You're Not a DJ. Why Own a Technics Turntable?
There's good reason why the SL-1200 series is back
Technics tables work "in the house" as well as "in da house".
When Technics first introduced the re-release of their famed SL-1200 decks, they drew many former DJs to hi-fi stores. Now older and earning more, these ex-spin doctors were able to finally indulge their youthful dream of owning one, or even a pair of SL-1200's. Perhaps they'd just practice their seamless transitions for fun at home, or maybe even spin a set or two at a house party or family wedding.
But what about you? You're probably not a nostalgic DJ. Why would you even consider a turntable that was designed to be the eternal answer to the question, "Hey DJ, Where's the bass?"
Why An Audiophile Needs A DJ Table
1) Built for the road means built for life
Being built to travel to raves or endure near non-stop use at a club means that these Technics tables are engineered for a long, resonance-free, vibration rejecting life on an audio rack. It means that this table looks and feels like high-end hi-fi: reassuringly solid, heavy, and with lots of metal rather than plastic.
2) Dropping the bass is not just for clubs
The damped chassis and gimbal tonearm of the SL-1200 series are designed to keep the seismic thumps of bass bins away from the stylus and record. At your home, this keeps out low-frequency mechanical interference from footfalls, passing traffic, appliances, elevators, and of course, the bass notes from your speakers, both directly through the air, and indirectly through the structure of your house.
3) High torque means low "talk"
The high-torque motor, which allows for quick starts and quick returns to speed after scratching, ensures excellent pitch stability as you play even the heaviest vinyl with a stylus that plumbs the deepest parts of the record. The new coreless drive motors and precision control in the current units have eliminated "cogging," a torque output instability that used to need a belt drive to smooth out.
4) Adjustability is adaptability
While the speed slider on the right of the plinth is for DJs to match pitch or BPM between tracks, you can use it to ensure your table runs at the right speed every time, compensating (if needed) for temperature and tracking weight. Also, the feet are fully adjustable, letting you level your turntable even as you struggle to get your rack level on an uneven floor.
A High-Functioning Exhibition Piece
Finally, owning an SL-1200 turntable is like owning a musical instrument that's a piece of musical history, especially if you are a fan of funk, disco, hip-hop, or EDM. This doesn't mean the SL-1200s are good only for those genres; after all when it was introduced in 1972, it wasn't designed to be a DJ deck. It just so happens that (as we've just seen) the innovative features that made it a great audiophile turntable also won over DJs. The SL-1200MK2, launched in 1979, was the first model to explicitly include DJ features, and these are retained on the new model. They are both useful and nostalgic, whether the big start/stop button and other chunky controls, the strobe light and platter speed markings, the interchangeable headshell, or the stylus light.
But because the essence of an SL-1200 isn't "DJ design," but simply "good design," having one at the helm of a hi-fi rig where it will never beat-match or be used for "turntabulism" is actually going full circle and bringing the Technics back home.
Contact our analog team if you'd like a Technics in the house!
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Technics x Lamborghini SL-1200M7B Special Edition Direct Drive Turntable $1,599 |
Technics SL-1200GR2 Direct Drive Turntable $2,199.95 |
Technics SL-1200G-S Direct Drive Turntable $4,299.95 |
Color Me Bass: REL Wants to Sex up Your Listening Room
REL's four new colors over two sub models go off the deep end, in a good way.
If you feel as mopey as Mick Jagger did when he famously sang, "I see a line of subs and they're all painted black" REL has some brightly colored good news for you.
Talk to REL's owner and chief designer, John Hunter, for even a little while and you'll know he's really into cars. And so, many of REL's design cues, hark back to great sportscars, and the new colors from REL are no different. After all, REL subs are legendary not so much for how deep they go, but for how fast they are. Any garage tinkerer can buy a 21" woofer and some MDF and make a sub that flatulates down to 20 Hz. Getting a sub that goes that deep in linear fashion, and matches the speed and texture of a modern speaker... that's a whole lifetime's work harder.
Now, the Italian Racing Red of the REL T/9x Special Edition is joined by Tangerine Dream and Le Mon Yellow. (The new grey is for the regular REL T/9x with the alloy active driver versus the SE's carbon-fiber driver.) The red harks back to prancing ponies, the orange to McLaren's papaya shade, and the yellow sings of the C-6 Corvette Velocity and of course the cars of the famous 24-hour race, Le Mans. Plus, whether intended or not the "lemon" pun pays a little winking tribute to so many of these vehicles that are "the best cars in world... when they're working."
REL subs though, are never lemons, with nearly impossible reliability in the field. REL describes the T/9x SE as "a Carbon Special for the rest of us", a sub that will seamlessly blend acoustically, while bringing a cult of personality to your living room.
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REL Acoustics T/9x Subwoofer $1,500 |
REL Acoustics T/9x Special Edition Subwoofer $1,650 |
New Video: EveAnna Manley Leads Kevin to the Oasis
EveAnna Manley of Manley Labs joins Kevin for an exclusive look at the new Manley Oasis phonostage. In a totally new chassis design and using Manley Power, a high-end switching power supply, the Oasis takes Manley hi-fi in a new and exciting direction.