TECHNICS 100th Anniversary 2018 Premium Turntables. Their best ever.

@audiozen 2M Black is my favorite current cartridge at any price. I really love it that much. I used it on the 1200G and it sounded fantastic. I now use it on a Gyro SE and it's pretty incredible. My next turntable will be either SME Model 10 or Model 15 and I will continue to use the 2M Black. 

There are a lot of amazing vintage MMs, such as ML180, but on the current market, nothing can touch the 2M Black. 

Even though the spectral frequency plots looked slightly better on the charts from the Caliburn which has slightly more opened detail, the Sl-1200G sounded fuller in the midrange and more relaxed.

The platter pad is part of the sound and the Technics does not have a very good pad. That can really affect the plots!

invvictus005-Going for the SME? Interesting. The new Technics SP-10R weighs a ton. The motor weighs around 50 lbs. It uses stator coils on both sides of the rotor which are not used in the new GR or G models. There are videos on Youtube how stator coils work with magnets to vastly improve AC current resulting in a more powerful motor drive. The SP-10R
has a S/N level of -92 db's. That figure is just crazy for a direct drive motor. Heck, if I were to spend that amount of funds, I would go for the Technics SP-10R with an SME tonearm. I use to drool over SME in the 80's. As many are aware, they invented the world's first lift tone arm in 1958 which truly was the year that high end started, since it was the same year that 2-channel 33 1/3 stereo vinyl records hit the market. Thanks for the tip on the 2M Black. Curious how it would compare to the classic 
Shure V-15 VxMr. Ten years ago people were paying up to $2K for the Shure on Ebay and they sold fast. Always wanted that cartridge but haven't had a turntable since '94.

@atmasphere what mat would recommend for the SL-1200G?  I'm using the stock mat and it sounds pretty good. I tried my Herbies mat that improved my prior acrylic platter table but it didn't sound so good on the 1200G.

We've been using the Oracle mat but it is a bit thick if you want to also use a clamp.