KABUSA used to sell wood frames to give SL-1200s a traditional look. The plans are still on their site. Plans are free, but suggest a small donation.You could always try to find a wood plinth for your Technics - get the best of both worlds.
Now that brings back memories! In the 1980s, I had a part-time job at a hifi dealer near the university I was attending, and I set up a number of LP12s exactly like the one in your photo. And the price seemed almost reasonable too, like 900 USD, including the Linn-branded Audio Technica cartridge. I always liked the grooved African teak bases - Linn used good kiln-dried hardwood.I always thought I would go for a Linn if I bought a turntable, as my local HiFi store has been a long-running Linn dealer since 1985. It’s just that Linn’s turntables seem to be somewhat complicated to set up with the suspension for the chassis, and I don’t like the idea of having to rely on a dealer. It also seems to be an endless cycle of upgrades, and all these different parts are overwhelming for me as a vinyl beginner. It all looked so much simpler going for a direct-driven Technics, and I’m satisfied with that choice.
The Linn turntables are very beautiful machines, and I wouldn’t mind if my Technics looked like them as fine-looking furniture in my living room. Well, maybe someday…
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One of the things I did do to the Technics was placing Mag Lev feet under the stock feet. Informal testing of tapping on my rack resulted in less noise picked up by a stationary stylus on a record. Not real scientific testing, but the added space under the table allows me to store some turntable tools under the table that would not fit previously.Serves you right for tracking at 1g...
Solid plinth decks tend NOT to have much isolation in my experience, whether it be a Technics or a Rega (with everything else in between). Just be sensible here I think. My Rega 3-2000/RB300 still seems more vibration-sensitive with lid down (using iems as well, so not speakers). easy enoug for me to take the lid opff and carefully re-attach it after use.
I'm not sure what a real scientific test would look like, but I find the tapping test to be a good enough real-world test, since you can immediately hear whether the vibrations are being picked up and heard in the speakers.One of the things I did do to the Technics was placing Mag Lev feet under the stock feet. Informal testing of tapping on my rack resulted in less noise picked up by a stationary stylus on a record. Not real scientific testing, but the added space under the table allows me to store some turntable tools under the table that would not fit previously.
I would need to establish a "control" result before adding the Mag Lev feet then compare measurements against the "control". Things like - drop a weight on the rack and measure the amplitude and frequency of the impulse through the cartridge before and after putting the Mag Lev feet in service. You would have to exactly duplicate the height and location of the dropped weight to have decent accuracy. Probably best to do multiple drops with and without Mag Lev feet and average the results of each to get better accuracy.
I wonder how something like this would work for the low mass project deck, which I'm loath to pass on as |I've kind-of bonded with it (the OM10 pickup currently in it may well do 12" 45s better than the Carbon Pro. Tapping the unit the thing sat on did bring vibrations up into the playing stylus, far worse than the Rega as one would expect (the Rega weighs substantially more) and I got mixed subjective vibes from using some Audioquest sorbothane feet I have from years ago.One of the things I did do to the Technics was placing Mag Lev feet under the stock feet. Informal testing of tapping on my rack resulted in less noise picked up by a stationary stylus on a record. Not real scientific testing, but the added space under the table allows me to store some turntable tools under the table that would not fit previously.
This is what I used and where I purchased.
www.dacapoaudio.com
Mad money I'm afraid for a deck worth less than a hundred quid... Sorry
The SL1500 ancestor deck actually worked by directly coupling to the (heavy) cabinet it was on, by using upturned cones fitting in the screw-heads that hold the feet in place, removing the lid, which I always used to do with Regas and so on I demonstrated and adding a cork mat to the rubber original to get VTA right with the later Technics headshell (also the famous ADC shell) I was using. Subjectively, the bass cleaned up, the midrange opened out beautifully and top was sweet with clean tracking.If you only aim to reduce the vibrating sound, you go with those Mag Lev feet that @Bob from Florida is using, which I think are quite expensive. But if you want to eliminate the vibrating sound to nothing, you should look at the inexpensive Sylomer feet that @Thomas_A is linking to.
These Sylomer feet has been used here in Sweden for over 30 years, and have been tested extensively at another objective-based forum called Faktiskt, which has been around many years before ASR came to life. Just wanted to mention that, so that no one thinks it’s just me who came to this conclusion. I think Thomas_A has done some deeper tests as well.
The only downside of the soft Sylomer feet is that, in combination with a Technics turntable, you can't put them directly under the existing feet, as those are "jointed," leading to bad balance for the turntable. So, you will need something like a board to place between the original feet and the soft Sylomer feet. My solution was to use a cheap IKEA butcher cutting board, which I showed earlier in this thread. You can’t see the soft feet under the board, making the board look like it’s floating above the surface underneath.
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I had some “Mad money” at the time from selling prior table. Compared to other Mag Lev solutions, the set of four was cheaper than one foot! Plus, whatever I tried had to be black to match the stock feet. WAF at work in shared living room where audio equipment lives.Mad money I'm afraid for a deck worth less than a hundred quid... Sorry
The SL1500 ancestor deck actually worked by directly coupling to the (heavy) cabinet it was on, by using upturned cones fitting in the screw-heads that hold the feet in place, removing the lid, which I always used to do with Regas and so on I demonstrated and adding a cork mat to the rubber original to get VTA right with the later Technics headshell (also the famous ADC shell) I was using. Subjectively, the bass cleaned up, the midrange opened out beautifully and top was sweet with clean tracking.
I like the Ikea chopping board idea, looks great
The Mentor and also the much lighter Notts Spacedeck with RB300, were all but immune to what they were placed on. No idea why, but the 'sonics' didn't appear to change with siting. the LP12 of the era however, really did, although current less internally-resonant samples are rather better, especially 'Trampolin' equipped models which, in addition to the sprung suspension, have a solid base-board fitted with squidgy feet which kind-of remind me of the 'operation' of the Axis 'gland' suspension of old.That was a lucky suggestion by another member here, as the size of that cutting board was a perfect fit for the Technics 1200GR2, and probably for all modern Technics turntables out there.
When it comes to coupling a turntable to the surface underneath, I think that can be a bad idea, as you never know what resonances that cabinet will “amplify”, and especially with a very delicate thing like a turntable. The only sensible thing to do is to decouple it completely from the surface it stands on.
I think that the soft Sylomer feet I recommended will push down the possible resonances to around 10 to 15 Hz, which is below what we can hear and what most music contains.
Not to me, if I had to choose between one record and a thousand audio files, I would have a 1000 audio files. I am not going to be happy with listening to one record.
