Technics SL-1200G, Loving DIRECT-DRIVE turntables 

Just yesterday I upgraded my 1210GRs headshell with Oyaides carbon fibre. The improvement was quite noticeable. I wasn't aware of their platter mat, going to check that out.

What, nk power supply mod?

@@johntrott9513 Forgot to mention I added a Oyaide STB-MSX record stabilizer set to 350g (3 weights) and a Furutech Roxy power cable.

Derek, what cartridge(s) are you using? noticed that the audiophiliac seemed to have down graded his cartridges. I also am interested in this turntable, but mainly because I want play with different cartridges, unfortunately I have a transimpedance phono stage that limits me to low output cartridges. I'm wondering if this table is more suited for more high energy cartridges like high output moving irons.

@@BobCoalWater I'm using a Audio Technica AT33PTGII and an AT33EV into EAR834P Sig phono stage. The G is a wonderful TT for the price in my opinion and the arm is just fine. See the Technics video about how Michiko Ogawa sought out old boy employees to come back and make the arm. Spirit of Japan.

I like your disclaimer on the end haha. To be fair Johnny Walker Black is overwhelmingly a blend of Caol Ila whisky mixed with some cheaper stuff. Caol Ila is literally the best Distillery IMO in Islay overall. Double Black is just a higher ratio of Caol Ila in the blend. So you're not as basic as you say, just economical!

@@DNGR369 Johnnie Walker Black is pretty decent, IMO (just not the best).

The Accord is a good car ...just like the SL 1200 mark II. A good drive, does what it's supposed to do and very reliable. As far as the Scotch Whisky goes...I have some Irish blood in me . I discovered the two don't mix well. Anyway I be using my Technics SL-7 put the record on close"n"play. My Stanton L747S even has a brush...when I'm lazy! I just pulled a power cord in a dumpster years ago...and this little whale was at the other end . $105 for the Stanton. It puts a smile on my face 😊 every time I use it. It's kind of cute too sittingon top of my JVCDD-7 ( yeah I said it has good enough isolation)..the foot print is the size of an album jacket and has good enough isolation since it's as heavy as my SL-1200 mark II (another dumpster find ...needs a tone arm bearing...eventually I'll fix that) .

After being in storage for that long, the bearing would love 2-3 drops of glide bearing oil. After that, it'll be ready to roll.

Yep hasn’t changed very much for over 42+ years

That was my first turntable. Have a sl-1210gr now.

these people wouldn't be able to tell the difference from yours - as long as it had the same cartridge , rubber mat ect and one was using headphones.. I would admit yours would suffer due to the lighter mass of your turntable in a 'playing' live environment . . This is hilarious when belt people think this is new because of an outrageous price tag.

You are a healthy and lucky man!

I've got one of those . It's very reliable I ditched my belt drives for it a while back. Now that I have my SL-7 fitted with a Stanton L747S I've been using the little close"n"play.

To Mrmoogle, I done exactly the same in Feb 21 , after years and years faffing and pratting around with a JA michell, I find myself playing records now so much more than I used to , every thing is so easy and predictable with the G , swapping cartridge and headshells in seconds, and playing records I thought I didn't like of which I now love .

1200ś have VTA

The MK2 is a better deck than the MK7! The G on the other hand is superb.

I just bought my third 1200 and this is why. There are better sounding decks. The Technics, with some modification are good enough and nothing is more user friendly. I see what you said over and over again. Why would a guy with a ten thousand dollar turntable not use that? The Technics must be good enough to overcome the headaches of dealing with those very high end turntables. To me that says save my money and invest it in other areas. I'll be honest. I want to swap the arm and power supply on the MK2 I'm refurbishing but other than that I'm good. I'll only swap the arm if I can find one with the same removable stylus functionality though. Otherwise it defeats the point for my needs.

The new line of 1200 decks are completely different than the Mk II and better sounding.

Technics used to charge $400 for a brand new SL-1200. Audiophiles didn't 'approve' of Technics tables until they started charging big money for them. You could lock these dudes in a room with a 1200G and a GR in a blind abx setup with rules in place that they're not allowed out until they pass a 10/10 blind test identification of the tables, only difference being the table. They'd all die in that room.

@@mrb2917 😆

That Audio Technics AT-120XUSB's stock is about to rise...

