For the last 15-or-so years I have been the proud owner of a Nordic Concept Artist (here sporting a Breuer 8c and Dynavector XV-1s).
This beautiful and great sounding deck (sadly no longer in production) was the brainchild of Robert Grubstad, proprietor of AudioConcept, one of the leading high-end dealers in the Nordic region. He designed and built it from the ground up and it incorporated some innovative ideas (for instance the mass-matched mechanical grounding) as well as good old-fashioned top-notch audio engineering. However over time the evolution of my digital source led to me playing less and less vinyl. As more and more of my listening went over to streaming I started to realise how few of my own discs (mostly contemporary rock/indie starting from the late 1970s) were unavailable in streamed form. Ignoring my singles it is currently less than about 50. And when I upgraded to a Vivaldi stack I started finding that in head-to-head comparisons I actually though the digital version sounded better . The Artist was good, but comparing it to current SoTA digital, I was for the first time starting to clearly hear its limitations.
The optimisation of my digital system eventually led to my ditching my preamp and driving my power amp directly from the DAC and this put my vinyl listening on hold for a few years. As the beautiful Artist was just sitting gathering dust I decided it was time to let it go so it could make someone else happy. However during a visit to a local dealer I started talking to my friend G who has worked there forever and at other dealers before that. He is a true veteran of the high end and someone whose opinion I respect enormously. He showed me a picture of his own current system and I saw a turntable that I thought I recognised. "What's that?" I asked. "A Technics SL-1200G" he said, "it's really good!" He didn't need to say more, I changed than plan and the sale became a trade-in. Very soon a new SL-1200G was spinning chez Struts, jury rigged with a Parks Audio Waxwing into the Vivaldi Upsampler while I figured out which direction to take on the preamp question.
I started reading up on the SL-1200G and appreciating that this was indeed no ordinary high-end turntable. Above all the massive R&D resources of Technics (now owned by Panasonic) and the advanced tooling they were able to invest in for production contrasted what looked like the classic DJ deck from the vast majority of boutique audiophile designs. How many of those for instance could boast optical speed control technology that had originally been developed for Blu-ray players, or a specialized high precision machine specifically to test and calibrate platter balance? But on a subsequent visit to my dealer G told me a story that really got my ears twitching. He told me how he had compared his SL-1200G with a friend’s TechDAS 3. As you know, this is a serious audiophile deck costing in the region of $40k. Well, he said when they measured them up his Technics out-performed the TechDAS on every parameter: speed accuracy, short-term speed stability, long-term speed stability etc. He said his friend went away with his tail between his legs and came back a week later having used various test discs to “dial it in”. At this point he said it was now pretty much on a par with the Technics. This fascinated me, and what had started as an envisaged retirement from vinyl ended with me tumbling down a new rabbit hole.
Could the humble SL-1200G be used as the platform for an “assault on the summit”? A true SoTA deck that can go toe-to-toe with the best available? This idea was fuelled by the joy of having one in-house and being able to play my records again which had led to a major vinyl renaissance!
I started researching and soon realised that as far as the original "deejay" SL-1200s go this was a well trodden path. I found a wealth of information (some examples) on power-supply upgrades, bearing upgrades, sub-chassis tweaks and replacement footers, as well as platter-mat, -weight and arm-board and arm upgrades. About the only thing people never seemed to touch on the older SL-1200s was the motor - and that is significantly upgraded on the SL-1200G! As hard as I looked I could find very little information on people trying similar things with contemporary "audiophile" SL-1200Gs. So I thought “why not give it a try?”
So that is my new project. To identify tweaks and upgrades that will take my SL-1200G as close to the state of the art as I can.
And just to address one elephant in the room, yes, I know the SL-1000R is still available and out-performs the SL-1200G. It has an out-board power supply, a heavier platter and stronger motor, and maybe not insignificantly, can accommodate 10” arms. However, the only direct comparisons (such as this one) I have been able to find are of the decks in their stock configuration, including tonearms, raising the question how much the quality difference here (magnesium vs aluminium arm tubes etc.) may have been a deciding factor. And in that comparison even then a simple tonearm cable upgrade took the SL1200G to within striking distance of the SL-1000R. An outboard power supply and a better arm can be retrofitted, we’ll see how much of a limitation the 9” constraint turns out to be. Everything I have read convinced me that the SL-1200G is a good enough motor unit that my thesis is that I can actually evolve it to outperform the SL-1000R and at lower cost.
I have already spoken to Hugo at Ammonite, Dave at TimeStep and Arthur at TheFunkFirm so huge shout-outs to them for sharing their wisdom and experience. I also have a friend who is ex-Technics and who is introducing me to some former colleagues from Technics Product Management and R&D in Osaka. So I have started collecting various accessories and these are now winding their way towards the frozen north.
If anyone here is aware of people who have trodden this path before please let me know, I am really anxious to learn from the experience of others. Likewise if you have any ideas or suggestions of upgrades to try, or indeed if you think I'm mad, please drop me a line! @mtemur & @Johan K I see you have posted on relevant topics here previously and welcome your input.
