yauller
New Member
Will do.
Only problem for me is the place where I live. In the Dominican Republic, TT are long gone. I have to buy online and the shipping rates are outrages.
I'm looking at all possibilities before coughing up the dough.
Audio Technica AT-LP120USB Super Mod Thread
- Thread starter vincei
- Start date
Will do.
Only problem for me is the place where I live. In the Dominican Republic, TT are long gone. I have to buy online and the shipping rates are outrages.
I'm looking at all possibilities before coughing up the dough.
This thread has been a great read. While I have a Sony PS-X60, a Pioneer PL-600, and a nice Technics SL1400Mk2, I saw this Audio Technica at Best Buy the other day for 230 bucks, and was impressed at the heft of it.
Why I'd buy another tt is anyone's guess.
Some fine mods here I've employed on other tables myself. Shrink wrap trick worked wonders on a cheap MCS direct drive, and I use O-rings on all my tables.
Why I'd buy another tt is anyone's guess.
Some fine mods here I've employed on other tables myself. Shrink wrap trick worked wonders on a cheap MCS direct drive, and I use O-rings on all my tables.
Hi Guys,
This is my first post here on this forum.I want to buy the audio technica record player, and want to do some upgrades.
I want to start with removing the Pre amp and damping everything.
My Question is, can i use 3 mm thick rubber damping material?
I can buy this in a local store 1 m2 for 25 euro, but i can buy as much i need.
Probably 0,5 m2 will be enough.
I have an old rubber mat from a lenco l75, can i use that for the audio technica?
It's in very good shape
Grzz,
Sjarel
This is my first post here on this forum.I want to buy the audio technica record player, and want to do some upgrades.
I want to start with removing the Pre amp and damping everything.
My Question is, can i use 3 mm thick rubber damping material?
I can buy this in a local store 1 m2 for 25 euro, but i can buy as much i need.
Probably 0,5 m2 will be enough.
I have an old rubber mat from a lenco l75, can i use that for the audio technica?
It's in very good shape
Grzz,
Sjarel
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THX for your answer
3 mm thick will be no problem.
That's good news.
Then i can buy that in a local store, and not over the internet.
The rubbermat is heavy and 3 or 4 mm thick.
I think that i will order the audio technica
sjarel
VinylRescue
Member
fingersmagoo - Can you email me at gwcurts@gmail.com i have some questions for you if you have time. I messed up my tonearm wiring and getting ready to order some parts. Thanks!
fingersmagoo
New Member
E-mail sent
VinylRescue
Member
I've been busy completing a (hopefully) last mod on my AT-LP120 and it turned out great! Tried to use shrink wrap on the tonearm wiring and use cotton to fill the tonearm with, but broke off 2 wires. Decided it was time to get this over with as I had wanted to replace the wiring and put in RCA jacks on the rear of the plinth. I ordered 2 feet of Cardas 4 x 33 awg Tonearm wire with shielding, set of RCA plugs, and a grounding terminal from partsconnexion.com. It was quite a delicate operation and had to redo the DIN after I thought there was a problem. Tried to use the mesh shielding as a ground, but it doesn't work that way. I was watching a review on the Pioneer PLX-1000 on YT and went to Pioneer's website to check it out and noticed something interesting. The tonearm is lined with RUBBER! Before I started the wiring I went out to Home Depot and bought 3/8 latex tubing (needed 1/4, but that's all they had). I now have my tonearm lined with latex to help insulate it better from any noise or feedback. Tested everything and it sounded great, but it would skip 3/4 into one side. Anti-skate wasn't working properly. Examined it over and had to remove part of the outer rubber jacket from about 1/2 inch from where the tonearm tube goes into the base and through to about 2 inches into the lower base. This left it more flexible and not binding where the wiring goes through the tonearm assembly. The Cardas wiring is of much better quality as it's copper compared to the cheap silver looking stock wiring. I dedicated a new copper ground wire and my Adobe Audition CS6 shows a much lower background noise print than before. It's now so quite I hear nothing until I drop the needle. I bought a new Ortofon MC-3 Turbo Moving Coil (high output) cart that works great with moving magnet preamps that beats my AT440MLa cart hands down. Much more balanced detail without the harshness or noise exhaustion that some complain about. I just posted my video last night after I got all the bugs worked out on my project. Enjoy!
