It had to happen sometime! I have a brand new 1200 MK2 silver with a slight blemish. A fine scratch 1/2" long on the right side top. visible in certain lighting. It has fluid damping, cardas rewire to rca's and external ps socket. I am knocking off $75 for the scratch. see the specials page. SPECIAL DEALS
July 19, 2007
Wood cabinets for 1200 are in stock. Currently have 2 pcs each of walnut, cherry and maple. These can be ordered on the master 1200 page. www.kabusa.com/m1200.htm
June 25, 2007
Here are 3 pix of the new Corian Base. I did this in lower profile look with thin 1/4" material. Though twice the cost of wood, Corian has many choices that can appeal to many different tastes. Please provide your comments. View A, View B, View C
June 01, 2007
New Audio Intelligent cleaning fluids comming to KAB. East Coast stocking supplier. Click Here For Product Page
Thank you for all your comments on the wood base for the '1200. I am following on with some production pieces. Will also produce a couple in Corian Dusk a granite looking material. The Corian will be in 1/4" material and have a lower overall profile. It will however be more expensive than wood. Also looking a Hudson Mystera Designer Wood products as well, This is also a solid surface material like Corian that looks like rare hardwoods. Burled walnut, Cocobolo and Buninga.
1200 owners, I need your input on a new wood plinth. This is a drop in design that gives the 1200 a contemporary wood look. Please have a look at these pictures and let me know your interest. I want to hear about your preferences concerning finish as well. Cherry Wood: View A, View B, View C, Email Comments Here
In stock now. Denon DP300F. Entry level audiophile belt drive with standard arm and fully automatic operation. Check it out here. Denon DP300F
March, 2007
The new cables from American Recorder are here. Based on Mogami cable, these IC's are very flexible and economical as well. Made in USA. Click Here For ART cables page New review forthcomming in Sensible Sound on our modded 1200's. This time from an vinyl archival point of view.
Also you can anticipate a Postive Feedback review as well on an M5G stock model.
I now have a fairly large stock of Pickering D22E and D3001E styli different numbers but actually identical. 0.2x0.7 nude diamonds on the very low mass 0.25mg cantilever. I have been listening to this stylus in a very basic 500 series cartridge and it sounds very good. Tracking is flawless as all these styli were and still represent state of the art suspension design. My hope is to introduce a $100 killer cartridge. Lets see what happens!
Keep those 1200 slogans comming. They are completely anonymous.
February, 2007
KAB is running a little contest to solicit 1200 slogans. I hope everyone will participate. No prizes, but maybe your slogan will make it onto a coffee cup to help influence the world about this great turntable. Click Here to submit your slogan
January, 2007
There are some questions arising on the TD-1200 fluid damping system. These questions suggest I need to explain it a bit further. So for all that need to understand it a bit more, here is a link. It's not long, but it gets to the point. TD1200 Fluid Damping Design
I now have the 5 pin DIN bottom plates for the 1200 rewire.
I will soon add it to the products page for those who wish to buy it separately. Coming also is a bottom plate that has the 5 pin terminal board for those who want to direct solder their own cables as well.
Here are some pictures of the bottom side wiring. www.kabusa.com/trw1200a.htm
November, 2006
Technics 1200 Toneram Rewire Progress Report
I received the wiring terminal bracket prototypes from the machinist and they look very good.
I put this short page together with pictures so you can see how I have planned this project out. www.kabusa.com/trw1200.htm The individual parts will be made available as well for the experimenter as well. I also have a replacement bottom plate that will accomodate a Cardas 5 pin DIN. However, to install that, either the whole complete table or complete arm assembly must be returned to us, or the end user must have good soldering skills. The DIN cover plate is about 4 weeks away. We are on our way to producing a kilobuck tonearm at a fraction of the cost!
