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-- when you are purchasing tables, look for these four things:

when you are purchasing tables, look for these four things:

hello everyone... just to help out soon-to-be-turntable owners (such as myself, hopefully), i started this thread... i was surfing on ebay for technics turntables and this is what one seller put on his description:

when you are purchasing tables, look for these four things:


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1)PITCH-the most important thing for these tables...over time, the pitch can go out of line and to repair it is half the price of a new turntable....THE PITCH ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY WORKS!!! AND YES, YOU SEE A STRAIGHT LINE WHEN YOU LOOK @ THE "RED" LIGHT!!!!
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2)TONEARM:-this is most overlooked...the ortofon needles, albeit vastly improved, are notorious for this evil...the tonearm pins can be pushed in too far, making any stylus' contact with the pins impossible and rendering the table useless...this is a $100 repair...THE PINS IN THE TONEARM MAKE CONTACT WITH ANY STYLUS!!! AND NO, I DON'T USE ORTOFON CARTRIGES!!!
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3)STARTING/STOPPING-again, very overlooked...if the 1200's don't start or stop on a dime, question it...especially if the platter stops and goes backwards for more than a couple of inches...THESE 1200'S STOP AND START ON A DIME!!!=)
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4)USA MADE VS. CHINA-all technics are made in the usa...look for serial numbers and look @ the plug...it should say "made in the usa..." if not, question it...aftermarket shell replacements should be questioned, too...

if any of u guys can... plz contribute more "heads up" info about turntables...and don't just say "GET TECHS" cuz everybody on this forum knows that by now... hehe

my techs werent made in USA, they were made in Osaka Japan

uh, think the guy you got that from was talking about legit technics turntables and used technics. kinda like a pre-empted warning on how to know if ur technics work right. but basically that thing is sorta an ad to persuade ppl to buy technics

Re: when you are purchasing tables, look for these four things:

Good post, but there's some misinformation unfortunately.

quote:

1)PITCH-the most important thing for these tables...over time, the pitch can go out of line and to repair it is half the price of a new turntable....THE PITCH ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY WORKS!!! AND YES, YOU SEE A STRAIGHT LINE WHEN YOU LOOK @ THE "RED" LIGHT!!!!

True, the pitch is one of the essential parts of your deck that need to be checked. However, the dots DON'T make a straight line (?) at Zero pitch - the largest row of dots (third from the top) stands still. Check for sudden jumps in pitch as you move the slider, as well as double-zero points.
Recalibrating the pitch is a fairly simple procedure and will NOT cost "half the price of a new turntable".

quote:

2)TONEARM:-this is most overlooked...the ortofon needles, albeit vastly improved, are notorious for this evil...the tonearm pins can be pushed in too far, making any stylus' contact with the pins impossible and rendering the table useless...this is a $100 repair...THE PINS IN THE TONEARM MAKE CONTACT WITH ANY STYLUS!!! AND NO, I DON'T USE ORTOFON CARTRIGES!!!

Again, true to a certain extent. Concorde carts have their pins slightly more towards the center than they should be ... so they sometimes push the pins in the tonearm in at a weird angle. They usually pop back out without any problems, but if they don't you can just pry inside with a thin needle and put them back into place. The pins are NOT pushed in too far (just check the length of Concorde pins against the pins on a standard headshell). BTW. to avoid this problem alltogether, you can just get the OM version of the Ortofon carts.

quote:

3)STARTING/STOPPING-again, very overlooked...if the 1200's don't start or stop on a dime, question it...especially if the platter stops and goes backwards for more than a couple of inches...THESE 1200'S STOP AND START ON A DIME!!!=)

No they don't. The spin-up time to 33rpm is about 0.7 seconds, the braking time is about half that. They shouldn't spin backwards though; if they do, you can adjust the brake with a potentiometer inside the deck, again, a relatively simple procedure. Taking the deck apart and - more importanlly - putting it back together is the most difficult part.

quote:

4)USA MADE VS. CHINA-all technics are made in the usa...look for serial numbers and look @ the plug...it should say "made in the usa..." if not, question it...aftermarket shell replacements should be questioned, too...

This is bollocks (glorious American patriotism at it's best ...). Technics decks are made in Japan and the little tag should read the following:

"Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. LTD. Made in Japan"

There is a way to determine what market the turntable was distributed to based on the serial number.I believe canadian decks' serial number sticker starts with "MC". I'm not sure about other serial numbers but I'm sure somebody with a little time can dig it up somewhere on the net.

