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

Did you feel scolded? I'll see if I can find a life somewhere. Thanks for the tip.

 

That requires a jerry-rigged custom mounting plate for the tonearm that looks odd and out of place on the turntable. Then adding the SME tonearm that also look out of place on that turntable. Combined you've got something that only a guy into hacking gear could like the looks of.

 

IMHO that 309 looks great on the black deck. Lots of people running different arms on SL-1200's. Most look just fine, some better than the stock arms. Custom mounting plates are available all over the place.

jeff

 

A lot of R&D went into that Monaco table:

http://www.grandprixaudio.com/?q=node/104/specifications

http://www.grandprixaudio.com/sites/default/files/Monaco-Turntable-Whitepaper.pdf

 

BS. (bolded) And, the rest of your post would be your opinion; but, tell me what you see in this pic... What you see is a stock Technics photo of their ca. 1976 SL-150 turntable. Look closely. Yes, that is a Technics made SME armboard, an option from Technics for this table (and several others). Technics tables and SME arms have a history longer than your remembrance and/or greater than your knowledge of both despite how you feel it looks. "Jerry-rigged"... hardly. As @vinylkid58 stated, there are plenty of professionally produced/machined arm boards made for the Technics decks, as there are for Linn, Thorens and a host of others. Get educated.

 

How do You know?

 

I've seen a SL1200 with an SME arm in person. The tonearm mounting plate didn't match the finish of any other part of the turntable. The tonearm mount had exposed screws rather than recessed and flush screws. The SME arm of that style is just a wrong look to go with the turntable. The SME arm looks like a machined angular precision tool. The SL1200 has a different look and different angles and different texture. The look and angles of the SL1200 does not match up with the look and angles of the SME arm. They look very odd together. The styles clash. I consider the combination to be UGLY. A clash of styles.

 

I sure hope Your posts don´t prevent people using an arm on the 1200 of high quality that they like. Like SME, SAT, Moerch etc. That would really be a pity.

 

Your records don't care what your turntable looks like, so why should you?

 

First time hearing about the SAT arm... ...cool.

 

Umm, not quite so sure about that.

David Price at Hi Fi World put together an SL1200, SME Series V, Timestep PSU and a Koetsu Red cartridge. Worked a treat as a I recall and no jerry rigging needed.

Here's a copy of the article for anyone interested...

http://www.soundhifi.com/images/Hi Fi World SL-1200.pdf

 

The armboard does look a bit "tacked on," with all those bare screws showing.

 

Exactly. Fitting a square peg in a round hole.
And that's one of the better examples of an after-market armboard for the SL1200.

 

A $30,000 tonearm. Anything is possible, but I feel confident in saying you will never see one on a Technics 1200.

 

Chuckle, tacked on? So, the arm sits in a recess as per the original, but it's tacked on. Sure. Clearly, some of those other arm and table combos out there must've passed you by.

It was a one off to show it could be done audibly not a production model, David Price had it rigged up to see how the Technics would perform. Still looks the mutts.

 

I feel confident about that too. On the other hand I also think you will not see the SAT on many TTs, never mind which TT.

 

It's a work of art.

 

Still it´s just a tonearm that can be greatly improved.

 

I'd read somewhere that the original MK2's tonearm was frowned upon by "audiophiles" because it was curved, and that a straight tonearm is better for it.

So now this re-release at $4k still has the same curved tonearm, now what?

 

It stil looks "tacked on" and unfinished to me.

 

This one, too, just doesn't look right. That big "hole" where the armboard is and the exposed screws just don't look finished.