I’m normally a fan of belt-drive tables, however, I recently acquired a 1210GR and am very impressed with the sound quality it produces. I’ve owned quite a few turntables including a handful of vintage direct-drive tables. This is the first table I’ve encountered that I feel mostly combines the best sonic attributes of belt and direct-drive. I can only surmise this is due to the core-less motor, or maybe that it allows the user to choose the motor’s torque level (which I set to its lowest). Whatever the case, it doesn’t exhibit nearly as much of the character I previously found objectionable with direct-drives.
Sure, I’d rather have a Palmer or SME 20, but for a mere mortal’s budget, I doubt there is anything better under $2K (my reference is a belt-drive setup that last retailed for over $4K).
The GR’s arm is no slouch BTW. I have a nearly new $800 Jelco arm in my closet that I could fit to the GR but don’t foresee that I’ll ever bother.
Sure, I’d rather have a Palmer or SME 20, but for a mere mortal’s budget, I doubt there is anything better under $2K (my reference is a belt-drive setup that last retailed for over $4K).
The GR’s arm is no slouch BTW. I have a nearly new $800 Jelco arm in my closet that I could fit to the GR but don’t foresee that I’ll ever bother.