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Technics at Purité Audio

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Purité Audio

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I am delighted to announce that Purité Audio now represent the Technics ‘Reference’ range of products including the gorgeous ,SL-1000R


And the equally gorgeous SP-10R


Keith
 
Beautiful. Stunning, really. That said, what I don't understand is the tonearm. They put so much into the turntable. But the older EPA series of arms (100 versions and the 250-500 modular units) seemed more sophisticated. Obviously the price for these new Technics top tier decks are on another planet, but if I was playing in that market it would be what I'd buy.
 
Purité Audio said:


Keith
Click to expand...
Lol. You are not a DJ are you Keith. :) The SL-1210 is famous for it's +/- on deck pitch controls. I can see a lot of wannabe DJ's scratching their heads when seeing this new one, without understanding that Technics actually make record players!
 
Be honest, is it any better than the Technics SL10?:)
There’s no way I’d buy one, but I’d love to see it in action.
 
Sp10 is an excellent turntable, I thoroughly enjoyed mine, it opened my eyes to direct drive and the Linn marketing BS which was so widely propagated in the U.K.
Also almost impossible to compare unless you bring yours along , which arm do you use on yours?
BW Keith
 
Purité Audio said:


Keith
Click to expand...
Technics-SL-1210-MK7-5Aeo1Sv3oKBLGCBUYmSBQq9OqZj.jpg
 
digititus said:
Lol. You are not a DJ are you Keith. :) The SL-1210 is famous for it's +/- on deck pitch controls. I can see a lot of wannabe DJ's scratching their heads when seeing this new one, without understanding that Technics actually make record players!
Click to expand...
Do you know many DJ's ready to pay 2x10k's for 2 turntables?:p
 
anmpr1 said:
Beautiful. Stunning, really. That said, what I don't understand is the tonearm. They put so much into the turntable. But the older EPA series of arms (100 versions and the 250-500 modular units) seemed more sophisticated. Obviously the price for these new Technics top tier decks are on another planet, but if I was playing in that market it would be what I'd buy.
Click to expand...
This arm had about the best measurements I have seen for an arm dynamics in HiFi News
 
Theo said:
Do you know many DJ's ready to pay 2x10k's for 2 turntables?:p
Click to expand...
The deck with arm runs twenty large. I did the math and that's $40,000.00 for two. Possibly you could get a small discount, maybe the dealer will throw in a Shure or Stanton/Pickering cartridge like they did in the old days. LOL

One might ask why the cost differential? In 1978 an SL-1000 Mk2 was $1400.00 (including base and EPA-100 tonearm). That would be about $5500.00 in today's inflato dollars. So cost is not proportional. Now, you could say that the new deck is better on an absolute level than the old, and as far as the turntable goes (not sure about the arm) that is true. However, in the world of high performance tech, things usually get better over time and price goes down or remains fairly constant. A 1978 Porsche 911 is not going to drive as well as a 2020, both comparable in (inflation adjusted) dollars--in any case, a new Porsche is certainly not going to be four times as expensive as the old one. Is this deck four times better than the one it replaced? Possibly, in certain areas that are measurably important (audibly? I don't know.)

In 1978 radio stations and other professional outfits bought SP-10 decks (SL-1000 unit was strictly audiophile), so Panasonic's market for their industrial class deck was likely much greater than it is today. Costs could be amortized over a larger production. This machine required all new tooling that has to be paid for over a smaller spread. IMO this record player looks a lot better than the old SL-1000, but of course looks are a subjective thing and your mileage will vary. Is it worth twenty thousand dollars? In the weird and wacky world of turntables and at this price point the Technics is probably good overall value, as good as or better to what else you could buy for similar dollars. If I could afford the luxury I'd buy it. I think it would look great next to my Garrard Z-100. ;)
 
Frank Dernie said:
This arm had about the best measurements I have seen for an arm dynamics in HiFi News
Click to expand...
Yes. The arm looks nice, no doubt has smooth bearings, excellent finish.

What I wanted to reference were features in the old EPA arms not now present. How they compare with the new arm I don't know. Techncis EPA-100 arms had a damped (magnetic-oil-spring) counterweight action that was supposed to match cartridge compliance with the arm, reducing peak resonance (by splitting the main resonance into smaller peaks--how it was described). EPA-500 used different tonearm pipes to match cartridge compliance, along with (I'm pretty sure) a similar counterweight damping.

FWIW, at a different pay scale I've found that a small amount of damping helps on my SL-1200 Mk5 arm (KAB fluid damper) I get better arm resonance control, but the thing is, once it's installed it is impossible to easily defeat, so I don't have any hard data to support my belief. The Shure damping brush certainly tames the unusual and complicated Garrard pantograph Z-100 mechanism. The effect and improvement with that arm is marked.

PS: I just looked and KAB offers a fluid damper (silicon gunk) for the new Technics models, including this one. For $160.00 or so, chump change in the scheme of this machine, it would likely be worth a try-out.

https://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/td1000.htm

I've bought some things from Kevin, and he's honest, a straight shooter.
 
Last edited:
Looks like the same tone arm that I have my vintage Technics SL-1500 MKII. I hope they improved the lifter mechanisms. Nice arm, but the lifter mechanisms on these all sucked. The internals were made of plastic that after a few years wore out and stopped working. Look on eBay for the number people offering tone arm fixes and/or parts for Technics tone arms. Almost every used Technics turntable for will say the lifter doesn't work. Otherwise, Technics makes a good turntable.
 
From the Technics site,
High-sensitivity Tonearm
To enable the tonearm to precisely track the record's rotation, Technics has traditionally used the static balance, S-type universal tonearm with a lightweight, high damping magnesium tonearm pipe. The gimbal suspension construction tonearm uses high-precision bearings. Highly skilled Japanese craftsmen handle all assembly and adjustment to achieve a high initial-motion sensitivity to precisely trace the grooves cut into the records. OFC is used for internal wiring, so the music signal relayed from the cartridge is not dampened and the musical energy cut into the record is not lost, thereby producing highly vivid sounds.
Keith
 
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