Technics new SL-1200MK7 and SL-1500C*

I'm sure most all would prefer direct/unbroken wiring runs on all of our gear, but that doesn't happen often.
I see the 1500's design (with dual outputs) as much better than most others with built in pre's.

 

So, I inquired with KAB, who has taken the whole thing apart. He reports that the switch is there to keep the signal grounds isolated when the cartridge output is used. He added that it's actually a pretty smart way to do it.

 

Interesting. Good to know. I figured it wasn’t that big of a deal since he seems to find the model worthy of a tonearm upgrade.

 

So it's not switching the signal itself? They really did put a lot of thought into that it seems. Probably much easier to just "bypass" the phono pre somehow so pretty impressive.

 

Thanks for sharing. I didn't think that they would half way do it.

 

I can’t find the link anymore but it was on Ortofon’s website site about a year ago. You select your tone arm and they would give you a recommendation. I remember being pissed after shelling out over $400 for a Bronze from recommendations I read and then discovering even Ortofon didn’t recommend it.

 

Was it maybe the PnP version? They are too heavy for the Technics, I remember something like that being mentioned on the Ortofon site.

 

I found my bookmark for Ortofon’s cartridge selector tool they had for tons of turntables/tonearms for matching but it looks like they got rid of it and it is now a different page. It was a cool tool and I’m positive others on here have seen it and gave it a try. It didn’t offer up the pnp. What I do remember being recommend for the MK2 was 2m red/blue, MC3 turbo, the Cadenza’s along with the OM’s.

Makes sense to get rid of it, it was based on res freq, which only us a-bit wacko types fuss about.

 

...which makes it interesting that Technics has used the PnP 2M Black at demos of the SL-1200G. It seems to me the PnP 2Ms are basically designed to be used on a Technics arm, but their compliance should be too high for their own weight on a 12g arm, right?

 

IIRC these newer Technics have a lighter arm than the MK2, which would probably make them play nicer with the compliance of the 2M series. I also believe the PNP headshell is so heavy you will need to use the aux weight on the Tech decks, so this does make for a bizarre choice for demo. All this is conjecture as Technics still haven't seen fit to disclose factory measured effective mass.

I also wonder for brands of the scale of Technics and Ortofon if some sort of cross promotion is at play with the pairing. After all Ortofon clearly got the contract to supply the 1500c's with stock carts.

 

We are assuming 12g of effective mass (tonearm including headshell) because that is what the original ones were, correct? If what you are saying is true, then people like me who assume its 12g should probably stop doing that

 

I thought I read that KAB had confirmed 12g effective mass (though I read it second-hand, somewhere around here, so I’m not 100%...). One of these days I may wonder hard enough to find the formula and try to measure it myself (but probably not today).

EDIT: yeah, it was previously in this thread, and the KAB page for the fully upgraded 1500C lists 12g as the effective mass. I would assume (which, yes, is still an assumption and not confirmed) Technics didn’t go to lower-mass for the G and GR only to take it back up for the mk7 and 1500C. Measurement/calculation is probably still in order.

 

Thank you! I could have swore that KAB confirmed it as well for the G and GR, so it appears that its still OK to use that figure in our own calculations for resonant frequency.

 

Some reviews / reviewers were listing it at 9g or 10g. Who knows if this was actually measured or not, or if KAB confirmed by measuring. It could all be cleared up by Technics very easily, but they seem incapable of doing this.

 

I wonder if that information is still on the site somewhere, and I would search for it if the KAB website wasn’t so difficult to navigate (love the guy’s expertise and products, but that website is mid-‘90s quality web design).

 

True, it’s possible KAB is also assuming, I suppose... and who knows how accurate a reviewer’s measurements are, or whether they even measured or just used info they got from somewhere.

 

I still don't get the price difference - with 1500 being more?
German Technics guy at show:

 

He’s likely to be more responsive than Technics at least if anyone were to reach out!

 

From the pictures of the headshell, it looks like Technics is supplying the 1500c with their OG 7.5g headshell.

So some issues with that and if the Effective Mass is 12. There aren't really any headshells on the market that are much lighter than that. This is the main way one would raise the resonate frequency numbers higher to accommodate carts that are in the low and below 7’s.

The Ortofon Sh-4 is 9.4 g which in theory would make the PNp Ortofons even worse of a match res freq wise than using just a Ortofon cart on a technics headshell.

Remember, with “10 ish” being the target number, if your below 10 you need to lighten up the headshell. Over 10, you can use weight of the headshell to your advantage to bring a high number than 10 down into the 10 range. Thus getting rid of the Technics 7.5g headshell and replacing with a heavier one.

Or all this resonate frequency is garbage....

Or 10 is use just thinking about Bo Derek again...

But to bring it all back home, I bought and use the KAB fluid damper to help smooth out in my mind, a cart on a Technics whose res freq is in the low 7’s originally. Of course I have never tested it to see if it makes a difference, but in my mind, I think it does.

If we are at this point in the conversation though, I think, we all think, this turntable is a winner for quite a few people.

 

Well, 1500C has a built-in phono pre-amp and includes a cartridge.

Darko's review of the 1500C suggests it's a pretty good pre-amp as well.

Whether that justifies the price delta is hard to say.

On the other hand the removal of all the 'DJ' features should offset things somewhat.

 

I saw that - still doesn't make sense - the 1200 has a lot of things that the 1500 doesn't
must be one smokin' phono stage
Peace
Michael

 

My guess is the offset of removing the “DJ” features accounts for the cost to implement the auto-lift, and the built-in phono makes the price difference (and I guess the cartridge, but I really think Ortofon is basically giving them those). I really don’t think the pitch fader and strobe cost that much to include, especially since it’s part of the design from which the mk7 trickles. If anything, re-designing without those features may have had some cost, right?

 

Still so few reviews out on the sl-1200mk7?

On the other hand the sl-1500C has quite a few, all very positive.

 

So I am debating purchasing a new SL-1500C or SL-1200MK7, vs picking up a SL-1800MK2 that I've found locally in good condition.

Price wise, the SL-1800MK2 would be a substantial savings.

Will the performance be much different using the same cartridge?

 

No.