I've always found that a darkness is resonance. Anybody that went to night clubs in the 80s know what the 1200 is about. It's an addicting sound

Interesting you would say that. I’m 53 now and 10 years ago I auditioned a Linn system with my then 76 yo father at BillyVee hifi in London. My father just had his first hearing aids. The linn speakers we listened to were the top of the line Klimax speakers, active drive with 10 (!) mono amps, 5 per speaker. The dealer had us listen to our own music on cd. Then he disconnected the super tweeters that have a range from 20kHz to 44kHz. As a trained electronics engineer and hifi enthusiast I was sure this wouldn’t make any difference. Boy was I wrong. I heard a clear difference but also my father. Turns out harmonics and many, many other variables play a role. Since then I have been chasing the perfect sound… Welcome to the world of audiophiles… Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱

Transparency?

that not a real issue ,that´s you wanted to be more sure than your hears can ,like if you doubt them, but they are yours and you shouldn´t doubt them ,i never got crazy over high-end hi-fi but happy some years ago i was thinking about the 2m ortofon black with golden letters and i did bought one for my sl-1000mkII and till i´m dead it´s enough the sp-10 is a sl-1000 but not assembled by technics you choose the options of building it perfect for you ,in terms of sound they are much above the SL-1200 but the SL-1200 was never intended to be a high-end audio turntable but professional one ,good sound and practical while working ,i´m doing the reverse i´m buying whatever i didn´t had in vinil but avoiding new records and searching for colections being sold , at the same time i own more than a thousand original cd´s but those are not older recordings tuned into digital, as an example one listens to AIR or the first Massive Atack cd and it sounds good if listening to portished cds also the cd version in good but the vocals can only sound better in vinil versions but they don´t sound bad in cd so why spend more money if what you have is good and either than good only bad, and some original recordings came with more noise than home recordings this meaning not all music is the same

Pahaha

you wouldn't know the difference from a 1978 Technics 1200MKII outfitted with the same mat and cartridge. Never .

my neighbors motor is shot, and its not an uncommon thing...

@@DG-ie5ip 😂🤣😂

I have my Technics SL1800 also bought new in 1977….

I settled on the Sony, flew beneath the radar. I have some great mid fi cartridges to rotate. It is rock sold, my seniorly ears could not hear any better.. I think a lot of audiophiles should have their hearing checked, It could be much to do about nothing.. if your hearing trims off between 10 - 15K you are likely BS yourself.

Tim, great info. Can you direct me to where you got the external PSU? I have the GAR as well. I love this turntable !!!! Thanks

you didn´t had to worry if correctelly used, a belt drive can last a lot of years but this new change it yourself for the speed i guess they become very fast out of tune due to the daily handling of the belt while mechanical change doesn´t afect sound but skin grease or skin natural protection will be added everyday when listening to records how much time does one of these keep the speed not having a stroboscope to watch it´s changes in speed and not correctable

@@RUfromthe40s It depends on the deck ; many do indeed rely on moving belts from one pulley to another , and indeed my Gyrodec with the standard power supply required this approach ; also my previous Hydraulic Reference Turntable used a little fork to nudge the belt one way or the other ( that turntable did have a strobe and was designed to run slightly fast , then slowed to speed by dipping a vane into the well of silicon fluid ) . However , since getting the QC power supply , speed change is effected by changing the oscillator frequency which changes the motor speed . I rarely find any need to tweak anything on my turntable and the music just keeps sounding good .

