Wow, for those prices it should be better, a lot better than "just entry" it should be at least at the sub-top (of what the vinyl format has to offer!), at least that's my opinion.
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Nice turntables. Attached picture is an absolute requirement.
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DSJR
Major Contributor
Not mine (my photography is appalling I'm afraid), but here's a better one -
Lateral drag isn't that low, but this combined with a tilted lateral ball race (I think), gives perfect bias correction/anti-skate for 1.25g (elliptical) and 2g (conical) downforce. The sub-chassis was a proper casting on this era 3000 and hung on springs (the AR, Thorens and Linn basically sit on top of the springs), which offered a very low frequency 'bounce.'
Of the later models, I'm hugely fond of this one - Beogram 1700 (pic from Beocentral)
The even slimmer and simpler looking models which came after this, tended to bland out the sonics a bit too much for the likes of me, but the 1700 with 'MMC20EN' cartridge was excellent and not silly money back then (I'd suggest around £600 or so today)
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Eric Natural
Active Member
the arm on the 300 is so funky, so space age - is your base rosewood ? This is my RX that I really only use for decoration in the living room : = )
Cheers
Upvote for the Achromat, I have a pristine AR The Turntable that I am planning to attach a Micro Seiki arm to, instead of the Jelco.
DSJR
Major Contributor
Make sure you have a slop-free main bearing, which killed the sonics on an early sample of 'The Turntable' we tried (AR XB77 seemed similarly afflicted, unfortunately, yet the XA and XB decks seemed better here). The UK 'Legend' version (I'm not sure what the later US equivalent was titled) had a very much better main bearing fitted and it 'sounded' absolutely sublime, with an 'airy lightness of touch' to the sonics compared to the fruity tones of say, a mid 80s Linn LP12! A heavier main bearing oil may help here (I can't remember if it had sintered sleeves 'cos if it does, careful selection of oil is needed - slideway oil (I was recommended Mobil Vactra ISO68) which claim to be oilite/sinter-safe, unlike EP80 or 90 'gearbox' oil)
With respect, not sure that Micro Seiki arm is right for the AR deck, as I suspect it's more massive than the slimline Jelco and you may end up messing the suspension dynamics up too much and furthering any 'smearing effects.' That Jelco arm should be perfectly adequate for good mid-line cartridges from AT and Ortofon. Save the Micro Seiki arm for a vintage Technics SL110 or similar
I got lucky I guess with the bearing, no play at all and it's a dead silent player. The Micro Seiki, I thought the same - but upon arrival I am surprised to report that it is rather dainty and while I haven't weighed both yet, I would think the Micro is lighter than the Jelco. I absolutely agree on the Linn LP 12, I had a nice example offered recently but the AR beats it and I don't like the endless upgrade path. Wish I would have bought the Merrill stuff for it, back in the day 
DSJR
Major Contributor
Mine's teak, but obviously darkened a little. I'll put the auto-Garrard away and bring it down again (auto large-format Garrards are a 'marmite' thing, you either love 'em to bits while servicing the mechs regularly, or you hate them and run to the security of Duals, which themselves need work these days - another tale for some other time).
The RX2 is very cleverly engineered underneath, the 'sub-chassis' being an 'under-tray' which 'hangs' from the top. The mid level MMC cartridges sounded very refined on this basic deck (I think I liked the 2, 3 and 4 on it, the basic MMC5 a bit dull for this digitally-inspired bod I remember. RAPID auto functions and again, you place the record, push a button and the thing is playing practically as soon as you return to the listening seat
They're worth a bit now, so a good investment and the replacement pickups (from Soundsmith now) are eye-wateringly expensive sadly (I gather B&O foolishly chucked all their tooling many years ago, not realising the revival of this medium and that people would want replacement pickups as they're all-in-one with stylus assembly).Hmm - if I had one of these decks (or a TX2 with parallel tracking arm), could I add a thin almost 'cloth' Collaro mat and use it as a daily deck? It'd be well worth a try, but the sound quality from records played on these decks is always highly pleasant, but not what I'd call 'sonic fireworks' as I'd have wanted in my younger days...
