The Technics SL-D303, that appeared in 1981, which I call, "the SLED,"
is an interesting and slightly cheaper (in every way?) alternative to the
SL-1200 MKII.  Picked one up at a pawn shop, here in Cincinnati.  It has
identical wow, flutter, and rumble specs as the SL-1200 MK II.  Like that
model, the -D303 uses a direct drive F-G servo, for drive control, but
without true, quartz lock, whereas the MKII SL-1200 is "with."
     I've been getting quite listenable transfers of microgroove LPs using
an (MC) Ortofon VMS 30 MKII with that S-shaped, tubular tone arm.  (Get
tubular, dude!)  In conjunction with an NAD 7100 phono stage, the RCA new
orthophonic equalization record traces a ruler-flat curve on the SpectraFoo
FFT meter.  Not a Rockport or even an proper MKII-1200, however, it's very
close...  


Andrew


On 1/12/11 8:56 PM, "Roger Kulp" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The 1200 wasn't the only model you know,I would suggest picking up ANY
> Technics 'table,if you see them cheap,and working.
> 
> Roger
> 
> 
> 
> --- On Mon, 1/3/11, Aaron Levinson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> From: Aaron Levinson <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Technics apparently really has discontinued their
> turntables
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Monday, January 3, 2011, 11:55 AM
> 
> As someone who arguably straddles the line between the transfer and DJ worlds
> I can say that the reputation of Stanton and Numark is far below that of that
> venerable 1200 on any given day. No self-respecting DJ would even put them in
> the same league.
> 
> R.I.P. indeed and now let the insane eBay gouging begin!
> 
> AA
> 
> 
> On 1/3/11 12:43 PM, Tom Fine wrote:
>> Kevin at KAB Electronics sent the following response to my followup querie on
>> this topic:
>> 
>> _____________________________
>> About 3 weeks ago, an official announcement was made to all distributors
>> that the Technics line of turntables is now discontinued.
>> 
>> If you desire a brand new one, you will have to start searching. They
>> purposely waited until all inventory was depleted. So It will be very hard
>> to find new merchandise.
>> 
>> What I will likely do going forward is try to create like new refurbished
>> decks. Since many of the cosmetic items like top plates and dust covers
>> should remain available for a few years to come.
>> ________________________________
>> 
>> That's a shame.
>> 
>> For the DJ set, I think people can make due with Stanton and Numark tables,
>> but for transfer guys like me, a KAB-hotrodded 1200 has been a really good
>> choice as far as value meeting high quality.
>> 
>> RIP another analog legend.
>> 
>> -- Tom Fine
> 
> 
> 
>       

-- 
[log in to unmask]
www.serifsound.com