Can't make up your mind about a turntable?

[PHC1]

For those still sitting on the bench wanting to get into vinyl but not sure how much to spend and what to buy and wondering if the whole vinyl thing is for you....

I have a solution for you guys. Grab a Technics SL 1200 as fast as you can, rumor has it they have been discontinued... For under a thousand bucks you will get a very good table that is capable of very decent performance. Ok, it's not a giant slayer by any means but....


I have been given an SL 1200 MK5 on a trade. A quick listen revealed a rather ho-hum performance... However, checking the cartridge setup with my own DrFeickert protractor, I found it was off by a substantial margin... After tweaking the cartridge setup and playing around with vertical tracking angle and tracking force as well as the loading in the phono stage, I was rewarded with a much more impressive performance. Again, not a David vs Goliath situation where the hero of our story would drop an SME or Clearaudio on their knees but.... It is very listenable and quite musical. It doesn't have any glaring flaws that I have noticed, it's just not quite as capable as tables at many more times it's price.

The other positives I really like about this table for beginners and as a back up table for more advanced users is it's very non tweaky and straight foreward design. All the parameters such as VTF, VTA, anti-skate and even pitch are all easily adjustable, well, I'll save myself a lot of typing and quote Wikipedia below. Trust me, get this table, pick from many various not so expensive cartridges out there and start spinning vinyl! If you get the vinyl bug, great, upgrade, if not you have lost virtually nothing and learned something new along the way.




The SL-1200 series was developed as a special project by Technics parent company Matsushita in an attempt to solve many of the problems related to the difficult task of turntable design. The task included minimizing acoustic feedback, unwanted resonances, wow & flutter and speed errors.
This was achieved by designing a remarkably heavy plinth made of a non-resonant composite sandwiched between a cast alloy top plate and a solid rubber base. In addition, the adjustable rubber damped feet ensure that the Technics SL-1200 series are well insulated against acoustic feedback, which can be a serious problem when operating a turntable in close proximity to PA loudspeakers (a common situation for DJ's).
The drive system designed by Matsushita is of the direct-drive variety rather than the more commonly found belt-drive type. This design was developed in order to virtually eliminate the problems of wow and flutter and produces a very quiet turntable which, for a direct drive turntable, has minimal motor and bearing noise, (although the bearing rumble does tend to become characteristic in well used turntables). This was partially achieved through the fact that the SL1210/1200 was the first (and only) turntable to actually make the platter a part of the motor mechanism as opposed to just being attached to it via screws or magnets as is the case with most direct drive turntables. On the underside of the platter there is a large magnet which, once placed over the spindle, surrounds the coils and forms the motor drive thus eliminating loss through power transfer. The SL-1200 utilizes a Frequency Generator Servo Control Quartz Lock system that is claimed to produce the most accurate and consistent speed possible. The system is immune to static and dynamic stylus drag[citation needed] which would otherwise cause unwanted speed variances that change the pitch and tempo of the music. Due to these strengths the SL-1200 lends itself to both Hi-Fi reproduction and demanding DJ usage.
[edit]Modifications and upgrades

Some of the features that made the SL-1200 MK2-A an Industry standard can be improved in quality:
Better & more stable, lower DC noise & ripple External Power Supply for reduced magnetic EMI RFI CMRR interference with cartrides, Better than the common Laboratory Grade DC Power supplys.
Higher torque than (1.5 kgf·cm or 0.15 N·m), which means heavy copper mat platter can be used and will spin at the desired speed almost immediately, and will re-acquire the desired speed very rapidly.
Even lower wow and flutter (<0.01%), which means that the platter will stay within less than 1/100 of <1% of the desired speed.
Better Bearings.
Fluid Tonearm damping.
Different Tonearms.
Higher Quality Inner Tonearm Wiring.
Higher reliability for Dubplate recording.
Different Colors.
Motor Dynamics Feedback Loop modiffication, to Technics SP-10 or more stable control signal.
Masushita 2SD1265 bypass/upgrade.
Different speeds for 78rpm records or Half-Speed Dubplate recording.
Two leading modification manufacturers include:
Kabusa.com
Sl-1200-mk2.com / TimeStep / SoundHifi.com


I just want to say that this table is a great way to get into vinyl and if it doesn't work out, sell it and chances are you'll get most if not all of your money back since they will continue to be in demand.

[vintage_tube]

You're definitely on target regarding a very, very fine & I won't say entry table, but did anyway. For anyone considering a dabble into vinyl -- the Technics SL-1200 is the way to go.

Check Kabusa for the latest & greatest. Great dealer w/fantastic upgrade paths.

As far as Panasonic dropping the SL-1200 line & or getting out of TT's altogether -- this surfaced last year around this time and the only link I could find is from December 2009. They supposidly at that time were dropping some models & then they announced the below:

RA News: Panasonic announce continuation of Technics turntables

Bob

[PHC1]

Bob, that was a year ago and there still seems to be much debate about the discontinued status.... Judging by the many recent threads on the net about it, it is getting progressively more difficult to get them.

[PHC1]

I'm giving this one to my son and getting another one for those $1-$2 used records. I have a store nearby that has tons of used records in that price range. Most are perfectly listenable but not in "perfect" shape and I won't have to worry about a $3.5k cartridge getting beat up by them. Plus the MM carts in the lower end tend to sound less resolving and thus more forgiving to surface noise and less than optimal recordings.

[vintage_tube]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Bob, that was a year ago and there still seems to be much debate about the discontinued status.... Judging by the many recent threads on the net about it, it is getting progressively more difficult to get them.

No doubt. Like you mentioned, if interested, get one now.

Bob

[gtubes]

yee haw, and used prices are going up I noticed too. Until I get out of the poor house mine will have to do!

[Tonepub]

Originally Posted by PHC1

I'm giving this one to my son and getting another one for those $1-$2 used records. I have a store nearby that has tons of used records in that price range. Most are perfectly listenable but not in "perfect" shape and I won't have to worry about a $3.5k cartridge getting beat up by them. Plus the MM carts in the lower end tend to sound less resolving and thus more forgiving to surface noise and less than optimal recordings.

You hit the nail on the head perfectly!

[turntable]

Unfortunately, the technics table has officially been end of life'd.

see attached link from J Carr of lyra fame

AudiogoN Forums: Technics SL-1200 goes out of production

[Tonepub]

There are still a TON of these on ebay, so you should be able to find a clean used one for a couple hundred bucks.

[PHC1]

I don't know guys.. That a $4k, $10k or even $20k table should sound good is a no brainer but after careful setup and proper cartridge loading in the phono stage, this Technics table has absolutely no business sounding so damn good for so little money. I have a $250 MM cartridge on it too... Really, sometimes you have to ask yourself "when is good, good enough?"... I'm more impressed by the achievement of this silly cheap table than I ever was with the $18k retail SME all things and price considered...