P.S. I played 'The Colour of Spring' by Talk Talk this lunchtime (a rather noisy original pressing) and the dynamic shading, interesting instrument mix and easy to hear details in said mixes made it a great and fondly thought of dem record, both vinyl for turntable/pickup comparisons (excellent and quiet-surface vinyl re-cut done at Abbey Road with their very carefully curated facilities not long ago) and also the digital (mine's the original CD issue and no reason so far to buy a remastered version).
Music link I'll put in the 'What am I listening to' thread rather than pollute this one further
DSJR
Major Contributor
Boy, do I have some tales regarding older and now bearing (and effin split PLINTH!!!) knackered LP12s coming up all over eBay UK. Current model has sorted most issues but at what cost when a Technics can be had for a fraction of the price!I got lucky I guess with the bearing, no play at all and it's a dead silent player. The Micro Seiki, I thought the same - but upon arrival I am surprised to report that it is rather dainty and while I haven't weighed both yet, I would think the Micro is lighter than the Jelco. I absolutely agree on the Linn LP 12, I had a nice example offered recently but the AR beats it and I don't like the endless upgrade path. Wish I would have bought the Merrill stuff for it, back in the day
Good luck with the arm change, but unless you have another mounting board, can the Micro Seiki arm go on without carving the original up? Wrong thread, but take great care with exit cable dressing and ensure the suspension bounces evenly as well as having good lateral movement side to side and back and forth with no binding...
I'll put my Linn set-up 'chip' back in its box now... Gawd, you can take me away from this stuff, but it still lives inside ready to clog up threads when this is about nice looking tirntables...
DSJR
Major Contributor
HAH!!!
Do as I say, not as I too often do... I have a selection of second-rig turntables I like to play with. Here's my current one, which is a better condition example of a Friday Afternoon sample I bought with hard saved holiday-job money back in 1972 - I'd still place this old thing at borderline Rega/ProJect level with the OM10 fitted. To me, it's a dear old thing I had to strip and rebuild as mechs glue up with dried grease and far more than merely 'nice,' but I know vinylistas will take the pee as they wouldn't be seen dead in its company The arm is flimsy as only Garrard could make them, but it kind of works regardless and the idler drive isn't too intrusive.
![IMG_20250305_123030437[1].jpg](https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/img_20250305_123030437-1-jpg.433500/ "IMG_20250305_123030437[1].jpg")
Do as I say, not as I too often do... I have a selection of second-rig turntables I like to play with. Here's my current one, which is a better condition example of a Friday Afternoon sample I bought with hard saved holiday-job money back in 1972 - I'd still place this old thing at borderline Rega/ProJect level with the OM10 fitted. To me, it's a dear old thing I had to strip and rebuild as mechs glue up with dried grease and far more than merely 'nice,' but I know vinylistas will take the pee as they wouldn't be seen dead in its company
The arm is flimsy as only Garrard could make them, but it kind of works regardless and the idler drive isn't too intrusive.I'll fabricate another arm-board anyway, I have to include a protruding ledge of sorts for the arm rest, not going to drill a hole in the AR plinth. I mentioned the Merrill upgrades for exactly that reason, the Merrill chassis and springs made the whole thing less Oracle in the bounce, if you know hat I mean. I still have to drill my Well Tempered for the addition of the Fidelity Research 24. I don't particularly care for that plinth. Appreciate your chiming in. One can never have enough TT's in my opinion.Boy, do I have some tales regarding older and now bearing (and effin split PLINTH!!!) knackered LP12s coming up all over eBay UK. Current model has sorted most issues but at what cost when a Technics can be had for a fraction of the price!
Good luck with the arm change, but unless you have another mounting board, can the Micro Seiki arm go on without carving the original up? Wrong thread, but take great care with exit cable dressing and ensure the suspension bounces evenly as well as having good lateral movement side to side and back and forth with no binding...
I'll put my Linn set-up 'chip' back in its box now... Gawd, you can take me away from this stuff, but it still lives inside ready to clog up threads when this is about nice looking tirntables...
Attachments
DSJR
Major Contributor
I have eight Garrards, three Lencos and five vintage Duals and counting, as well as the Beogram. This really IS too many - leaving retail and having spare cash at the time, I kind of collected the things, serviced and restored them as best I could, but bonded with the blighters and can't bring myself to sell them.
