Technics SL-1200MKII and AT-440MLa, very good


This may have been posted before but I just wanted to let others know my experiance and setup that has worked out great. Now after 50 hours of playing time the soundstage has really started to open up and I'm starting to hear some very good depth to sound. AT really have done a good job with the AT440MLa cartridge and I thought I would never hear a cart in this price range sound this good, not only match well with my Technics SL-1200MKII but also with my Electrocompaniet ECP-1 phono preamp that I upgraded a few years back and is just finally breaking in also. The recordings I have done to CD on my computer have come out really nice and sound better than the store bought ones, more real. This is my secondary system in the room but I would like to try the Technics and AT440MLa on my main system or even better with the Teres 255 I have with the ET2 arm, I have a ceond tonearm for the ET2 and I may just do this. I used to own a Technics 1600MKII back in the ealy 80's and right up to 95 then I bought the Linn LP12 then Teres255, but I never thought the Technics SL-1200 could sound so good but I do remember on some material back when I had the 1600MKII that the sound was really nice. I going to do a side by side comparision with the 1200MKII and Teres 255 both with the AT440MLa cart just to see how close they come or don't to each other. This could be very interesting.

It was really a great buy and I will be getting more of the AT440MLa's
coouugar
Perfectionist - No matter what, you really need a better cartridge before you can make any other equipment decisions. As others have said, the M97 is "ok" for $60, which just means it doesn't outright suck. That's about it - all the music is there but the excitement isn't - hard to figure why that would be, but we seem to have some agreement on that. I tried one myself and it's no match for other MM's that can be had in the $180 range like better AudioTechnica or Ortofons.
I've also got a thread running here...
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1173920079&openmine&zzPerfectionist&4&5#Perfectionist

Trying to narrow my choices.
To Perfectionist: I just got a Technics SL1210 M5G (Grandmaster), and also got a Shure M97xE because of all the buzz. I also had an Ortofon OMP 10 lying around, so got a second headshell and 1/2" cart adapter. I much prefer the Ortofon. It has about as much slam, but is smoother through the midrange, has more inner detail, and just "feels" better when I listen with it. The Shure by comparison gets congested and hollow-sounding in the midrange when things get busy (i.e., crescendos bringing in lots of instruments/voices).

Also, this humble rig has had no trouble smoking the CD/SACD players I have in the house. It's certainly as dynamic, bass is fuller, and the timbres are much better fleshed out. I have an Amber 17 preamp, and maybe it's spoiling me. If you're plugging into a phono section in a receiver, that may be why you're underwhelmed.

Also, experiment with the Shure--try it with the damper brush up and down, and with different tracking forces. I also tried it with both the extra headshell weight and the extra tonearm counterweight to increase tonearm mass. That seemed to open up some detail, but I still prefer the Ortofon w/o the extra weight.
Well, my thread referenced above was deleted for some reason. Asked Agon staff why, no reply. So I'm going to post here since this seems to be an open forum for the SL-12x0. I've installed an AT440MLa and it is much better, IMO. It is more lively and upbeat with better PRaT. The highs are also much more extended. The build quality and overall design of the Shure is very nice at it's pricepoint, the AT is cheap looking in comparison, IMO. But it's the sound that matters. One thing that really irritates me about the AT is they didn't even scribe a line in the top of it to line up the needle for easier queing. Blackmongoose, I did experiment with the brush, tracking force, and VTA on the Shure, nothing seemed to help.

I've been playing around with the VTA on the AT, and I discovered a problem with my brand new TT. I could barely raise the VTA above 4mm, even with two hands and four fingers. WTF? Agon member Cytocycle suggested that perhaps the tonearm cables were too tight. Called Kevin at KAB and got his blessing to flip table, remove base and cable clamp for tonearm cables. Sure enough, the cable's were clamped in the wrong position, not enough slack, causing the VTA adjustment to bind. I repositioned clamp and can now freely move VTA from 1-6mm.

Anyway, I like the AT much better than the Shure (for sale) for shure (hehe), but it still isn't on par with digital in this system. And it's not even in the same league with the Naim setup in my main rig. I prolly really need to do a phono pre. I may try to pick up a used Gram amp 2 here on Agon. I just don't want to sink too much money into this rig.
Perfectionist sez: " I prolly really need to do a phono pre. I may try to pick up a used Gram amp 2 here on Agon. I just don't want to sink too much money into this rig."
My SL1210 is up against stiffer competition from the CD player. I have a recent Sony ES SACD/CD carousel which totally smoked the 1998 CEC single-play CD player that it replaced. Yet the TT rig bests the new Sony CD player in musicality, rhythm, bass, fleshing out the timbres, and subjective emotional involvement. So if an older Kenwood changer isn't beating your SL1200, it may be the phono section.

For $249, you could get a Bellari VP 129, which is a tubed MM phono stage. It also has Michael Fremer's enthusiastic recommendation and has a Stereophile Class B rating--right in there with the $1500 phono stages. For $150 the Parasound ZPhono and NAD stages come well recommended, but not as highly as the Bellari.

Has anybody else noticed that 3 carts recommended for the SL 1200, especially for opening up the soundstage--the AT-440 and the Denon 110 or 160--all have nude square stylii?