November, 2006
ROLLS MO2020 Audio Oscillator
I am happy to add this neat little signal generator. 20-24Khz low distortion sine wave and square wave generator. Nice for testing, troubleshooting etc. Add our PreconLP level convertor and you have a MM/MC test input for checking accuracy of phono preamps. Just $75 wow. www.kabusa.com/mo2020.htm In the last leg of development for the Technics 1200 tonearm rewire. I know this has taken some time, but I beleive it will be quite worth it. Still waiting for Ortofon to reactivate our hifi account. I continue to hold out hope for this. Most say to just move on, but it is hard to let go of a product line that is so well documented.
July 18, 2006
Ortofon shuts off KAB for Hi Fi!
Well first came the company directive that all Ortofon dealers must show list prices in all advertising; that was July 1 2006.
Now, I was informed yesterday, that since I promote the '1200 to audiophiles and do not sell any of the "audiophile approved" tables, I am defined as a non audiophile company and will no longer have my Purchase Orders honored for hi fi products.
I can still sell DJ products, but as most of you know, I do little of that beyond the integrated Concordes we make for the '1200.
As I understand it, Ortofon beleives the brand has been dilluted by discounters such that the posh hi end shops would not sell it.
This new strategy is to separate DJ from Hi Fi in an attempt to isolate the market exposure to strictly hi end shops. This is being enforced in Canada to the extent that there are no internet stores allowed to sell Ortofon Hi Fi! And if a dealer carries DJ products he cannot carry the hi fi products. Pretty strict rules. Maybe this is done by other hi end companies, I do not know, but it seems overly protective to me.
I will continue to sell the remaining stock but do not know where we will go from there. Your comments are wecome.
March 1, 2006
KAB is pleased to add the Rolls and Bellari line of phono preamps to our mix. Also, as I finalize the tonearm rewire mod for the 1200, I have added the connector plate on the accessories page for those of you who may want to begin experimenting now with your own 1200's. www.kabusa.com/accesss.htm
December 20, 2005
New Platter Spindle for Vestax BDT2000-2500 KAB is pleased to have available a newly machined platter spindle for all Vestax BDT2000/2500 manufactured before December 2005. The fit between the platter and the spindle has always had some play in it and this can lead to a less then level playing surface. Our new spindle is custom machined and polished from 303 stainless steel and fits the platter perfectly. Easily replaced. www.kabusa.com/bdtspindle.htm
August 30, 2005
Accepting New Orders For Souvenir EQS MK12 KAB is pleased to have finalized the redesign of the MK12. 2 big changes. A fully redesigned front end using a hybrid discrete/IC topology to produce a very low noise stage. Now with dual gain front panel switch 36db / 56dB. for MM/MC carts. Front panel resistive loading from 25 Ohm to 100K Ohm. The EQ switching is now done via electronic photo MOS relays for a completely noise free transition between curves. Audiophiles contemplating mono reproduction should really consider this product. Only KAB has the useful and neccessary mono mix control.www.kabusa.com/eqsmk12.htm .
