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What is Technics thinking?

Lots has been said, both pro and con, about the new Technics turntable.  Description here -

http://www.sl1200gae.info/about

Some are excited about the potential, given the upgrades since their last production table/arm, the venerable SL-12XX series.  Others see it simply as an excuse to raise the price significantly of the 1200s.

In my view they shot themselves in the foot.  They copied the model number of their best selling table (I can only imagine in the hope the familiarity will carry over) and also ended up with a very similar appearance.  Given the information on all the upgrades over their prior model, the similarities make it appear like something less than what it might be.

Technics had a room at THE Show Newport and that was my first chance to see a SL-1200GAE.  The fit and finish appeared to be very good but it did look like a "polished up" SL-12XX.  I ask the Technics rep why they didn't do more to distinguish this as a new model, given their efforts with engineer upgrades.  He said he could understand my question but then really didn't offer a reasonable explanation.  After describing all the components which had been redesigned/upgraded from the prior model he offered a demo.  However the room was crowded and the remainder of the system was completely unfamiliar, so no fair impression could be made.

I believe it should have had a more unique model designation and more might have been done to the physical package so it didn't look so much like the prior model.

pryso

Showing 6 responses by lewm

lewm
12,560 posts
 
As an owner of an SP10 Mk3, I have no problem with Artisan Fidelity.  Their workmanship and engineering are superb. Now, whether any amount of workmanship and engineering done to create a plinth are worth the premium they charge is not for me to decide.  If you add in the rarity of a Mk3 and consider their target audience of wealthy audiophiles and consider the cost of turntables that compete with their product in terms of sonic excellence, it makes sense, perhaps. It will undoubtedly make sense to whoever buys it.



lewm
12,560 posts
 
Billallen, You are certainly entitled to your conclusion that direct-drive turntables "need" a tuned suspension, but there is a legion of direct-drive aficionados who would disagree with you. Yes, it's important to isolate any turntable from environmental disturbance, but most "direct-drivers" think that is best done by the liberal application of mass, using materials that are as non-resonant as possible. The problem with designing a built in suspension that really works is that the torque of the direct-drive motor tends to want to induce the plinth to rotate in the direction opposite to that of the platter.  A suspension based on springs or the like cannot resist that unwanted effect.  High mass firmly anchored does the trick.  From what you wrote, it would seem you have made your observations based on comparing the performance of one or two Technics tables of relatively light weight/low mass.  You might come to believe in the superiority of high mass/no suspension, if you were to do more experimentation.  My SP10 Mk3 sits in a 100-lb plinth of slate and hardwood.  You could put something like a Minus K air-based isolation platform UNDER such a construct, if needed. I don't perceive the need in my listening room.

lewm
12,560 posts
 
Dear Audiolabyrinth, Apart from current offerings from Win Tinnon (Saskia) and OMA, I don't think there ever was a commercially made slate plinth for anything.  The original OEM plinth for the SP10 Mk3 was a nice one made of obsidian (I think).  I've never seen one in the flesh, let alone owned one. For the Mk3, I then had a blank slate slab cut for me to my specs (20X23X3 inches, I believe), with chamfered corners and honed flat on both surfaces. (A company in PA will do this.)  I then found a template for cutting the slate on-line as a pdf file. I had the slab shipped to a water-jet company in York, PA, and they cut the holes for the Mk3 chassis using the pdf file to program their water-jet.  Then I commissioned a carpenter to make me a base using cherry wood.  I bolted the bottom of the slate to the cherrywood base by drilling holes in the slate to accommodate threaded inserts, which I epoxied in place. Five or six hefty bolts.

I had already by this time gone through similar processes to make plinths for an SP10 Mk2, Denon DP80, and Lenco L75, so I had the process down pretty well by the time I found a Mk3.  Except that none of the first 3 plinths received a cherrywood base, just all slate. 

lewm
12,560 posts
 
Got to see an SL1200G "in the flesh" this weekend at the CAF in Rockville, MD.  Visual inspection suggests that it is much better built than the original SL1200; it has an almost jewel-like quality, even though the basic shapes are entirely borrowed from the SL1200.  Technics had its own room at the show, and the SL1200G headed up an all-Technics system.  Unfortunately, IMO, the speakers were tiny single driver "small box" units mounted on stands, the kind of speaker one might choose for a small apartment or home office.  Not the kind of speaker that can show off the excellence (or lack thereof) of upstream components.  However, I was favorably impressed with the 1200G.  Knowing that it uses a coreless motor is also a big plus, in my mind.

lewm
12,560 posts
 
Bill Allen, Are you inferring that you actually cry-treated your entire SL1200GAE, or what?

lewm
12,560 posts
 
Just returned from 2 weeks in Tokyo, where I visited Akihabara twice.  The new 1200 was on display at several stores both small and large.  Sorry I did not have the presence of mind to price it out, but it's available in Japan, at least.
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