Tired of the Technics vs Rega Turntable debate?

Tired of the Technics vs Rega Turntable debate?
No, I live for it.
It's the only thing that gets me out of bed.

 

Umm
I use a belt drive and idler drive.
Both are excellent.
Bit confused here , as reviews of the Technics 1210 are very positive.
Of course, the proof of the pudding is tasting.
So I.personally would listen to a direct drive and make my own mind up.
The Rega is a decent enough turntable
But there are others.
Lack of vta Adjustment and the biasing
Mechanism put me off.
Oh I know about the spacers etc..
Sounds good though and that's the ain thing.
I would say there are 2 types of turntables.
Good and Bad!

 

The proponents of the Technics SL-1200GR think it totally out classes something that's as unassuming and unpretentious as the Rega Planar 3 ($1395 with a cartridge) sighting its belt drive and supposed speed irregularities. They're so confident about the SL-1200GR's superiority as to equip them with $2000 cartridges and mate them with phono stages that completely out class them. You know what they say about putting lipstick on a pig? It's still just a $1700 turntable.

 

long past the debate phase.....

 

Arthur K could never get QC right.

 

Better to buy a 1200G and a much cheaper cartridge. Also you have to replace the £2K cartridge every few years.

 

I think a better comparison is between SL-1200GR and P6, as they are closer price points, and the P6 includes steps up over the P3 that put it closer in performance to the Technics. I don’t think there is any question a SL-1200GR is better than a P3.

 

As I've said, the Technics is out for me because of how it looks, I really don't like it. But you're correct, the P3 is a nasic model really. Rega do better as you go down the line. RP3's can be had secondhand for around £350 to £400 (that's what I've seen them go for). The P3 is a good start, but you'll likely move on eventually.

 

Having sold Linn, Michell and Roksan, I was shocked at the build quality of a Pink Triangle I fitted a cartridge to and installed for a customer.

Arthur had some really good ideas, but when you have owners of his products advising others not to buy, you know they have issues.

 

Have you noticed that many Rega tables run fast? Gives them some extra "sparkle" on the high end. If speed accuracy is paramount, see Michael Fremer's review of the Music Hall Stealth turntable.

 

With the rigidly mounted 24 V motor across the whole range and introduction of the EBLT belts, a number of complaints against Rega are yesteryear's news.

For people who change cartridges more often than records, then a Rega is probably not the turntable for you, but for music lovers, both Technics and Rega deliver for many delighted owners.

 

I'm sure the Technics tables are great performers. I just don't care for the "DJ" look of them.

 

A friend of mine has a RB250 on his 1210, which is s nice combination. Some have argued that the 250 sounded better than the 300, but I would argue in favour of the more compact tungsten counterweight of the original RB300 used without spring downforce. I would also suggest that there may be some room for experiment with materials in the arm base converter plate and isolation measures with a Technics. I’d love to have a go at tweaking an old SL someday.

I have four tonearms which I use in my experiments. The cheapest Jelco made ‘Revolver’, then the beefier RB300 which I bought for £115 back in the day. Then the Roksan Tabriz ZI which was £250 when first introduced and to which I later upgraded the base mounting, counterweight and cables (late ZI’s reached £1050 at one point). Then a used early Linn Ittok LVII bought for £495 a few years ago (probably 2 to 3 times the numerical price in 1980!). The Rega is easily outclassed on my decks by both the Tabriz and the Ittok in terms of dynamic range and neutrality, but arm base materials/resonant characteristics of the deck seem to play a significant part in how well an arm matches a particular deck. Happy experimenting.

 

I love the clean lines of the Rega Planar 3 and the classic looks of the Linn LP12, style wise, I definitely would put the, Technics third. BUT, photos really don't do the Technics justice and in the flesh you can see and feel the quality. An audition very quickly tells you they are very good.

I know it's radical, but I've always bought a turntable to play records and despite both selling and owning Rega and Linn, there is absolutely no way the styling of the Technics would put me off ownership and in comparison to some of those oil rig monstrosities, they have a certain charm of their own.

Happy listening, however you like your turntable styled!

 

Really, the strobing lights, the shiny buttons and knobs, the excessively heavy, twisty, bendy S-shaped tonearm!

 

It is a debate that must continue forever unless someone unearths evidence that George and John were in agreement with Ringo and Paul as to which is better.

 

I'm a Rega Planar 6 owner and I fully understand where you're coming from. Life would be so much easier with a removeable headshell. With my poor eyesight, I have to take my turntable into a dealer, every time I get a new cartridge. It is much easier to change cartridges with a removeable headshell. Having a removeable headshell would also allow me to switch back and forth between a mono and stereo cartridge. I have thought about trading in my P6 for the Technics 1200GR but never acted on it.

 

I guess being a Rega and Linn retailer in the eighties and nineties, it was expected that the dealer should fit the cartridge, though I fully appreciate that the United Kingdom is both lucky to have several very good dealers and is a relatively small country.

In the 15 years I was in Hi-Fi retail, I was asked about a dedicated mono cartridge only once. Despite this, I do think that if someone has a large mono collection, then a dedicated mono cartridge is a good idea and this is the most valid reason for wanting a removable headshell.

Having fitted way over a thousand cartridges in Rega fixed headshell arm, I actually find it far easier than a removable headshell, though as the lighting and table was set up for this, I understand that I may not be in the majority.

My first Rega actually had the R200 S-shaped arm with a detachable headshell and sure enough, audio paranoia crept in and I changed it.

I did buy a conical stylus for cartridge body I had at the time, but as the P77 sounded so much better than the C77, it was used only once.

I would estimate that out if 5,000 albums, I had under 50 mono pressings, so for me it made far more sense the buy the best stereo cartridge that was suitable for my turntable and arm. In reality, the turntable, then turntable power supply and arm gave far more significant musical improvements than a better cartridge and didn't need replacing every 12 months!!

 

I’m not so sure of that, I’d want to do a direct comparison between the two using the same phono cartridge on each. The last time I did that with my late 80’s Rega Planar 2 vs late 80’s Technics SL-1200 Mk2, the Rega was more musical.

 

I don’t want a turntable to be musical (the records I play on it can provide the musicality), I want it to spin the record at the right speed, which my Sl-1210GR does, and which a P3 is widely reported not to do, when speed and w/f are measured in the real world (Rega does not even bother to refute this with their own numbers). The P6 addresses this with the included PSU, which, along with the pricing, is why I’d say that’s the comparison to be made.

 

This thread is about being tired of 'the debate', but the debate just continues...

Each company involved here manufacture completely different types of machines, the only similarities revolve around pricing.

At it's price point the 1200GR does everything I need in a turntable and maybe a bit more.
I also have a Marantz tt15s which fills the belt drive gap quite well.

 

Yeah, I think we can safely say the thread has answered the OP’s question with a “No.”

 

It's personal taste. I really dislike the look of the Technics. By saying so, I'm not at all discounting that it sounds great, I'm sure it does. But while, of course, we all buy a record deck for the purposes of spinning Vinyl, the aesthetics will always be part of the equation. The P3 is so clean, it definitely suits my own personal taste far better than the fussy Technics.

I am perplexed by the claims of bad speed on the Rega. Mine is spot on (at least according to the app I downloaded to check).

 

sorry to burst your bubble, my 60 yr old td125 mk i belt drive beats my modern sl1210gae limited technics DD by far in terms
of speed stability and w&f.

 

Interesting comment. I'd of thought the opposite would have been true. Why is it cheaper to build a belt driven deck?