Technics Pro Series Direct-Drive Turntables Circa 1980

View Comments

• Neat to look at but not particularly desirable for audiophile use.

  • Bafflegab,

    You haven't heard one properly set up, in a good system. I've heard them with restored electronics, massive plinth and SME 12" magnesium arm completely annihilate the top of the line Walker, the Clearaudio plastic mega reference nucular option, etc.etc.etc.etc..... I've had 40-50 tables, and heard even more. The SP10 mk3 rules the roost if you pair it up with a sufficiently massive plinth. I've had the SP10mk2, SP15 but kept the Denon DP80. I just like the looks and operation of it.

  • Rubbish

• I was just at a large university archive for 78 rpm and cylinder records (300,000+ discs) in California last week and they use SP-15's for shellac discs--the head of the archive said it was his favorite deck for 78's. They also had, for the cylinders, an Archeophone , which I had never seen before. But yeah, I have heard numerous 78 buffs express a preference for the SP-15.

• If you run across one that "runs backwards", sits there and jerks around, or constantly changes speed, don't throw them away. They just need new capacitors. Simple fix.

• The audiophillics love to slag Technics, for some unknown and likely unscientific reason. I'm here to say that a Technics 1200mkIII or mkIV properly set up with a good cartridge and a good preamp is a superb vinyl playback system. If you spring for the KAB mods (specifically, the silicon fluid damping and the 3-speed mod), it is a superb 78 transfer and playback machine, too.

  The SL-1200's, at least the last two versions, came with Technics' heavier rubber mat, and that's all you need to tame the rumble. I also recommend the KAB spindle clamp. If you want to get tweaky, especially if you live in a high-RFI area, the KAB rewire of the tonearm may bring your noise level down even further. It also lowers the cable capacitance a tiny bit, assuming you use a high-quality RCA cable to the preamp.

  Where this system probably isn't ideal is with a super-light tracking cartridge or with a super-low-output MC cartridge.

  Where it works particularly well, especially compared to tweakier tonearms, is with workaday vinyl, the kind most of us spin. Warped records and off-center records do not challenge the Technics design. And using cartridges that normal people can afford is what it's made for.

  Technics was driven out of the turntable business by cheapo Chinese knockoffs of this design, sold under such brands as "Stanton," Gemini, Music Hall, etc. The real deal is much better than the junky imitators.

  -- Tom Fine

  • Hey Tom! You didn't talk about the tape decks. Those are even better! Technics definitely knew how to do analog. They've forgotten more than most current manufacturers know.

    • Hey Phillip -- roger that on the tape decks. I'm a proud owner of Technics 1500 and 1520 decks. I just used one of them for a small job in the studio this week. This was a perfect job for the Technics -- warped and loosely-wound acetate-backed reels that had been stored in a dank basement since the early 70s. The Technics isolated loop drive allowed the loose wind to just do its thing on the supply side, and there was just enough tension in the loop to get better than expected playback. It turned out two of the tapes were half-track, so it was great to get usable audio out of both sides of the warped tape.

      There are better tape electronics than Technics, but that gentle, isolated loop drive is pretty hard to beat. In typical Panasonic fashion, they re-purposed the same kind of motor and speed-lock as their turntables.

      I never liked the Technics cassette decks or CD players as much.

      -- Tom Fine

• Technics were a far better and sometimes way ahead of their time brand than given credit for....look at the top linear tracking decks that cld be programmed and track selected way before cd was invented....my sl1200 is going no where after ten years....how many flimsy regas were used as top radio station broadcast machines....bloody so called audiophiles are brain washed by hifi mags who are paid by companies like rega for better ratings