Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

[Marco]

I have every confidence of that, Martin.

I first heard one of the beasts in the 80s, when I used to sell them (ironically along with SL-1200s and 1210s) and all manner of (now desirable) Japanese kit at an upmarket section of Arnotts, called 'Sound & Vision'. Arnotts was a major department store (part of the House of Fraser chain) in Paisley, just outside of Glasgow, and during the 80s and 90s it was the place in Paisley to shop.

I remember that we received an SL-P1200 in error, as it was meant to go to the Glasgow branch in Argyle St, which was a busier, 'higher grade' store (in terms of our stock lists), and so always got the more interesting and expensive items for sale, whether it was TVs, VCRs or hi-fi equipment. However, I convinced the manager then to keep it, as I just fell in love with the player as soon as I seen it!

We put it in the shop window, heading up an all-Technics system (T/T, pre/power amp - the power amp was one with the big illuminated VU meters on it - graphic equaliser, tuner and tape deck), including a huge pair of speakers, which were as tall as the stack of Technics kit that they stood alongside, and even though the boxes were simply just stacked on top of each other on a kind of 'platform', supplied by the manufacturer, with no attention to optimising set-up, it sounded amazing (well, at least it did to me in those days)!

I think we only sold one SL-P1200 (as it was expensive, probably too much so for the type of buyers we had), but it brought a lot of people into the shop who loved its looks, along with the dudes who were buying pairs of SL1200s and 1210s. Anyway, eventually we had to change our stock and the Technics had to go, so the manager bought it at a reduced price and took it home with him. I'd have loved it, but I simply couldn't afford it at the time.

The second time I heard one, some years later, was when a friend, who worked as a service engineer for Radio Clyde in Glasgow (they used them in their broadcasting studios), brought one home to work on, and I got to hear it in his system. As he had some really good kit that sounded even better than what we used in the shop at Sound & Vision, the thing that stuck in my mind most was the incredible depth and solidity of the bass and how it drove rhythms along with tremendous verve and 'pace' - for years later I tried to replicate that sound from the systems I had at the time, but failed miserably.

The last time I heard one, was when I worked for Bill Hutchinson Hi-fi in Glasgow City Centre, in 1991, and amazingly they had two, brand new in their boxes lying in their stock room, discovered during a stock-check, which the owner had forgotten were there!! Anyway, prompted by my enthusiasm to hear it once again, we hooked one up to a system (which I remember contained a Pioneer A-400 amp with Monitor Audio speakers), and the guys there were blown away by the amazing sound it produced.

Unfortunately, I didn't get on with the owner of the shop, and only worked there for 6 months, so I never found out what happened to the SL-P1200s, but those memories of it are still impregnated into my head today.. Sorry for waffling on, but the player conjures up some unforgettable feelings of nostalgia!

Marco.

[jandl100]

Marco on a nostalgia trip

I suspect the Techie is one of the best sources I've had, maybe the best overall.
If I put it up for sale can someone pop round and hit me over the head with a brick to try and knock some sense into me.

[brian2957]

I have every confidence of that, Martin.

I first heard one of the beasts in the 80s, when I used to sell them (ironically along with SL-1200s and 1210s) and all manner of (now desirable) Japanese kit at an upmarket section of Arnotts, called 'Sound & Vision'. Arnotts was a major department store (part of the House of Fraser chain) in Paisley, just outside of Glasgow, and during the 80s and 90s it was the place in Paisley to shop.

I remember that we received an SL-P1200 in error, as it was meant to go to the Glasgow branch in Argyle St, which was a busier, 'higher grade' store (in terms of our stock lists), and so always got the more interesting and expensive items for sale, whether it was TVs, VCRs or hi-fi equipment. However, I convinced the manager then to keep it, as I just fell in love with the player as soon as I seen it!

We put it in the shop window, heading up an all-Technics system (T/T, pre/power amp - the power amp was one with the big illuminated VU meters on it - graphic equaliser, tuner and tape deck), including a huge pair of speakers, which were as tall as the stack of Technics kit that they stood alongside, and even though the boxes were simply just stacked on top of each other on a kind of 'platform', supplied by the manufacturer, with no attention to optimising set-up, it sounded amazing (well, at least it did to me in those days)!

I think we only sold one SL-P1200 (as it was expensive, probably too much so for the type of buyers we had), but it brought a lot of people into the shop who loved its looks, along with the dudes who were buying pairs of SL1200s and 1210s. Anyway, eventually we had to change our stock and the Technics had to go, so the manager bought it at a reduced price and took it home with him. I'd have loved it, but I simply couldn't afford it at the time.

The second time I heard one, some years later, was when a friend, who worked as a service engineer for Radio Clyde in Glasgow (they used them in their broadcasting studios), brought one home to work on, and I got to hear it in his system. As he had some really good kit that sounded even better than what we used in the shop at Sound & Vision, the thing that stuck in my mind most was the incredible depth and solidity of the bass and how it drove rhythms along with tremendous verve and 'pace' - for years later I tried to replicate that sound from the systems I had at the time, but failed miserably.

The last time I heard one, was when I worked for Bill Hutchinson Hi-fi in Glasgow City Centre, in 1991, and amazingly they had two, brand new in their boxes lying in their stock room, discovered during a stock-check, which the owner had forgotten were there!! Anyway, prompted by my enthusiasm to hear it once again, we hooked one up to a system (which I remember contained a Pioneer A-400 amp with Monitor Audio speakers), and the guys there were blown away by the amazing sound it produced.