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Hi all,
This is my first post on the LP120. I already own 2 nice turntables, a custom plinth Lenco 75 with an Origin Silver arm and a beautiful restored Denon DP59L. However I wanted a turntable I could mod. I just bought an PL120 on Ebay for $80, no shipping. maybe not all at once. SInce I am a newbie to this hobby this would be a relatively easy starter project.
I have been reading through these pages and will do the following mods,
Remover or bypass the Phono section, rewire the phono output to RCA jacks so I can connect to my preamp with a good set of cables, Damp the platter, chassis and bottom weight. I have a new cryo head shell coming with a vintage AT13 with a new stylus cryo treated ( this was their top of the line in the 70's), and finally fix the anti skate.
At some point this year I will rewire the tone arm.
Of course I am putting more money into this table than it is worth. However this is a hobby and not everything has to make financial sense. I guess that when I am done the mods will not be more than $150. This makes the cost ( used price plus mods not much more than the new table). I will post pictures when I am done you this group can critique my beginners handiwork.
This is my first post on the LP120. I already own 2 nice turntables, a custom plinth Lenco 75 with an Origin Silver arm and a beautiful restored Denon DP59L. However I wanted a turntable I could mod. I just bought an PL120 on Ebay for $80, no shipping. maybe not all at once. SInce I am a newbie to this hobby this would be a relatively easy starter project.
I have been reading through these pages and will do the following mods,
Remover or bypass the Phono section, rewire the phono output to RCA jacks so I can connect to my preamp with a good set of cables, Damp the platter, chassis and bottom weight. I have a new cryo head shell coming with a vintage AT13 with a new stylus cryo treated ( this was their top of the line in the 70's), and finally fix the anti skate.
At some point this year I will rewire the tone arm.
Of course I am putting more money into this table than it is worth. However this is a hobby and not everything has to make financial sense. I guess that when I am done the mods will not be more than $150. This makes the cost ( used price plus mods not much more than the new table). I will post pictures when I am done you this group can critique my beginners handiwork.
fingersmagoo
New Member
Most of what you will put into it will be labor and the headshell and cartridge. That can move from table to table if you choose the correct tables. sl-1200, not sure of yours. It is a ridiculous hobby but welcome aboard, and yes, once done you marry the table. You just won't get your money back out on the other end. There are really good ideas on this thread to make a decent t.t. into a good one. I have one on pgh c.l. right now and want 200, 150 with a generic headshell and a nos realistic shure cart., 200 with stock headshell and cart. The 150 will feature a repaired cover and 200 a new cover and 3 months and not 1 bite. You will marry it. But you can see my upgrades for ideas.
Trevor Olexy
New Member
I'm new to the posting on this forum, but have been following so many different threads. There's a wealth of knowledge (and opinions) on here!
Now that's out of the way, I recently got the AT120 and found it out of the box to be suuuuper dull. I was quite dismayed. But thanks to the forum and the ideas of what to fix and what to try, I've gotten the sound to a great place.
So if anyone still looks at this thread or finds it in the future, they can rest assured that decent sound is possible from this little machine.
1: putty on the underside of the platter to deaden that godawful ring. Tried to keep the distribution even so as not to induce wobble (see number 2).
2: platter was pretty wobbly out of the box. Luckily someone suggest reseating the platter after rotating a quarter turn or so each time and running the turntable to see which position achieved the least wobble. I got lucky on the first try, tons of wobble to barely any with 1/4 rotation of the platter.
