Technics SL-1300G Turntable issues

Technics was never a high end brand, back in the 70's 80's they made mid fi equipment or worse. Suddenly after so many years they are now charging a lot for  their "updated" products. I guess they made one certain turn table that DJ's loved, but that was a long time ago. Very few people have original Technics equipment because they didnt sound very good and were unreliable they were  tossed out by many!

Matt M

Bruh

I disagree with Matt, Technics did not get to the dominant market position they enjoy following his script.  I cannot see what you are talking about because I do not have a Facebook account.  Is the problem cosmetic or does it affect functionality?  If the latter you definitely should return it.  If it is cosmetic, then only you can decide if the blemish is acceptable to you or not.  If it is not, you may return it and get a better one - or not - who knows?  Is the effort worth it to you?  Only you can decide.  One thing you said makes me hesitantly suggest what I would probably do.  If the TT works well and the sound is all that you expected, turn the lights down low and enjoy your favorite music.  In the end nothing else is as important as the music. 

@billstevenson but, but, but, my room temperature isn’t 20°C

Surely my vinyl will sound like crap and I have to get to that temperature 😅

Matt’s assessment of Technics is funny to me considering Technics turntables are some of the best when it comes to retaining value and actually being used without jumping to change stuff.

I guess he doesn’t like that.

As for OP, their issue only they can answer if they wanna keep or return said turntable 

Take a short level and place it on different parts of the platter. Rotate the platter a quarter turn at a time and if your level bubble is in the middle through the entire rotation, it's spinning flat and you're good to go. As to the looks of the side of the platter bothering you... nothing is perfect in our world unfortunately.

Matt, Have you ever heard of the SP10, produced in the early 70s, or the SP10 Mk2 or Mk3 (earliy 80s)? In their day, those were among the best direct drive turntables available, maybe THE best so far as the US market was concerned, because competitive direct drive turntables were available in Japan and in nearby markets but were usually not imported.  Anyway, I full up refurbished SP10 Mk3 would fetch more than $10K in the enthusiast market up until a few years ago, when Technics produced the SP10R, which apparently you also have no knowledge of but which is one of the finest TTs available anywhere, especially at its relative bargain price. Do some research before pontificating.

mattmiller
Technics was never a high end brand, back in the 70’s 80’s they made mid fi equipment or worse ...

The Technics SP10 turntables have always been highly regarded. Technics has also made some truly exquisite pickup arms (EPA-250, EPA-500) and its open reel tape decks (RS-15XX series) still command top $$$$. The Technics RS-9900 two-box cassette deck was quite a wonder in its day - and maybe even still is. Check ’em out.

@mattmiller - you don't seem to be familiar with the SL-1200G which was hand-built in Japan and is an excellent table; at its weight and build, most definitely not a 'DJ' table, never mind the looks. 

We here are all rightly ganging up on Matt, who is entitled to his opinion of course. But as to the OP, you’re absolutely right about the cheezy feel of the cueing mechanism on the current Technics line. I have an SL100C and it’s my only complaint with it. I just scored an SL1700 Mk2 in good shape to have a good secondary table with pitch control, and its electronic cueing mechanism is miles better than the new one. It also has a decoupled floating suspension, auto-return, on-the-fly VTA adjustment, and a die cast aluminum plinth.  It might become my main table!

@mattmiller, to add to the above re your pejorative "updated" comment. The current Technics TT's are not merely updates of the DJ-favourite SLs. While they share a common form factor and visuals, their engineering is massively different and better.

Technics have also made some very fine CD players - not really making headlines there now, but during the 000s their MASH players were beautifully built and very nice sounding.

Fellow 1300G owner here and I have the same complaint. It’s actually my only complaint. @dmorse6736  I understand what you are referring to regarding the bands, I don’t seem to have that issue. As an illustration if i were to have the platter rotating and have no other indicator it is turning, I cannot tell from my seated position. Agree it must me a quality control issue at the factory. 

Aside from the fiddley q-arm, I am over the moon with this TT. It’s built like a tank, sounds amazing, has a super powerful yet dead quiet motor, seems to be a great match with my Hana ML cart, and I think its pretty handsome, (sans some of the other buttons, slide etc on the other Technics tables, which are just fine IMO, this look just speaks to me).

This TT is going to out last me. I love the damn thing.

