Technics SL1200/1210

As a hi-fi deck only the arm lets it down from being a super deck IMO. It isn't really true that no-one thought they were any good, people knew, you just rarely if ever saw it in the mags.


I first heard one in a hi-fi system at a friend's house in about '95. He was a DJ and he only played electronic music but I was properly impressed with the bass, the timing and the sure-footedness of the sound and decided I would have to get one to have a play with. Took me about 12 years to finally get round to it.


You Sony is very cool, I doubt there it gives anything away to the Technics. There was some real pride and competition in quality Jap engineering back then. People forget the only reason you could buy an SL1200 for £500 new was the economy of scale. They were selling tens of thousands a year for 2 decades. The build quality of these Jap decks was way ahead of the UK stuff that was twice or three times the price. All brushed under the carpet by the mags.

Here’s the Sony inside.

I know Johnnie at Audio Origami rewires and fills the Techy arms with foam. I’dnlike to hear one of his because he’s someone i have huge respect for.

Don't bother.
The Rega RB300 I've had rewired by Audio Origami out performs my Audiomods , Aro , Alphason , Ittok , Project 9CC , and others. An SME will look nicer but in my experience it won't sound better and could even sound a little too laid back after a fully Origami'd RB300. SME were a model making firm . No pedigree in audio whatsoever .
Form over function in my opinion. I've never been impressed by the sound even in a top turntable, The most boring combo I've ever heard was an SME arm in an SME turntable with a Koetsu cartridge. It would send Sonic the Hedgehog into a coma.
They are quite simply brilliant design's the RB 300 /250's and can't easily be bettered once the original wiring is upgraded.
No wonder they appear on so many turntables.

Been there and done that, not worth the aggro. It's just bloody awkward to use.

When the arm is lowered, the lifter lever sits near flush to the surface and there's not room to get a finger under to lift it without scrabbling for it.

How?

It can't alter the height the arm is set at. That's dictated by the platter. Unless there's a deep recess to give room for the arm lifter, I can't see how an alternative armboard could help. 

Nor me. I always walk up the stairs.

Saying the RB300 is better than a SME V is a massive cope!

S.

Or just a lack of expectation bias?

I don’t know how much of an issue this is, but Richard Dunn always used to say Regas were highly variable due to the unreliable casting system they use, It would fit with my own experience of having great, good, average and poor sounding arms (I’ve had lots of them over the years).

I’m also told that the brass cartridge tags Rega use are a source of degraded sound, and they tarnish badly, to the point of losing connectivity. A rewire and an Origin Live/Pete Riggle counterweight and stub are a must as far as I’m concerned. Add a VTAF and it’s definitely a super-arm.

Forget what RD said about turntables - he was deaf as a post to the rumbles and grumbles of his Lencos which even I could clearly hear on his workroom Sh#t system and I couldn't fix the noises properly when I had another go!!! Maybe it was the godawful arm with push-on headshell socket and no bias correction he used, I don't know.

I typed a bloody essay about the various Rega arms, but deleted it all as few or none of you would give a Sh#t really! of course I'd love an SME 309, IV or V especially, but the current prices are far-east biased including distributor margins now, so out of many UK peep's league I feel. The current RB arms measure superbly, the three screw fixings may be more tolerant of arm-board material as well and the upper models have posher cabling and finish as standard. I love 'em, but then I would I suppose, having worked with this company since 1977 or so...

Yeah. That'd probably help. Over £100 to sort the issue though (and I still won't like Rega arms ).

PM sent

Rega arms a budget friendly, decent performers with a reputation for being quite bog standard in build quality.

The RB300 has a spring in it that vibrates and plays all sorts of havoc with it. It's a standard proceedure to remove said spring which tells me from a design perspective, it's a Sh#t idea to start off with.

Secondly, yes the cartridge tags were well known to tarnish and cause distortion.

Thirdly, RD was right in that they do use a fairly simple casting process which at times left seams down one side of thee arm. May not sound like much of an issue but it cannot be perfectly balanced if there is more metal on one side of the arm than the other.

Michell were the first to realise that rega had the basis of a good arm and started to refine them. It wasn't cosmetic, it was essential to remove the outer layer and expose the metal of the now uniformed arm.

Audio mods practically replaced most of the bearing housing, because the engineering around the tolerances is Sh#t.

The wiring was ultra cheap and kept ultra fine to try and remove any resistance to arm movement but it was crap wire.

No azimuth adjustment, no VtA on some models, the counterweights rattle, the cartridge cannot sit flat on the are as the coating is uneven. It is what it is, a good performing, cheap arm. Nothing more.

The Mission 774 highlighted this and made it sound like I was listening to vinyl in 2D black and white. No technicolour here.

The rega 300 is not in the SME's league, or that of the standard AT1010 from a simple engineering POV, let alone the modified one Angus makes.

Usuall "don't judge with your eyes" nonsense. I listen to music with my ears and that's how I evaluate everything. I don't care what it looks like. Look at my system now, the preamp hasn't even got a lid!!!

It's got nothing to do with looks or cost, it's about performance. The old statement "great for the money" will only ever mean it does a good enough job for the cheap price I paid.

If you want the best out of your vinyl, you will NEVER get it with an RB300.