Technics SL-1500 mk2

[mike shaw]

Does anyone know what the stock tonearm would be for a SL1500 mk2 turntable? Is it similar to the EPA100 or EPA250? Thanks!

 

[Stanton681EEES]

This isn't exactly what your asking but if your thinking of replacing the arm, the arm from a 1800MKII will fit and the 1200 series will as well.
Just curious as to why your asking did you recently get one. I ask because I did and I did a dry fit with an extra 1800MKII complete arm I have.

 

[mike shaw]

No, I'm just curious (for now). But my arm has the usual dead cueing lever so I'm wondering if it makes more sense to repair the present arm or upgrade to something else in the future.

 

[thedelihaus]

The EPA 100 and 250 and 500 arms are the statement Technics arms. These influenced the SL-1200 MK II arms via trickle-down technology.

The SL-1200 arms are used on the SL-1600/1700/1800 MK IIs as well, but the arm bases are different on the SL-1609/1700 MK II.

You'll need to adapt an SL-1200 base, which appears to be the same on the SL-1800 MK II.

 

[mike shaw]

So .... would it make more sense to replace the arm or fix the cueing?

 

[thedelihaus]

If you are really, really good with your hands, have the tools, and can shape the raw materials, you can repair the arm.

Or- you can mail it to a fella who will do a refurb for around $175 plus shipping who can also replace the part with one he made.

Or you can replace the arm and arm base for $50 (the arm with bearings and the holding pivot arm), maybe $25 for the counterweight (you might be able to use your current one), and a base. Dunno what a base sells for new, but I have seen them used from $35 to $75.

If it were my table, I'd do the latter. Drop-in fit, with an improved arm lift mechanism.

If it were the semi auto or auto SL-1300 MK II or SL-1400 MK II, I'd consider the repair.

But being the SL-1500 MK II is manual, the easiest way is to go with the SL-1200 arm.


This will give you an arm with brand new tone arm bearings, by the way. A nice bonus.


Lastly, if you want to go deluxe, grab the SL-1200 M5G arm with it's satin titanium finish and improved tone arm wire (OFC copper) for $122.

 

[GALLOFORM]

I thought this thread worth reviving as I've just finished re-arming my SL1500 MKII. Mine suffered from the dreaded cue-lever rot where the plastic cam inside the arm assembly fractured. Rather than repair, I thought such a nice looking TT deserved a chance at a decent arm

The SL1500 MKII arm is not interchangeable with either an SL1200 MKII or SL1800 MKII - I have tried both. The latter both mount via screws on a collar which is part of the top plate / upper plinth. The SL1500 MKII arm mounts on a frame which sits inside the plinth, attached to the bottom plate. The spindle, bearing and ring magnet assembly bolt on the same frame

If you're thinking of rearming an SL1500 MKII there are 2 ways to go

1) Use a DIY armboard which attaches directly to the top plate / upper plinth. This would necessitate drilling screw holes in the top plate which I didn't really want to do for cosmetic reasons. Also, there's not a lot of room nor many flat areas on the underside of the top plate to give a solid mount. OR -

2) Use part of the original arm mount and modify it to accept a new custom built arm board mounted atop it - which is the way I went. The extraneous casting atop the original arm mount needs to be removed to provide a perfectly flat surface for grafting of the new armboard. I used 6082 grade aluminium for the arm board which is easy to work but not too malleable - it doesn't bend easily. Remember that frame I mentioned on the innards ? It needs to be cut to accommodate the arm pillar and in my case, the Jelco arm cable. There isn't much room and you need to be very careful where you cut because the mountings for the frame need to be retained as do the mountings upon it for the original arm mount

It's been a pig of a job to be honest completed in spare time over the last 6 months. It's a viable project though for anybody who wants to attempt and the Jelco / Linn geometry suits the existing design of the SL1500 MKII. You don't need a full metal working shop either - just some non-specialised tools and some experience in working metal

Anybody attempting, I'm happy to help. Add to the thread or PM me

Mark.

 

[DougMac]

Great looking job! Thanks for reviving this thread and providing the information.

I have a SL-1500 MKII that I rescued from the turntable equivalent of the animal shelter - Goodwill. I paid $20.00 for it and it had a dustcover. Of course, the lift mechanism doesn't work, but otherwise it's in great mechanical shape and sounds great. I've had turntables with either marginal cueing mechanisms or none at all so not having one isn't such a big deal.