May 13, 2005
New Isonoe™ Anti Vibration Feet For Technics 1200 KAB is pleased to have added the Isonoe isolation feet to the product line. These custom machined feet utilize a unique hanging sorbothane spring suspension and ball bearing contact points to both isolate and restrain vibration. Made in UK. www.kabusa.com/isonoe.htm
February 25 2005
New Ortofon Mono Cartridge and Stylus at KAB KAB is pleased to have added a The D25M mono stylus to our product line. This 1.0 mil spherical stylus will fit all OM, Super OM, Super OMP, and Concorde bodies. We also offer complete cartridges with this stylus as well. Remember, that while a larger stylus can improve older mono microgroove recordings, you should have a stereo cartridge. There are still 2 groovewalls, and if you have a preamp that lets you mix those to walls together, you will get better sound. Lock yourself into a mono only cartridge and you have to take whatever comes out, with no hope for improvement. www.kabusa.com/ortofon.htm
January 19 2005
New Ortofon Products at KAB KAB is pleased to have added a few of the higher performance Ortofon MC cartridges to the lineup. As always, our choice is based upon good strong specifications in the area of stylus tip design and effective tip mass. You cannot acheive audiophile grade trackability unless the tip mass is less than 0.4 miligram and prefferably even less than that. When you purchase a "mystery" cartridge that lacks these specs, you can never be sure if you are going forwards or backwards in real performance. I have also added the T20 MKII MC step up transformer.www.kabusa.com/ortofon.htm
Nov 12, 2004
RC-1200 Threaded Disc Clamp For Your SL-1200 The RC-1200 threaded spindle and disc clamp is now available. This screw on clamp gives you complete control over the clamping pressure. Don't forget to try flipping the super mat over to expose the flat side. In many cases this arrangement creates a big change in the sound. Link: www.kabusa.com/rc1200.htm Found a neat link to a technics factory tour video. Click reload if it doesn't startup the first time. Take The Technics SL-1200 Factory Tour
New Creek Products Also new to our lineup are the redesigned Creek OBH8 and 9 phono preamps known now as the OBH18 and OBH15. The 18 is a moving magnet phono preamp, the 15 is a switchable MM/MC and includes the upgrade regulated power supply OBH-3. Find them both on the phono preamp page:www.kabusa.com/phonpre.htm. There are a couple OBH9's left and they are going out at a bargain price, so if your looking for a really good MC phono stage, check that out.
Jun 28, 2004
SX-1200 Strobe Defeat For Your SL-1200 SX-1200 strobe defeat circuit now available. This lets you disable the strobe light at will to eliminate the internal pulse noise created by this high current strobe. Initial listening tests seem to indicate improved micro dynamics and even better pitch stability. Link: www.kabusa.com/sx1200.htm
May 31, 2004
More Upgrades For Your SL-1200 Comming soon, threaded center spindle and screw on disc clamping system. Also, Strobe defeat circuit. This lets you disable the strobe light at will to eliminate internal pulse noise created by this high current strobe.
Monster Cable Interlink 400 MKII cables KAB now stocking this great cable in 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 meter pairs. Here is link
November 1, 2003
Nitty Gritty Factory Price Increase Alas, there has been a small increase on Nitty Gritty Record Cleaning Machines. To offset this increase, KAB is including a Vac Sweep Kit and 16 Oz Purifier II fluid free with every machine order.
Nitty Gritty Cleaners continue to reign as the best value in record cleaning machines. Costing less to own and less to maintain then competing brands. And take note that KAB also discounts Nitty Gritty fluid and accessory prices. So be sure to compare.
October 27, 2003
More Direct Drive Myths Shattered The November issue of Stereophile has a review on the latest Linn LP-12. But the real scoop is the spectrum plot of the 1KHz tone [pg. 117]. There are some interesting artifacts being generated by this belt drive system. As a comparison, a similar plot of a Pioneer PL-L1000 direct drive table is shown. Whatever possessed JA to show this I will probably never know. But there are no artifacts in the PL-L1000 plot. Surprised?
But certainly all the belt drive experts must be asking: "where is the hunting, searching for speed, cogging, drifting, vibration?" And the budding newby's, what must they be thinking: "All the advice I was given not to go near direct drive or I'd be sorry." It certainly is true that direct drives are never on the list of reccomended "starter" turntables. But it seems more and more to me that they should be.
But who am I kidding anyway. Audiophiles have built such a strong defense against graphs and measurements that this is unlikely to make much of a splash.
Now, I would be the first one to tell you that not all direct drive systems are created equal. But when full cycle detection is employed with a rigid plinth foundation, this is the result you will get.
Over the last few weeks I have done extensive measurements on the Technics Sl-1200 internal linear frequency generator and came up with the same data, dead solid rotation with no wavering. There is a big story here. Who besides KAB will tell it? I applaud Stereophile for publishing this interesting data.
