I've measured my 540ML. It is at spec , 4 mV At output of phono amp (gain 38 dB 79x) Measured 330 and 320, ~4.1 mV Balance <0.5 dB cross talk/separation 21.3 +/- 0.2 dB
The black makes the brass platter really pop out… Nice. Time for a side by side needle drop comparison?
I did the same as you in regards to the magnesium headshell. I found I preferred the factory headshell, which was even better with A/T 6018 headshell wires.
Nice! By the way, I found a little difference between the GR and G factory headshells. In the left, it's the GR headshell with my Nagaoka MP-500 mounted on it. In the right, the G's one. There's something like two dots inside a box in the left side of the screw on the G and not on the GR. Not sure if this means any real difference or just something they are doing now (my GR is older from when they were still made in Japan).
Regarding sound differences, hard to say as I'm in my second LP only and can't put the GR back to A/B, but I sense more precision (clarity?) with the G. It seems easier to discern the bass guitar from the kick drum for example, the bass seems more precisely located in the soundstage. I also think that maybe the snare drum sound "faster" and more precise (less decay). I'm a drummer so I tend to pay attention to these things. Hard to say, really, but that's what it seems so far.
Yes, I just moved the headshell with the cartridge that I've been using on the GR to the G. Later on, I tried a record with a blurry mix and it sounded as blurry as I always heard it, no difference. I suppose that the differences will be more audible on excellent recordings.
Interesting. My Malaysian GR headshell looks like yours. Wonder if that’s a balancing measure like the holes they sometimes drill out of the platter?
Does it make any sense to say that with the G I can hear more differences in different MC cartridge loading settings than I heard with the GR? Or am I experiencing an illusion? (I'm sober, but I believe in illusion, bias, placebo effect etc.)
W/O having both decks with identical carts on them, it would be safe to say, the G should be the better sounding deck.
Only when the tonearm wiring is lower capacitance on the 1200G compared to the GR. Because this leaves the loading options as more significant to the total amount of capacitance. But a placebo effect is definitely just as likely. Or maybe you’re paying more attention to it now that you have this new table?
Also look at the wires. Do they look longer in the GR headshell vs the G? When I mounted my Cadenza Bronze in a brand new G headshell I found that the wires are too short and do not allow for a Baerwald alignment, only the Stevenson. In the Baerward the cartridge needs to be further forward. This is not the case with the headshell that came with my G, as I have aligned many cartridges with Baerward in this headshell, only with the new headshell that I purchased from Panasonic. I do not know for a fact if indeed the GR headshell has longer wires but they look longer in the photo that you posted.
When I first bought my first (and only) MC cartridge, I experimented with loading and couldn't notice much difference. I was paying a lot of attention. Yesterday I thought that a record (Frank Black) was a bit too bright on cymbals and tried reducing loading from 500 to 50 and it clearly tamed the highs. At least to my ears...
Has anyone disassembled a 1210GAE"? ..Mine has a visually annoying flaw I'd like to fix. The seam b/w the rubber base and aluminum top plate is uneven. My hope is that by turning it over (carefully of course) I could simply loosen a few screws, smooth the seam w/ my finger, then re-tighten. ..Can anyone confirm that this would work? ..I know mine isn't the only one with this issue. Indeed, I see this imperfection on most of the pics I see of these units. ..And it seems to be mostly with the 1210GAE's. Haven't seen it as much w/ the G's.
It seemed that the wires were the same length but I didn't compare them. Now that the cartridge is mounted on the G headshell I would have to dismount it again to measure, not sure I want to do that now.
I've had mine apart. If you ca hold a screwdriver steady you should be fine. I would loosen all the screws, then start from scratch. Good Luck!
It's alright, I did not want you to do that. I was was referring to my recent experience with a replacement headshell for my G. If someone uses the Technics alignment, which is essentially a Stevenson, it does not matter. I always thought that there was something wrong with the headshell that I received from Panasonic but looking at your picture I can see that yours also is the same as mine with the wires only allowing the cartridge to get to the middle of the headshell but not much forward.
That's fine. Now that I'm thinking about it, as I have multiple sets of wires, I'm not even sure I was using the original wires in the GR headshell of that picture.