Technics 1200 Critic Fremer Praises the newer 1200G

@glupson

Why would this one satisfy DJs and "audiophiles" while some other one would not?

Pitch control is the key for DJing, that’s why Technics SL1200mkII became DJ standard. You will never find any DJ turntable without pitch control fader. It can be 8% or event higher in both direction to slow down or speed up one tune to another to mix/blend them right. The tempo is the key when few hundred people are dancing infront of you at the disco. Old school DJs used a microphone between the tracks, but since the 70s DJs developed their skills to mix the records. The skills depends on genre of music, but the pitch is necesary to fine tune the records. Technics released pitch control as a fader in SL1200mkII (not as a knob like it was before on their earlier models). This is the reason why modern DJs can NOT djing on any Hi-End turntable, there is no pitch control fader to quickly adjust the speed of the record to mix them together in tempo. This is the answer why High-End/Audiophile SL1200GAE is still a perfect "DJ turntable".

The best coreless direct drive turntables like the Victor TT-101 has lower torque than Technics. Victor has an electronic pitch control +/- buttons, but nor manual pitch control fader like Technics.

My Luxman PD-444 has lower torque that Technics, but i like Luxman much better for home listening. No pitch control, just stable 33/45

In Audiophiles world the speed stability is the key, not the torque.
Victor TT-101 direct drive has an ultimate speed stability, but lower torque.

BTW: Technics SP-10 mkIII has the highest torque ever among any Direct Drive as far as i know!

So the Technics is still unbeatable in terms of torque when it comes to reference models, but there is not pitch control on the reference models. 

What is OK for audiophiles is not acceptable for professional DJs and vice versa. 

I got that part of why SL1200 was embraced by DJs. In fact, I mentioned something along those lines in another recent thread about it.

More of a question would be what qualifies a turntable as an "audiophile". If it is speed stability, that should not be that hard to achieve in 2018 and most of the relatively decent ones (not little plastic boxes rumbling their way) should be "audiophile". In my, very layman, view, torque should not have that much impact after the speed is finally achieved. I admit, I might have just written something entirely stupid out of almost utter ignorance of turntable technology.


Now, when you mentioned Luxman, I have my eye on their latest turntable just for the looks. The only reason why I have not bought it is the belt drive. I am sure it is great, but the idea of having to change belt is not that appealing no matter how simple the procedure it is. I really do not care if it does or does not have torque or if it is "audiophile" or not. I have a feeling that all these machines actually perform very close to each other. Of course, after a certain threshold of quality.

@glupson 

Now, when you mentioned Luxman, I have my eye on their latest turntable just for the looks. The only reason why I have not bought it is the belt drive. I am sure it is great, but the idea of having to change belt is not that appealing no matter how simple the procedure it is. I really do not care if it does or does not have torque or if it is "audiophile" or not. I have a feeling that all these machines actually perform very close to each other. Of course, after a certain threshold of quality. 

 
The OLD luxman reference PD-444 motor was made by MICRO SEIKI and it is Direct Drive. I would never use any belt drive.

I think you're right that all reference turntables perform very close to each other, some of them are just practically better, but it's personal preferences, i can swap and adjust the tonearm on PD-444 in 3 minutes, i need maybe another 15 minutes to made absolute alignment of the cartridge with Feickert protractor. No need to drill any holes, screw something to the turntable plinth with that Luxman PD-444. Tonearm and cartridge combination is much more important on those top class Direct Drives, i can not stick to one tonearm, i want to compare the arms on the same turntable. The engineer was a genius in my opinion. And designer was also genius as this is the most elegant DD turntable. I just love when everything made right (usability, design, quality) for reasonable price. Luxman has a long history since 1925. And reputation is Micro Seiki is a top notch too. I was in love with Technics for 23 years, but now i prefer Luxman PD-444 to any Technics i have owned including the SP-10mkII.  

How about some specifications for the PLX1000?  Fit and finish are one aspect of "value", but what about the technology built into the turntable?  We know that the new SL1200GAE/GR/G is different from the old SL1200 in every possible way, except, sadly, appearance.  And all the differences are on the plus side of the equation.  For example, does the PLX1000 use a coreless motor, as do the newest Technics'? You can't argue a comparison between the PLX1000 and the SL1200 completely in the abstract.

It becomes more clear with every "Technics thread" on this forum that Technics made a horrible marketing decision, or rather two horrible marketing decisions, by first building their new turntable as a replica of the old SL1200, and then giving it the same model name. Thankfully, the 10R at least has that "R" to distinguish it from all the old SP10s, and the appearance is modernized enough to make it instantly distinguishable from an old SP10 Mk2 or Mk3.