I was playing hooky from work yesterday, had the house to myself, and played music from 8:00am to around 5:00. I live for days like that.  

That 1300G looks like a great turntable. Enjoy! As to the durability of Technics turntables I still have an SL-3200 that I purchased new in the late 1970's for less than $200 from what I remember and it is still in perfect working order. It was used heavily for probably 15 years until I moved on to other turntables and it sat idle until a few years ago when I set up a second system. I had purchased a replacement Stanton 681EEE cartridge like the original probably 20 years ago that I had not installed and recently picked up a Jico Shibata stylus and it sounds great. I check the speed every now and then and it is always dead on. Not high end by any means but a great product from Technics and fun to use and sounds great to my ears. 

@mattmiller an opinion is one thing, but silly statements with no basis in fact…

Have you heard an SL-1000RE-S?
 

Definitely not mid-fi or a DJ turntable (nevertheless the original 1200’s were formidable)

@baylinor I would think you'd want to make sure the base is level first!

Take a short level and place it on different parts of the platter. Rotate the platter a quarter turn at a time and if your level bubble is in the middle through the entire rotation, it's spinning flat and you're good to go. As to the looks of the side of the platter bothering you... nothing is perfect in our world unfortunately.

@faustuss  

You are going the wrong way about it, the stylus runs on the platter not on the base.

I agree with Matt. Mid-fi product back in the day. Noisy with a poor arm. I guess it all depends upon what you use for comparison. I have heard good things about the upper level direct drives in the current line. 

@baylinor If the base isn’t level, how are you going to determine with a spirit level if the platter has a wobble? You were responding to @dmorse6736 ’s inquiry about a 1mm wobble, were you not?

Buy the way, the stylus plays the vinyl record which in my experience is never perfectly flat!

Interestingly, if we were discussing a Rega turntable with an alleged platter wobble you Technics heads would be completely beside yourselves with condemnation! Just sayin'.

You are going the wrong way about it, the stylus runs on the platter not on the base.

@faustuss 

Sorry you don't understand the fact that the platter is the part that really needs to be leveled. Of course you start with the base but if the platter is not leveled after leveling the base, you need to adjust the feet until you get the platter leveled.

On a quality TT like my VPI Classic the level of the base is identical to the one of the platter. But on lesser quality TTs like the Pioneer DX1000, or Pro-ject debut, I had to make legs adjustments to get the platter leveled. 

Luckily the VPI Classic can handle heavy center weight and outer ring. I use them for every record I play so they are pretty flat. If you truly want hifi results, this vinyl thing can be tedious. Tone arms / cartridges alignments and specially the cleaning vinyl and storing  part. Not for everyone. 

I just checked your system and you seem totally committed to vinyl. It is very easy to check a platter for proper level. Just use an eye bubble type level and move it around the platter and check that the bubble stays dead center in the eye. Then move your platter to multiple positions and repeat the bubble test. Once you have made a 360 platter revolution and all positions had the bubble centered, you know your platter if leveled and spinning without wobble. However that was not the OP's concern. His concern is over the side of the platter having lines that are not uniform as platter turns. Anyway that was my understanding.

Guys, please read the OP's post before going on about checking the platter being level, he states it is. His complaint is that the cosmetic silver bands at the top and bottom of the outer sloping rim, vary in width. This is a variation of the manufacturing process. The platter is a high pressure die casting, which has the centre hole bored and then the platter is centred on this to true up the casting an a lathe. The silver edges can vary due to this truing up process. (The difference between as cast and machined around the centre hole).
That's all it is.
The OP has to decide if this purely cosmetic variation is something he can live with, or if he requires a different platter that has more equal lines.

As for the modern Technics being substantially better, I would disagree. They are very slightly better, a little mass has been added to the platter and the bearing has been slightly improved, but that's about it. The marketing bull about the new motor being better is just that. I run a DIY turntable using the DD drive motor from an old SL-1200 MkII, if you check the wow and flutter figure, its the same as the SL-1300G (0.025%). You could argue extra torque, but is that needed or audible? My motor runs a heavy 38mm thick acrylic platter and stops and starts on a dime.
They are and always were, a very accurate and stable platform for your records.

