Alternative platters ?

[synsei]

Ok
But you must remember this is a disco product not a HiFi product like a PT Anniversary

Well... at least its not pink....

[Andrei]

The AOS massive say. " FUNK OFF "

Not quite, I rather like a spot of pimping ... takes me back to, oh never mind. Nice typeface too btw, anyone know what it is?
I have to say though I do like the etchings that tell you that your speed is rock solid.

[twotone]

Not quite, I rather like a spot of pimping ... takes me back to, oh never mind. Nice typeface too btw, anyone know what it is?
I have to say though I do like the etchings that tell you that your speed is rock solid.

I like the text too

Any discounts for cash...

[Mike_New]

Folks this must be a joke!!
After more than three years of providing the SL1200 aficionados with quality upgrades to their machines in a professional and sober manner, and watching all the other would be experts try to follow my lead in what has always been a very limited boutique market; I am gob smacked at the seemingly sheer stupidity of the recent demonstration of silly salesmanship.

To offer a platter with the grotesque lettering around it’s periphery is surely about as intellectually valid as offering a wind-up-gramophone to a kindergarten. To say nothing of the fact that it appears to be a crude attempt at high jacking the Techie’s reputation. It must surely be a joke?? But perhaps Funk’s marketing manager thinks it is good stuff and is serious.

The idea of offering a platter in two parts is something that I have always done from the early days, excepting that I have integrated them into the one unit for rigidity. Making them as two separate parts is the easy way. There really is nothing new that can be added to the SL1200 that has not already been done.

[WOStantonCS100]

Sorry to be so blunt; but, the combination of the bling lettering and what looks like a seam running around the platter (maybe it's just a removable plastic seal or something; hopefully), has totally put me off. If this was a marketing idea, it sure didn't work for me. To be honest, I'd rather have a one-piece platter, as well. Having completed my digital excursions for a while, I'm looking at what I can do to spruce up the analog front end. The Mk. 1 Funk? Possibly. Mike New platter of some sort? Possibly. Mk. 2 Funk? I don't think so. Maybe, I'm missing something. Wasn't the idea of the Mk. 1 that the use of a mat wasn't necessary/essential?

[MartinT]

Maybe, I'm missing something. Wasn't the idea of the Mk. 1 that the use of a mat wasn't necessary/essential?

No, the Mk. I Funk Platter still needs a mat, ideally an Achromat. Bonding the two together is what works brilliantly well, giving the vinyl an ideal coupling which is as dead as a dead thing.

[Marco]

I think the point here is that, as well as being a rather talented inventor/audio engineer, Arthur also enjoys expressing his creativity and hates blandness. He likes his designs to 'stand out from the crowd', which has always been the Funk way - and I applaud that

However, in the case of the Technics, its visual appearance (in stock form) is already rather 'busy', with lots of writing, logos, pitch controls (with also writing all around those), and so adding more writing around the platter, thus adding to the busyness, is simply a step too far...

I would imagine that the new platter would look good on Techies that have been 'minimalised', i.e. where the pitch controls have been removed, together with all the logos and writing (and in some cases where the top plates have been spray-painted a different colour), and where the writing around the MKII Funk platter would then add a touch of, well, 'funkiness'!

However, visually, it just doesn't work on stock Techies, although like Andrei, I like the typeface of the writing. It also should be remembered that Arthur has said that the platter is available to purchase sans-writing.

Anyway, putting appearances aside for now, the bottom line is how does the new platter SOUND, in comparison with the MKI?

In that respect, it's over to you, Martin, just as soon as you get a chance to have a listen. When you get the platter, after you've have a chance to listen for yourself, I'll pop down too, and we can have a day together, getting out heads around exactly what it's doing, and write up our thoughts for the forum. Quite simply, if the MKII is better, I'm sure we'll both be buying one!

Marco.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well, I don't have an interest in any of the horses in this particular race, but Mike's post above saddens me quite a bit to see that there's more than a little bitterness coming into play.
Mike, I don't think the above does anyone any favours, and least of all you. The design in the photo doesn't appeal to me either, but I wouldn't dream of calling it's creator silly, stupid or intellectually inadequate. Why does any product have to be soberly presented? That's the choice of the designer and if customers don't flock to it, it's his risk. Given the nature of many owners of this turntable, I'd expect the design is spot on to many of them.

The last sentence surprises me:

There really is nothing new that can be added to the SL1200 that has not already been done.

....really?

[Oldpinkman]

I've just spoken to Arthur.

The platter can be supplied without lettering. With or without - no custom options
The hub is being remachined to fit the Mike New Bearing (many thanks to Neil and Martin for their assistance in this regard)
The glue join is a function of the composite material and the restrictions of height available for a platter on the Technics. My pimped PT will drop the new platter inside the existing acrylic, and cover the whole shebang up with an achromat glued over the top. But my PT platter is over twice the depth of the Technics. The alternatives would be (possibly) for a polished finish which would take the retail price up to about £960, or a metal band (my idea). I have had a weekend of having the weaknesses in my good ideas explained to me. (Another friend explaining noise reduction and power supplies ideas which were flawed) Small volumes again, the metal band would involve having a 320mm tube produced and then precision cut and heat fitted - estimated retail price an EXTRA £800. Frankly £800 on a Techie platter is already big bucks, and I think reason has to set in somewhere. But the polished option, subject to trialling, would be feasible at about £960.

I don't want to escalate the hostility with Mike New that a few funky letters seem to have provoked, but I feel it appropriate to address the specific issue of the "2 piece" platter. It is actually 4 piece. It is in the nature of a design idea based on bonded composite materials that they are - composite. The innovative material and construction of this platter are what is - innovative.

One of our great frustrations at PT was that we innovated and others copied or engineered up. I would like to repeat a point I made in an earlier post - The Pink Triangle was a major ground breaking innovation. Prior to that there had been no significant development of the basic turntable concept. There were three drive mechanisms and solid or suspended, all done pretty much the same. At around the same time as the PT the Oracle arguable offered some true innovation (primarily the integration of a non-flat platter, mat compound and clamp - truly innovative). The PT offered acrylic platter, inverted bearing, saphire thrust plate, mass balanced suspension instead of unbalanced floating isolation, asymetric (no standing waves) sub-chassis from light, rigid, low-resonance aerolam, needle talk adjustment as well as convenience features like the cable dressing and suspension adjustment, transit bolt. Oh - and bucked the trend with a DC motor (hardly an innovation, but a trend buster).

Regarding the Technics, instead of making a metal on metal bearing which is better engineered than the original, Arthur plans an innovation. Instead of a metal platter to replace a metal platter he has innovated - twice. Arms - the Jelco which is so popular is an S shaped metal tube with detachable headshell like the Technics. F dot cross is probably the biggest single innovation in tonearm technology to date. And unremarkably, sounds significantly (and measures significantly) better than conventional arms. The Achromat - not felt, cork, or rubber - but a new innovative (application) for a material. Arthur, like my other friends in audio, own patents because they innovate.

Marco's (very sound) KISS advice reminds me of a classic definition of STUPIDITY. Which is to keep doing the same thing, and expect a different outcome.

I have been very priviliged to be friends with, and work with, some true innovative geniuses in audio. Arthur is one of them.

[MartinT]

Guys, I'm working with Arthur on the hub/MN Bearing fit issue and Arthur is currently altering the hub design a touch for me to further test for proper fit. More news as soon as I've done further testing. Don't despair, I'm sure that the mismatch can be overcome.