Turntable purchase advice sought
Hey everyone,
Looking for a bit of advice on a possible turntable purchase. There is a Technics 1200 Mark II with many Dave Cawley modifications listed on the other site. I have used a VPI hw19 Mark 4 and a Rega P3 before and I'm now running an NAD c558 but I'm looking for something with a bit more bite to it. My cartridges go between a Hana ML MC and a Clearaudio Maestro V2 Ebony MM.
I don't mind fussing with turntable setup and in fact love aligning cartridges and setting VTA and all that, but I've heard lots of good news about how durable the Technics is. Any thoughts would be appreciated. And thank you.
+1 on the SL-1200 mkII I own 3. 2 from mid late 80.s. all 3 still work flawless, never an issue at all, clean lube every couple years of heavily used. best TT available. Others u break belts, things go wrong, wiring, etc etc
will pass these down to kids soon 1 of them anyway. can’t go wrong with the 1200mkii most reliable TT ever built |
Technics are solid performers. An Sl-Q3 and a 1600 mk2 are in the stables here. The Q3 is nice due to being able to set the number of times it repeats. Alongside it is a VPI HW-19 mk something or other. It’s nice to have them alongside each other. One for background or falling asleep music. The other for paying attention. :-) |
Seems a heck of a bargain for a TT and many improvements/parts Ruby bearing??? Anyone know about that???? Reviews of that??? You certainly could ask Kevin, Technics Guru https://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/m1200.htm
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I think the turntable you are looking at is definitely worth consideration; however I wonder whether the value of all the additional mods is worth the additional price (above market) that you would be paying for this particular Technics SL 1200. Alternatively, you could source another SL1200 that is in the $300-$500 range and then spend the saved money on an upgraded arm (maybe something by SME). Whether that would provide better sound for your $ vs standard SL 1200 arm and the mods you listed, I don’t know… but I think it is worth considering. |