@@derekheeps8012 i do have 2 turntables driven by belts but it´s inside the turntable wooden box with mechanical change of speed no electronics or unprotected belt made of cheap synthectic rubber, this since 74 no flutuations on speed and i´m re-wiring it because original wires due to excessive use are getting old and sometimes one has to put in place the ground wire but either than this it delivers a clean sound with a large spectrum of frequencies ,even those one can´t hear or feel when loud, i´m not against turntables driven by belt but i saw a fluance and already close to 1.000€ that only made think of my 78 also pioneer lower reference that at the time were the cheapest(PL-514) but even being like i discribed ,the fluance looks a lot like it and for the worth ,cheaper material, and it´s very good they say, and there´s a diference between those who had records and stop having because when cds came out they just bought a compact system and throw away their old turntable and stereo receiver ,most of them never cleaned the dust of a record or changed the stylus since new on their old system some even had the records on top of a speaker out of the cover , no wonder the cd sounds better ,but in my personal case i worked for 35 years in a radio station was responsable by the electronic material bought for the station that i was one of the first to have the idea of a fm radio station started by young people ,today nothing related with the 80´s or 70´s ,it´s now still a station with only author programs that choose and play the music either in vinil or cd ,this to say that for several decades was also a dj and never stop using records and cds i only started to buy them in 93 allthough i had the first sony cd player semi-portable ,one could listen to it by using headphones and at home one atatched to it a sony part that was a transformer and two rca´s and it becomes a home cd player ,funny that the first md player that in the 90´s arrived to my friends store was also the same system both had a crystal liquid display, i never stoped listening to records and one thing i notice earlier was the guitar sound on cd´s, still bought a lot of early 90´s lp´s in record ,one could buy two records with the same money of one cd and was still using a system bought in 76 ,it cost a fortune at the time but this works perfect today ,had a thorens turntable ,i think it was the best but also in 79 bought the SL-1000mkII and several other from technics including the SL-1200mkII to work ,in 72 the old thorens professional line were substituted by the new SL-1200 from technics the mkI,now i´m using a SL-3310 from 76 full automatic direct drive that i don´t even understand how it works today in perfect condition without any repair along with the p'l-15D from pioneer and the SL-1000 from technics (i have diferent rooms with diferent systems) ,i don´t even understand what brands like pro-ject are doing .Today one see´s the kids changing cartridges and stylus as upgrades ,one used to buy a cheaper turntable and buy a new cartridge and stylus to make it sound perfect but not each year there´s no improving to do ,what i noticed it´s the bad quality of the phono stages in integrated amplifiers, but one could always improve it´s turntable but once not several times it doesn´t even makes sense, but not all are the same each brand delivers diferent turntables allthough some use the same turntable only personalise them a litle to be similar to other equipment from the brand , regards

@@RUfromthe40s You win the prize for longest sentence ever! Amazing!

@@nomorokay thanks ,not my first language, regards and a happy new year

Exactly! Thanks for watching

There was no bad design , the Series Iv and V had one piece arm tubes for rigidity and low mass , just as had been first done on the Series II fixed headshell . If a detachable headshell was a requirement , SME made the 309 which was a similar design to the Series IV and V but with the removable headshell . Of course it was a 'budget' version of the Series IV , but it did exist .

@@derekheeps8012 this was more an observation of user interface in general, the better it is the more likely someone will want to use it. Living with a product over time makes the small details count, using the product needs to be a pleasure. There’s a reason streaming is the number one way to listen to music, it suits more users needs.

Did you consider upgrading to the SL-1200G? It is said to sound noticeably better than the 1200GR.

@@nomorokay Yes I considered it but having heard it I didn’t believe the small increase in sound quality was worth the large increase in price and having the ease of cartridge swapping does not hold up against a much better turntable so now I am a bit lost as to why Steve would change from an SME turntable to the technics.

Thank you

The Tech has changed once they re-started production a few years ago after the shutdown. They redesigned the Motor so

@@DNGR369 The tech hasn't changed much. More of a modernisation in few of its areas to keep up with the times, than a change. Those who still have SL-1200 mkII should be content with it. The ones who don't, will certaimly benefit from the new editions.

This ^^^ Same sentiments here. I have MK7 and my dad still spins 42 years old MK2 on daily basis. His MK2 looks like brand new. These things were built to last, overengineered pieces of hi-fi kit. Enjoy yours!

As an aging DJ in the mid 80's once said to me: "Believe me, girls come and go, the 1210's are for life!"

Still have and use my SL1800 purchased in 1977… just added Ortofon 2M Red.

Don't you know , that you can change your strobe light in your MK7 and GR or G ?

the king is the 1200MKII. that search ended in the late 70s . that's all this design is based on. y'all would never know the difference.

@@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777 you'd be surprised, I once had a Technics SL 1300MKII and compared it to the Technics sp 15. the SP was better, not a big difference but noticeable. you need to understand the equipment you hook a turntable into, can make a difference in the way they sound. I'd be interested to know what you compared the G and the old MKII with. if you are running it on what most DJ's use for MKII's no wonder you can't hear the difference.

@@kwd-kwd Oh maybe my comment wasn't' clear enough.. I forget now what I said...but I agree - SP are known to be better but 'barely' like , negligible to most people (but made to be best in the 'industry' of course for broadcast duty) - that's why I modd my 1200s to be similar to the SP of course not everything can be changed - The 1200's I mod is for my transcription business.. yes stock 1200s are great but not excellent for sound. I recently got 2 Audio Technica 1240s for actual DJ work - to run with Serato and wow the phono stage is NOISY ! I think it's the USB interface inside the turntable which I hope to disable . The AT is a Hanpin turntable (Chinese).. has amazing bells and whistles.. is substantial for real time mixing - but it's 'loosey-goose' compared to a Golden era Technics. I may have been a bit glib in my response.. again can't remember the vibe..thanks for your comment.