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Is this table worth it? Technics SL-1500

techkiller80

techkiller80

Member
Found one on craigslist....Here is the description and pictures....Guy said he would go down to $200 on it...I'm wondering if it's a good table?

Really nice Technics SL 1500 manual turntable. Works like it should, above average physical condition. These are some of the best turntables ever made. The plinth is solid aluminum not plastic and uses a direct drive system so you will never need to replace a belt. I just did all of the maintenance on it. Cleaned the connectors on the board deoxidized the potentiometers and tuned it to its proper speed. It was made in 1974 and will keep going another 40 years.

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Guy told me he would go down to $200 for it.....thinking about making a purchase, but i know nothing about this turntable.
 
It's a good, reliable, easy to maintain direct drive, manual turntable. However, someone who supposedly just did the full maintenance should know better than to claim "The plinth is solid aluminum not plastic". The bottom half of the plinth is molded plastic, not "solid aluminum". I know. I had one and did the complete servicing on it, which requires disassembly of the plinth to replace the heavy weight silicon grease in the cueing mechanism and Deoxit the speed selector switch - neither of which the seller mentioned. In terms of value, it depends on what cartridge is included and the condition of the stylus - again, neither of which the seller mentions.

That said, you already have a new, in the box, unused turntable. You haven't even taken it out of the box to see what cartridge is on it, or played a single record. You don't even have an amp or a receiver to hook it up to. You've already started two threads, about upgrading a cartridge and turntable you haven't even used. You seem like you want to upgrade just because you heard something may be better than the turntable and cartridge you already have, but haven't actually heard. At this point, you are just chasing your tail.

Instead of spending money to replace a perfectly usable turntable and cartridge, get an integrated amp or receiver with a phono input, hook up the turntable and speakers you already have, buy some records and start listening to them. Worry about upgrading after you've actually heard some records, or at least a record on the gear you have. At this point, you don't even have a complete system, let alone know what the weak point in your system is. You said you have some "good speakers", but didn't mention what they are. Speakers have the biggest influence on the sound you hear. Depending on what you have, that may (or may not) offer the most potential for an eventual upgrade.

However, all this talk of upgrades when you haven't played a single record is wildly premature.
 
The money shot isn't shown in any of the photo's. The dustcover's probably worth 1/3 of the asking value.
 
I was buy SL-1900 in perfect condition with new AT-95E with zero hour playad cartridge on it for $150. SL-1500 and SL-1900 does not have huge diferences between them. SL-1500 have metal plinth, SL-1900 plastic, not different but with difference in plinth design, weight is almost same as other constructions. Diferences are on layout. As I good see, this SL-1500 are Mk1 model, not Mk2? For my point of view it is little overpriced, just little if turntable is on perfect condition.

WOW, this is mine 666 post.:D
 
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I have two 1500's. One beat that I plan on rehabing, one mint that I bought for about this same price as the one you are looking at. I was mainly interested in the cartridge though. I have a thing for collecting Technics, so 200 seems fair to me, but the cart would weigh heavily in the decision. There are plenty of better tables out there that I would prefer if I could only have one. Speed control has been an issue for me with these older Technics. Deoxit on the speed control pots seems to work, but they still worry me.
 
FileFixer said:
I was buy SL-1900 in perfect condition with new AT-95E with zero hour playad cartridge on it for $150. SL-1500 and SL-1900 does not have huge diferences between them.



Actually there is quite a difference between the 1500 and 1900, the specs are close(WF, Rumble, weight - the 1500 is a little better) but the obvious being the 1900 is full auto while the 1500 is full manual, different tonearm, different patter and the 1500 cost twice as much when new, just sayin'
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Yes, it is different tables. Price tag are double different because that SL-1500 have different internal design. SL-1900 have all mechanics on bottom cover and plastic are on top cover. SL-1500 have plastic bottom cover but everything inside stay on metal plinth which is on top, same as SL-1200. Tonearm is almost same, it shares same design and moving principles. SL-1500 have same pivot to spindle distance (215mm) as SL-1900. Performance is negliable between them. Bigest difference is between automatic and manual working and design layout. Also SL-1500 Mk1 have servo controled drive, SL1500 Mk2 have quartz controled drive. Design and tonearm are also different between Mk1 and Mk2 models.
 
Worth 200, it's a nice deck, had a few. The MK2 versions of this series are the ones you want tho, my 1400mk2 has displaced a Fons with an SME tonearm, Linn Axis, Loads of Regas Projects and other midrange stuff people rave on about.
 
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