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Technics SBM1 - hava look, anyone heard them?

Brindabella

Brindabella

Well-Known Member
I was shy when it can to Japanese speakers, but after buying a set of Yamaha NS200m's which I now hope to replace with a pair of NS1000m's I no longer hold the prejudice I once held.

Stumbled on these and I have to say they intrigue me but I can't find anything on AK or much anywhere else for that matter. Hoping someone could enlighten me.

http://www.thevintageknob.org/technics-SB-M1.html

Can you help?
 
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Thank you. That thread was really insightful. They have since sold for $400 AUD and I am kicking myself for not getting them now.
 
Technics SB-M1

Just discovered this thread, it was me who bought those back in July. I spent two days personally driving up to Sydney and back to pick them up. Pretty ridiculous, but the seller was going to Hong Kong for 3 months 2 days after the auction ended, so there was no time to organise a courier.

Now, after months of sitting in the garage, I've finally unpacked them from the pallet wrap I had wrapped them in for the haul, and dragged their 85kg asses into the house. I haven't spent much time with them yet, but all I can say is they're very much precision studio tools. Very detailed, dry and clinical and I, like AKer innof, can also report that they have little bass extension. It's unusual to look at these big ported behemoths with 15 inch woofers producing little bass slam. And I had Thiel 3.5s in their place previously, so I wasn't exactly conditioned to bass-heavy speakers.

I've tested them with a few amps and they don't seem to need heaps of power. In the picture below I'm running them with my trusty 80's HK integrated with no problem.

I need to put a rug down in the room (it's awful at the moment, full of hard surfaces) and experiment with more amps and positioning before making any detailed judgements on them though. They do show promise.

They have some scratches and gouges so I'd like to have them refinished one day. Luckily the grilles are present and intact, which makes them look somewhat more civilized. Either way, they look awesome. Walking into a room with big, massive, music making boxes is just right.

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Aha! I finally come face to face with my nemesis, well computer screen to computer screen anyway. I really wanted those, where do you live, when do you go to work and where do you hide spare key? My motives are pure, purely selfish.

Congratulations :banana:, if I remember right we were the only 2 bidders.

Sounds like you might be in Melbourne "driving up to Sydney". I would be interested in how you get on with them, if you can make the base work better for you and hearing about any other listening impressions. Just in case you are close by, I am in Wyndham Vale (Werribee) and would love to hear them one day.

Regards

Rob
 
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Yep, I'm in Melbourne, come and see them if you're ever on the eastern side of town. From memory, you and someone else were bidding through the auction, then I bid in the last 10 mins.

The seller was a nice guy with a huge room chock full of vintage tube gear and huge JBLs etc. You can imagine why he didn't really care for the Technics sound. I bought his old Leak 2075s as well—sweet old Brits which I'm doing some restoration work on, they're a bit of a mess cosmetically, more so than the Technics.
 
I must admit you did save me a cost of a breakup, my partner (Lana AKA Chook) had said no more hifi spending that month or the next or preferably ever again, but the thought of those beauties in my lounge left me wondering - speakers :dunno: breakup - speakers :dunno: breakup. By bidding you can see what my choice was :no: I am starting to get a good collection of gear and fortunately Chook thinks everything looks the same so it easy to sneak things past her, but I suspect she would have noticed those Technics monsters and well, she would have looked like > :rant:. Yes we have an open honest relationship, I only ask about shoes when she asks about hifi.

If your not handy, I get my speakers repaired/restored at Speaker Bits (Port Melbourne) and they have recommended a guy out at Thomastown who can refurbish boxes, no idea on costs though, I have not used him yet.

Thank you for your offer on coming to listen to them, I would really like to do that one day, I can't promise I won't try to stuff them into my pockets :headscrat !!! I don't think one would fit into my car or even strapped to the roof without the wheels popping off!

So are you warming up to the sound? You wrote; "they're very much precision studio tools. Very detailed, dry and clinical ........ can also report that they have little bass extension." I would have thought the HK would be quiet a warm sounding amp with a bit of thump behind it to kick them along in the base department?
 
Sounds convenient me saying it, but you probably did the right thing. It's just stereo gear, and if any speakers will upset a spouse, these are it. They're utterly boy's toys, massive 85kg commercial looking grey square boxes, and they have a lot of scratches and marks too which doesn't make them particularly living room friendly. I find having too many speakers troublesome and annoying, I think it's better to use them for a while and move them on. It opens up the door for new things anyway.

I'm listening to the Technics now, they do sound good. I'm just craving a fat, warm sound lately, which is why I seemed lukewarm about them. The HK is actually a good amp for them. The bass is there, just not extended, with the first octave or two rolling off.

As for the restoring, once I get the Leaks finished I'll worry about these. I'll probably do most myself myself, disassemble, sand, fill, prime, blocksand, prime again. If anything is outsourced it'd be the topcoats, done in 2-pack by a paintshop. Choosing a colour will be fun…the original grey? Black? White? A loco Kendrick style paint job? I'm leaning towards gloss white.
 
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Chook and I have been together for 15 years, we've lived in different cities, across the park, next door and now across the creek but we have never shared the same house - very few fights but we still manage to boss the other on how best to live their life!

Really like the Kendrick link.

My plan is to have 3 pairs of Japanese speakers, Yamaha NS1000m, a set of Sony APM speakers and I shall go back to waiting patiently for either another pair of SBM1's or maybe a set of SB7000 would also be nice.

Keep us up to date with what you do with your Technics speakers.
 
Yep they were on my watch list. Unfortunately I had just paid $530 for a full restoration of my Wharfedale E70 speakers that same week which cleaned me out. Not complaining the Wharfedale's are sublime.

I will be patient and victory will be mine!
 
E70's, nice! Those have a bit of a cult following.

I tell you which other Japanese company made interesting speakers: Mitsubishi/Diatone. In Japan, certain models are still well regarded. Onkyo too. We just don't see the high-end stuff they made.
 
Hi Sam I liked the look of your Technics M1 speakers and can highly recommend Diatone speakers. I have my DS-5000 87 kg each monsters in the living room. Now lucky for me my wife doesn't mind! No chance of sneaky these past her. See my name pic. I'm driving them with the massively underrated Yamaha A-S3000 integrated and they sound magnificent.

They extend really well in the bass no surprise really as their frequency response is 20hz - 60000hz.
The mid & tweeters have boron coatings. Technics used boron in the mid/tweeter for their SB-10000 speakers. I also have a really nice pair of Yamaha NS-2000 also excellent speakers. Now IMO I think the boron mid/tweeters sound better than berrillyum mids/tweeters in the Yamahas. Not in terms of accuracy which is very similar, but in terms of integration the Diatones just sound like they are on another level.
 
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