The SL-1200 MK2 can be greatly improved by some well chosen modifications. As discussed above, replacing the arm makes a huge improvement to the sound and this should be the first mod you make. Even a bog standard Rega RB250, RB251, RB300 or RB301 sounds great on this turntable and these arms are excellent value for money. Rega arms themselves are highly tweakable and upgradable with end-stub/counterweight mods and re-wiring taking an excellent budget arm up to the next level. Based on my own experience, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Origin Live Rega armboard and the OL "Structural Mod" (counterweight & endstub) and internal & external rewire of the Rega RB250. Those with more money to spend should consider fitting a SME 309, Series IV or Series V. Timestep can supply a good quality SME armboard (see links below). Another weakpoint on the SL-1200 MK2 is isolation from external vibration. It would obviously have been stupid for Technics to design the deck with a sprung suspension as this would have made it unsuitable for DJ use. Instead the design relys on the use of rubber to dampen the rigid cast metal top part of the plinth and rubber feet for isolation. This design works well but can be improved by replacing the original feet with something better. Based on my own experience, I can recommend the "Isonoe Isolation Feet" for this purpose (see links below) but several other alternative feet are available. The standard platter mat is another area rife for upgrade. The standard thick, heavy rubber mat is not bad. It's adds weight to the platter, it's resistant to slipping (which is why DJs don't use it!) and provides reasonable damping but better sounding alternatives are available (and not a DJ type felt "slipmat"!). David Price recommended the "Sound Dead Steel Isoplatmat" in the respected Hi-Fi World magazine a few years ago. The Isoplatmat is basically a rubber sheet sandwiched between two stainless steel sheets and is made in England. I have not tried it myself but it seems to be highly regarded. I have found that acrylic mats work very well on an SL-1200 MK2 and I use the very reasonably priced "Acrimat" from Inspire of Derbyshire with excellent results. I do not recommend using felt patter mats (or DJ "slipmats") as they do not dampen the platter sufficiently and therefore colour the sound. Also, unless you are a DJ, not use a Stanton cartridge (whatever arm you have). Stanton DJ cartridges are robust, track well (at very high tracking weights!) and have a very high output making them popular with DJs but they are primitive, crude sounding transducers that have no place in a decent audiophile setup.