@qwin You leave out of consideration that with each version of the 1200 series as well as the 1300 if you read Technic's litterateur each step in the model hierarchy has it's own variation of the direct drive motor that is exclusive to each. Which despite as you stated, "slightly better" they have yet to perfect their direct drive technology and the issues that have plagued it from the beginning still exist such as "cogging", that I'm sure with individuals who have sound systems resolving enough can still hear it. If you do the discovery, you will find this to be the case. Try as they might, they may never surpass the performance of belt drive which still remains the dominant choice and like direct drive, advancements in the technology continue to be developed.

"As for the modern Technics being substantially better, I would disagree. They are very slightly better, a little mass has been added to the platter and the bearing has been slightly improved, but that's about it."

The SL1200G is aproximately 6KG heavier than a 1200 MkII. The platter is nearly double the mass of the 1200Gs and the rest is the solid aluminum plinth and the BMC sub plinth. There are also differences in the arm's engineering.

BTW, I am not burning a particular torch for Technics, though I have previously owned a 1200G and was pleasantly surprised at its performance compared to the SME 20/12a that it replaced.

@faustuss
Cogging! please don’t make me laugh, if cogging was audible, they couldn’t get anywhere near those Wow and flutter figures. Read up on how they measure Wow and Flutter and consider this for yourself, it just doesn’t add up.
I’ve never seen anything written by Technics about cogging and would welcome a link to anything. All designs evolve for a verity of reasons, DD motors are no different, but the stability of these, as measured, has changed little.
Cogging was a term first coined by belt drive manufacturers, to put down DD technology in the early days. The wow and flutter figures of which, they couldn’t match by a factor of 10, at anywhere near the price point.
Belt drive TT’s use electric motors to, that would cog in a similar way, but I stick to my main issue with it, that if it were a real factor, it would destroy wow and flutter figures, which it doesn’t.

@yoyoyaya 
I still say the changes are small, so they bolted a brass plate on top of the platter to create extra mass, wow. The Plinth was always die cast and they had to do something with the arm, the early one used a plastic yoke.
I’m not criticizing, I’m a fan of the Technics tables, but realistic about how much they have improved, over what performed pretty good anyway, despite some dodgy engineering decisions back in the day. The build quality and improvement to parts design has undoubtedly got better, but what impact has any of this had on performance, in any significant way?  

My own Technics DD motor based turntable has more radical changes.
Including my own external power supply, internal regulator and inverted ceramic tipped bearing.

Hey Matt....back in 1973 I bought a Technics SL 1350 DD...with Shure V15 cart...from a store in Manhattan...it cost me $400 ....this waa 1973...it was high end at that time....it's 2025....48 years old and it Still works...

UNBELIEVABLE: In spite of the video I send, me repeated clarifying the concern not "wobble" but the quality of the machining of the platter edge. This is the response I got from Technics on an "escalated" complaint:

Thank you for contacting Technics Support.

Our engineers got back to us regarding the wobble shown in the video.

In this situation, they advised that you ensure sure the platter has been secured properly with 3 screws, 3 washers and 3 Bellville springs as described in the operating manual.

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Technics Support for United States

My VPI Superscoutmaster/rim drive/classic platter, etc.  still works

Update for those that saw my original post on the platter issues with my new Technics SL-1300G.

BEST BUY DID THE RIGHT THING AND WILL LET ME RETURN IT. Like many of you, they saw in the video a real issue at the $3300 price point.

As I contacted "Technics Support for United States," and never got to talk (purposely by design) to a human being, they failed to acknowledge the issue and provided me canned (and technically incorrect) replies and finally insulted me by telling me to check whether I had installed and tightened the platter mounting screws, I’m looking at another brand. Does anybody have a recommendation or thoughts on the Denon DP-3000NE. I understand it was recently released.

Sadly after owning two Technics turntables,  I am leaving the Brand. 

@dmorse6736 These guys are going to completely out of their minds when I say this but you could have a look at the Rega Planar RS Edition  https://www.rega.co.uk/products/planar-3-rs-edition which would allow you to pocket a few dollars or spend it on records or an upgraded cartridge like an Ania Pro or even a Rega phono stage and I bet you'd be as a pig in shit and never look back!

Though you could reveal the other equipment you have in your system so we could make suggestions regarding compatibility. I lived with a similar but older version for years that I bought new and accessorized based on my own priorities at the time and was extremely happy with it until I got the upgrade bug. Pictures of my RP3, Exact, TTPSU and other Rega components I owned are available to view in my profile if you want to look. Another interesting fact about Rega like McIntosh or Luxman for instance, depending on what dealer you're using, they have very good resale value especially if you want you to upgrade your system and you haven't Mickey'd around with modifications.

