Technics Turntables Owners Thread

[Max Headroom]

12 hours ago, ENIGMA said:

A couple of slate plinths I made, the new model is amazing!

Did you make the slate plinths or have them made for you. 

[Warren Jones]

Another SP10mk2 iteration, this one sports a highly modified motor with an inverted bearing. There is an upgraded version in the build with a new CNC machined billet motor and rotor housing, CNC machined Permalli plinth that look better than this one.

 

[ENIGMA]

On 21/10/2023 at 10:25 AM, Max Headroom said:

Did you make the slate plinths or have them made for you. 

G'day,

 

I made them myself - complete end to end from sourcing slate from the quarry to machining to hand polishing. 

[cafe67]

New GR2 review 

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/technics-grand-class-sl-12001210gr2-record-player

[RockRolley]

Anyone have a Technics SH-10E power supply (SP-10 MK2 PSU( they’d be willing to part with? Or have the know how to build a suitable replacement? 

[cafe latte]

23 minutes ago, RockRolley said:

Anyone have a Technics SH-10E power supply (SP-10 MK2 PSU( they’d be willing to part with? Or have the know how to build a suitable replacement? 

Yours broken or dont you have one?

[RockRolley]

7 minutes ago, cafe latte said:

Yours broken or dont you have one?

Considering buying an SP-10 MK2 without PSU as a project. I’d need to refinish it, and would ultimately like a PSU for it

[Warren Jones]

If you replace the strobe with LED's you can ditch the 140V supply and only use 32 and 5 volts. I'm in the process of looking into building 3x SP10mk2 PSU's using SMPS and buck/boost regulators for new projects. Alternatively you can build a LPS using LM317's.

[RockRolley]

13 minutes ago, Warren Jones said:

If you replace the strobe with LED's you can ditch the 140V supply and only use 32 and 5 volts. I'm in the process of looking into building 3x SP10mk2 PSU's using SMPS and buck/boost regulators for new projects. Alternatively you can build a LPS using LM317's.

Warren that sounds cool, I’d like to hear more about that, either here if suitable or via DM if not. 

[andyr]

29 minutes ago, RockRolley said:

Warren that sounds cool, I’d like to hear more about that, either here if suitable or via DM if not. 

 

He knows what he's doing, Simon!  

 

[RockRolley]

Hi guys,

What are some tonearms that have sung with your Sp-10? (is this on topic for the thread? If not I'll remove  )

[Warren Jones]

The ones I have heard either on my SP10 or friends are EPA-100 (mine) SME 3009, SME 309 and SME IV. I've heard the new Alphason on my TT on someone else's system and it also sounded pretty good.

 

My EPA-100 is highly modified and is as good as the SME IV/309. I think the SME IV is better than the stock EPA-100.

Edited June 6, 2024 by Warren Jones

[cafe67]

@metal beat has a prenty funky arm on his 

[RockRolley]

4 hours ago, Warren Jones said:

The ones I have heard either on my SP10 or friends are EPA-100 (mine) SME 3009, SME 309 and SME IV. I've heard the new Alphason on my TT on someone else's system and it also sounded pretty good.

 

My EPA-100 is highly modified and is as good as the SME IV/309. I think the SME IV is better than the stock EPA-100.

Nice. Interesting to do a little research on the EPA-100. I haven’t seen or heard one in person yet. I had been considering an SME 3009 for some of my other TTs but I’m pretty much into MC carts atm and read they don’t do too well with MC.  Are there any 9” SME arms that are good with MC? That way I could use it on my suspension TTs and as a second arm on my SP10

[RockRolley]

This is mine BTW. Univector arm by Duc @lovetube/Goldenage. I wanted to try SP-10, and had been very interested in the Univector. I’ve been lucky enough to hear @andyr’s Univector, so it was a combo I couldn’t resist. Using the humble but fantastic DL103r and loving it

Edited June 6, 2024 by RockRolley

[Warren Jones]

51 minutes ago, RockRolley said:

Nice. Interesting to do a little research on the EPA-100. I haven’t seen or heard one in person yet. I had been considering an SME 3009 for some of my other TTs but I’m pretty much into MC carts atm and read they don’t do too well with MC.  Are there any 9” SME arms that are good with MC? That way I could use it on my suspension TTs and as a second arm on my SP10

 

The later SME 309 and IV will work with lower compliance cartridges. The EPA-100 is a good arm but one of it's issues are the fragile ruby bearings, so long as the arm is in good condition it'll be ok but if it's been dropped or abused and the bearings are damaged they can be expensive to repair.

