The Technics SL-1200 GAE/G/GR general questions thread

I concur.

 

Received my 1200GR from HiFi Heaven on Friday. Was planning on having Needle Dr (local store front in Minneapolis) switch out my Ortofon 2m bronze and set up everything,but they couldn't do it until late next week. Couldn’t take the wait so I did my first cart set up since early 80’s. Set it up and....sounds fantastic, as others have said this should be my last deck. I may still have them look it over to make sure I aligned it right, but I can listen over long weekend. I can’t imagine it can sound better. No issues as others have noted.

As far as dust cover I usually leave it up but never noticed a difference if down.

 

By the way , reading all your comments and opinions on this tread and others really helped me in setting up my new deck, as well as deciding to pull the trigger on the purchase. Thanks to all, and Happy New Year.

 

I can almost feel your happiness! Good for you! Congratulations!

 

What guidance or instructions did you use for the cartridge setup?

 

Glad to hear! Very random, I’m actually in Minneapolis visiting family and saw the needle doctor was in town, I may try to stop by for a visit.

 

They are great guys.

 

I watched a few YouTube clips on set up to make sure I was right in how to proceed and see any pitfalls. I watched how to use a paper protractor to check alignment. Set up for the deck is straightforward in instructions booklet. I checked all my cartridge measurements and set everything up for my Ortofon Bronze. Then I used the overhang tool included to set stylus. I didn’t have a protractor so ...I just eyeballed it....and must have lucked out since it sounds great. I will be taking it in next week for the guys at Needle Doctor to double check anyway, since I have to go in for something else.
No magic method, just lucky I guess.

 

You’re not really lucky; it’s just super easy to set these up. Use the included overhang gauge. The S-shaped tonearm has the offset angle built in, so just keep the cartridge straight in the head shell. That’s it.

 

I suggest verifying with a protractor, though. I can get it pretty close by using the overhang gauge and eyeballing it on the headshell, but I'm always a wee bit off per my protractor.

 

Using a combination square against the Technics gauge & carefully adjusting the ruler so it sits just below the tip of the stylus helps to set precise overhang. Example below:

 

Seems like it's coming for real, in red:


Happy New Year Technics heads.

 

Seasons greetings!

Well, sort of......I increased the exposure on that image & it shows red (again) instead of blue lights:



with this style slipmat in B/W:

 

Just in:

The temperature's rising.

 

Headshell storage hole there as well?

 

Yes.

 

I have been living with my new 1200GR for almost a week and thought I’d give my initial thoughts. Although I couldn’t wait and set it up myself last week I did run it past the guys at Needle Dr today. They made a small adjustment to the over hang but otherwise they gave a thumbs up.

I got back into the vinyl game about four years ago after going full bore into CDs in the mid eighties. I had kept my old lp’s and bought a Project debut carbon to ease back in. Since then I added a vintage pioneer SX950 (recapped and fully overhauled) , Schitt Mani phono preamp and just got a pair of used Infinity Kappa 6’s. Sounded good. I had been looking at the the new 1200g but it cost more than I could get by my wife, when the 1200gr came out I started looking hard and following this forum for info. I bought it last week as a retirement gift to myself.

Well of course the upgrade from the Debut Carbon is massive. Best review I can give is I keep saying ...just one more album. My wife said she looks down to my listening seat in my basement and I’m just bobbing my head up and down.
(She is not a loud music fan, but I’m getting a new purchase window of opportunity to enjoy without headphones .)

Soundstage is much bigger, background singers and other instruments and much more separate and clean Listened to Steely Dan Babylon Sisters and I can pick up drum beats that I never noticed, One Step BOTW was good before but The Boxer is just tremendous, same for One Step The Nightfly. My new 2017 edition of Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection was great...now it is insanely good. Many old lps from the 70’s that didn’t sound that good , even after a good vacumn clean sound much better. Less floor noise and the music seems to jump out of the speakers.

If you are in the market for a new turntable I highly recommend the 1200gr in that price range? This should (better) be my last turntable purchase.

 

True. This turntable is awesome.

 

congrats! it's a winner for sure and as i approach my 1 year of ownership of the GR there is absolutely no reason for me to even think or daydream about a new turntable. peace and enjoy!

 

With the 1200G I have tried a bunch of different cartridges (Hana SL, Nagaoka MP150, Audio Technica VM760SLC, Denon DL-103) and while they all sounded great the perfect match was with the Ortofon 2M Black.

 

Interesting. Did you try your Cadenza Black?

Mine is fantastic with a Benz Micro Wood SL, and that is my preferred cartridge, but the KAB/Ortofon Concorde Pro S 40 is great too.

I am using the fluid damper too.

 

What is this showing a picture of? The current 1200s have all contain blue LEDs (unfortunately, its the only thing that I dislike about them).

 

The teased info seems to point to a new turntable model aimed at DJs; the Technics SL-1200MK7.

 

No, unfortunately, although I wanted to.
The Cadenza is on my Clearaudio Magnify tonearm which has very tiny headshell wires and I did not wanted to risk braking them. Maybe sometime in the future.

One of the amazing things about the Technics models is how easy is (in comparison to other turntables) to install cartridges due to the removable headshell.
I really enjoy swapping out cartridges every few weeks or so.

 

Bet the Nagaoka mp500 would've been killer as well.
.