Soon to be new deck

[griffo104]

The Sony DD deck I'll be purchasing in the near future, pic as requested by Marco.

Picture 035.jpg

[Marco]

Griffo,

That's a re-badged SL-1210, mate! I've never seen anything like that before. There's nothing 'Sony' about it apart from the logos. It'll still be a good deck, though, (the same as a 1210 is).

Where did you get it from?

Marco.

[griffo104]

I'm getting it from a Wammer who offered it to me after I put a query about going DD on the Wam.

[Marco]

Interesting. I wonder where he got it from. It's such an unusual thing for Sony to do

Regardless, though, you've got yourself a great deck!

Marco.

[Prince of Darkness]

That's a re-badged SL-1210, mate!

Not sure about that. I could be wrong, but it looks a lot like a Sony deck I saw reviewed in Hi-Fi World. Not in the same league as a SL-1210, but looks a lot like one.
Hope I'm wrong about this. Certainly, Sony have rebadged other manufacturers decks in the past (Lenco in the 70's).

[Marco]

I'm not saying you're wrong, dude, but I'd bet my mortgage (if I had one) that it's defo a Technics motor unit, perhaps just 'dressed up' differently. The arm also looks identical. What puzzles me though is the model number and the fact that's it's branded as a "Direct-drive DJ Turntable". This "PS-DJ9000" thing seems somewhat dodgy.

Sony made their own perfectly good direct-drive T/Ts, which looked nothing like 1200/1210s, so why they'd want to re-badge Technics ones is anyone's guess...

If you're right, though, and Griffo's bought a 'lemon', then he's got a problem! I hope that's not the case. Can you get your hands on the HFW article?

[griffo104]

I have to say the original price of this deck is not in 1210 country - it's a lot cheaper. I was expecting to get a cheap DD drive deck to try out with the expectation of moving up the DD chain if I thought there was potential.

It will do for me at the moment and if I do think there's something there it'll move in to my 2nd system with the baby Denon to let me have a vinyl option there.

I'm getting this much cheaper the the 1200/1210 I've seen around so I'm certainly not expecting top rank performance, but the deck is in good condition, the seller is a top bloke from my forum exhanges with him and he's going out of he's way to help get the deck to me. I'll be happy with this to try and experiment before moving on up

[Marco]

Yep I understand, Griffo. It does seem awfully like a 1210, though. I would be very curious to know what the differences are in terms of the key components used. Perhaps Kevin can find that article.

Anyway, if you declare it sounds total pants then we'll know it's definitely not a 1210!

Marco.

[griffo104]

I'm doing this to test the waters. I've been looking at a few DD drive decks, especially some of the modern Stanton and ?numark examples. I also adore the look of the newer Denon DD drives currently only available in Japan - there's one of them on the audiocubes website. In a perfect world and if I hear the sort of potential I want I may even contemplate importing one of the Denon decks. I have a bit of a soft spot for Denon when it comes to the big boys as I've owned a few bits from them and they have all put a smile on my face.

From experience the service from Audiocubes was exceptional and I'd be confident getting a deck from them.

Any headshells ordered would, of course, be compatible with any other deck I would contemplate moving to at a later date so I don't see that as much of a gamble.

[scoobs]

Nice one Griffo.
I see no reason why this Sony deck shouldn't sound very decent, all the big Japanese players have pinched and copied each others designs at some point and this deck is just Sony getting in on the DJ market, although being Sony they probably missed the boat again. I wouldn't pay to much attention to the lower price either, as Sony are well capable of copying the 1200 and knocking a few $ off the price to undercut Matsushita. Who knows, you may have sleeping giant lurking in there. A comparison with a 1200 would be interesting.

Bet you've never seen one of these either!