Technics Turntables...really???

As @cleeds said, to be fair, Technics did make a lot of cheap junk and it should be avoided. The old SL1200's were good, solid DJ tables that could perform pretty well as an audiophile table, especially if mod'd a bit.

The new/current SL1200G is a high end audiophile table that happens to look like the old DJ table. It's also $4000. There is the "trickle down" SL1200GR version for $1700 which also gets you a solid starter audiophile table.

Summary: Yes, there are a lot of old crap Technics tables out there on Craigslist, etc. There are also 2 new Technics tables that have receive a lot of praise at their given price points.

To expand on creeds' comment, there were lots of "junk" tables produced by many Japanese manufacturers, Technics was not unique in that.  The reason?  Large companies (relatively) produced a wide range of products to appeal to the full spectrum of the market.  That meant lots of quality compromises at the lower price points.  But Technics, Denon, Kenwood, Sony, JVC, etc. all produced quality tables for the upper portion of their price range, in addition to many cheap lightweight models.

Another point regards the reputation of the SL1200 series as "DJ" tables.  Those were designed and sold initially as consumer products.  As it happened, some years later the DJ crowd discovered the very good build quality and durability in the modestly priced 1200s  and adopted them as their standard instrument.  That demand is what kept the 1200s in production long after their competitors gave up.  So while the DJ label suggests a negative reputation to audiophiles and music lovers, it really speaks well for the quality of the units.

In fact I believe the discovery of the musical qualities of the SL1200s led the way to renewed interest in direct drive tables at least 15 years ago.  Used ones were inexpensive and they responded to a few modest upgrades, thus an underground reputation began building which lead to reconsideration of several quality used DD tables. 

Happy Technics 1200 and other series table owners, of which I am one, have nothing to defend. This thread was started by a someone who simply wanted to throw an unqualifed and inexperienced hot potato in the middle of the room and then run like hell. Let’s not be vulnerable to such nonsense and unqualified provocation.

No amount of education and good will changes the minds of such provocateurs.

I bought a new 1210 m5g for peanuts a month before production ended a few years back as a 4th table. 

I use it strictly for 6 vintage MM cartridges and it punches far above its’ weight class. 

I also own an SP-25 which, after many years, operates perfectly. 

stevecham2,602 posts07-31-2018 12:31pm

Happy Technics 1200 and other series table owners, of which I am one, have nothing to defend. This thread was started by a someone who simply wanted to throw an unqualifed and inexperienced hot potato in the middle of the room and then run like hell. Let’s not be vulnerable to such nonsense and unqualified provocation.

It seemed like a legitimate post to me. After all, Technics has made many junk turntables through the years and, as another contributor noted, so did many of the other major turntable and electronics manufacturers.