Another unboxing/first impressions like review, which could also be useful for prospective buyers of 1200MK7 turntables, since both the M7L and MK7 are the same except for the color. I've split the review up into two posts, due to forum limitations of 5 pictures/post. This first post is the unboxing part: The turntable came well packed, the way the components were stacked onto the Styrofoam blocks was well thought out, so the turntable and dustcover were well protected. Accessories included in the box are: the counterweight, a headshell, black 45RPM adapter, ground wire, RCA phono cable, slipmat, slipsheet, power cable, a manual, some stickers and bolts/nuts to mount a cartridge onto the headshell. This one is a limited edition white version of the MK7, which is matte white and has a rough feel to it similar to that of unglazed ceramics. It also comes with a gold colored tonearm instead of black and a number plate with its production number. I've got number 4120 of the 12,000 units made. Except for that, everything is the same as on the MK7. The motor is an axial type, the green PCB you see is used for speed detection and there are coils on the other side to drive the magnet ring and the platter it's attached to. Four rows of strobe dots on the rim of the platter indicate the speed deviation, how much it's off from the selected speed - not the speed itself. The index next to the strobe LED shows us which dot means what, in percentages. Next to the PCB are a few little switches that allow you to choose additional functions like 78rpm and reverse rotation, but also the torque/brake strength. You can also switch between blue or red lighting by using one of these switches. The stylus light will always be white light regardless of the setting. Left of the tonearm behind the platter is a hole that functions as a headshell stand. The pitchfader ranges from -8% to +8% relative to the selected speed; this is doubled when the x2 button is pressed. The reset button overrides the pitchfader and holds it at 0 for as long as it's engaged. In contrast to most stylus lights, this one has no button next to it to pop it up. Push the top of the light to pop it up and push it again to pop is back down. At the back we only have three connections, RCA outputs that come directly from the tonearm, a ground binding post and an IEC power connection. The power connection is angled to the side, so that the plug doesn't stick out from the back; the RCA and ground connections are recessed for the very same reason.
This second post is the part with my initial impressions: This white version fits well with the color scheme of the rest of my system. I expected the golden tonearm to be way too blingy for me, but it's acceptable. The Ortofon Concorde Gold I still had fits nicely with it. However, I do have plans to change it out for an all black tonearm. As for the tactile experience... The SL-1200G is my point of reference (it's on the black shelf above the M7L). It's solid... Technics 1200 turntables are often said to be built like tanks, but the 1200G is built like a tank destroyer. So coming from that point of view, this 1200M7L feels lightweight. It's 9.5kg compared to 18kg of the 1200G - about half the weight. The cylindrical strobe light enclosure is made out of plastic, which is a shame, since I like the feel of solid metal parts. The 33/45, x2 pitch and pitch reset buttons all feel decent. I like how smooth the pitchfader slides, exactly right. Not loose, not stiff, but nicely smooth, definitely better than the stiff pitchfader on my 1200G. The start/stop button gives a nice mechanical click when pressed, much better tactile feedback than on my 1200G... not as springy/sponge-y. More like a mechanical keyboard. No aux weight is included, which is a bit of a pity, since many cartridges on my Jelco HS-25 headshells need it. But that's all fine... despite the 1200M7L being a limited edition meaning a high pricetag, the 1200G is about four times the price. The only thing that really, really bugs me is the tonearm lift. It drops the stylus onto the record within the first 1/4th of pulling the lever. When pushing the lever back to get the tonearm up, it's also only doing something at the last 1/4th of the lever action. It's like there's almost no damping; swinging that lever quickly drops the stylus quickly, slow swing means a slow drop. The point of tonearm lift damping is that the way the lever is operated doesn't do anything to the speed at which the tonearm is dropped or lifted. Drop and lift speed should be defined by the damping, not the lever or person who operates the lever - the lever action only determines if and how far the tonearm is dropped/raised. I suspect that they forgot to put enough silicone fluid in the damper... gotta take a look at that in the near future; I still have some silicone fluid somewhere. When that's fixed, it's a great turntable for home use/bedroom DJing. The light weight plinth is definitely not suitable for club usage. But if you intend to use it at home anyways, then hey! at least you don't have to haul around with almost 20 kilos of turntable like a 1200G! It'll take a while to be able to make any reliable judgements in terms of sonics, but it sounds fairly neutral so far. I might do a 1200M7L vs 1200G comparison recording next month.
