.............

[chebby]

.......

 

[John Duncan]

There was a group test last year where self-styled 'audiophile' turntables whupped the Technics for sound. Course, if you want 'to DJ' (conjugate the verb.....) then the Technics is the one for you. I think the arm lets it down - there are forums elsewhere that have replaced the stock arm with a Rega with seemingly great results, but life's too short, to my mind.

If you want to be truly impressed by build quality, look at Clearaudio, Michell and further up the ranges of Rega and Project. My RPM5 is somewhere in the middle - fabulous engineering in the arm, good plinth, slightly shoddy MDF platter.

Course, you do know the Rega motor was deliberately decoupled from the plinth and was supposed to wobble, right....?

 

[chebby]

...

 

[fatboyslimfast]

chebby:
Maybe I am just getting a little jaundiced about what passes for hifi (or 'audiophile') nowadays and want something that was designed and engineered from the ground up as a turntable rather than a bit of laminated chipboard.

Have you looked at maybe a Clearaudio or a 2nd hand Roksan Radius - not a hint of chipboard there!

 

[the record spot]

Upgrade the arm (e.g. RB300, Michell or Origin counterweight), add a better cartridge and you have a serious deck that'll compete with almost anything up to £1000.

You don't need to fit the arm, life's not that short (sorry John!) and the results for the little time spent with your new Technics in a dealer's workshop for a day or two, whilst they do it for you, will be well worth it. Rock solid construction, a direct-drive motor which is pretty damn impressive and the aforementioned upgrades and you're away. Modded Technics decks as new are going for about £850 - saw one in Edinburgh the other week and it looked the part.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

I'm not a fan of the RB arms - the end-of-side distortion that they are known for really annoys me (I had a Planar 2 for 15 years so am well aquainted with this).

However, I would love to know what a 1210 with a Roksan Nima on it would sound like... anyone done this (or heard of this being done?)

 

[chebby]

...

 

[chebby]

[...

 

[Anonymous]

It might interest doubters to know that at it's peak the SL1210 was in service with 5000 Broadcasters worldwide and that most Disc mastering lathes in studios used the same Technics direct drive platter because a belt drive wasn't good enough to hold the speed accurately while cutting.

Hi Fi enthusiasts tend to be snobbish about them, but the truth is they are a masterpiece.

Ashley

 

[John Duncan]

chebby:if a really well made and great looking turntable can sound as good as one made from chipboard then I am game

QED:

 

[the record spot]

In true Bullseye terminology, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand another:-

 

[John Duncan]

Nothing in this game for three in a bed.........

 

[the record spot]

Let's see what you could've won!

(For about £50k!)

 

[chebby]

...

 

[John Duncan]

And this is - wait for it - one hundred and eeeeeiiiiiggggghhhhhhtttttyyyyy (grand). No really.

 

[chebby]

...

 

[the record spot]

Chebby - baby's teat is the Funk Firm V - a relatively new deck on the market (maybe only 12-18 months?).

And that Bluemotion is a rather nice piece of work. Seems like blue is the colour (ho ho) this year - I think Thorens introduced a high end deck which was available in such a finish.

 

[chebby]

...

 

[John Duncan]

Agreed, that Bluemotion (or the red one, or black one, or see-through one) is fabulous...........

 

[fr0g]

I am so glad seeing some of these monstrosities, that vinyl is the equivalent of VHS for me

 

[the record spot]

Enjoy the Betamax ;-)

 

[chebby]

...

 

[the record spot]

Audio T are talking a load of bull if they tell you that you have no guarantee. They're bound by the sale of goods act and you of course have your rights as a consumer. 28 day guarantee applies across the board - no gurantee, what a load of old cack!! LOL.

Report them to trading standards, or check with the manager and see if there's maybe been a little 'misunderstanding'...!

 

[gregory]

Hello all, strangely enough I've just come from having an SL1210 to a Rega p2. Here are my finding's. The Technics is a great deck but i was not convinced by it's sound, i changed the headshell to the sumiko, no difference, had it set up correctly with a Denon DL110, great cartridge but felt let down by the Technic's sound stage. Bass is solid and deep and the treble is clear but on the whole it does not have that three dimensional sound stage, anyway i just was not convinced and felt the left channel was a bit down so took it back to the shop, the manager agreed it seemed a bit down and offered me an exchange which i was happy to accept, only to be told 5 minutes later that they had none in stock and would be at least 2 to 3 weeks before they had any more in so offered me a refund, then was told they didn't have enough cash and i didn't have my card on me but the manager gave it to me from his own pocket, now that's what i call customer service. So armed with £320.00 which was the cost of the deck i set off to TCR to source a different deck. Well if you do this yourself you wont find many if any doing a discount for cash so disappointed i went to Grahams bought myself a p2 fitted the Denon and have not looked back, i have a grin as wide as the cheshire cat every time i put a record on, now maybe if the Technics was working right i may have kept it and that 3d sound stage may have been there but with the left channel low it just wasn't going to happen but the Rega is great so i recommend it highly. The shop i bought the Technics from is West End DJ again highly recommended.