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Has anyone ditched their belt drive deck for a SL1200G?

Natara said:
I wouldn't say the 1210 is miles better but it plays all vinyl really well and pristine vinyl excellently the LP12 on the other hand was very fussy with mediocre vinyl...
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That's not a belt drive thing, it's a Linn thing.

Interesting that I've yet to hear of someone buying one of these Technics decks and regretting it.
 
I've just gone from a belt drive (Pro-Ject Debut) to a Technics SL1210GR

now I know there's a big price different so a like for like comparison is neither possible or fair

But in my simple terms the Technics just does an amazing job of playing records and I know it's all new to me and early days but I'm really enjoying the music
It sounds very precise and surefooted to me
hope that makes some sort of sense?
 
Mr Pig said:
Interesting that I've yet to hear of someone buying one of these Technics decks and regretting it.
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I bought a 1200G new (£2.4k), knew within the first five minutes of listening it just wasn’t for me, and moved it on at a loss. It stayed in the system less than an evening. It’s not often I make mistakes with audio, but thankfully I didn’t lose too much on the deal. An interesting experience and very useful current benchmark to assess my TD-124 restoration against, so I don’t regret it.
 
Tony L said:
I bought a 1200G new (£2.4k), knew within the first five minutes of listening it just wasn’t for me, and moved it on at a loss. It stayed in the system less than an evening. It’s not often I make mistakes with audio, but thankfully I didn’t lose too much on the deal. An interesting experience and very useful current benchmark to assess my TD-124 restoration against, so I don’t regret it.
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This is hard to comprehend , 5 mins you cant even set it up in that time o_O
 
Mr Pig said:
Fair enough. Although maybe it would've taken a bit of work to integrate it into your system? An evening isn't long.
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Its a ‘plug and play’ deck! I had plenty of time to swap carts over, align everything perfectly etc, I even used the same arm cable as I upgraded my 3009 with the RCA armbase! It was a total shock as I was expecting it to be better, and it just wasn’t. The music I played, mainly jazz, just sounded alive and vibrant on the 124/3009, and dead in the water/stale on the 1200G. Out of curiosity I did try a felt mat on the Technics too, plus a Loricraft cork one. That helped a bit, but still didn’t equal the 124 with its stock fairly hard rubber mat that doesn’t even support the record across its surface (it is ribbed).

Obviously the Technics absolutely crucified the 124 when it came to noise, even a perfectly maintained 124 is never as deathly silent as a brand new DD, so on very quiet string quartets, solo piano etc the background was always far ‘blacker’ on the 1200, some mild rumble audible on the 124 if you really listen for it (my speakers have proper bass), but that doesn’t matter if its not as involving. It actually helped me accept the limitations of the 124 and respect it for what it is (a fabulous vintage deck with some flaws).

AudioAl said:
This is hard to comprehend , 5 mins you cant even set it up in that time o_O
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First five minutes of playing, which was side 2 of the Cisco audiophile pressing of Dexter Gordon’s One Flight Up. A record I know inside out and will tell you everything you need to know about pitch, rhythm and timing!
 
@Tony L what you describe the 1200G to be is very much how I would characterise my old modded sl1210 mk2.

Absolute pitch stability, but lacking the scale, dynamics and timbre that my P8 has now.

The Technics is still one of my favourite pieces of industrial design and a fantastic record player for the money.
 
I know it is bizarre after what I’ve written here but I do have much respect for the Technics and would certainly describe the MkII as an absolute design classic, a true icon. I can really understand why folk love these decks. My feeling is you can just damp things too far for my taste, both through mass and materials. FWIW I don’t tend to get on with heavy thick-panel speakers either.
 
Robert said:
I know what you mean regarding that 'deadness' as the 150 also had this, as does the linear tracking SL-7.
I'm convinced this is party attributable to rubber mats since that's been a common finding with me over the years - though I have to go back 30 years since I regularly ran a deck with rubber mats.
Of course on a 1200 the mat mass is required for correct operation (IMO) and the rubber damps the platter. Best results I've had to date were to use a super thin Rega P9/10 mat on top of the standard mat. These are extremely thin and don't look out of place on the Technics decks. They effectively prevent the vinyl being damped by the rubber = livelier sound with more bounce.
Another alternative is the Roksan mat (RDM5 I think) which looks like an ultra thin slip mat and is a more compressed fibre.

This also factored in the choice of AT33 since this cart is has some pep and zest without sounding harsh or over-bright.

When I get this set up I'll send you some private drops and you can compare to what you have.
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That's interesting what you say about the rubber mat, I've got a new open box 1210GR from the Trade Sales on here and the seller sent me a 2mm cork mat which I use on top of the rubber mat and it doesn't sound over damped so you might be onto something there. It also works well with my Denon DL103R for height. Paid £800 for mine so very happy.
That one you've got looks virtually new, excellent find.
 
That deadness is not down to the rubber mat, IMHO, it's more the overall construction of the deck, being very heavily damped.
I had the same experience when switching to the Voyd, music just seemed to have much more drama.

The quiet to loud parts of the music being so much more exciting and interesting, but then I always loved the Voyd and regretted selling my. 5.
 
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