Nice review @Oelewapper. Definitely not having this challenge with mine. Somebody else wrote me the damping cylinder is enclosed and the tonearm needs to be removed to get at it. If that's not the case, let us know. Also, there is a screw near the lift. Does this adjust the lift height and responsiveness? Here's a link to the review in Positive Feedback. He doesn't mention any issue there. He also thought it sounded better than the old MK2. Technics SL-1200MK7 Turntable - Positive Feedback .
It only changes the height of the lift. Yeah I probably just got bad luck; somehow I’m always that guy who gets the unlucky draw of the QC lottery lol Yes, it’s inside the tonearm.
I disliked MK7L, well most of the colours when they were released in photos. Must say I changed my mind completely, when seeing them in live sort of. Holy cow they look the business. To my understanding they sound terrific too. With a budget cartridge or same priced like the deck. I've ordered a white, will see if delivery happen.
Nice! White looks like a good choice, I'm into white, silver and grey tones: Why go black with the tone arm?
Nice combination with your setup! Seeing your speaker setup now has just made me realize why you had no issues with the sensitivity of left/right gain pots on the back of your A23+ (didn't know your speakers were that close together).
It actually droops down a bit; when push the lever up, it goes back down like two mm… I don’t think it’s supposed to do that.
How are those 4.4s? Considering the 4.1. As always, trying to gauge the characteristics as my usual stores don't seem to stock them. I'm coming from the Denton 80s. So far, online demos seem to present a large soundstage, lots of air? I'm just curious as to how well they image in the mids compared to the Dentons (that's their only real strong point - realistic vocals and acoustic guitars, etc - lot of weight behind the imaging in that respect).
Those 4.4 speakers have a laid back sound, but clear vocals. They're actually a bit too big for my room, so they tend to be a bit boomy at times... but I plan to give them the space they need in the future. Because of their AMT tweeters, they're very directional, so speaker placement in relation to the listening position is important. To me, that's a good thing, since it partially reduces the room issues I have. But if you like to wander around the room, this isn't something for you. I heard that the smaller variants like the 4.1 and 4.2 are much less boomy, so if you're planning to place them in a small room, those are you best choice. I've posted plenty of pictures and a more detailed description in this thread: Wharfedale Evo 4.4 - New bargain in floor mount speakers.
Well guys, I've tried to fix the tonearm lift issue, at which I partially succeeded. I've managed to make the tonearm lift lever to stay up, but the damping is still absent at the first 1/4th of operating the lever. I found out that the lack of damping that quarter is due to a design mistake - a very little one. Let me explain this... or at least try... This is an overview of the tonearm mechanism: \ On the very right, we see the metal rod, which is the tonearm lift lever. In the middle is a bar attached to the axle that tonearm lever is attached to. This bar pushes the black part to the left up when the lever is pushed up/to the back. In the center of that black part to the left is a metal rod, which the tonearm lift is screwed on to (that screw adjusts the tonearm lift height). An overview from the side: Have you noticed that very small black cogwheel on the side? That cogwheel doesn't rotate freely - it's damped. So, that part does the actual damping. The tooths next to the metal rod make no contact with the cogwheel for 1/4th of the movement. That's why it's not damped. If they've added just a few tooth, it would've been damped too (there's room enough for that): As a sidenote, for those who want to add or change the damping fluid: You can't open the damped part the cogwheel is attached to, so you can't add or change the damping fluid. It's a sealed enclosure. If you like to see more of the inside, these are all the other pictures: imgur.com
Well, it already uses all of the teeth on that part with the rod, so IF that would be possible, it would mean that damping on the last part would be absent instead of the first part. At least I've "fixed" the "issue" that the lever wouldn't stay in the up position now - there was too much grease used that made things a bit sticky, so I wiped off most of it. I expected the damping to be the same as on my 1200G, but yeah... it's a 4 times cheaper deck...
Idk, it's definitely ugly... But I've ordered a black MK7 tonearm assembly along with the deck, since I don't really like the gold anyways. It's still in backorder estimated to arrive end of september. So we'll see.
Yes, a tonearm assembly is a tube/brackets/VTA tower. You can order them as a spare part (TXP0100), but are way overpriced right now, unless you're willing to wait for a few weeks. AFAIK, it will have the same issue, looks like it's part of the design.
