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Luxman vs Technics vs Dual

mcp1

mcp1

Well-Known Member
I've been fortunate to acquire three tables for the sum of $5. All three are in excellent cosmetic and functional condition. Which one do you think has the most potential?

Dual 1229
Technics SL-D1
Luxman PD-264

I have a new Ortofon 2M Blue MM cart (which doesn't fit on the Luxman -- it is too wide). I could buy a new cart, though...
I know these aren't world beaters...but what do you guys think?
 
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An excellent-functioning Dual 1229 as part of a $5 deal?!
I'm biased towards Duals, so I'll recommend that one right off; for $5 you stole it. Congrats.
Tom
 
Yeah, I inherited the 1229 from my late father in law. I had a custom, walnut base made to replace the original base. It has been broken down and re-greased and performs beautifully.
The Luxman was purchased at a garage sale.
The Technics was given to me after I bought a collection of 1500 LPs...
 
I would say the Technics has the lowest potential of the three, being a consumer, rather low end, deck.

The dual 1229 is an excellent TT, and was excellent in it's time. Certainly better TTs were being built later.

I am partial to the looks of the Luxmans, and the 264 is an average good TT, not one of the better Lux, though.

I would focus getting the most out of the Lux and Dual.
 
Hi,

The Luxman I don't know about. The Dual is superb and the best of the 1200 series idler decks. The Technics may be low end, but it is a superb performer and well made. It is fully manual and has a fine low mass tonearm. It will work superbly with cartridges like the Audio Technica AT 440MLa, Shure M 97xE, and the Stanton 681 EEE-S Mk II and III. The Dual is also great with these cartridges. :tresbon:
 
That's a real funky arm mechanism on the 264. Pray it doesn't go south if you keep the table. I spent hours and hours trying to get one working reliably on a TT I picked up. Just couldn't do it.
 
The 1229 does quite nicely with the:

-Shure V-15 Type III
-Denon DL-110
-ADC XLM MK II Improved
-Empire 2000

Proper servicing will yield many years of trouble free service - Duals work better the more that you use them!
 
All biases aside and I am biased toward the Luxman, the Lux is by a pretty wide margin the best of these tables. The technics is a lower end model and although the dual is a top unit it suffers because of the advances in TT technology over the years after it was produced.

The technics vintage site has the SL-D2 listed with the following specs:

Year:79-80
wow & flutter 0.03
DIN rumble 75
speed adjustment 5%
Price new 125.00

The Dual 1229 shows:

Pitch Control: 6%
Wow & Flutter: +/- 0.06%
Rumble: Unweighted: 42dB
Weighted: 63dB
1972-74 $250

The Luxman has a tonearm that seems to sell well off the table and this makes it the better table. The specs:
Rumble IEC-B 60dB
wow & flutter 0.035%
1976-80 $300

I owned a Dual 1219 back in the day, a nice table. I have owned a Technics SL-1800 II still a nice table today and would put that table up against the Luxman, but not the lower model SL-D1.

What a great price for those tables. Now you have options on what to do, but put a good cartridge on the Lux and hear the music.
 
Bill:

I think I may have purchased the walnut 1229 base from you...the Denon 110 cart was very good, but I think the Ortofon is even better.
It seems like the Lux and Dual are well thought of...think I might give the Technics to my 10 year old nephew...he was fascinated by my TT the last time he was here. I have tons of AC/DC records ( his favorite) I could give to him...the SL-D1 with a Pioneer SX-450 and JBL bookshelf speakers should make a nice little bedroom system...
 
Actually, the Dual platter is substantially heavier, maybe double the weight of the Luxman. The Luxman looks heavier because it is taller, but it is deceiving...
 
I have a pd264, its really a nice table. The auto lift mechanism is a but funky and if you look at the stylus it will actually bend the stylus inward as it engages.

Asside from that it is an excelent table. Interestingly enough I'm going to be replacing it with a 1229 soon. The only reason I still have the Luxman is becuase IMHO its a better table than what the sell for and I refuse to give it away.

Steve
 
I'd go with the dual, if you already have a couple stereo setups you could go ahead and build a quad setup with the 1229 at the heart of it all :)
 
I have or had all of the above. Well actually my Dual is a 1219 which I will keep forever as the source for my vintage "mid-fi" system. I think the Luxman is somewhat of a disappointment as it only bears physical resemblance to my PD-441 which serves as the source for my Hi(end)-Fi system. The arms for their lower end PD- 2XXs as well as the PD-375 were made by Micro-Seiki. Strangely I have seen TAs from PD-272s sell for more on ebay than the what I sold my mint PD-272 for! The high mass platters were supposed to make up for the flimsy light weight plinths but I don't think that this design really works out. The platters are not all that massive and ring like a bell if you tap on them. I think those MS arms are OK but definitely not worth the 150-200 bucks they sometimes sell for. The medium mass TA that came with a Kenwood KD-550 that I sold for $75 was far superior and one I now wish I had kept. As for the Dual, the sum seems greater than it's parts which is something that you just have to experience with a nicely re-lubed model paired with a vintage Shure cartridge. The Technics did nothing for me and I ended up selling it.
 
This is the 264 arm. It is a light weight, complex rube goldberg auto lift contraption that contains the on/off switch for the platter and rides loosely on plastic knife edge bearings. It does not have a cueing function. That little wire trip lever and the shaft it rides on are a source of endless grief.

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This is the TA-1, the arm used on the 277. It is solid, well manufactured, has adjustable VTA, easily transfers to other tables and commands good prices.

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I've had a 264, I have a TA-1. There is no comparison.

Pictures from the vinyl engine Luxman gallery. http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/album_cat.php?cat_id=47
 

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The PD-264 does have a cueing mechanism. It is the same lever that controls the on/off function located at the base of the tonearm...
 
Apparently the TA-1 arm is used on the PD-375 as well. At least, it looks identical to the arm on mine.
 
mcp1 said:
The PD-264 does have a cueing mechanism. It is the same lever that controls the on/off function located at the base of the tonearm...
Click to expand...


My memory may be failing me here, but as I remember, to reject a record, I had to manually trip the wire bail. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember any provision to manually raise and lower the arm without doing a full shutoff with the trip lever and reset with the start knob.
 
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