Best Technics Sl-1200 model: mk2, mk5, m5g

Measuring tourque is not really going to tell you how a turntable feels.. It has become more of a marketing selling point .. Don't believe the hype... Gemini stuff in my experiences even with the more expensive stuff was not built well. You will want to sell the Gemini in 6 months 10 to 1 ...Companies tend to try to out do the 1200's in certian areas but lack in others. The OVERALL build quality of a Technics 1200 ( Not just tourque , amount of metal used, tonearm, pitch features ) has yet to be matched by any TT I have used. Trust me if you want to scratch or do serious long mixing the Technics is a marriage of all you really need. Plus in 12 years you will still be able to sell a 1200 as it will problably still WORK!! My 1200 MKII's I tour with are from 89 and 93 yo!

word, my grandfather gave me his 1200 back in 96 and he'd had it for a long time before that, and he bought it used.

its broken now, but thats only b/c it was mod'ed when i got it. the curcuit board where the rca jacks are soldered into was broken in half and it looked as if a noob tried to do the modification and soldered a lot of the curcuit board....... it worked ok until i tried to fix the mod which was beyong repair.

thanks for clearing that up

bedouin wrote: None of them are very important to me, so I stuck with the standard MK2.

Got the same silver MK2's that I started djing with from '87. Changed out the pitch l.e.d's to red (just for the hell of it) and added longer RCA Monster cables... still work flawlessly to this day.

I've seen in the past how other companies say how thier TT's are just as good as 1200's. So why not just buy a 1200 then?

Oh yeah... check this out...

http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/technics_dj/compare_analog.asp

many of you own Mk2 but if you had to start over would you purchase the Mk5 or Mg5 over the sl mk2 model?

Let's not forget the sound of the turntable and quality of components... Same design since the 1970's .... Alot of audio gear was just plain made better back then.. Nowadays it is all about low cost high sales and China made garbage.

putting all personal belifes and individual likes aside... there seems to be nothing that a technics can do that a stanton 150 cannot do.

and there are plently of things (features, etc...) that a stanton 150 has that the technics do not.

on paper, the 150 seems to destroy the technics. and playing with both of them, the facts stand true.

sure you can say that you've used the technics for 20 years and cant mix on anything else, and thats fine, thats becuase you personally like them and don't feel the need to change your decks. but from a new user or future buyers point of view, there appears to be no reason to buy technics aside from their reputation as being the 'industry standard'.

Well my point was really to the build quality of the Technics which has made them an industry standard. Obviously there are decks out there with more features that DO more than a 1200 but all a 1200 (and most Turntables for that matter ) does really is play records and allows you to change the pitch. On paper and the real world are 2 different things .. I never said I can't mix on other turntables I used a pair of crappy Numarks the other weekend at a club and did fine but I have given plenty of other decks a fair go at replacing my 1200's and spent alot of money doing it.. I am simply passing on my experiences and knowledge to someone else so that the guy is informed when he makes a desicion. Not just reading a product spec sheet off of the internet.. I have OWNED and USED 3 different Pro Stanton decks .. If you are sampling in your bedroom the build of your deck is not that importiant and features may be more importiant to you but if you plan on DJ'ing out , playing clubs , raves, parties ect you will be hard pressed to find many DJ's who don't agree on 1200's ( Hence making them the industry standard). Technics never advertised the 1200's until recently .. they gained their popularity through quality of product and not some ad campaign. If you really want to argue features go digital , use Traktor , Serato , or something of the like can make your decks do s--t no one will ever put on a deck..

Cat among the pigeons time...

I have no vinyl, but thousands of old and new CD's.

Just got hold of a Technics SL-DZ1200 Digital Direct Drive Turntable.

http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_elect ... dz1200.asp

Actual photos..





I've never used a TT with my MPC so I thought I could use this to emulate a few DJ/ Sampling tricks I've yet to learn.

Here is a video comparing the analogue and digital 1200's scratching abilities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yiSUhWl ... re=related

I understand the digital Technics may not be everyones choice. But for me, so far, so good.

"Industry Standard" has become a wonderful cliche as of late.

Anyway, I had high hopes in those SL DZ1200s. They look beautiful. A firmware update is supposed to fix the digital distortion issue, but when I used them hands on the torque/platter were really bad compared CD-Js.

In marketing... Yes, but it really does mean that it is the standard by which all others are judged .

DJing out professionally in clubs and on the road and seeing what is used by everyone for good reason kind of makes this whole discussion null and void....

For bedroom producing and Djing you may not need a deck that is as resilient...

i like those digital 12's. i used to spend a lot of time at sam ash when those and the pioneers were released. if they werent so expensive i'd cop one

The DZ1200s have dropped in price significantly since their release. I think they're down to like $799 now at Guitar Center? Technics just really messed up their launch by lack of quality control and now nobody wants them . . .

Why not stop the argument and buy one of the stanton 150's and a mk2..... Best of both worlds, no?

My general feeling is if you can afford it, get a ST-150 or a Vestax model.

If not, get an MK2 and don't waste your money on the mediocre extra features of the other 1200 editions. At least when you buy an ST-150 for $450 or a Vestax for $500 or so you're getting some neat features and a build comparable (or better than) the 1200.

I'm sort of hoping I can fight off my urge to return or sell my 1210 for what I've always wanted . . .

My ideal setup (if I even had room or money) would be a straight armed deck for scratching and a 1200 for listening/sampling.