Let’s see where we end up.
This beautiful and great sounding deck (sadly no longer in production) was the brainchild of Robert Grubstad, proprietor of AudioConcept, one of the leading high-end dealers in the Nordic region. He designed and built it from the ground up and it incorporated some innovative ideas (for instance the mass-matched mechanical grounding) as well as good old-fashioned top-notch audio engineering. However over time the evolution of my digital source led to me playing less and less vinyl. As more and more of my listening went over to streaming I started to realise how few of my own discs (mostly contemporary rock/indie starting from the late 1970s) were unavailable in streamed form. Ignoring my singles it is currently less than about 50. And when I upgraded to a Vivaldi stack I started finding that in head-to-head comparisons I actually though the digital version sounded better . The Artist was good, but comparing it to current SoTA digital, I was for the first time starting to clearly hear its limitations.
The optimisation of my digital system eventually led to my ditching my preamp and driving my power amp directly from the DAC and this put my vinyl listening on hold for a few years. As the beautiful Artist was just sitting gathering dust I decided it was time to let it go so it could make someone else happy. However during a visit to a local dealer I started talking to my friend G who has worked there forever and at other dealers before that. He is a true veteran of the high end and someone whose opinion I respect enormously. He showed me a picture of his own current system and I saw a turntable that I thought I recognised. "What's that?" I asked. "A Technics SL-1200G" he said, "it's really good!" He didn't need to say more, I changed than plan and the sale became a trade-in. Very soon a new SL-1200G was spinning chez Struts, jury rigged with a Parks Audio Waxwing into the Vivaldi Upsampler while I figured out which direction to take on the preamp question.
I started reading up on the SL-1200G and appreciating that this was indeed no ordinary high-end turntable. Above all the massive R&D resources of Technics (now owned by Panasonic) and the advanced tooling they were able to invest in for production contrasted what looked like the classic DJ deck from the vast majority of boutique audiophile designs. How many of those for instance could boast optical speed control technology that had originally been developed for Blu-ray players, or a specialized high precision machine specifically to test and calibrate platter balance? But on a subsequent visit to my dealer G told me a story that really got my ears twitching. He told me how he had compared his SL-1200G with a friend’s TechDAS 3. As you know, this is a serious audiophile deck costing in the region of $40k. Well, he said when they measured them up his Technics out-performed the TechDAS on every parameter: speed accuracy, short-term speed stability, long-term speed stability etc. He said his friend went away with his tail between his legs and came back a week later having used various test discs to “dial it in”. At this point he said it was now pretty much on a par with the Technics. This fascinated me, and what had started as an envisaged retirement from vinyl ended with me tumbling down a new rabbit hole.
Could the humble SL-1200G be used as the platform for an “assault on the summit”? A true SoTA deck that can go toe-to-toe with the best available? This idea was fuelled by the joy of having one in-house and being able to play my records again which had led to a major vinyl renaissance!
I started researching and soon realised that as far as the original "deejay" SL-1200s go this was a well trodden path. I found a wealth of information (some examples) on power-supply upgrades, bearing upgrades, sub-chassis tweaks and replacement footers, as well as platter-mat, -weight and arm-board and arm upgrades. About the only thing people never seemed to touch on the older SL-1200s was the motor - and that is significantly upgraded on the SL-1200G! As hard as I looked I could find very little information on people trying similar things with contemporary "audiophile" SL-1200Gs. So I thought “why not give it a try?”
So that is my new project. To identify tweaks and upgrades that will take my SL-1200G as close to the state of the art as I can.
And just to address one elephant in the room, yes, I know the SL-1000R is still available and out-performs the SL-1200G. It has an out-board power supply, a heavier platter and stronger motor, and maybe not insignificantly, can accommodate 10” arms. However, the only direct comparisons (such as this one) I have been able to find are of the decks in their stock configuration, including tonearms, raising the question how much the quality difference here (magnesium vs aluminium arm tubes etc.) may have been a deciding factor. And in that comparison even then a simple tonearm cable upgrade took the SL1200G to within striking distance of the SL-1000R. An outboard power supply and a better arm can be retrofitted, we’ll see how much of a limitation the 9” constraint turns out to be. Everything I have read convinced me that the SL-1200G is a good enough motor unit that my thesis is that I can actually evolve it to outperform the SL-1000R and at lower cost.
I have already spoken to Hugo at Ammonite, Dave at TimeStep and Arthur at TheFunkFirm so huge shout-outs to them for sharing their wisdom and experience. I also have a friend who is ex-Technics and who is introducing me to some former colleagues from Technics Product Management and R&D in Osaka. So I have started collecting various accessories and these are now winding their way towards the frozen north.
If anyone here is aware of people who have trodden this path before please let me know, I am really anxious to learn from the experience of others. Likewise if you have any ideas or suggestions of upgrades to try, or indeed if you think I'm mad, please drop me a line! @mtemur & @Johan K I see you have posted on relevant topics here previously and welcome your input.
Let’s see where we end up.
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