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Systemdek iix DIY Upgrades

N

Neo74

New Member
Hi all, I bought a Systemdek iix with RB250 arm and V15 iii cartridge, for the sole purpose of upgrading it.
Here are my tips/possibilities after some research:

Advanced upgrades:

Suspension and Platter Upgrade:
It has a good 3-point suspension and sturdy suspension plate that should allow upgrading to lower compliant springs so you can add a heavier platter, I was thinking a 2nd hand Technics PL10 or a Sondek platter with replacement Linn bearing?. The LP12 platter is double the weight and the PL10 is double that of the Linn.
1a) Replacement motor to handle the heaviier platter, this may mean shifting away from the Airpax type motors and onto a servo-motor arrangement with controller.

Basic upgrades:

Improving the chassis (exc suspension):
Adding mass material with high sound velocity-here we have choices such as Berllium Copper(The fastest velocity but low mass), Lead-high mass above average velocity.
So my idea is to epoxy bond lead plate to the underside of the chassis with an additional layer of expoxied Berllium sheet, this combination should dampen vibrations and remove them quickly away from the stylus?

Improving wiring:
Replacing the mains cable between switch and connector internally with shielded type, (connect shield to chassis earth)
Encapsulate capacitor connection block in a metal case to further reduce mains hum.
Replace mains 2 core with shielded type.
Replace arm cable to better quality.

Base board
Buy 10mm width Acyrlic and replace base board (use same cut out)
Better feet-spiked.

More advanced:(Trampoline)
Buy 2x5mm Acyrlic sheet , drill holes larger than the diameter of the feet you bought on the 4 corners, and make a Neoprene sheet sandwich with the two acylic sheets, epoxy in the 4 feet in the centre of the rubbers you exposed on the 4 corners and you have something akin to the Linn Trampoline, this may need a balancing weights (lead?) on the underside chassis so all 4 corners have equal displacement of the rubber to keep the deck balanced.

Before you say "Why not buy a better deck", my answer is I like the understated look that hides a surprise).
What are your thoughts?
 
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Neo74 said:
Hi all, I bought a Systemdek iix with RB250 arm and V15 iii cartridge, for the sole purpose of upgrading it.
Here are my tips/possibilities after some research:

Advanced upgrades:

Suspension and Platter Upgrade:
It has a good 3-point suspension and sturdy suspension plate that should allow upgrading to lower compliant springs so you can add a heavier platter, I was thinking a 2nd hand Technics PL10 or a Sondek platter with replacement Linn bearing?. The LP12 platter is double the weight and the PL10 is double that of the Linn.
1a) Replacement motor to handle the heaviier platter, this may mean shifting away from the Airpax type motors and onto a servo-motor arrangement with controller.

Basic upgrades:

Improving the chassis (exc suspension):
Adding mass material with high sound velocity-here we have choices such as Berllium Copper(The fastest velocity but low mass), Lead-high mass above average velocity.
So my idea is to epoxy bond lead plate to the underside of the chassis with an additional layer of expoxied Berllium sheet, this combination should dampen vibrations and remove them quickly away from the stylus?

Improving wiring:
Replacing the mains cable between switch and connector internally with shielded type, (connect shield to chassis earth)
Encapsulate capacitor connection block in a metal case to further reduce mains hum.
Replace mains 2 core with shielded type.
Replace arm cable to better quality.

Base board
Buy 10mm width Acyrlic and replace base board (use same cut out)
Better feet-spiked.

More advanced:(Trampoline)
Buy 2x5mm Acyrlic sheet , drill holes larger than the diameter of the feet you bought on the 4 corners, and make a Neoprene sheet sandwich with the two acylic sheets, epoxy in the 4 feet in the centre of the rubbers you exposed on the 4 corners and you have something akin to the Linn Trampoline, this may need a balancing weights (lead?) on the underside chassis so all 4 corners have equal displacement of the rubber to keep the deck balanced.

Before you say "Why not buy a better deck", my answer is I like the understated look that hides a surprise).
What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

Welcome!

I have two of these turntables and my opinion is that all these mods are not going to result in much improvement, as it's already a very good turntable, designed by people who knew what they were doing.

After all these years I would look carefully at the motor, as they might need a service/oil to bring them back to original spec. I had the capacitor fail on one which resulting in it not spinning at all. Replaced the cap and all is well again.

I would entertain the idea of some dampening on the subchassis (Dynamat for example). Some say an acrylic platter sounds better than the glass, but
I don't know that I'd agree. Different platter mats (such as a Herbies Way Excellent turntable mat, kind of the opposite of the felt one it came with) are easy enough to try and reversible.

I put an RB300 on mine, replacing the stock Profile arm, but ended up preferring the Profile. It's possible the Rega weighs more and the springs are optimized for the Profile.

This table *really* benefits from a wall shelf to isolate it from footfalls. etc.

You can experiment with Tiptoes or other types of feet to replace the stock rubber ones.

All that said I have spent days, weeks, months (maybe years?) tweaking audio equipment so I certainly understand the desire to do so. But some stuff is just good as-is.
Also I'll say (and many will disagree with me here) that I don't much care for the Shure sound (and I have 3 or 4 of them) so a different cartridge will most likely affect the sound more than all the tweaks...
 
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Hi, thanks for the reply, a lot of people do seem to go for dynamat, but these foam type materials are only good at absorbing high frequencies, hence I concluded Lead would be better or even better Beryllium, however you cannot buy Beryllium in its pure form, just copper-Beryllium. Now you may well be right about it making minimal difference, but I am a tinkerer), I dont think it will hurt to add extra weight and damping as long as it doesnt interfere with the suspension. Yes I agree the suspension has been finely tuned- possibly, I would only do changes in that area unless I did the math first and could obtain the right springs etc for a new heavier platter.
I just bought the V15 iii after seeing a lot of good reviews, I havent had much experience with cartridges having only ever owned a Linn K9 before.
 
Thanks for the welcomes, if anyone knows about materials, lets have a discussion, for instance when choosing a material for the chassis, high mass important, but how important is velocity of sound in that material? I concluded Beryllium at 12,000 M/S being one of the fastest transmitters of sound would conduct vibrations away from the source of vibration fastest, I know they use Beryllium in some high end cartridges, so am I correct?
I see high end turntables seem to use Aluminium for chassis's, which has higher mass and lower sound velocity than Beryllium or Boron, are they compromising?
 
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