03-13-08: Les_creative_edgeSo in overall performance, would you say the fluid-damped Technics is at least the equal of an RB250?
2: I don't get the whining some say about the tonearm. Thing looks solid and well engineered. It's machined to excellent tolerances and IMO easily rivals the RB250 which I had on a previous table. There is not discernible slack in bearings and the arm swings fluidly in all axises. The detachable head shell of all S shaped arms is said to be a weak link compared with one piece straight arms. Honestly in term of absolute measurements on a test bed maybe it is but properly mounted and locked to the arm pipe that joint is more than strong enough for any circumstance and there is absolutely no slack or issue over it and abnormal resonances. I'd say. The arm is a 12grams effective mass and in line with may other after market arms. So I see no issues over this either.
I don't get the Technics tonearm-trashing either. I think British pride for its thriving audio cottage industry is at play here. The only two places I've seen the SL1200 tonearm trashed so thoroughly and dogmatically in print (without ever really stating what's wrong about its performance) so dogmatically is this review and at the Origin Live website, where they're pitching their own armboard and tonearms over the stock Technics.
In my own experience, however, I've been happy with the tonearm, especially with better wire (I have the M5G), the fluid damper, and a more rigid, better headshell (e.g., Sumiko). It tracks just about anything, I can get a good cartridge match with a wide variety of cart weights and compliances by changing weights of headshells and adding or removing the auxiliary counterweight, and by adjusting the fluid level in the damping trough.
You can't use the replacement cost of the Technics arm as an indicator of how good it is vs. an entry-level Rega. Technics has had over 30 years to refine its ability to mass-produce well-made, high-precision components. After all, look what a platter spinning mechanism they produce for a mere $400 retail. The Technics arm specifies bearings machined to .5 micron and <7mg friction drag. What do you pay for an aftermarket audiophile-approved tonearm to match that?
Although it's intuitive to assume a single-cast, straight tonearm would have a better stiffness/length ratio, I've yet to see anything that shows that it's actually true vis-a-vis an S-arm with removeable headshell.