Dual 1229 upgrades???


Thought I would throw this out to anyone who has upgraded a Dual 1229. My table is original (serviced twice) and has a Shure Type Vmr mounted. Has anyone swapped out a motor or rewired the arm? Are there any tweeks I can perform?
Some LP's sound good to excellent and some have poor frequency response (bass in particular). Swapping in a pair of Audioquest King Cobra interconnects opened up the sound a bit.
Do you think any upgrades are possible for this old war horse? I'm debating on a new table but hate to loose the automatic feature. When was the last time you got off the sofa to turn off your TV?
Regards, Bill
wec56

Showing 2 responses by jb0194

Buy a hardwood base from Bill at fixmydualdotcom ($95), and try swapping out the springs for Edmund Scientific 3/4 inch "unhappy balls" ($19.80 for set of 4), which perfectly fit the wells for the springs in both the tt plinth and the hardwood base. Bill's hardwood base has four small legs that should rest on some type of isolation "feet". Edmund Scientific sells Sorbothane sheets and a single sheet ($19.95) can be cut into many small (even stackable) squares that work fine as feet. Just use a cardboard beer glass coaster under Sorbothane, as it sort of "bleeds/stains" a wee bit. The nice thing about the Sorbothane sheet "feet" is that you can vary the # of squares under each base leg to achieve a level platter surface. I've done this with my Dual 721 with good result.
I'm not sure Bill agrees with the Norbornene balls in place of the stock springs, but I find greater immunity to footfalls and other extrinsic vibrations.
The direct drives with the EDS1000 motor don't seem stressed by a 3+ pound TTWeights center weight, which really helps tighten the bass. Don't know about the idlers, but a much lighter true clamp may work.