3. Fixed the antiskate issue. The disassembly was somewhat delicate, but the previous posters have great pictures. Cut the spring down to 1/4 of it's original size. Anti-skate works as it should (still at around 5 for a 2g of tracking pressure). But hey, it works, I/m happy.
4. while inside for anti-skate, dropped some putty on the plinth where there seemed to be lots of space and thing plastic as well as in various corners of the bottom.
5. O-rings on the tone arm. Great and "easy" addition. Somehwat difficult to get the o rings over the collet for the headshell, but once theyre on, great sound abounds.
6. New mat and record weight, set up, and damn this thing sounds clean, tight, and airy. AT probably tried to save money on these issues, or just designed the thing poorly, but man what a difference a little elbow grease and patience got me. Also, most of the additional things (weight etc) can go to a new turntable in the future, so not much "extra" funds went into this.
7. Havent removed the pre yet. My main receiver is in the shop and the phono in on my backup doesnt work, so thankfully there's a line option!
Cant wait to get my CR1020 back, pull the AT120 pre out, and hardwire some new RCAs to this thing. THEN it will be complete and I can stop scouring boards for ideas of things to tinker with!
cheers
Now that's out of the way, I recently got the AT120 and found it out of the box to be suuuuper dull. I was quite dismayed. But thanks to the forum and the ideas of what to fix and what to try, I've gotten the sound to a great place.
So if anyone still looks at this thread or finds it in the future, they can rest assured that decent sound is possible from this little machine.
1: putty on the underside of the platter to deaden that godawful ring. Tried to keep the distribution even so as not to induce wobble (see number 2).
2: platter was pretty wobbly out of the box. Luckily someone suggest reseating the platter after rotating a quarter turn or so each time and running the turntable to see which position achieved the least wobble. I got lucky on the first try, tons of wobble to barely any with 1/4 rotation of the platter.
3. Fixed the antiskate issue. The disassembly was somewhat delicate, but the previous posters have great pictures. Cut the spring down to 1/4 of it's original size. Anti-skate works as it should (still at around 5 for a 2g of tracking pressure). But hey, it works, I/m happy.
4. while inside for anti-skate, dropped some putty on the plinth where there seemed to be lots of space and thing plastic as well as in various corners of the bottom.
5. O-rings on the tone arm. Great and "easy" addition. Somehwat difficult to get the o rings over the collet for the headshell, but once theyre on, great sound abounds.
6. New mat and record weight, set up, and damn this thing sounds clean, tight, and airy. AT probably tried to save money on these issues, or just designed the thing poorly, but man what a difference a little elbow grease and patience got me. Also, most of the additional things (weight etc) can go to a new turntable in the future, so not much "extra" funds went into this.
7. Havent removed the pre yet. My main receiver is in the shop and the phono in on my backup doesnt work, so thankfully there's a line option!
Cant wait to get my CR1020 back, pull the AT120 pre out, and hardwire some new RCAs to this thing. THEN it will be complete and I can stop scouring boards for ideas of things to tinker with!
cheers
FileFixer
Well-Known Member
media
It's more fun to compute
Many thanks!!! My wife got me this table for christmas and I couldn't break her heart and tell her it wasn't my first choice as I've used vintage technics all these years in the hobby. It was nice to see it can be made into a solid player with these mods.
FileFixer
Well-Known Member
FileFixer
Well-Known Member
I was impressed how much space for improvement this TT have. Mine is complete modded and I have impressed sound on it. e.g. Many users remove preamplifier and connect wires directly to external preamp but I have own mods with different internal preamplifier with almost zero noise and flatten frequency response at all audible range without rumble and I did also complete dampening from inside and platter too. All of that mods cost no more then $100. Result is great and after I do all of this thing I dont need to change it, it work perfect. Audio Technica do some things wrong on own turntable but with not to much money, good will and not to much DIY knowledge you can to have very decent turntable.
Any question what you need for AT-LP120 USB TT I can to explain.
