Technics Quartz Synthesizer Direct-Drive Turntable

I looked into purchasing many turntables in the "audiophile" category. After doing quite a bit of research, I found the following information rather helpful:

a) This turntable was designed in the 70s as state-of-the-art. The Technics factory had to tool-up to create it. The cost today would be in the millions to get a factory to begin producing something comparable. The market is simply no longer there to do so.

b) The magnetic direct drive system allows incredibly impressive wow and flutter and rumble specs. I can confirm black backgrounds and deadly accurate speeds. No piano warbles. Details like that are very important to me. The audiophile brands will have you believe that belt drive is superior. Why? See (a)

c) This thing is built like a tank. Im not sure of the exact weight (25lbs?), but I'm always surprised when I try to move it. I can imagine it will be around long after I have departed.

I paired this TT with an AT440MLA. I no longer listen to CDs at home if the vinyl is available. Good vinyl + this turntable is vastly superior.

Upgrades are available if you'd like a new tonearm or cabling. Check KAB USA for other stuff like fluid damping and strobe-disabling.

Highly Recommended.

I've used a lot of turntables over the years. My application is getting he best possible sound out of old vinyl, primarily for digitizing.

I've recently upgraded my whole system for this purpose, and this turntable is part of that upgrade.

This is the most solid, quietest, and impressive turntable I've seen. Unlike my old Thorens, this one looks and feels like it will last forever. Rumble is way below lathe rumble in the disks themselves, and the torque must be experienced to be believed. I can apply quite a bit of effort on cleaning grungy vinyl without stalling it - a huge advantage over belt drive turntables.

The tonearm is well made, and tracks warped vinyl better than almost anything I've used.

There is some low-frequency lateral resonance when playing poorly mastered records, but it's well below audible frequencies and easily filtered out.

If you want to spend more you probably can, but I sincerely doubt there's a better turntable for any practical purposes.

Some might regret the lack of automatic turn-off, but I like the simplicity of the design.

Everyone knows these tables are built like tanks and will last forever. Not many people realize however that the 1200 sounds great too. With a good cartridge (I use a Shure M97xe) this table absolutely cannot be beat for sound quality by any table anywhere NEAR it's price range.

Go ahead and compare the rumble and wow and flutter specs between the Technics 1200 and any of the belt drive 'audiophile' tables under $2000. If you do this you'll find two things; most companies won't publish these specs (guess why,) the ones that do are producing tables with inferior specs to the Technics 1200.

Let the uninformed have their plastic belt drive toy tables, I'm keeping a 1200 on my shelf. Unrivaled reliability and specs plus dead solid locked rpms for me thank you.

needs lifts for the back to bring the low
to feed the wall for sound. looks o.k. for the buyer
kid approval might sell in japan
good-o.k.

When a turntable remains the industry standard for more than 20 years, you should know there is good reason for it. A solid, reliable platform for any DJ's creativity. You don't need any of the fancy gizmos on the digital decks, all you need are these, some good tunes and a bit of imagination.
Seriously ragged.