Hot off the press...Technics SL 1300G

Pindac, is there such a product as a clamp that weighs 1 kg? If so, you’re quite correct that such a clamp places the same burden on the bearing and thrust pad as does a 1kg weight. However, no clamp that I know about weighs much more than 100g. I use the venerable SOTA clamp. I also use the weight provided by Kenwood for use with their L07D TT. It weighs 250g. That’s about as heavy as I personally would use. The L07D platter is partially magnetically suspended, which mitigates the potential issues.

The spindle itself is a solid, machine cylinder made of stainless steel usually. How can it possibly hurt the spindle to pull up on it as with a record clamp? On the other hand a record weight undeniably puts added burden on the bearing and thrust pad. Those are wearable items. Somehow, the reasoning of the foregoing statement (see previous post) eludes me. The whole point of a record clamp is that it improves contact between the record and the mat without adding any appreciable stress to the bearing and thrust pad.

JP Jones found the tiny flaw in a PCB that was causing my Victor TT101 to malfunction, after two other excellent techs could not. I then also bought his recreation of the MN6042 chip, which he installed in my SP10 mk3, even though the OEM chip was working fine (because JPs discrete version affords a small improvement in speed accuracy vs the original). So thanks, JP, wherever you are.

Find him at Fidelis Analog. He’s a qualified EE who may even have an affiliation with Technics. Among other things, he re-engineered the MN6042 chip needed to make the first generation Technics TTs run correctly using discrete parts on a PCB no bigger than an OEM MN6042 chip.

Whoops! Just looked at the website. JP closed Fidelis Analog in May.

And the SP10R platter mates and fits a 1200G? Which surprises me even more than the fact you can acquire one. But I suspect JP would have the wherewithal to make that work, if no one else in the US could do it.

Still wondering how west coast got hold of an SP10R platter.

How and where do you buy an SP10R platter as a separate item? 

I can’t recall who asked about the coreless motor but someone else asked what they would miss if they stuck with SL1200 vs any G series, and my response was they’d miss the coreless motor, etc. YES, the G series and now the G2 have coreless motors. All earlier Technics DD TTs right up to the SP10 mk3 flagship had iron core motors, albeit you won’t hear or detect cogging with the SP10 mk3.

What you’re missing are the coreless motor, the heavier more damped plinth and platter, the upgraded motor controller (G vs original SL1200), and the improved tonearm.

Probably only an incremental improvement vs G motor controller. Possibly not audible, would be my guesses. 

The G series, available since 2016 I think, is better in every way than your SL1200. Technics made a marketing choice to make the G look like the 1200, but under the skin they’re quite different, and the G series are better. Now might be a time to get a good deal on a G, when dealers might be changing over to the G2.