Congrats on your mod!

 

[iLUVanalog]

I thought this thread worth reviving as I've just finished re-arming my SL1500 MKII. Mine suffered from the dreaded cue-lever rot where the plastic cam inside the arm assembly fractured. Rather than repair, I thought such a nice looking TT deserved a chance at a decent arm

The SL1500 MKII arm is not interchangeable with either an SL1200 MKII or SL1800 MKII - I have tried both. The latter both mount via screws on a collar which is part of the top plate / upper plinth. The SL1500 MKII arm mounts on a frame which sits inside the plinth, attached to the bottom plate. The spindle, bearing and ring magnet assembly bolt on the same frame

If you're thinking of rearming an SL1500 MKII there are 2 ways to go

1) Use a DIY armboard which attaches directly to the top plate / upper plinth. This would necessitate drilling screw holes in the top plate which I didn't really want to do for cosmetic reasons. Also, there's not a lot of room nor many flat areas on the underside of the top plate to give a solid mount. OR -

2) Use part of the original arm mount and modify it to accept a new custom built arm board mounted atop it - which is the way I went. The extraneous casting atop the original arm mount needs to be removed to provide a perfectly flat surface for grafting of the new armboard. I used 6082 grade aluminium for the arm board which is easy to work but not too malleable - it doesn't bend easily. Remember that frame I mentioned on the innards ? It needs to be cut to accommodate the arm pillar and in my case, the Jelco arm cable. There isn't much room and you need to be very careful where you cut because the mountings for the frame need to be retained as do the mountings upon it for the original arm mount

It's been a pig of a job to be honest completed in spare time over the last 6 months. It's a viable project though for anybody who wants to attempt and the Jelco / Linn geometry suits the existing design of the SL1500 MKII. You don't need a full metal working shop either - just some non-specialised tools and some experience in working metal

Anybody attempting, I'm happy to help. Add to the thread or PM me

Mark.

so.....what arm is this that you used???

 

[KentTeffeteller]

I would just install a nice, new SL-1200 tonearm on your SL-1500 Mk II and be done with it. It is 70% of a EPA 100 in real life. Eliminates the cueing problem for good.

 

[GALLOFORM]

so.....what arm is this that you used???

Hi

It's a Jelco SA-250ST. The 210mm mounting distance was ideal for the SL1500 MKII. More importantly, I had one spare knocking around !

It's a Linn mount so any Linn arm would also be a good candidate at 211mm mounting distance

 

[GALLOFORM]

I would just install a nice, new SL-1200 tonearm on your SL-1500 Mk II and be done with it. It is 70% of a EPA 100 in real life. Eliminates the cueing problem for good.

I did try the arm from my SL1200 MKII - it would have been ideal for me as I had removed it in favour of a RB250 / Tecnoweight for my SL1200 MKII

Trouble is, the stock arm for the SL1200 MKII doesn't fit the SL1500 MKII. Looks like it should but it's a totally different mount and I didn't want to modify the top plate

The Jelco's sonically much better anyway and it sets the deck off nicely. Pretty unique too !

Oh BTW, mine is actually a SL1510 MKII, identical to the SL1500 MKII in every way except for the gunmetal colour vs. silver

 

[thedelihaus]

I did try the arm from my SL1200 MKII - it would have been ideal for me as I had removed it in favour of a RB250 / Tecnoweight for my SL1200 MKII

Trouble is, the stock arm for the SL1200 MKII doesn't fit the SL1500 MKII. Looks like it should but it's a totally different mount and I didn't want to modify the top plate

The Jelco's sonically much better anyway and it sets the deck off nicely. Pretty unique too !

Oh BTW, mine is actually a SL1510 MKII, identical to the SL1500 MKII in every way except for the gunmetal colour vs. silver

Tank you for reviving this thread- and let me say, he table looks great. I've used Sumiko and Jelco arms in the past and do think they are of great design.

Could you elaborate with more detail what it would have required to mount the stock SL1200MK2 arm on one of these? I know you mentioned some drilling- is this strictly for the mounting of the base? And would it show?

Is there any modifying, grinding, cutting of the plinth involved?


I've mounted the Technics SL1200MK2 arm on the earlier, non-MK-2 1200s, and this requires a small amount of grinding of a lip on the top plate to fit the later arm.