October 15, 2003
New KAB Souvenir GTX Archival Audio Interface The New Souvenir GTX is now in production. Get the best mono reproduction by tunning the 5 groove signals for a single composite optimum output. If you're using a mono cartridge, your losing signal! The GTX deserves a home in front of every computer audio workstation and every serious music system. For Stereo applications, there is a Blend control and independent outputs that will allow the creation of sythesized 4 channel surround remixes. Full switching of all signals: Left, Right, Mono, Vertical, Vector, Stereo, Reverse, Stereo Vertical, and Stereo Vector. Product Link
July 29, 2003
New Technics SL-1200 MK5 (Silver), SL-1210 MK5(Black) The New MK5's are here at KAB. Replacing the MK3D and MK2, there are some changes you need to know about. First, the dustcover hinges have been deleted, but are available as a replacement accessory. Also the heavy super mat is not included, only a thin rubber mat and some DJ slip mats. The super mat is also available as an accessory.
When you buy a KAB Broadcast or Audiophile Standard, KAB will install the hinges and provide the super mat at
no additional charge. We believe these are required
items for the proper performance of the turntable. Let your friends know and if they are having trouble adjusting VTA or having speed stability problems that they should not use the thin mat or especially the slip mats. Tell them to get the super mat.
June 27, 2003
International UK orders As Of June 27, 2003, KAB has ceased operations with
Middlesex Digital Recording Services UK.
all orders for UK should be placed directly with KAB.
June 23, 2003
KAB TD-1200 Fluid Damper For Technics SL-1200 MK2,3,5 Newest production now available in 3 finishes: original satin silver finish and blue and black anodize.www.kabusa.com/td1200.htm
More TD1200 news, DJ's are finding that live performance is enhanced in ways that were not expected. Low frequency
feedback, which can be a problem even with the "steel wheel" SL1200, is reduced tremendously with the TD1200 installed. Not to mention almost uncanny control when scratching at vanishingly low tracking forces. See story here:DJDonovans Live Experience
May 31, 2003
Pfanstiehl Needle Pictures All line drawings for Pfanstiehl stylus replacements are now available online at the Pfanstiehl page. www.kabusa.com/PF-INDEX.htm
PS-1200 Outboard Regulated Power Supply For Technics SL-1200 MK2/3 How do you make the world's favorite turntable even quieter and more precise? Remove the internal power transformer
that's how. And while your at it, provide a clean regulated DC voltage so there are no more AC fields radiating from within. Do this and the resolving ability of the turntable will deepen even more. That is what the PS-1200 does. Featuring a very quiet low radiation toroid power transformer, The PS-1200 takes 50 VDC into a nice big 4700uF reservoir capacitor, then regulates it to 34VDC, this is carried into the 1200 where the internal regulator sets the operating voltage
to the required 20VDC. In the original design the internal regulator had to swing wildly in modulation to a poorly filtered AC- thus emulating a large capacitor. These capacitor multiplier circuits, as they are called, do work technically, but they are not the best way. By giving the internal regulator a fixed, clean DC to start with, that circuit can concentrate on the real job at hand, controlling the motor current. The rotation seems stronger now, with even better control. if that is possible! In addition, there is a SENSE circuit that detects the original power switch and uses it to control the on-off action of the PS-1200. This retains the esthetic feel of the 1200 controls and lets you place the PS-1200 out of site if you wish. Here is the Product Page Link. KAB PS-1200
March 28, 2003
Tonearm Bearing Friction A current hi end mag recently dipped
it's analog toes in the engineering pool to produce a treatise on the subject of tonearm bearing friction. It is interesting to note that of the few tonearms described as excellent, no actual friction specification is ever cited. The article seems to imply that a friction of 0.1 gram is acceptable. Yet no mention of the Technics SL-1200. And yes, this surprises me since the 1200 is so popular and well known. And the '1200 is perhaps the only turntable our there that actually specifies tonearm bearing friction! And it isn't 0.1, nor is it
0.01, it is 0.007 grams.
