Technics 1210 a bargain or a burden?

[Macca]

Of course if like me (and Steve, apparently) if you do not have £5K to spend on a turntable the point is academic.

[Lindsayt]

For the £5k (plus loads of time) Marco's spent on his Technics you could buy an EMT 950 or a Pioneer Exclusive P3 / P3a, or any other top of the range 1970's to 1980's statement record player that you fancied.

Even if a hyper modded Technics sounds as good as the EMT or Exclusive, the value going forward will be much lower with the Technics. I for one would not be happy dropping £5k on a depreciating asset.

[Macca]

I agree that you are unlikely to get your spend back on re-sale. Assuming you had to sell it. BTW I believe the oft quoted £5K figure includes a desperately expensive Ortofon SPU cartridge so you would need to factor that additional cost in with any TT you buy. I've never heard an EMT so as far as that comparison goes I've no opinion.

[Lindsayt]

I bet almost no one reading this has heard a Pioneer Exclusive P3 / P3a either.

There are other statement record players that are worth buying at the right price from Trio - Kenwood, Sony, Sansui, JVC, Yamaha, Technics, Micro Seiki.


For me buying hi-fi is all about finding something that sounds good that is selling at below the current market rates, that has a good chance of going up in value. On that basis it pays to keep an open mind and look out for a wide variety of makes and models.

[Fretless]

I bet almost no one reading this has heard a Pioneer Exclusive P3 / P3a either.

One on offer here in the Netherlands.
http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/audio-tv-en ... ousPage=lr

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

That ad doesn't give a price.

[terrybooth]

No, the translation says to have to make an offer and if that near the seller's idea of what he wants for it, then he'll talk to you.

[Macca]

The Sl1200 is one such deck. Here is one identical to one of mine that sold for £500 - I paid £200 a couple of years ago.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Technics-SL-1 ... 7675.l2557

I thought prices would go up when they were discontinued so I bought a second one - also for £200 - just so I had a spare - not to make money.

You can still pick up a brace of them for around £550 but they will have been used for DJ type antics. I'm not saying that they are the one true way or anything like that, it is just that the 'you could have bought a proper TT' comments are always made by folk who have never heard a fettled one, and I do sometimes wonder if they even understand how a turntable works. Especially as there seems to be so much ignorance regarding how digital works. I notice on another forum someone again trotting out the old chestnut that if the error correction on a CD player has to 'work harder' it will result in degraded sound. You don't have to be of a technical mindset to have a basic understanding but some folk seem to be wilfully ignorant.

[Classicrock]

It doesn't mater how fancy the supplies are, you are still rotating the platter using a rubber band attached to a rotating spindle. It is stone-age technology compared to direct drive, but cheap to implement for the cottage manufacturer.

I think you should stick with it. Okay the Rega has ben a wrong turn, sell it and get something known to work. If I was going to chuck money at an SL1200 I would just copy what Marco has done since his sounds absolutely bob-on.

So you advocate chucking £5k at an SL1200 when you could go out and buy a new TT that is far better mostly belt drive. Only one DD (based on technics bits) I can think off in that price range the other new DD designs are prohibitively expensive from boutique audiophile brands. Belt drives can sound as good if implemented correctly even if they are relatively simple - which means they remain more serviceable without in depth electronics knowledge. I think the problem is most technics fans appear to base comparisons on Linn and Rega tables.

The big disadvantage you have in this discussion is that you have not heard a five grand Technics. I have. So your comment about 'far better' has no foundation at all. The previous best deck I ever heard was a heavily modded Lenco GL75.

Yes belt drives can sound good, I have a Systemdek IIX and it is very capable.

Heard Martin T's at Scalford a few years ago and didn't think it sounded that special and certainly no better than many good belt drives in that context. Also have heard some more lightly tweaked Sl1200s sounding pretty close

[Macca]

Yes I heard it at that Scalford too and wasn't impressed but the whole room and set up were badly flawed. I don't think any deck would have sounded good. You should have been at the last NEBO. incidentally Ken's heavily modded Sl120 also sounded excellent at the previous NEBO, using a linear tracking arm and with the deck encased in concrete.

Thing is taste is one thing, if a man prefers the belt drive presentation that is his prerogative. I've no quarrel with that. It's the whole 'you could have bought a better deck for what you spent' thing because it just sounds dumb to me and entirely misses the point.