Technics SL-1200 Armboard, Sorane TA-1 9″ Tonearm, Black

Description

Our Ammonite Audio modular Technics SL-1200 armboards are now very well established and popular with Technics owners who wish to upgrade the performance of these turntables by installing different tonearms.  By popular request, we now offer Sorane tonearms and compatible SL-1200 armboards to allow users to easily install Sorane TA-1 and SA-1.2 tonearms, using the supplied Sorane mounting collar.  These tonearms can also be fitted using the Sorane sliding mounting base, and our SME SL-1200 silver and black armboards.

What are the benefits of our new armboards?

• They look nice, designed to mimic the outer ring of the original Technics arm mount, even replicating its tiny and delightful outer edge ‘step’
• All fixings are from underneath, so no ugly bolts etc
• Being CNC machined, the assembly is dimensionally correct and stable – no odd angles here
• The assembly of outer ring and centre plate is strong and stiff, which does matter when you consider the tiny stylus movements required to play a record.  That means you will get the very best performance from your chosen tonearm and therefore the best sound reproduction
• Centre plates are set at 13.5mm below the SL-1200’s top plate to ensure that the tonearm can be set low enough against the platter to achieve correct VTA with any cartridge, which is otherwise often a challenge because the Technics platter is set so low
• Straightforward to fit, for anyone capable of wielding a screwdriver and following basic instructions
• We can even supply them in a wide range of funky colours, on a special order basis

What’s Included?

Each pack includes the following:

• One Outer Ring
• Outer Ring Fixing bolts for either Mk2/Mk5, G/GAE or GR models
• One Centre Plate , with 4 x fixing bolts (normally pre-fitted by us)
• For GR/GR2 and SL-1300G, 3 x machined alloy spacer inserts
• Instruction sheet

FAQ

1. Which Technics turntables can Ammonite Audio SL-1200 armboards be used with?    Our SL-1200 armboards are compatible with Technics SL-1200 variants, from Mk2 onwards, including the current Technics SL-1200GR, SL-1200G, SL-1200GAE, and SL-1300G models.  Our boards are not  compatible with the original SL-1200, SL-1400, SL-1600, SL-1700 and not the new SL-1500C nor SL-1200 Mk7.
2.   Can our armboard be used to mount an original Technics SL-1200 tonearm?  No.  Our board is designed to look like the original arm mount surround, but its structure is completely different and an original Technics tonearm will not fit.  People buy our armboards because they wish to fit better tonearms to the SL-1200.

Fitting

The most difficult part of fitting is the disassembly of the turntable, which involves removing the base to get access to the original arm mountings.  In the case of old SL-1200 Mk2/Mk5 etc, you can find a good guide to dismantling on Vinyl Engine.  Base removal is simpler with the newer SL-1200 G/GAE and GR models compared to the Mk2/Mk5, but even for those it’s straightforward.  Please note that the turntable’s base securing screws, and particularly the four located under the deck’s feet, may be very tight and difficult to remove – we strongly advise that you use a Japanese specification JIS P2 screwdriver, since this will fit the screw heads correctly and securely, so even though you might have to use quite a bit of force to release the screws, you won’t risk damaging the screw heads.

For anyone unwilling to take the bottom off their deck, we offer a fitting service and Timestep in Dartmouth do too.  Note that to fit any replacement arm to the older Mk2/Mk5 it is usually necessary to cut away part of the bottom rubber layer to make room for the new arm.  That is not necessary or the G, GAE and GR models.

The SL-1200GR requires three spacer inserts to be fitted between the armboard outer ring and the chassis top plate.  These inserts are included with the GR kit, and that’s why the price is a little higher than for the other models.

Technics Warranty Implications

If you have a new Technics turntable which is still under its original Technics manufacturer warranty, you must understand that fitting our armboards, or any other suppliers’ modifications for that matter, will mean your manufacturer warranty is void.  We obviously think that fitting a better tonearm to these decks is worthwhile, as do our customers, but if you are at all unsure about voiding the Technics warranty, you should wait until the turntable is out of warranty before fitting any internal modification.