I own a Dual 1210 and a Dual 1214 turntable. They are mostly but not 100% complete, even if parts are missing in the photos, most of which I have.
The 1210 has a plastic tonearm, meant to take a dual sided ceramic stylus that flips over from one side for 33/45 to the other for 78. The 1214 has a much nicer tonearm.
There is little literature on the 1210: I cannot find the platter weight for example. The 1214 has a 3 lb platter.
The 1210 certainly feels much much heftier. An obvious upgrade attempt might be to put the 1214 tonearm only on the 1210, or to put the 1210 platter only on the 1214. However, when looking at the complexity of the undersides, this seems like a risky project. I don't have the patience/drive to attempt a complete rebuild.
Another question is are there any universal 12xx tweaks or upgrades that apply? Something like stripping off any of the automatic functions, or suspending by something other than the spring/cup/pin/circlip attachment.
Any thoughts?
The 1210 has a plastic tonearm, meant to take a dual sided ceramic stylus that flips over from one side for 33/45 to the other for 78. The 1214 has a much nicer tonearm.
There is little literature on the 1210: I cannot find the platter weight for example. The 1214 has a 3 lb platter.
The 1210 certainly feels much much heftier. An obvious upgrade attempt might be to put the 1214 tonearm only on the 1210, or to put the 1210 platter only on the 1214. However, when looking at the complexity of the undersides, this seems like a risky project. I don't have the patience/drive to attempt a complete rebuild.
Another question is are there any universal 12xx tweaks or upgrades that apply? Something like stripping off any of the automatic functions, or suspending by something other than the spring/cup/pin/circlip attachment.
Any thoughts?
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Well, not sure anybody's following, but I answered some of my own questions with some googling. The platters come off easy peasy with just a circlip on the top to remove. The 2 platters appear to be the same, so the extra heft of the 1210 is in the underside. There is also a mod to cut down the rubber inside the spring mounts and thus reduce damping. Probably a good idea with 40 year old rubber.
If you have a 1214, I don't see why you want a 1210, except for spare wire and clips. It is a significantly less-expensive motor, and as you say a cheap arm/needle, made ONLY so systems could boast "DUAL turntable!!" at low price. It isn't the cheapest piece of crap ever made by a long-shot, true. But you have a better beast at hand. Put the 1210 back in the attic.
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