At first glance, the REGA tt's seem to be the better choise over the SL-1200. But is it ? No! What I have against the REGA policy not to state decent specs is one of the biggest omissions a company of quality stuff can make. REGA is flimsy built, parts are glued in place and the older tt's hardly ever play at the correct speed. The Technics SL1200 family is quite the opposite, I mean, read the manual that comes with it. Look at the wow and flutter figures for example, you can't beat those! Where are these figures in the REGA manual, if one can call it one..........? No, instead REGA reccommends not to overly clean a record "as dust will be pushed aside while playing". Well well, what a reccommendation that is, as if we are all novices.
I have owned a REGA once, only to get rid of it after a few months because the speed was not constant, I could hear the flutter and hear the motor run. I have two SL-1200's now, and they perform flawlessly. No DJ-tools, they were adopted by the DJ because the SL-1200 family was, and still is, the only turntable that could cope with the tortures. It was developped as a industry standard and the sheer quality make it will last your lifetime.
Granted, you can't screw in just any cartridge. But mate it with a suitable one and it will reward you with state of the art performance. Remember, records were out developped long time ago, they simply can not get any better than they were lets say in the 70's. Yes, the time when the Sl-1200 was developped.
What HIFI should state specs instead. Only then quality will reveal itself and I'm sure REGA turntables will be seen through quite different glasses. What's more, only by stating specs there will be diffences which are so needed for those who are real newcomers and are in the market for vinyl. They deserve good, honest reviews. Most products get 4 or 5 stars in the present situation. Not anymore if specs are stated. Yes, it will take more efforts but it is the only way to show the real differences between turntables.