vintage turntables?

Right on, Rccc!

James1969 does have a valid point regardless of other comments. True, his experience with the Sota may have not been typical of the brand, but his comments do bear some merit.

Listening tests alone do not offer enough resolution.

If you really want to see how a DD quartz lock table compares to a belt drive, you will need a NAB broadcast test disc and an HP frequency counter.

First you'll find that many belt drive tables are off speed; just a bit; and usually on the fast side, seldom on the slow side. A 10Khz tone will playback at a frequency somewhat higher.

secondly, observe the pitch stability or tone frequency deviation from the targeted value. Variation is ubstantially less on a DD quartz table, be it Technics, Sony or Denon, etc.

Happy listening.

I have an old Denon, AC DD that works well in a second system after I puttied the platter underside to stop the ringing. Has a Black Widow tonearm, w damping. Late 70s vintage. Needs a high compliance cartridge.

Also bought an old SOTA Sapphire 3, non vacuum w original Well-Tempered tonearm. Sounds great. Very quiet. Live sounding.

Get your SOTA fixed. The unit is so simple that this can't be a big deal. Might just be grease on the belt or other drive. Could be oxidation on the speed pots, or a loose/bad connection somewhere in the speed control.

That Technics should not even be mentioned on this site. Strictly DJ fare. DC Direct drive. With all of those DC pulses and other coupled motor noise, it is unlistenable on a ref or near ref system. Made for a different purpose.

I agree, perhaps my SOTA experience is unique.

With that said, I started down the path of going for 'high end' turntables - SOTA being my first. After 3 years of a 'sad story' I cut my losses and sold the table. After spending around $7500 on the SOTA, I started to look around. The prices go up really fast, $14k, $20k, etc etc. I asked myself, does good sound from records really cost this much?

So why not do some exploratory work and start out at the bottom with a popular turntable that has ready made modifications available? The Technics was the candidate for me. Looks have no meaning to me when the lights are out and the system is playing and sounding good.

This hobby has a lot of 'extreme engineering' that goes into products, and their prices reflect it. My next turntable purchase I want to have a solid understanding of where the engineering goes and what kinds of audible benefits those efforts have on sound. So for me, this exploration with the Technics turntable is and education.

But to be honest, the thought of spending $$$ on a 'high end' turntable is starting to loose it's appeal. The Technics is giving me quite a bit of enjoyment, and to think I've only spent a fraction of what some spend on just a cartridge.

It's all relevant, if you have the $$$ to throw around in the 'high end turntable' arena, that's great. I started down that path and got a whopping wake up call with the little $$$ I have into this 'direct drive experiment'.

That Technics should not even be mentioned on this site. Strictly DJ fare. DC Direct drive. With all of those DC pulses and other coupled motor noise, it is unlistenable on a ref or near ref system. Made for a different purpose.

Pcoppola

I'll be the first here to call B.S!

You've obviously not really listened to any SL-12xx or if you have you came with a jaded POV. It's OK many of us were jaded and pulled by our nose by hifi snobs who often waste(d) many thousands on sub par vinyl playback and we too thought "Hmm the Japanese couldn't have been right or able to make good to great turntables at more affordable prices." "They had to be cutting corners and marketing lies to us all." BTW no it's not a D.J. table though D.J's use them. And what difference would it make if it was? A turntable's job is to spin the record as accurately as possible, help control other noise and vibration and also be a platform for tone arm to trace a record groove as accurately as the arm can.

The SL-12xx are dead silent in motor noise none of this D.C. plus stuff you state either as being heard or otherwise revealed. They turn the record as near perfect as any turntable can, they are well dampened, have tone arms which are surprisingly good and I defy anyone to tell me they can truly hear the motor or other noise during playback. Motor noise from all too many highly rated and often sold belt drivers can often be heard from across the room at worse to maybe a couple of feet away at best. Not so with the Sl-12xx series and not so with all too many of the better vintage Japan Inc. tables.

Nobody will state the SL-12xx series are the ultimate turntables but they can and often do put to shame all too many of the so called "Wonder" tables being sold to the public which are themselves not being well qualified at being better to great turntables today.