 

There are other Japanese vintage tonearms that work well with MC's. Like the FR64 and some of the Micro Seiki arms, but I haven't heard these arms.

[RockRolley]

I have FR24 MK2, and it is beautiful. It’s currently doing incredibly well on an Ariston RD11S, with a Benz Gullwing cart, but if I ever decide to change it up, it could make a nice second arm on SP10. 

[Peter_F]

Hi have a Triplanar tonearm which is amazing. I previously had a Jelco SA-750, which was quite average. 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2024 by Peter_F

[RockRolley]

10 minutes ago, Peter_F said:

Hi have a Triplanar tonearm which is amazing.

Whoa!! Looks VERY interesting. I’ll have to look into those. Thanks for your input and pics

[cafe latte]

12 hours ago, RockRolley said:

Nice. Interesting to do a little research on the EPA-100. I haven’t seen or heard one in person yet. I had been considering an SME 3009 for some of my other TTs but I’m pretty much into MC carts atm and read they don’t do too well with MC.  Are there any 9” SME arms that are good with MC? That way I could use it on my suspension TTs and as a second arm on my SP10

Avoid the 3009. I am expecting negative comments from me posting this as they have a following. The issue is the knife edge bearing is not great. I discovered this issue when I recommend a Grado Opus 3 to a friend who has a 3009 on one of his tables. He rang me telling me the Grado was rubbish. He said it was flat and muted, which made no sense at all as the 3009 was a good compliance match. I went to his house and he showed me, it was horrible. We swapped it over to his Technics and tried it again, it was totally different now it sounded fab, what was going on?

We put it back on the 3009 and horrible again, but we noticed the cart stylus wobbling in the groove.

The rather odd suspension on thr Grado was not dealing well with knife edge bearing, the Grado needs a low friction bearing with no play unlike the 3009.

We have since tried a heavy headshell as someone on another forum said it would help and it did, even if it is now not the best compliance match. It seems the extra mass is helping the cart deal with the bearing even if this new set up is not correct compliance wise.

Re the EPA 100, as Warren said thry are amazing arms. I have two, I have just replaced the ruby balls in the bearing on my second one with silicone nitride balls and rewired it too. As Warren said most will need doing, or get one that has been fixed previously.

Cheers

Chris

[RockRolley]

36 minutes ago, cafe latte said:

Avoid the 3009.

Thanks for your reflection on that. The thing that has me considering a 9" SME, as well as having space for a 9" as second arm on my SP10 which I hope to utilise eventually, is that I have an early Ariston RD11 and a Fons deck that both have cutouts for the SME and would only accomodate a 9" arm and fit in the lid. I want to keep the armboards and everything original on those so either need an SME adapter or acquire a tonearm that has the same base but that would handle MC carts. I have a spare Grace 707 and could also consider using my Origin Live Zephyr. I have some other arms, but they are very happy where they are...

Some of this may partially fall outside the Technics chat, so, if anyone has any advice, feel free to DM me

[metal beat]

20 hours ago, cafe67 said:

@metal beat has a prenty funky arm on his 

 

Yes, a little funky   Thales Simplicity 2. I also have a SME 3012-R on the back left - not connected at the moment.

 

 

Edited June 7, 2024 by metal beat

[cafe67]

https://hifiplus.com/articles/technics-sl-1210g-turntable/?goal=0_ff6dfd0295-3d8892d4b0-163384889&mc_cid=3d8892d4b0&mc_eid=ccf1d258ae

[RockRolley]

On 07/06/2024 at 3:20 PM, metal beat said:

 

Yes, a little funky   Thales Simplicity 2. I also have a SME 3012-R on the back left - not connected at the moment.

 

 

I meant to comment on this earlier. A Very interesting looking arm, and a very sleek looking SP-10. Beautiful

[RockRolley]

On 07/06/2024 at 8:33 AM, cafe latte said:

Avoid the 3009.

I've since figured out that Origin Live do an SME base adapter, so, once I gain some confidence switching arms successfully, I'll use my OL zephyr for playing on the SME compatible decks. The zephyr is a beautiful sounding arm and a pleasure to use.