Why consider Denon with the multitude of t.t. manufacturers  out there? I may be a bit out of touch, but I wouldnt consider anything from Denon worth consideration. 

Cogging is a real thing, not something made up by audio engineers. It mainly is a problem with iron core motors. Read about it in wiki. Technics dealt with it in the past by increasing the number of poles and various other strategies. And yes, BD TTs use iron core motors by and large and can also exhibit cogging. Hence the rubber belts that ameliorate cogging but introduce a plethora of other problems. But the G series and the SP10R now use coreless motors that don’t cog. Faustuss is ignorant of this fact.

@faustuss my system includes a DIY Preamp based on the 6922 Tube, DIY Monoblock amps using KT88,   Hana Umami Blue cartridge,  musical fidelity phono stage,  TT TBD and Klipsch Cornwall speakers.  Pioneer Elite CVD/CD for digital media.   Some room treatments and premium cables.   
 

My theatre has a VPI Scout TT with a HANA ML MC catrridge (TT soon to be TBD)  Musical Fidelity phono stage,  Yamaha Aventage 2000 used as PRE/PRO.  OPPO 205 for digital media.  DIY monoblock amps using KT88.  Klipsch in wall speakers for movies.  Belle Klipsch with Klipsch subwoofer for 2 channel and movies.  DLP projector, 10’ screen.  The room is heavily treated with Rt60 at less than 250ms. 

A little better.  A lot better. These are value judgements.  The fact is that in developing the G series TTs, Technics upgraded every aspect, most especially including the platter and motor (changing from an iron core type in the old SL1200 series to coreless in the G series).  The original entry in the G series sold for nearly $5000. It has always been my opinion that Technics made a big mistake when they decided to make the G series look pretty much like the old SL1200. This encourages diehards to maintain that their old SL1200 is just as good.  Further, they muddied the water by producing less expensive versions of the G series, taking away some of the innovative features of the top of the line in the process but also thereby making the TT affordable for a vast number of audiophiles. That was probably good marketing but it gave further encouragement to the SL1200 aficionados.  It's foolish to argue about better or not better.  If you love your SL1200, then love it but don't labor under the delusion that it is on par with a top of the line G series TT.  Just don't. It isn't.  And the SL1000R (the SP10R with plinth and tonearm) is one of the great TTs available.  Also, if you hate DD, that's fine. Don't buy one.

@dmorse6736 Awesome! Maybe you need to think about going a little upmarket. Honestly, the only higher end turntables I've lived with are my previous Rega Planar 8 and Apheta 2 and 3 combos (which is excellent by the way especially for the price with great resale value.) and my Luxman PD151 MKII and Hana ML. I don't know what your budget is but these days the Planar 8 sells for $5000 with an Apheta and the Luxman $6500 with a cover which you would definitely want. The arm on the Luxman has all the requisite adjustments you would need for your Umami and will accommodate medium to high medium mass cartridges and you can also purchase an optional counterweight for heavier cartridges.

If you don't use one already, I recommend a good test LP. I use the latest version of the Hi-Fi News LP which comes with a Stevenson protractor. I also use and alignment block for VTA and azimuth and there is a track on the test LP that cleverly uses a null to verify your azimuth setting provided you have a mono button somewhere in the chain, plus, a spirit level and good stylus force gauge.

I may just be spinning my wheels since I'm sure you're up to speed on all of this but I hope I've been helpful.

@faustuss my system includes a DIY Preamp based on the 6922 Tube, DIY Monoblock amps using KT88,   Hana Umami Blue cartridge,  musical fidelity phono stage,  TT TBD and Klipsch Cornwall speakers.  Pioneer Elite CVD/CD for digital media.   Some room treatments and premium cables.   
 

My theatre has a VPI Scout TT with a HANA ML MC catrridge (TT soon to be TBD)  Musical Fidelity phono stage,  Yamaha Aventage 2000 used as PRE/PRO.  OPPO 205 for digital media.  DIY monoblock amps using KT88.  Klipsch in wall speakers for movies.  Belle Klipsch with Klipsch subwoofer for 2 channel and movies.  DLP projector, 10’ screen.  The room is heavily treated with Rt60 at less than 250ms.