I never sold 'em, but the odd-ball (couldn't help it) Well Tempered tonearm is actually very good indeed I remember, if tricky to use. The oil bath and suspended golf-ball is clever, but derived from the old Gray arms which used a uni-pivot to take the weight and a ball-in-fluid filled cup to stabilise it -
Image from a web page -
Here's a modern take on the basic design
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DSJR
Major Contributor
At least you're using the stock cueing device
What's the tonearm please? You know, the L75 arm ain't as bad as people think it is. Just sayin'...On THIS deck, the stock rubber mat is fine you know, I like the power and drive it gives to these decks - sonically, although I like the 78 multi-ribbed mat myself as the contact over the entire record seems better
Hell, I've got a GL75 and a GL78 here that I still haven't properly worked on
Here's my regular Lenco restoration. Not as quiet as the better Garrard auto's sadly - and I have serviced the motor too - Cartridge is a Thakker EPO E, which is a AT91 body with modern Swiss made Dual DN251E stylus, roughly equivalent to an AT95E with diamond of good polish and form.
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DSJR
Major Contributor
Before I shuffle off for the evening, here's my main deck now, a much beloved Dual 701 I bought used in 1989 or so and which 'sounds' great in the main system. I place a Notts Spacemat on top of the Dual original stuck-on one and it's played host to pickups as way apart as a Rega Carbon (posh AT91) to a low hours Koetsu Black, which I loved until a coil wore broke, losing a channel (how many hundreds to repair I wonder?). Pabst made EDS1000 motor design is ancestral to the current Technics direct drive - It's that darned Talk Talk album again and after discussion in the cartridge thread here, I dug out my Stanton 681EEE to play it with
Emulator II
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Here are a few pics of my Technics SL-Q3. I actually found it in the bulky waste . It was a bit dirty, but worked perfectly. Despite that, it has had a few upgrades. Among other things, the humming internal power supply was replaced with an external one. The aging capacitors were replaced too and it also got a new phono cable (the plugs on the old one were just broken). What can I say? This player sounds great to my aging ears. And imho it looks great too. I love it!
. It was a bit dirty, but worked perfectly. Despite that, it has had a few upgrades. Among other things, the humming internal power supply was replaced with an external one. The aging capacitors were replaced too and it also got a new phono cable (the plugs on the old one were just broken). What can I say? This player sounds great to my aging ears. And imho it looks great too. I love it!
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I recently restored the SL-Q300 I had in grad school. (I can't post a photo, since it's in the vacation house.) I'd forgotten how much I like the automatic features. like the replay.Here are a few pics of my Technics SL-Q3. I actually found it in the bulky waste
Emulator II
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The SL-Q300 is the player I used before. I actually like its sleek design even more. The advantages of the SL-Q3 on the other hand are the much more powerful drive (basically the same as the SL-1200), the aluminum chassis and the larger selection of pickups. In fact, I was looking for a Technics SL-Q303 for a while, which is basically an SL-Q300 with an aluminium chassis, S-tonearm and half-inch pickups.
PS: I'm also a fan of the automatic features. With the SL-Q3 you can even set how often it should repeat the side (1-6 or infinitely) .
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Here's my Goldring Lenco GL75. I have my Twins, (AEG and EMT shown earlier) in my main system, and the GL75 in my Study system. Fitted with an Ortofon MC15SII which suits the heavyish arm well. I keep a Goldring G800-78 for playing those few 78s I occasionally play.
S.
S.
The SL-Q300's mechanism is a wonderful, Rube-Goldbergesque (or Heath-Robinsonesque for those in the UK) arrangement. I expect the 303 uses something different, I can't visualize how the 300's mechanism could be fitted with a counter. I don't recall my thought process in buying the 300 (or what I was using before buying it); my father was a Technics dealer, and since the 3 and the 303 and the 33 occupied approximately the same niche in the Technics ecosystem at different times I assume had I bought my turntable at a different time I would have bought one of them.
I stopped using the Technics when I met my now-wife, who had a much-better Denon (also with auto return). When that stopped working I bought a Thorens TD-160, but I always missed the auto features. (I have a Q-up lifter on the Thorens, but it isn't as nice as full return & shutoff.)
Restoring the Q300 mainly involved cleaning old, dry lube off the plastic lever arms in the chassis and replacing it with new lube. (For anyone who stumbles across this post while doing such a restoration, Ronsonol on a cotton swab is your friend.) Once I'd doused the switches with contact cleaner, the electronics all still worked fine.
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