KAB 2 Speed Turntable Announcement Pressure has come to bear on KAB to handle 2 speed turntables. Up until now, our company policy was to carry only 3 speed or more turntables. But to respond to these requests we have added the Technics SL-BD20 and The Gemini XL500 II to the turntable product line. Here is our product page for all of our turtables. KAB Record Players
Vestax Handy Trax Battery Operated 3 Speed Record Player If you needed any proof that there is big demand out there for records, the debut of the Handy Trax should put that debate to bed!. What ever would possess Vestax to make such a product. Perhaps 400 sold in the first month of introduction gives us a clue. (Source Korg USA) Here is our product page for this neat new record player. Vestax Handy Trax
Vestax BDT 2500 Active Turntable There was a wait for Vestax to reorganize, but the new distribution channel is in place. KAB has established a relationship with KORG USA. Stock is back on this great turntable, which also includes our Transcriber II model as well. Our appreciation is extended to those who have waited out this tenuous period. Here is our product page for the BDT2500. Vestax BDT2500
Feburary 2003
KAB Stanton Groovemaster 2 Audiophile Edition Phono Cartridge The Groovemaster is a popular DJ cartridge. It embodies the integrated head/cartridge design. This type of cartridge requires no headhell; it simply docks into standard "S" style tonearms. The geometry and alignment is perfectly established in the Technics SL-1200 MK2. What KAB has found in experimenting with this cartridge is that the coil system is compatible with one of Stanton's best stylus assemblies every made, the D88S. The D88S features the extremely short, low mass Pentamet cantilever with the original Stereohedron line contact diamond tip. These are no longer made. KAB has a small inventory of these. When nuded from the original plastic frame and inserted into the Groovemaster body, a whole new cartridge and performance standard emerges. There simply is no midrange edginess; an issue so common with many phono cartridges. To us it sounds like a second harmonic distortion, a quality commonly described as enhanced detail and image outlining, has been removed. The reason I believe the "edge" is a distortion is because, with the GM2 AE, I can now hear ambient details associated with the lead vocal sound that I could not hear before with my standard mount Stanton's. The only time I have heard image outlines this pure was with low output moving coil designs.
For the Product
page click here KAB Stanton Groovemaster 2 A.E.KAB TD-1200 Tonearm Fluid Damper Introduced about a year
ago, the TD-1200 is the first audiophile upgrade offered for the Technics
SL-1200 MK2 and it is generating alot of buzz on the newsgroups. Fluid damping of tonearms is not new. The concept goes back 50 years.
Most audiophile tonearms today feature some form of fluid damping. But those
tonearms alone cost more than the entire Technics SL-1200 MK2 turntable!
Funny how a turntable that is over 20 years old
still exceeds all others in sales and embodies technology and build quality
that rivals state of the art even today! To read an
insightful review, click here audiogon.com For the Product
page click here KAB TD1200KAB Souvenir EQS MK12 Disc
Remastering Phono Preamp Introduced in 2000, the EQS MK12 represents a
milestone for KAB. It is a full featured, fully stereo phono stage for the
professional restoration engineer and the serious audiophile collector of
historic media. Highlights include true class A gainstages with hand selected
transistors. 12 Historic EQ curves including RIAA and Flat settings. And
More. These are in use daily by countless music libraries, college archives
and the Library of Congress. Subscribers to AudioXpress magazine can read the full review in
the October 2002 issue. Or Call us for a copy of the review. Click here for
the product page KAB Souvenir EQS MK12Groove Tuning - The
Concept. The formal design of our first Groove Tuner is complete. It
will be produced as the Souvenir GTX™ Estimated availability is Jan
2003. The Groove Tuner project concentrated on achieving the best possible
signal to noise from a mono groove source. There are five signals which can
be derived from the mono record groove when played with a stereo cartridge.
They all bear some relationship to each other, and when properly mixed
together, the optimum signal is achieved. Click here to read more Groove Tuning - The
Concept
KAB ELECTRO ACOUSTICS P.O.BOX
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