TEAC TN-300 Belt Drive Turntable Initial Impression and Review

[MacNoob]

The spec is not great, but it's typical for the lower priced competition like the AT Lp120 or the uturn Orbit. Project Carbon is somewhat better but has its own problems.

Would be interesting to measure a few typical unrestored 40 year old tables and see how they do, since that's what people might often compare.

Plus it's drop dead gorgous and that's worth something.

 

[Tharbamar]

Follow Up after 20 hours of playtime

It DOES look very nicely made unit. Certainly better than Denon's plastic fantastic table and Pro-ject's humming bird table.
Just wish it had an S-arm.
At that price point I think the craftsmanship is spot on if everything else is as good as it looks.

On a side note did you put the rubber mat on upside down?

Yes I did put the mat upside down but it's corrected,Thanks.

About 20 hours play time, I'm convinced this table is a keeper.
Imaging is great, tonal accuracy and instrument separation is pretty good but not by any mean of Hi-end table like resolution but very enjoyable, musically involving.

I'm not sure why USB feature is not welcome by some people but to me it's a big plus to achive my collection in a SSD to play when I'm lazy or using with portable device.

Here you go (TN-350):

Not available in the US (yet)

Looks like TN-350 is only for Japanese market.
I went to Japanese sites to find out more about TN-350, only difference between two is tonearm and cartridge (AT95E vs. AT100E) otherwise same table, same functionality etc,.

Onkyo just announced New CP-1050 manual direct drive table in Japan.
Release date is 1/23/2015 in Japan for about $500 retail.





I think we are going to see more exciting products form TEAC/Onkyo partnership in the future.

Happy Listening!

 

[beatcomber]

I'm not sure if it is entirely relevant to this conversation, but I bought a BPC Teac CD recorder/player back in 2001 for, I believe, about $150 new.

Very cheap, right? 14 years later, it still works perfectly and sounds pretty decent.

 

[lpsalsaman]

That is one sweet Teac TT, I have a HX Pro cassette deck from Teac which I bought years ago before I left Germany. It's still working great after all of this years, I can say Teac does make really good equipment that last. I have been looking at this TT for a bit now as I want something a bit modern for the old rig.

 

[Jody Thornton]

Here you go (TN-350):

Not available in the US (yet)

I like the S-Arm a LOT better. Something about the straight arm turned me off. Its headshell was too wide, reminding me of an early 70s Philips...lol

(looks do matter a bit to me. as I have to look at it now and then.)

 

[Jody Thornton]

You've got me liking the CP-1050. The wow and flutter of the Teac at 0.2% bugs me a lot. To me, a turntable with that sort of spec had better be from 1971.

I find (not scientific here) that wow effects become unnoticeable at around 0.04% - 0.07% WRMS. That should be EASILY achievable in 2014. Cost should not be an excuse. Make up the loss somewhere else.

Yes I did put the mat upside down but it's corrected,Thanks.

About 20 hours play time, I'm convinced this table is a keeper.
Imaging is great, tonal accuracy and instrument separation is pretty good but not by any mean of Hi-end table like resolution but very enjoyable, musically involving.

I'm not sure why USB feature is not welcome by some people but to me it's a big plus to achive my collection in a SSD to play when I'm lazy or using with portable device.



Looks like TN-350 is only for Japanese market.
I went to Japanese sites to find out more about TN-350, only difference between two is tonearm and cartridge (AT95E vs. AT100E) otherwise same table, same functionality etc,.

Onkyo just announced New CP-1050 manual direct drive table in Japan.
Release date is 1/23/2015 in Japan for about $500 retail.





I think we are going to see more exciting products form TEAC/Onkyo partnership in the future.

Happy Listening!

 

[Jody Thornton]

One other thing. Is the arm on that Onkyo model not the same as the one on the Denon Anniversary table from a few years ago? I know I'm seen that arm somewhere else.

