technics sl 1200 gae

@nkonor

Well, i don’t have a "tons of vintage" as you might think, i only have selected top quality vintage cartridges and i already traded my few expensive modern carts for my belowed vintage carts long time ago when i discovered the quality of the more expensive carts is not as good as the quality of the selected vintage ones. Also i could not live with $5 cartridges for practical reason, but i bought them, tried them to remember what they can do in my system with my records. At that time i was influenced by reviewers, dealers and the common opinion in high-end world. But personal experiecne is much more important, so i changed my mind. I only have two turntables in use in my main system (Luxman PD-444). And the cost of both turntables for me was less than your single new Technics GAE. Band for the buck in action.

You recently chastised one member for not helping the poor and down trodden.

No, My original post about luxury life of the very rich audiophiles was deleted by moderator because of one word, so i’m not sure did you get the message before it was deleted. It was not addressed to one member, it was addressed to luxury life that someone described as normal, but it’s not normal, it’s luxury. In the circle of friends no one can afford $15k cartridge or $30k tonearm and $200k turntable and so on. I’m definitely from another world, i don’t think it’s normal to spend that much on audio. This is an attribute of the luxury life described by one of the member. I only hope that charity is a part of that life too.

You can continue to help budding audiophiles from your keyboard. Who do you Help, with your time and effort, that Really Needs Help ?

In the modern world people of my age searching for information online. Contributors of this forum helped me a lot to expand my knowledge in theory first and then in practice. Basically the famous MM thread with tons of information from the members that no longer active on audiogon and some members that still active too. I want to pay back with my contribution. I see all this as the audiophile’s diary.

We have no probem to find reviews of the modern high-end equipment, but unfortunately we can’t find reviews of the vintage equipment, especially in comparison to the modenr equipment. And yes, bang for the buck is very important factor when normal people looking for an equipment that highly competitive to the overpriced stuff. What is overpriced for me may not be overpriced for people living their luxury life. But even relatively cheap vintage audio gear is overpriced for some people, many people spend more on records than on equipment.

I have never seen these so called deals on vintage tables.  After you factor in the arm and the plinth and so on, you are getting up there.  The thing is, look at a sp10 M2 or the Luxman, add the lets say Low mass technics 10 inch arm, and your way over 4K.  with the 1200GAE, you get the new arm, which is probably not as good as the Boron/titanium arm but you get the new motor and, well a new table with new motor.  Many of them offer no return, so what if something is not right, now lets say you have to put another grand into it, well, you get my idea.  The same thing with these older arms.  unless you can actually see the arm for yourself, make sure the bearing are ok, its a crapshoot.  Your never really sure of what you are getting.

@tzh21y if you post addressed to me then i know that you're happy with GAE, so personally you don't need anything else. I have no idea when you discovered Technics DD for yourself, i did it back in 1995 and bought my first Technics SL1210mkII between 1995-1998 (later upgraded them with some mods). For me this design is not attractive anymore at all, no matter which motor has been installed in the brand new GAE. I don't want to use one design for all my life. I want to move on.  

In the last 5 years i've been with my SP-10 mkII with Reed 3p "12inch in a custom plinth (and with EPA-100 before the upgrade). I paid $1200 for my SP-10mkII in MINT condition and never had any problem with this turntable. I paid another $1200 for EPA-100 and about $700 for custom teak wood plinth, so you can count a total. 

I have more that 7 tonearms now and SP-10 mkII is no longer a good option for me. Luxman PD-444 is way better to swap the arms, the plinth is superb, two arms can be used. Amazing DD turntable. Ask @knollbrent  for how much did he paid for it (with free shipping from Japan on ebay). It was in mint- condition with spare armboards for different tonearms. It was a bargain, about $2k ? 

People from Zu Audio always use PD-444 on High-End shows, so you can check them out.  

Technics tonearm is not a lighweight arm, it's not ideal for very high compliance cartridges. I have Denon DA-401 at the moment as an alternative on my Luxman 444. Beautiful low mass tonearm for high-compliance cartridges. 

As a collector i do not buy damaged garbage, only mint- condition (top class gear). I've never had a problem with vintage tonearms, cartridges, turntables (except for the Victor TT-101 which is notorious for its problems that can be fixed only by professionals for high price). So in general don't know what you're talking about. I can always compare them to the new modern gear to make sure they are fine.    

 

My GAE is fitted with an Ortofon Per Windfeld and it is superb.  It recently was fitted with a KAB fluid damper that does no harm.  The headshell makes a difference too, I have settled on the Yamamoto HS-2S carbon.  I also changed arm wire, but went back to stock believe it or not.  I also have a VPI Prime with two arms a 3D and a Metal both fitted with the dual pivot mod and a Eagle/Roadrunner and triple belts for speed stability.  The two decks are very close performance wise.

I have never seen those kind of deals with plinth and all.  maybe if you purchased a while ago, deals could be had.