Life After Technics SL1200 Mk5

My old pair of Technics SL1210 mk2 (heavily upgraded) is still here since 1995. Still perfectly working.

Technics SP-10 mkII is what you need, this is what I bought for my High-End setup when I was bored with upgraded SL1210 mkII.

My next one was Luxman PD-444 and this is the best turntable in the world in my opinion :)

Denon DP-80 is another option.

I have them all (in multiple samples).

Just stay with DIRECT DRIVE!

The best upgrade you can do for your old Technics after full rewire is a top quality perfecty matched MM cartridge and a phono stage. Your AT is OK, did you ever change tonearm internal wires? This is a weak point of all old Technics, you have to rewire it. Also there are much better cartridges than AT MLX series. 

Hi Chakster,

Just to be clear, can you please describe what you mean by full rewire? Is it more than just the tonearm rewire?

I mean internal tonearm wires (4 of them) and external shielded phono cable.
Can can offer you his own, but you can buy better cables (not expensive) from Cardas or Discovery. If you like silver there are silver cables available too (from Audio Note or VdH for example).

Signal Cable Silver Resolution (Shielded) PHONO cable with separate ground wire is here. Any length you want, great price! KLE RCA are the best.

Unfortunately Zu Audio Mission Phono RCA for promotional (auction) price from the manufacturer on ebay are sold. It was the best copper cable for under $100.

If you want to compare digital and analog then you need to compare true analog (not a reissues) and in this comparison you will not be able to find a digital equivalent, because the master was analog. The best analog recordings are from the 70's and 80's in my opinion. Some 50's and 60's also good, but it'as different style of music and different production. In my opinion analog was on its peak in the early 80's. 

If you're listening to new music produced/mastered digitally then you don't need vinyl at all. 

If you're listening to original records produced? mastered and pressed in analog era then you don't need digital at all.

Digitally remastered reissues are NOT analog anymore once it was converted to digital and pressed back on vinyl it's something else, but not an analog records anymore.  

Honestly, I have no idea what mijostyn is talking about when it comes to vibration. But i want to remind you that Technics SL1200 mk2 - mk7 turntables are often used on the dancefloor where at least 200-500 (sometimes even 10 000) people are dancing in front of the deejay booth and it wasn’t a problem to reproduce vinyl using those turntables, even when the nearest sound system is 100 000 Watts.

It’s hard to understand that an audiophile alone can cause a problem sitting in his listening chair at home unless there is an earthquake in his town.

P.S. You can add isonoe feet to your Technics if you like.

Everyone can check cartridge suspension visually, if a cartridge is not a low rider (which is a bad sign) then its compliance can be measured with Hi-Fi News Test LP on your particular tonearm. I’ve seen a few samples out of 60 samples with softened suspension, but not with stiffer suspension.

Audio-Technica MM cartridges are fine for Technics tonearm.
I have never ever seen an AT moving magnet cartridge with deteriorated suspension, even 30 y.o. samples are all great and I’ve tried so many of them.

Now please look at the brand new TopWing super expensive cartridge, this is a low rides and suspension is probably dead or it's normal? Hard to tell. Here is the review. The cost of this brand new High-End cartridge is $16500 and it looks like the suspension already collapsed. 

@atmasphere I know you’re not a collector of the best vintage cartridges and never was, but I’m constantly buying rare vintage cartridges hunting for them everyday, I’m telling the truth here, I have never seen a cartridge with collapsed suspension in my collection and all my cartridges (made 30 years ago) are still like new. You’re probably buying junk or you have no luck at all in what you’re buying. Not everyone looking for junk. Age of unused cartridge is not a problem at all (if it’s not Technics cartridge).

I will repeat it again: new MC cartridges are much more problematic than 99% of good old MM/MI. When you have collapsed suspension on $3000-5000 NEW MC cartridge in the first year of using it - this is serious problem.

If you’re so unlucky with vintage MM/MI do yourself a favor - buy spare stylus, don’t try to tell us they are all must be bad simply because they are made in the 80s!

P.S.

My latest discovery: LEVEL II Ruby EXP from the 80’s with original ruby cantilever. Believe it or not, but suspension is perfect. Do I believe in fairy tales you and many others posting here about collapsed suspensions on all vintage cartridges even if they are NOS? I don’t believe, because my own experience is today experience and competently different than yours. All NOS cartridges from different brands were just as good as new without any single problem with rubber damper. No difference in multiply samples of the same model too. Maybe we’re buying different cartridges and maybe I never tried what you tried. But my experience with brands like Audio-Technica, Grace, Pioneer, Stanton, Pickering is ONLY positive! Those carts I bought in so many samples over the years, so I can tell for sure they are just fine! I believe the designers choose the right material for dampers. 

Regarding vintage LOMC:
For some reason my experience is also positive, remember sealed suspension on FR-7f series ? It will last forever, just another great example that old is gold. Fantastic cartridge! 

@arcticdeth once you will try better cartridges even at the same price as your dj nightclub II or arkiv, you will be blown away by the sound difference! There is a huge compromise in sound quality in favor to usability in cartridges you’re using (I owned all of them from Ortofon back in the days), and high tracking force is not good for your records. If you like Ortofon try to find M20FL Super with FineLine stylus at $150, you will never return to the nightclub or arkiv once you will hear what is a FineLine "nude" stylus profile.