 

[91r100gs]

I like the S-Arm a LOT better. Something about the straight arm turned me off. Its headshell was too wide, reminding me of an early 70s Philips...lol

(looks do matter a bit to me. as I have to look at it now and then.)

On the other side of the comparison, that straight arm kind of reminded me of an old AR tonearm. I'll probably be in the minority on that one.

 

[illini]

You've got me liking the CP-1050. The wow and flutter of the Teac at 0.2% bugs me a lot.

http://www.jp.onkyo.com/audiovisual/purecomponents/record_player/cp1050/spec.htm

I'm not sure that Onkyo is much better. I can't read Japanese but see a "0.15%" in the specs.

 

[majick47]

Certainly the jury isn't in on the Teak but I would advise a good bit of caution prior to purchasing. The looks are decent much like the Denon 100th anniversary models that turned out to be more surface bling than inner performance with questionable tonearms and at best mediocre specs. Any comparison to Teaks vintage products should not assume that todays products will be of the same quality as years gone by at least not at this price point which is totally unrealistic to build and sell a quality product today.

 

[Whaddup]

One other thing. Is the arm on that Onkyo model not the same as the one on the Denon Anniversary table from a few years ago? I know I'm seen that arm somewhere else.

It is a hanpin arm I believe.

 

[mgosdin]

I'm sitting pretty good on turntables right now, but I sure do like the looks of the TEAC straight and s-arm tables.

The Wow & Flutter of .2% doesn't really concern me that much, I've always taken the published specs to be "Worst Case" measurements and would expect the real-life W&F to be less than the published #.

Mark Gosdin

 

[Doz Hewson]

I'm into LINEAR TRACKING right now / for the foreseeable future, after having been denied the pleasure when that tech was mass.

I must say - that OM* was THACK! Surely, an epocha in turntable instructions history!

You should do a video on how it handles 45s - I'm interested in any "backtracking" potential when the stylus lands on the lead-in area.

*OWNER'S MANUAL. It was seen in your unboxing video.

 

[Tharbamar]

http://www.jp.onkyo.com/audiovisual/purecomponents/record_player/cp1050/spec.htm
I'm not sure that Onkyo is much better. I can't read Japanese but see a "0.15%" in the specs.

ワウ・フラッター 0.15％以下 meaning
WOW & Flutter is less than 0.15%.

I'm sitting pretty good on turntables right now, but I sure do like the looks of the TEAC straight and s-arm tables.

The Wow & Flutter of .2% doesn't really concern me that much, I've always taken the published specs to be "Worst Case" measurements and would expect the real-life W&F to be less than the published #.

Mark Gosdin

Yes, Thats my thought exactly.

WOW & Flutter

I'm into LINEAR TRACKING right now / for the foreseeable future, after having been denied the pleasure when that tech was mass.

I must say - that OM* was THACK! Surely, an epoch a in turntable instructions history!

You should do a video on how it handles 45s - I'm interested in any "backtracking" potential when the stylus lands on the lead-in area.

*OWNER'S MANUAL. It was seen in your unboxing video.

I will do when I have 45s but currently I do not have any 45s.

 

[illini]

ワウ・フラッター 0.15％以下 meaning
WOW & Flatter is less than 0.15%.

'Flutter'?

So the W&F is somewhere between 0.15% and 0.0%?

 

[Tharbamar]

it's fixed.

Yes between 0.00% - 0.15% according to Onkyo spec.

 

[illini]

Yes between 0.00% - 0.15% according to Onkyo spec.

Interesting.

A W&F rating with the potential to be as good as digital.

Sold.

 

[guest112]

Real wood veneer?

Do you happen to know if that's real wood or just wood-grain? Thanks for posting all this info.

 

[jasonsong86]

Do you happen to know if that's real wood or just wood-grain? Thanks for posting all this info.

Looks like real wood to me.

 

[majick47]

Wood veneer over particle board at best or maybe vinyl wrap is my guess.