Hi guys,
Just to say that I know it's been over a year since this was discussed, but I hope my reply no less valid: We are, after all, talking about a turntable that's already many years old, but looked space-age then, and still does now!
I own one of these beautiful machines, and fitted and SME Series 3 titanium arm to it with a Shure V15 MKIV cartridge to it. A lovely piece of engineering and sounds superb too.
I remember at the time the Linn Sondek LP12 was
supposed to be the no.1, but I always felt jaded and tired of the herd mentality, so opted for this classic instead, which I also know was pretty well on par with the Linn. Thorens also had a fine machine too, albeit belt drive and a decent player
(in the world's top 5, it was claimed).
I never - sadly - saw a head to head between this Technics and the Linn............... I wonder why? I rather think, being the cynic that I was and am, that the Linn guys and masses of pro-Linn customers didn't want to see an equal, or superior machine topple the esteemed Linn.
I had a separates system, and while normally would say that properly matched separates from different manufacturers was the ideal for an audiophile, in my case (save the SME arm and Shure cartridge) I was so impressed with the Technics equipment that I opted for all Technics, but from different series.
I also had, and still have a Philips 'Black Tulip' reel-to-reel, which was about the best semi-professional machine on the market, and very hi-tec indeed, with quartz direct drive, variable speed spooling and digital tape counter. Trouble is it was never very reliable, and broke down on a couple of occasions, despite having only been used lightly, in a domestic situation. Such a shame, for when she worked, she was absolutely superb.
My dream would have been the SP10 MKII turntable, but it was out of my price range at the time, as was the Technics 4600 (?) reel-to-reel
(but doubtfully better than the Philips, performance wise, but I'm sure more realiable!).
The whole system was connected to the Technics SB-5000 speakers, which are large-volume two-way infinite baffle speakers, which also received very good reviews, and I can vouch for this.
The speakers were connected with the QED79 cables hailed at the time.
I hope this is in some way of interest to you guys
Kind regards,
Ian Drover