It's great to be 'famous'!!

[jazzpiano]

Hi Marco,

I was referring to Marc coming off as 'hissy' towards you, or like he had to knock you down, which I didn't approve of, not YOU being hissy. Sorry if any misunderstanding.

Best,
Barry

[Marco]

Ah, apologies, that's not how it read

I totally agree. There's nothing wrong with expressing an opinion, however ill-informed, but when opinions are riddled with agendas, that's when you have a problem.

Marco.

[Marco]

If, for example, Marco decided to sell his deck, anyone in the market for a Technics would probably recognize its real material value and the quality of the individual components, and thus price it accordingly. Investment wise it might even represent better value than some of the other "top-end" decks (dd or not) whose prices seem to drop the minute they walk out of the showroom.

That's a very good point, John, even before taking into consideration my 'celebrity status'!

Marco.

[vouk]

That's a very good point, John, even before taking into consideration my 'celebrity status'!

Marco.

Any publicity, good or bad, is still publicity my friend.

[Marco]

Indeed!

The other thing I've found is that, in the States, equipment from classic British manufacturers, such as Linn, Rega and Michell (amongst others) appears to have a certain kudos and desirability of ownership, which a lot of Japanese gear doesn't enjoy to the same extent.

I detect a definite perception over there that British gear is considered as 'a bit special' - even if we know that this is not always the case!

Therefore, I've experienced this Brit-gear 'love-in' before, with Yanks, even before I had the pleasure of encountering the charming, and of course agenda-free, Marc Phillips.

Marco.

[sq225917]

Me think the man doth protest too much. You'd love to be widely accePted as the doyen of technics mods Marco, there's no point pretending that you wouldn't, we all crave a little recognition. There's nowt wrong with that either.

I think a lot of the comparissons are somewhat off here though. The 1210 has a nice engineblock, everything else is crap. To free its true potential you need to spend thousands on mods to the physical and electrical parts of the deck. Sure nothing else sounds like the finished modded deck, but that doesn't mean it's brilliantly unique, just unique, and all heavily modded decks are that.

It's no more or less an ideologically sound method of arriving at a particular sound than any other method, and because sound quality is an entirely personal judgement no more or less likely to deliver that than any other method.

Surely people can just enjoy what they have without criticising and belittling alternatives or making out that their chosen path is in any way more valid than any other.

[Marco]

Hi Simon,

Me think the man doth protest too much. You'd love to be widely accePted as the doyen of technics mods Marco, there's no point pretending that you wouldn't, we all crave a little recognition. There's nowt wrong with that either.

Ha - you can think what you like, matey. I'm not protesting or belittling, but rather simply informing and challenging misinformation. And yes, I enjoy helping people, by using the experience that I have to their benefit, on subjects I know inside out.

The reality is that for every inaccurate and blinkered, agenda-driven portrayal of the sonic capabilities of the Techy, often by people who haven't even heard a fully modified one (!), I'll seek to redress the balance with reasoned logic and facts, based on the practical experience of actually experimenting and listening!

This is done in order to allow folks, who may be considering going down the route of modifying a Technics, to study genuine and practical information from people who've been there and done it. I needed that help when I was first researching the subject, and so I'm making damn sure that AoS provides as much of it as possible to help others.

Judging by the amount of people joining here to go that route, and by the number of PMs and emails I receive on the subject, I can safely say that what I'm doing works!

Marco.

[sq225917]

;-)

No doubt that it works fella, none at all, or that it's a major contribution to the success of AOS. Where you lead.....

[jazzpiano]

Hi,

Marco is dead on about Yanks being anglophiles - I'm one of them. Why? With regards to gear: Got sick of 'flabby' sounding speakers (w/ solid-state amps) in the 70s and loved the detailed, tight sound of the British work w/ bextrene, polypropylene, etc. and good quality cross-overs, veneers, etc. Also, and this is BIG - your mags were WAY ahead, what with HFN&RR, Hi-Fi Choice/Answers, etc. It was generally believed that our Stereo Review never saw a piece of equipment they didn't like as long as they advertised in their mag and the Rodrigues 'toons were the only reason to buy. I also liked the fact that the Brits seemed to appreciate integrateds whereas here you either got separates and were taken seriously or a receiver and shunned. I think timing is everything. Now, we are beginning to appreciate our own and Japanese gear (and those 'flabby' speakers can sound good w/ tubes) but the British gear fit what we needed at the time.
And then there's: Monty Python, Watney's Red Barrel, Helen Mirren and Britt Ecklund (British by association), teak, Vaughan Williams, the Avengers, the Prisoner, the Kinks, the Faces, the Small Faces (Ogden Nut Gone Flake w/ circular cover)...

Best,
Sir Barrymore

[Stateside]

Sorry about that. But I strongly suspect that this has a lot more to do with hi fi magazines, money and marketing over here than it does with envy about our British cousins cultural and musical achievements and fine sensibilities. Which is not to say that they aren't magnificent, mind you.