Fortunately, it's always covered- either by the SL1200 original arm base or the MK2 base.


I've taken to modifying the stock 1200 arm- it seems to really help with the arm's weaknesses, and sonics. I have sent one along to AK member Mark Walters, to compare to a stock Sumiko MMT arm he owns, and a modified Sumiko FT-3 I also rebuilt for him.

I look forward to his comparisons of all three. He's got a good ear.

 

[GALLOFORM]

Tank you for reviving this thread- and let me say, he table looks great. I've used Sumiko and Jelco arms in the past and do think they are of great design.

Could you elaborate with more detail what it would have required to mount the stock SL1200MK2 arm on one of these? I know you mentioned some drilling- is this strictly for the mounting of the base? And would it show?

Is there any modifying, grinding, cutting of the plinth involved?


I've mounted the Technics SL1200MK2 arm on the earlier, non-MK-2 1200s, and this requires a small amount of grinding of a lip on the top plate to fit the later arm.

Fortunately, it's always covered- either by the SL1200 original arm base or the MK2 base.


I've taken to modifying the stock 1200 arm- it seems to really help with the arm's weaknesses, and sonics. I have sent one along to AK member Mark Walters, to compare to a stock Sumiko MMT arm he owns, and a modified Sumiko FT-3 I also rebuilt for him.

I look forward to his comparisons of all three. He's got a good ear.

Hi

It's difficult to be absolutely precise as to how you would go about mounting a stock SL1200 MKII arm on an SL1500 MKII but from my observations -

The aperture on the top plate for the arm on the SL1500 MKII would need to be ground out by around 2mm all round to drop the SL1200 MKII arm in

To accommodate the depth of the SL1200 MKII arm, the stock arm mounting chassis inside the plinth of the SL1500 MKII would need to be cut before partial removal. The remaining part of the chassis which mounts the bearing and ring magnets could be left in place on it's original mounting points. Not a difficult job but I think clearance between the arm and bottom plate would still be tight

You would need to add mounting points to the top plate for the arm as there are none on the top plate. These would surely be visible as the only way I could see this being accomplished would be to drill the top plate and attach mounting hardware below it. The underside of the top plate may need to be ground flat in places to accommodate the mounting hardware

All of this would be possible but the critical dimension is between the top and bottom plates on the SL1500 MKII plinth. As I did not actually drop the SL1200 MKII arm into place, I cannot be sure if the would be enough room to accommodate it

So as I thought, I chose the easier modification. But this too tunred out to be a lot of work !

It's worth it though - the SL1500 MKII looks great and sounds better !

 

[goldwax]

Outstanding job, Gallo! Thanks for the detailed reportage.

 

[søren krabbe]

great job Gallo - I have got a sl-1510mkII from my cousin - same universal technics problem - cuing lever doesn´t work I was wondering if I could get my spare Rega RB300 arm to fit on the table without too much problems.
Does Anybody know if this armbase is any good for the money: http://www.soundsupports.com/userimages/procart23.htm

 

[chadbang]

Hi

It's difficult to be absolutely precise as to how you would go about mounting a stock SL1200 MKII arm on an SL1500 MKII but from my observations -

The aperture on the top plate for the arm on the SL1500 MKII would need to be ground out by around 2mm all round to drop the SL1200 MKII arm in

To accommodate the depth of the SL1200 MKII arm, the stock arm mounting chassis inside the plinth of the SL1500 MKII would need to be cut before partial removal. The remaining part of the chassis which mounts the bearing and ring magnets could be left in place on it's original mounting points. Not a difficult job but I think clearance between the arm and bottom plate would still be tight

You would need to add mounting points to the top plate for the arm as there are none on the top plate. These would surely be visible as the only way I could see this being accomplished would be to drill the top plate and attach mounting hardware below it. The underside of the top plate may need to be ground flat in places to accommodate the mounting hardware

All of this would be possible but the critical dimension is between the top and bottom plates on the SL1500 MKII plinth. As I did not actually drop the SL1200 MKII arm into place, I cannot be sure if the would be enough room to accommodate it

So as I thought, I chose the easier modification. But this too tunred out to be a lot of work !

It's worth it though - the SL1500 MKII looks great and sounds better !

So who can point me to the tonearm lift mechanism thread, or am I going to have to write. Repairs are my ticket to cheapness.