Tonearm for Technics SP-15


I have a Technics SP-15 turntable with a Grace 707 arm and a Grace F9E cartridge with a Soundsmith new stylus.  This combination sounds great but is limiting.  The 707  tonearm has a fixed headshell and it does not allow me to easily swap other MM  high compliance catridges or match compliance requirments MC cartridges.  Suggestions welcome from those more expert than I.  

arneama22

Hi @lewm 

For that mod I'd recommend machining a new base pillar cap to be able to fit a cable retainer.  You'd either need to solder the IC at the bottom of the base pillar, or run thin-guage wire the whole way through from the connection PCB in the base.  The latter may not be ideal for a good many MM carts as the cable capacitance of such a set up would be rather high.  

The mod I'm working on is a pillar cap so I can terminate mini-xlr, as I run balanced.  That's more of a personal project as 1) I don't think many people would be interested in it and 2) it's something intersting that gives me an excuse to put the lathe and mill in the garage to use. 

 

OTHER ARMS with VTA on the FLY that fit on the SP15?

Triplanar would be an obvious choice and would suit the SP-15 nicely. They originated the adjustable-on-the-fly VTA tower design used by VPI, Durand and others.

Triplanar

 

Dear @jpjones3318  : Any knowledge analog audiophile knows the superiority of that Technics state of the art tonearm design against a just normal Triplanar one that ( not only in this regards. ) that can't compare in any way against the Technics unique VTA on the fly mechanism. By comparison the Triplanar VTA adjustement is of the " stone era " vs  the superlative MK2.

 

R.

Everyone keeps talking about the unique VTA on the fly adjustment of the Technics arm so I had to look that up. Aside from 20MM of travel (Technics) opposed to 6MM of travel (that can be reset by simply loosening the collet lock on the pillar and sliding the tonearm up or down) of the Victor UA-7045 and UA-7082 is there really any difference? Looks like they both use a calibrated concentric knurled ring that is simply rotated to raise or lower the tonearm. Yes, I understand the other aspects of the arms are different.

So what makes the Technics unique?

 

BillWojo