Petition launched to reintroduce Technics turntables (Update: The SL-1200 is Back!)*

Yes! By the '70s, Technics had pretty much perfected the turntable, IMO. No wonder they continued to produce the same model for the next 40 years (1979-2010). Make you wonder how many SL-1200s are out there. I liked the last sparkly black 1200, I think that was the SL1200mk5G (grandmaster. I hated the tacky "gold" one). I came across a really nice one for $400 last year, but I decided not to get it because I was just kinda bored with Technics at that time (I still have three) and looking to try out some British tables. I should have bought it and sold it on ebay, but I hate shipping turntables and there's always someone on ebay who's ready to try and squeeze a refund back out of you because of some flaw they've managed to amplify to the size of a national tragedy. Same with vinyl. Every time I read here someone going crazy because they heard a pop on the second to last track of side two on a used album they bought, it makes my skin crawl. When it comes to vinyl, I think the anal retentive need not apply, although they're precisely attracted to the "ritual" of vinyl for the same reasons.

 

sounds good. going by your narrative here, it does in fact beat the old 1200s in certain areas...

 

Collection only for TT's. Recently sold my 20 yr old Gyro to solve a temporary cash flow problem while moving. Was bought by a local enthusiast. Now pondering on the 1200G or do I go on the waiting list for an Orbe or SME 15 with 309 arm?

 

You can't go wrong with an Orbe/SME V, likewise the SME 15 looks fantastic, I'd definitely have that on my shortlist and love to get to hear one, personally for me either would be ahead of the Technics based on my limited experience of it, but you need to listen for yourself, incidentally Richer Sounds are stocking the Technics, not sure if in-store and no discount yet, but give it six months and I think they will be offering a hefty discount to V.I.P. members so sign up to their newsletter is my advice.

 

Nice to hear an opinion from someone who has heard the Techie and knows the Orbe. Think I will have to get a cheaper deck while I make a decision (that can do justice to my MC). All 3 are serious investment and pays to get it right - Orbe is a safe bet, though if the SME is a big step up it would be well worth the extra. Hi-Fi News thought it best deck under £10K and maybe a lot more.

 

Without going over previous ground I personally still believe that the arm is the weak point on the new Technics, I'd love to spend some time directly comparing an Orbe, Technics and SME 15 all with identical SME arms and the same cart, I'm totally happy with my Orbe and feel absolutely no need to find something better, it's almost certainly being held back by my cart or phono stage rather than the other way around however if the SME is as good as claimed I could see my Orbe being relegated to second spot and mono duty, as for the Technics I do like to have a direct drive around and I think the new Technics is a very good motor unit, if the price gets low enough I'll sell my 1210s and pick one up, but for now I don't think it's good value against Michells, SMEs and Regas.

 

I don't have experience with Michells or SMEs, but the GAE smokes every Rega I've owned, and the build quality is orders of magnitudes higher.

 

I was thinking about the RP-10 rather than lower down the range, I like their arms, but other than a soft spot for the old 25 I'm not a big fan of their decks, Michell and SME are both miles ahead in build quality and finish, however the RP-10 really impressed me and at pretty much the same price in the UK as the Technics I'd plump for the Rega although they are very different approaches to making a high end deck.

 

RP-9 is the nicest Rega I had, at 25% more than a GAE.

 

The exchange rate kind of skews ones perspective, over here the Technics was £2,800, as is the standard version when it hits the street, the Rega RP-10 is £3,000 and you can pretty much guarantee a discount on that, so they are effectively identically priced. I wasn't impressed by the RP-9, but the RP-10 really blew me away, although I only heard the RP-9 briefly and it was along time ago so not an ideal basis for my opinion.

 

Just curious as I haven't been keeeping up with this much, have there yet been any attempts to re-plinth/mount a new tonearm on the new 1200? I'd love if they introduced an SP-10 type thing at some point down the line, that'd be a very enticing purchase

 

Discussed earlier, the new one is just as easy to swap arms on as the original, just buy the appropriate arm board and in under an hour you should be up and running with your choice of arm.

Timestep are offering it with the SME IV, I think it looks fantastic, others disagree:


Timestep Modified Technics 1200 GAE | Hifi Pig »

 

I like it! Don't think it looks bad at all. I'd love to end up mounting a terminator on one or something similar, probably will look like a real abomination in the eyes of most. Which is my only qualm with it too… but it'd be functional and a whole lot of turntable for the money

 

My problem is that Dave Cawley admitted to Backtovinyl not listening with the standard arm and others don't hear a haze with the standard PS, though this is a more obvious weak spot. His mods put the price close to the SME 15/309 combo. Perhaps contacting Sound Hi-Fi for a comparison of Technics/Michell/SME might be a good move. Dave does good prices on SME products.

 

If the Gs get to a price I can afford I'll almost certainly swap the arm, after properly comparing it though, but I very much doubt I'll worry about a new power supply, you can take all this modding too far. I think you could charge money for tickets if you arranged a proper shoot out between those three decks, I think I know the order they'd finish in, but I could be totally wrong.

 

Curious which part of the narrative shows that?

 

They've hit the street. I got an email from a local dealer yesterday advising that he has two.

 

"You know the dealer, the dealer is a man
With the love grass in his hand"

Steppenwolf

 

Let the price cutting begin! Hope, hope.

 

sure...the part about the speed stability plus how the tonearm functions...

 

Do your M5G's strobe dots wobble?

 

If you mean this:

and

that is same as with older models.
I react not to prove that GAE is not improvement over MK2-6, but because most of the praise I read for the GAE comes from people that seem to be first time owners of a 1200 unit, discovering the already standard 1200 qualities just now with the GAE.

 

if imean what? i'm not sure what you're getting at there...

 

You say that the Clay B's narrative shows that GAE beats the older models in areas like speed stability and tonearm functionality. The quoted parts are where he refers to those qualities, but I can't see how these show what seems to be your conclusion.

 

there is no conclusion because i can't say for sure without an a/b shootout..so basically it was a guess.