Technics SL 1600/1700/1800

[DSJR]

How do you mean "Flexible Tonearm?" Is it the height adjustment you refer to? We sold many 1700mk1's with Dynavector 10X and 20A cartridges and they worked brilliantly. I suspect other high output MC's would do the same today.

[Virak]

How do you mean "Flexible Tonearm?" Is it the height adjustment you refer to? We sold many 1700mk1's with Dynavector 10X and 20A cartridges and they worked brilliantly. I suspect other high output MC's would do the same today.

On the fly height adjustment, plus the fact that the KAB fluid damper fits perfectly. And, IMO, the damper is a significant upgrade.

The Mk1 arm is a bit heavier, but one can always put a heavier headshell (or headshell weights) on the Mk2, if more mass is needed for low compliance cartridges.
Actually, Technics made a set of add-on subweights for the Mk2's (4 different weights, I think, all heavier than the stock 3gr. one), but I've never seen it beeing sold outside of Japan.
I'd like to get the set, though!

[DSJR]

Thanks for the info. I'm assuming that the old arm is less resonant in the beam-mode dept but of course have no way of measuring it

[Alex_UK]

Not sure if anyone might be interested in this - no bids yet, 16hrs to go - with a bit of fettling it could be a bargain with a starting price of £25... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...#ht_500wt_1156

[DSJR]

Grab a bargain while you can... The cueing device isn't the same as on the decks which replaced this series, so should be well usable. A squirt of Servisol to the speed presets and a careful oiling of the bearing and auto linkages and you're away.

[Techno Commander]

The one you want is the one with as much automation as possible,

Would that not provide "more to go wrong"?

Wouldnt the manual version not be a better bet for reliability and sound quality?

[Alex_UK]

Nice looking condition 1700 - boxed with paperwork - £4.99 start... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...#ht_500wt_1156

[DSJR]

The Techie auto bits weren't as elegant looking as the Dual's for example (Dual had this down to a fine art way back in the 60's, showing the likes of Garrard a thing or three), but they were gentle enough on this series (and equally awful on the early mid 70's lower caste models) and did no sonic harm whatsoever IMO. An SL1300 could happily track a Shure V15III if the record wasn't badly warped and there was never any issue with the end-of-side trip mechanism.

[Techno Commander]

Well its only taken me 13 years to pull my finger out and finally get one.



Now cartridge recommendations please. Currrently the AT VM740ML seems to be doing it for me a little more then the AT OC9 variants at the same price point. I agree the OC9 is a touch more open, but I prefer the presentation of the VM. Seems more lively and engaging to my somewhat knackered ears.

[Techno Commander]

Well I decided the Technics needed a little TLC. It played nicely, but the arm didnt lift when a record ended. The mains lead was only 2 foot long and the original signal leads looked like they were 45 years old (which they were). It also came with 2 cartridges of indeterminable age and use. I originally thoiught of selling both cartridges and putting the proceeds towards something new, however plans never quite end up that simple.

I manged to find some custom made signal leads made from QED silver plated OFC wire for a reasonable price and made up a new replacement mains lead. I also decided to sell the original headshell and bought a rather nice Jelco as a replacement. Both old cartridges and the original headshell sold on ebay quite quickly and in a moment of madness (and an ebay sale) totally spanked the budget and bought an Audio Technica VM740ML for the bargain price of £250.20.

I eventually dropped off the turntable and box of bits to Kornel at BTL audio with a request to make everything good. Yesterday I had a call saying all was done and to come and collect it. He confessed "it was actually done yesterday, but sounds so bloody good, I wanted to listen to it for a bit longer".

As well as fitting the QED signal leads and mains cable, it had 45 years worth of dust hoovered out of it. The main bearing was cleaned and relubed. The arm lift was adjusted to work correctly. He also cleaned all switches and pots, speed control is now spot on after a couple of minutes of warm up. Considering no quartz lock, thats pretty good. The AT was also fitted and correctly aligned. The only very slight issue is the Jelco is possibly a bit heavy and the counter weight is quite far back. I might need to find an auxillary weight to add to it.

All in all, I am very happy with the turntrable and yes it does sound stunning.

For those who like numbers, this is the cost breakdown.

Technics SL1700 £250.00

Sold
Shure M95ED -£67.00
Ortofon MC10 Super -£67.00
Original SH98 Headshell -£39.00
Total £77.00

Purchased
Jelco Headshell £44.99
Signal Cable £32.99
Mains Cable £7.65
Servicing & cable fitting £100.00
Total £262.63

Audio Technica VM740ML £250.20