Unfortunately, I didn't get on with the owner of the shop, and only worked there for 6 months, so I never found out what happened to the SL-P1200s, but those memories of it are still impregnated into my head today.. Sorry for waffling on, but the player conjures up some unforgettable feelings of nostalgia!

Marco.

Aye those were the days Marco. I remember all those shops and bought gear from most of them. Maybe you served me mate

[MartinT]

Jerry this-box-ain't-for-swapping

[Marco]

Aye those were the days Marco. I remember all those shops and bought gear from most of them. Maybe you served me mate

Hi Brian,

There's every chance, mate, as I served plenty of customers!

Do you remember the Sound & Vision part of Arnotts, on the corner of Gauze St in Paisley? If you do, I'm impressed, as it wasn't there for very long before it was closed down, as it wasn't paying (simply because the equipment stocked was rather too 'specialist' for the Paisley punters). I have lots of fond memories from there - including hearing an SL-P1200 on a number of occasions!

Chris, TGW, reckoned I served him in Bill Hutchinson's, LONG before AoS was born, which of course couldn't have happened if the blinkered ramblings of a certain amp-bodger elsewhere are to be believed!! Anyway, the least said about that DUNNderheid, the better!

Marco.

[brian2957]

Can't remember the Arnotts in Paisley but I do remember the one in Glasgow . I also bought quite a few pieces of gear from Bill Hutchison when the shop was open.
Edit : If memory serves me properly I took my aunt over to Arnotts Paisley years ago because they were doing a special deal on a Sony TV.
Do you remember the old TV adverts for Glens , Hutchison , Robertson and Stepek

[Marco]

Sure do, matey!

Arnotts was a large, high-quality, department store in Paisley, the front of which was situated on Gauze St, and the rear, Smithhills St. Before that it was called Cochran's, but you'd probably have to ask your parents about that one. It was much like the Arnotts store that used to be in Argyle Street in Glasgow, but smaller. I got my first job in sales there, after leaving secondary school in 1982. Here's a pic of before it was demolished about 4 years ago:



'Sound & Vision' was an off-shoot of the electrical department (situated on the 1st floor), which had been opened in a separate shop adjacent to the main entrance in Gauze St (its old location is just about visible on the far left of the pic shown above), and sold more upmarket items than those stocked in the main electrical department. Some of the kit they got in was fab - the sort of stuff, now classified as vintage, that we all drool over these days on ebay! That's where my education in hi-fi started (although I had been a customer of The Music Room in Bath St Glasgow, Stereo Stereo and Hi-Fi Corner in Glasgow before that).

Apart from there and Bill Hutchinsons, the other hi-fi shop I've worked in is Acoustica, in Chester, which is still there today, when helping out the owner of the shop (Geoff Coleman), during my days as a Naim user. I learned much there too, but of a rather different category than I did whilst working in S&V or Bill H!

Marco.

[RochaCullen]

Sure do, matey!

Arnotts was a large, high-quality, department store in Paisley, the front of which was situated on Gauze St, and the rear, Smithhills St. Before that it was called Cochran's, but you'd probably have to ask your parents about that one. It was much like the Arnotts store that used to be in Argyle Street in Glasgow, but smaller. I got my first job in sales there, after leaving secondary school in 1982. Here's a pic of before it was demolished about 4 years ago:



'Sound & Vision' was an off-shoot of the electrical department (situated on the 1st floor), which had been opened in a separate shop adjacent to the main entrance in Gauze St (its old location is just about visible on the far left of the pic shown above), and sold more upmarket items than those stocked in the main electrical department. Some of the kit they got in was fab - the sort of stuff, now classified as vintage, that we all drool over these days on ebay! That's where my education in hi-fi started (although I had been a customer of The Music Room in Bath St Glasgow, Stereo Stereo and Hi-Fi Corner before that).

Apart from there and Bill Hutchinsons, the other hi-fi shop I've worked in is Acoustica, in Chester, which is still there today, when helping out the owner of the shop (Geoff Coleman), during my days as a Naim user. I learned much there too, but of a rather different category than I did whilst working in S&V or Bill H!

Marco.

All this talk of Paisley makes me regret not going to visit more often. I used to work in Inchinnan and only ever visited paisley once or twice.

[Audioman]

I never rated the original Alto and I was going to say that the issues Jerry was having with the soundstage and the top being a bit bright were down to the amp not the cd player but he appears to have sorted it now. Even so I'd like to hear Jerry's opinion on the Technics combined with a clean sounding power amp and a passive pre, my experience has been that combo will get the best out of it. The Alto circuit is designed to emulate a valve sound by adding even order distortion, also its power supply is not very stiff (all according to Hi-Fi World test results).

re the laser mech - talking to the engineer in the local pro shop apparently the mech is pretty bomb proof, it is the logic chip that is most likely to fail and there is no cure or replacement save getting a donor unit.

Many magazines loved it but Noel Keywood in Hi-Fi World was not impressed. Wasn't this product the one that caused AI to fold ?

[The Grand Wazoo]

There seems to be a fair bit of interest stirring in the Technics CD player. There was a review in at least one of the magazines at the time, which I'll certainly have. I'll take a look for it in the next couple of days and maybe give a quick precis of what the verdict was. I'm sure I remember it being much liked.