New Technics SL 1200 GAE

@raymonda 

DJ's with money will buy them. Who do you think bought all those gold plated 1200's, customized, powdered. coated, bling out 1200's. As soon as the big name DJ's have them the masses will follow. $1600 today is close to the actual cost of a 1200 in the early 80's.

maybe it's not the right forum to talk about djing, but i've been in this business for 20 years, the cost of the 1200mk2 since the mid 90s was $400-500 new, now (20 years later) about the same for used in perfect condition. The limited gold 1200 ltd wasn't the mass product, something like 1000 units only. Millions of djs would never buy pair of GAE for $4000, they do rather spend everything on records instead, they are not audiophiles and in most cases even super star djs are more concerned about studio equipment for music production, active monitors and similar stuff. In this world the 1200mk2 is a legendary turntable. Today i got pair of 1200mk2 for rewiring from a friend who own them for 30 years and never changed anything (typical dj phylosophy), because they are good enough and works fine. At the same time i'm not trying to they the don't like GAE, they are just overpriced for djs, they don't care about audiophiles stuff. In my opinion the GAE will never be a dj standard or club standard like it was with 1200mk2. Cheaply made Pioneer turntables filled the pro marked along with Stanton  when the Technics quit production of 1200mk2 not so long ago.

I wish we could live in a better world where local discoteques or bar invites djs to play jazz, disco or soul vinyl on TAD/Kinoshita speaker with tube amps and turntables like GAE as a standard. In reality it's possible only in Japan.             

@billstevenson and @audiofun 

I, too, own this marevlous piece of engineering.  It sounds wonderful in addition to being way better built than many tables out there, especially in its price range.  It's a rock. 

Here's my question--

When I went to adjust the torque, I flipped the switch from auto to manual, yet when I went to adjust the actual torque the setting appeared to be at what would be 7:10 on an analog clock--which I equate to being as low as possible.  Is that right?  I had trouble getting the screw to move and didn't want to strip it so I left it be.  Maybe I need a better fitting micro screwdriver--I'm already using a tiny one.  

Thoughts? Is that where your torque setting was?  

Jbhiller: 

definatley don't use a lot of force on the potentiometer (it is not a screw).
When you are making these changes I would have the unit powered down or unplugged from the wall socket.

the fact that it was aleafy turned down doesn't mean anything as it should have been defaulted to the "Auto" mode which means the unit ignore the position of the pot. 

You should have been able to easily turn the pot clock-wise which would indicate it was at the end of its range in the counter-clockwise direction.

Set the flip switch to manual and then adjust the pot such that it is 1/5 of the way up which you mean it is mostly turned counter-clockwise. 

Hope this helps.

never force the potentiometer.

I'm pretty handy but was surprised To find out that I had to use the exact size mini screwdriver as specified by the manual, 2 mm

 I was able to get the switch over to manual, and set the torque fairly low, hopefully about 20% or 1/5 of its maximum. 

 The sound certainly has more air yet  I am still listening and fiddling.