Quote Originally Posted by Oldpinkman View Post
I'm guessing now...
Indeed, and unfortunately, it shows....

...but the bearing is not going to make a huge difference to sound (unless the standard was worn)
Not so (and I'm speaking from practical experience, not guessing), upgrading from the stock Technics bearing to the MN one produces significant improvements, in terms of overall noise reduction, and therefore music is reproduced in a much more believable and lifelike way. Trust me, the effect is not subtle!

These improvements occur simply because the stock Technics bearing, whilst decent, was built to a price. Mike's, on the other hand wasn't, and has been engineered to a much higher standard, improving mechanical integrity along the way, resulting in a far superior item, all round. You only have to hold an MN bearing and a stock Technics one in your hand to appreciate that they are two very different animals!

The bearings I've seen on some £10k turntables aren't as well made as Mike's...

But my main point is your comments relate to the motor unit, and this bears out my little obsession that, whilst far from irrelevant, the motor unit makes a less obvious contribution to the record player sound than the arm.
Sorry, Richard, I totally disagree. The superb (highly accurate) Quartz-controlled D/D motor unit is the whole raison d'être behind modifying the Technics - a motor unit that would cost many thousands of pounds to produce today. Without that, modifying the Technics, in the way many of us do here, would be a complete waste of time. It is because the motor unit is *so* good, that transforming the Techy into a genuinely world class T/T is possible.

No tonearm in the world could exert a similar influence.

Marco.