Technics SL150 mk2

I’ve just googled the mk2. Isn’t it odd that they departed so radically from the mk1 design, yet kept much of the mk1 styling in the 1200/1210? I must admit I know nothing about either version of the 150. If it’s sounding good, then that’s all that matters. I have had great sound from the Origin Live mat on metal platters, but with my current Lexan one, I prefer the Ringmat.

Never heard of that one, off to google it :’

Looks nice for a jap deck and seems very good value.

www.whathifi.com/reviews/technics-sl-1500c

I've got one of those cork/butyl mats here somewhere, I can send you that if you want? It's like halfway between the stock rubber and the Archromat in character.

Yeah I used that cork one for a long time. The Archromat reveals more of the recording at the expense of a bit of 'warmth'.

From what I've read of Transrotors they are not a warm sounding tt Westie, and you liking the AT 0C9 are you sure you want a characterful sound? When listening to the SL150 I hadn't really thought about it being on the character side, maybe my Lyra cartridge cancels some of that out, although it's not clinical sounding.

When listening to music now Westie, I'm only interested in whether I like what I'm hearing or not, I certainly don't dig to deep into the type of sound I'm getting, must be an age thing. I don't believe the Tabriz would add much character, I think when you've been listening to cd's for a long time you become more accustomed to that sound. When cd's came out, they were 'digital' sounding compared to vinyl, now people are used to that sound, tt's maybe need to aim for similar.

No, I mean the 150's can be a bit over-warm toned if you're not careful. On my first mk1, I used a Herbies mat, which replaced the original, but when I was able to get an original 1500 tonearm, which fits straight in and can be quite good once the bearings are checked and set, with any replacement headshell, the arm sloped down (it's fixed in height), so I added a cork mat to the rubber one and that seemed even better (I had two of these decks in quick succession a few years back, both gifted. if the Acromat does similar and then some, that should do nicely on the 150mk2, but PLEASE remove the lid entirely when playing I'd suggest.

I will ask if anyone would recommend using a record weight and if so what weight would they recommend. I did see a nice one retailing at £69 and was approx. 770gm. I have seen cheaper on ebay, although they are lighter.

Technics decks such as this are a bit like a Rega (I can't remember if the 150mk2 had a rudimentary suspension as the sibling models with arm had). ANY lid will resonate a bit and if the deck lacks any suspension, it'll feed into the structure. I appreciate the SL150mk1 was awful for this and both my samples benefited by its removal (I have the 150 back here but not time nor inclination to try it as yet).

This range of decks was characterised originally by a full-fat bass reproduction which removed ultimate transparency I remember (confirmed in reviews at the time). Even the exalted SP10 wasn't totally immune from this *at the time.* With proper siting, careful mat choice and so on, you should be able to minimise the colourations. A PT will probably be one of the least coloured of all 80's decks and may sound leaner or at least clearer in the mid bass as a result. One of the things Linnies didn't like so much about the PT back then - that plus variable build quality in the PT which seems to continue in Funk decks too sadly.

re weights and clamps Id say don't bother. Tried a weight on mine and didn't like what it did. Lid should always be removed when in use, can't understand anyone not bothering to do that. The thing about vinyl is that unlike all the other components of a system all the crazy little tweaks really do change the sound.

Then for me, it's a P8 or AceSpace and for others, a more modern techie!?

The SL150mk2 is a pretty solid structure and the drive is basically flawless technically. I can't remember if the mains transformer is under the platter as on the 1210mk2 series or under the deck plate as on the 150mk1.

If you were to persevere, different (wooden?) arm-board materials may help and as the RB arms are not universal in their siting requirements (I thought the latest three screw fixings may be a little better), a different arm may well be the answer. The SL150's were kinda optimised for the SME 3009, so the slight extra zing in these arms as standard may well suit the deck better than a less resonant arm... I kind of hoped an Acromat would have helped and sorry that it didn't. Maybe different siting (spikes?) on a solid granite type support may help? Not sure you'd want the fuss and bother though and it's so long ago since I sold these (forty three years or so) it's difficult to say with certainty.

The PT belt drive was pretty good and didn't over-stress the belt as I recall. As long as the bearing is ok, the platter clean and belt not stretched lop-sided (if you see what I mean) to cause added wow, a sub 2g tracker should be just fine. Is the PT motor supply behaving? The caps on the board may well be ok, but a fair bit of UK supplied kit right into the 90's seemed to run the electrolytics hard and failures are common, even on twenty five year old stuff I gather.

By the way, Rega supply a strobe kit with battery powered reference lamp. It's a doddle to use and less finicky than the 300hz Linn one, which shows the tiniest and totally inaudible error.

I'll just like to verify your comment when you say the Technics 1200GR, sure you didn't mean the 1200G.

Nope the GR is the one I heard.