longer in service message calling Stereoneedles. Monday I tried again and it was answered by the owner. Great guy to talk to. He had shipped my needle and gave me the tracking number. It arrived Tuesday. An OEM AT-120E needle and at a great price. So.. A thumbs up to Stereoneedles.com and thanks eriathomas for referring them to me.

I really like my AT-120e on my 1200 also. Let us know how u like the sound.
 
Guys have you anyone Denon DL-110 on Technics SL-1200/1210 ? Are you satisfied with the sound? I´m thinking to buy one or I will take just the stylus AT150SA for my cartridge AT440....
 
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... If for whatever reason you don't get it, thevoiceofmusic has some NOS ones as well.

Just a heads-up ... the AT120e stylus from Voice of Music is listed on the website as a 0.4 x 0.7 mil elliptical tip. That should make it the older bonded version rather than the later 0.3 x 0.7 mil nude mounted. Now I understand that it is impossible to determine which one you have without either clearly marked (and correctly marked!) packaging or some detailed visual inspection. While Gary's listings usually identify differences in stylus profile they don't always (often?) identify bonded vs. nude. For example on the same page he doesn't indicate the ATN130e, and above, are nude-mounted. He also may have product that is not marked in any way so he can't verify for certain. I'd check with him prior to ordering, if that's important to you.
 
Don't know where you guys are looking/buying/shopping but I'v never had a problem finding OEM/factory Technics and other Japanese brands headshells for very reasonable prices. And I'v never had to stoop and buy any generics.
 
Just a heads-up ... the AT120e stylus from Voice of Music is listed on the website as a 0.4 x 0.7 mil elliptical tip. That should make it the older bonded version rather than the later 0.3 x 0.7 mil nude mounted. Now I understand that it is impossible to determine which one you have without either clearly marked (and correctly marked!) packaging or some detailed visual inspection. While Gary's listings usually identify differences in stylus profile they don't always (often?) identify bonded vs. nude. For example on the same page he doesn't indicate the ATN130e, and above, are nude-mounted. He also may have product that is not marked in any way so he can't verify for certain. I'd check with him prior to ordering, if that's important to you.

I just noticed that. I forgot AT used the same model # in the past.
 
Here are a couple of pics of what I got. The old one is on the left. The only visual difference is the needle cover on the new one is smokie colored where the original is nearly clear. Looking it them with a little 60 power scope I can tell no real difference. The original still looks sharp, just a little dusty.

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Don't know where you guys are looking/buying/shopping but I'v never had a problem finding OEM/factory Technics and other Japanese brands headshells for very reasonable prices. And I'v never had to stoop and buy any generics.

Please post links to examples. Because $50+ for a headshell isn't really reasonable imo. I've found audio technica headshells for $20, but I'm pretty sure those are branded generics.
 
Guys have you anyone Denon DL-110 on Technics SL-1200/1210 ? Are you satisfied with the sound? I´m thinking to buy one or I will take just the stylus AT150SA for my cartridge AT440....
Hi. I ran a DL110 on a 1210 (standard arm) for several years. Great sound. Very airy and open top. Baerwald alignment.
I have a KAB fluid damper fitted now, and run a Shure M97XE, which sounds darker, but thicker mids and bass. Baerwald alignment also. This sounds great too :)
 
Anyone use KAB's headshells? I noticed earlier that the azimuth was way off, so I took it off and straighten it out and it kinda twisted back after a records. The OG Technics has no issues.

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Yikes! I ordered 3 of them. I hope a couple of them are straight.
 
What alignment method do you all prefer? The Zupreme HS doesn't mate with the overhang gauge. It has two locating pins where as the Technics has one. I initially mounted the Grado just eyeballing it with the overhang gauge. I was probably within a 32nd of an inch. It was very close. After some listening I was detecting some slight distortion in mostly the highs. like symbols, high guitar notes etc. Maybe its my ears but mids seemed subdued. I got the Technics Baerwald Arc Protractor off Vinyl Engine. It moved the cartridge way forward in the HS and angled it in a little. But it followed the arc and was square in the grids. Set VTF with a scale. Leveled the table then leveled the tonearm, Tonearm level ended up on the 1 mark. Does all this seem correct? Definitely a noticeable improvement but I need to give it more ear time.

protractor.jpg scale.jpg level.jpg
 
Well, I guess I'll be sending a pm to join up. I picked up a mk2 yesterday for $120 from a guy who had it in his garage for several years. A bit dusty but it cleaned right up and runs rock solid. It is missing a few things; dust cover, head shell, fader knob and 3 feet. The feet I will make myself...maybe (suggestions?). I have a head shell and cart. the fader knob is not critical but not costly either and the dust cover I can find something. Hope i got a good deal.
 
What alignment method do you all prefer? The Zupreme HS doesn't mate with the overhang gauge. It has two locating pins where as the Technics has one. I initially mounted the Grado just eyeballing it with the overhang gauge. I was probably within a 32nd of an inch. It was very close. After some listening I was detecting some slight distortion in mostly the highs. like symbols, high guitar notes etc. Maybe its my ears but mids seemed subdued. I got the Technics Baerwald Arc Protractor off Vinyl Engine. It moved the cartridge way forward in the HS and angled it in a little. But it followed the arc and was square in the grids. Set VTF with a scale. Leveled the table then leveled the tonearm, Tonearm level ended up on the 1 mark. Does all this seem correct? Definitely a noticeable improvement but I need to give it more ear time.

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How'd you get the hole so perfect on the protractor? Mine never look that good when I cut them out with an xacto knife.
 
How'd you get the hole so perfect on the protractor? Mine never look that good when I cut them out with an xacto knife.

An Xacto knife, number 2.5 reading glasses, bright light and did it real slow. Plus it was my 2nd try. Oh.. And a fresh new blade. I'm liking it so far. Someone mention Baerwald would ruin my records. But I cant see how.
 
I was under the impression that a Stevenson was correct for Technics tables? But I have been known to be wrong...according to my wife and kids that is.
Your correct but not exactly. "Correct" is the overhang gauge. From what I have read the overhang is Stevenson but not exactly by a few thousandths. So what is correct? Does using Baerwald create IGD, Excess wear, etc? I really don't know. I used the Baerwald protractor because it looked very precise to me. I know very little about alignment. The trems Stevenson, Baerwald and Loefgren are new to me. The headshell I have doesn't fit the overhang gauge so I used a protractor. Most Technics owners use the overhang gauge. I had eyeballed the cartridge in and I detected slight distortion in some recordings. It seems the alignment cleaned it up. I'm not being scientific about it so I can't say for sure or measure the differences. Stevenson may be correct by Technics but is Baerwald wrong? I wish I had a test recording and lots of time.
 
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