I am selling this beautiful, fully restored and upgraded Technics SL-1600MK2 turntable. This turntable was purchased by its former owner on eBay in 2012. It was essentially new-old-stock, having sat in someone’s closet for decades. He then had it restored and upgraded by Scott Thompson (scottrt), who I don’t think is doing 1600MK2 restorations anymore. I purchased it around a year ago, and will include the description from that listing, as it is extensive. I have no doubt that this unit is among the best condition 1600MK2's in existence, if not the best. I would prefer not to ship this turntable, so I will keep this local SoCal for now. Asking $925, willing to deliver at a reasonable distance. Includes original headshell (not pictured), V15 not included.
This is the description from when I bought it:
“This turntable is one of my best-ever Ebay “finds.” It has an unusual story. stated that it was never used. How was that possible, I asked the seller. It was sold from 1979 to 1981. He replied that the turntable was purchased by his late wife for a new house that she had intended to buy, but she never got to use it, and it sat in its retail box in a closet for about thirty years.
Here it was in 2012, basically brand new. So I jumped on it. But I knew it would need restoration. Over three decades capacitors rot, lubrication dries out, and other issues crop up. (Electrolytic capacitors decline gradually and typically have a useful life of 30-35 years.) Basically your prized piece of vintage electronics is waiting to fail. Trying to deal with it problem by problem is a game of whack-a-mole.
So I had the SL-1600 Mk2 completely restored by a respected restorer. He did an excellent job. Some highlights (a partial list):
Cleaned all contact switches and applied Pro Gold.
Disassembled the arm, cleaned old grease and renewed lubrication.
Replaced all caps on the motor drive PCB and the control/pitch PCB.
Replaced small transit gear.
Replaced tonearm belt.
Rewired the tonearm with Cardas 33 gauge tonearm wire and changed the phono cable to Cardas 24 gauge phono interconnect wire with Neutrik Profi RCA ends.
Made sure the platter is centered on the plinth opening and the suspension is set evenly and level, set all land pitch and brake control operating points, set all the cueing set-down and return points, and adjusted the tonearm bearings as necessary.
During the restoration, the restorer emailed me that this was the nicest SL-1600 Mk2 he had ever seen.
If you search long enough, you can probably find a decent-looking SL-1600 Mk2 for about $600. But it won’t be restored.
I paid almost $400 to have this turntable restored. The same work--a full restoration--would cost more today. I have learned the hard way that having vintage electronics “serviced” can mean anything from a cosmetic cleanup and Deoxit on the controls to checking everything over and replacing what does not meet spec. A full restoration goes further: It replaces everything that needs to be replaced in order to put an end to the whack-a-mole game— including items that currently meet spec but are likely to need replacement in the next few years. It resets the clock.
You would probably have to pay for shipping to and from the person who does the restoration. Think about whether you're comfortable with “economy shipping” as Ebay politely calls it. Including shipping, I spent over $1,400 on this turntable. It has performed flawlessly for me, so no regrets. The point, of course, is that unless you know a qualified restorer close enough to avoid shipping, you would spend well north of $1,000 to end up with a fully restored Technics SL-1600 Mk2 turntable able to serve you for years to come.
The turntable made three trips across the country in its retail box and packing materials.
Included will be the SL-1600 Mk 2 turntable, its hard plastic dust cover, rubber mat, 45 RPM adapter, and a xeroxed copy of the owner’s manual. I will throw in a vinyl dust cover I purchased. I’m assuming you will want to choose your own cartridge. I will include all of the email exchanges with the Ebay seller and the person who did the restoration, along with a CD of photos showing the work he did.
You may know a great deal about the SL-1600 MK2 already. If not, there is a brief review on the Vintage HiFi Shack web site, which should come up if you Google 1978-technics-sl-1600-mk2. It begins with this:
“If you remember listening to your favourite tracks on the radio in the late seventies, then the chances are they were being played on a Technics turntable. The Technics SL-1600 Mk2 is a studio grade turntable and one of the most popular and sought after direct drive turntables amongst vintage-audio enthusiasts, and is sometimes described as a fully-automatic version of Technics manual SL-1200, which to this day is the choice of many DJ’s.””
This is the description from when I bought it:
“This turntable is one of my best-ever Ebay “finds.” It has an unusual story. stated that it was never used. How was that possible, I asked the seller. It was sold from 1979 to 1981. He replied that the turntable was purchased by his late wife for a new house that she had intended to buy, but she never got to use it, and it sat in its retail box in a closet for about thirty years.
Here it was in 2012, basically brand new. So I jumped on it. But I knew it would need restoration. Over three decades capacitors rot, lubrication dries out, and other issues crop up. (Electrolytic capacitors decline gradually and typically have a useful life of 30-35 years.) Basically your prized piece of vintage electronics is waiting to fail. Trying to deal with it problem by problem is a game of whack-a-mole.
So I had the SL-1600 Mk2 completely restored by a respected restorer. He did an excellent job. Some highlights (a partial list):
Cleaned all contact switches and applied Pro Gold.
Disassembled the arm, cleaned old grease and renewed lubrication.
Replaced all caps on the motor drive PCB and the control/pitch PCB.
Replaced small transit gear.
Replaced tonearm belt.
Rewired the tonearm with Cardas 33 gauge tonearm wire and changed the phono cable to Cardas 24 gauge phono interconnect wire with Neutrik Profi RCA ends.
Made sure the platter is centered on the plinth opening and the suspension is set evenly and level, set all land pitch and brake control operating points, set all the cueing set-down and return points, and adjusted the tonearm bearings as necessary.
During the restoration, the restorer emailed me that this was the nicest SL-1600 Mk2 he had ever seen.
If you search long enough, you can probably find a decent-looking SL-1600 Mk2 for about $600. But it won’t be restored.
I paid almost $400 to have this turntable restored. The same work--a full restoration--would cost more today. I have learned the hard way that having vintage electronics “serviced” can mean anything from a cosmetic cleanup and Deoxit on the controls to checking everything over and replacing what does not meet spec. A full restoration goes further: It replaces everything that needs to be replaced in order to put an end to the whack-a-mole game— including items that currently meet spec but are likely to need replacement in the next few years. It resets the clock.
You would probably have to pay for shipping to and from the person who does the restoration. Think about whether you're comfortable with “economy shipping” as Ebay politely calls it. Including shipping, I spent over $1,400 on this turntable. It has performed flawlessly for me, so no regrets. The point, of course, is that unless you know a qualified restorer close enough to avoid shipping, you would spend well north of $1,000 to end up with a fully restored Technics SL-1600 Mk2 turntable able to serve you for years to come.
The turntable made three trips across the country in its retail box and packing materials.
Included will be the SL-1600 Mk 2 turntable, its hard plastic dust cover, rubber mat, 45 RPM adapter, and a xeroxed copy of the owner’s manual. I will throw in a vinyl dust cover I purchased. I’m assuming you will want to choose your own cartridge. I will include all of the email exchanges with the Ebay seller and the person who did the restoration, along with a CD of photos showing the work he did.
You may know a great deal about the SL-1600 MK2 already. If not, there is a brief review on the Vintage HiFi Shack web site, which should come up if you Google 1978-technics-sl-1600-mk2. It begins with this:
“If you remember listening to your favourite tracks on the radio in the late seventies, then the chances are they were being played on a Technics turntable. The Technics SL-1600 Mk2 is a studio grade turntable and one of the most popular and sought after direct drive turntables amongst vintage-audio enthusiasts, and is sometimes described as a fully-automatic version of Technics manual SL-1200, which to this day is the choice of many DJ’s.””