Also the "aftermarket shell replacements" aren't replacements, they're simple faceplates that simply go on top of the regular faceplate. These are acutally a rather good idea since it preserves the original finish of your 1200.

Re: when you are purchasing tables, look for these four things:

quote:

Originally posted by S-Type -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1)PITCH-the most important thing for these tables...over time, the pitch can go out of line and to repair it is half the price of a new turntable....THE PITCH ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY WORKS!!! AND YES, YOU SEE A STRAIGHT LINE WHEN YOU LOOK @ THE "RED" LIGHT!!!!

hehehe oh dear! gibbo's pitch has got fucked on his right deck

If you want to find out what region of the world your deck was destined for look at the SERIAL NUMBER label. This is not the black label on the back. Some of you don't have this info printed next to your serial # so you'll be out of luck. Next to the serial number is the model number: "SL-1200MK2-MC" The "MC" part tells you where it was destined for:

M - USA
MC - Canada
E - Scandinavia/Switz.
EK - UK
XL - Australia
EG - Germany
EB - Belgium
EH - Holland
EF - France
Ei - Italy
XA - The rest of the world (I think they also use XG here)

Re: Re: when you are purchasing tables, look for these four things:

quote:

Originally posted by skywarp Technics decks are made in Japan and the little tag should read the following: "Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. LTD. Made in Japan"

yep, good ol japanese electronics

my brakes are fucked up, how can i fix that?

I think sustained torque (START/STOP) is the mostly important. Sustain torque governs over pitch and whether that platter stays at a consistent speed at each pitch notch.

Some cheap tables have the same torque as higher end tables but when you start dragging the record back and forth (to find the beat) the bad tables tend to not handle the resistance and stop. BAD!

Everything else is just fluff.

quote:

1)PITCH-the most important thing for these tables...over time, the pitch can go out of line and to repair it is half the price of a new turntable....THE PITCH ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY WORKS!!! AND YES, YOU SEE A STRAIGHT LINE WHEN YOU LOOK @ THE "RED" LIGHT!!!!

I just checked my turntable now. Only the top row of dots (nearest the slipmat) are stationary on +0 pitch.

Is this a bad thing?

quote:

Some cheap tables have the same torque as higher end tables but when you start dragging the record back and forth (to find the beat) the bad tables tend to not handle the resistance and stop. BAD!

I've tried that on Numarks, Geminis, Stantons, and Technics... and i've found that most DONT stop. The only way they stop is if you press your palm/fingers 90 degrees against the platter (which obviously you shouldnt be doing). The torque thing i Can live with since i'm already use to Stanton's half-assed torque, but the most important thing people should worry about is if the table can hold the pitch speeds consistently. Beatmatching is such a pain if it cant. so on my list i'd rate sustained torque over the actual start/stop initial torque.

hmm funny you should mention that cause i just posted a thread worrying if my pitch on the right table is varying a. the dots dont go as fast on the intervals (2 - 4 - 6 - 8) as the left and b. when i cue a record the table doenst stop but you can tell its slowing down this is not because of the pressure im applying too becaus ethe left one just keeps going (faster) and doesnt slow down as much?
how can i fix this?

quote:

Originally posted by Jah hmm funny you should mention that cause i just posted a thread worrying if my pitch on the right table is varying a. the dots dont go as fast on the intervals (2 - 4 - 6 - 8) as the left and b. when i cue a record the table doenst stop but you can tell its slowing down this is not because of the pressure im applying too becaus ethe left one just keeps going (faster) and doesnt slow down as much? how can i fix this?

dude, the BIGGEST dots just have to stay still when ur pitch is @ 0%. All i can say about your left deck, is that it might have more torque(i've read that u got them used, so maybe the right one is older, or was abused more...)

Also it might be because u have different slipmats on them, and the record that u have on your right deck is heavier than the other.

Re: when you are purchasing tables, look for these four things:

quote:

and don't just say "GET TECHS" cuz everybody on this forum knows that by now... hehe

sorry, another misconception, there are a few VERY competative tables (some may argue better) on the market, sure this was true a couple years ago, but you CANNOT say that vestax aren't a very capable alternative, and of course there are a couple other choices out there SHOP AROUND

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