Belt vs Idler vs DD - Solid vs Suspended - How Would You Describe the differences.

[JohnVF]

I've heard the SL-1200GAE at an audio show and despite the lousy cartridge, its speed stability was excellent. (For $4K, it'd better be!) Fremer had a sample of it uploaded on Analog Planet, and it was not all that far off from the same sample recorded from his Continuum Labs rig. The G and GAE are a ground-up new design that shares only its looks with older 1200s. I would have to do some serious thinking if I were shopping for a turntable with that kind of budget, as there are others I'd be interested in.

Technics also now has a modern equivalent of the SP10, the SP10R, with the new technology, and sized exactly the same as classic SP10s (the drive unit, plus the outboard electronics box) so it can fit into existing applications. The new SP10R equivalent also comes in a version mounted in a plinth, the SL1000R, with the ability to mount two arms (using an accessory kit to add the second arm).

My comments were in the older SL-1200s, most examples I’ve spent time with were from the mid 2000s. The current ones look similar but are very different. I came very close to buying an SL-1200gae. Finger was on the trigger.

 

[Rudy]

My comments were in the older SL-1200s, most examples I’ve spent time with were from the mid 2000s. The current ones look similar but are very different. I came very close to buying an SL-1200gae. Finger was on the trigger.

If I already didn't have the table I own now, I would have been itching to get one also. It's not quite what I want (I'm more interested in a Clearaudio Innovation Compact if I'm upgrading), but at that price and getting that new cogless motor...very tempting. It do make some beyootiful moozics.

 

[John Frum]

I had an interesting chat recently with someone I must decline to name, but who should be considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on SL-1200s. While he had nice things to say about the drive systems on all the new Technics decks, he strongly implied that you’d have to move past the $1700 1200GR to the $4000 1200G before matching the build quality of the older models. Food for thought.