Technics SP10 mkII or Denon DP-80
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cafe latte
Addicted Member
Where I live.
cafe latte
Addicted Member
Not what I said, I said they are not hard to work on and that motor unit issues are not in my expeience that common unless they have been run with faulty psu caps. A friend is selling a good condition working SP10mk2.
My advice to him was dont use it until the psu caps are changed. For most this will give them a realible turntable, but as I said a recap is not hard and the service manual is freely available and it is not rocket science to follow it.
That is what I am saying
JP
7480 74111110101115
cafe latte
Addicted Member
JP
7480 74111110101115
Sorry, thought I responded earlier. Yes, there was an 18kg platter that could be purchased, seemingly very rare to find one today.
Yamaha had an optional 18kg gunmetal platter for the GT-2000.
JP
7480 74111110101115
I've yet to see one oxidize that badly. If only to be able to know its history and the conditions it was stored in.
This one from today is typical for what I see on ones that have been sitting around unused for decades. The bottom ~80% of the shaft was bone dry and most of the oil was at the very top of the bushing. Seemingly it may have been stored upside down, though it's been sitting here in the proper orientation for many months.
Perhaps the oil would've redistributed with use, but not before some damage was done to the bearing. Had it been used oil that'd oxidized a bit it's doubtful it'd redistribute, and adding a few more drops wouldn't do a thing. Fortunately this is an NOS service part motor that's never been used.
stratokaster
Mental toss flycoon
stratokaster
Mental toss flycoon
British Isles 
Cap chemistry and construction consistency has generally improved a lot over the years, the SP-10Mk.II design ran everything hard, and the vast majority of them were used in radio station environments for years, spinning more or less 24/7 unless they were down for repair. That will take a toll on anything.
There may be some "before" pictures of my SP-10Mk.II before I disassembled it and sandblasted the housing. It wasn't as bad as the one pictured, but it wasn't too far off.
JP
7480 74111110101115
Yes, I’ve seen plenty with exterior chassis corrosion. The quoted comment was in reference to spindle bearing lubricant.
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
Wrong! Your Denon and your Sony are overrated. And are less precise than a better Technics. The SP-10 is heavier duty, better built and made, more precise every day. Built to withstand up to 18 hour a day use which kills Denons. Styling don't play records.
High performance and consistent reliability does the job. Complexity is not reliability, nor does it assure accuracy. In my area I see lots of broken Denons and even more broken Sony DD turntables. The automatic, electronic models the most. Reality from my viewpoint.
Same weak parts in the Sony fail when owners neglect them. Always the same parts. The Denon motor is beautiful, but requires being treated delicately with special care and attention. I loved them when new and they didn't have age piled on them. Same with the Sonys. Most models of both didn't age well. Unless very cared for and babied.
I have a Technics SL-1300. Wasn't stored well. Sat from appearances in an unheated garage or a shed. The aluminum top got a few places which look weathered. However, cleaned it up. lubricated the motor. Cleaned the automatic mechanism up. Expected problems. Connected it up. Installed a head shell and cartridge. Set it up carefully. It worked, rotated on speed without a care in the world. My gifted parts donor came to life. Needed new interconnect cables. I still use and enjoy it. Same on a Denon or a Sony, it would be too far gone in many cases to save.
flavio81
Turntable technician
Simplicity doesn't assure accuracy either. Often you need complexity for accuracy. Take a look at the circuitry of a SP-10MK3, it is anything but simple.
Any direct drive turntable from the 70s or 80s, if it pretends to work optimally, needs recalibration and maybe even a full replacement of capacitors. This will be needed notwithstanding the fact that the turntable is working from the get go or not.
And thus, you have not went through a real service for your turntable. Your SL-1300 works, but not necessarily up to the factory standards.
Returning to the SP-10MK3, the pinnacle of Technics "high performance and consistent reliability":
There are 10 PCBs, 10 (ten) printed circuit boards.
It has 20 (twenty) ICs from and all of them are custom (and thus, not so easy or cheap to source) Mastushita ICs.
But let's go back to your claim:
So, I guess the SP-10MK3 is not a reliable turntable then? Or is it?
If the SP-10MK3 (or the MK2 which also has a certain complexity) is reliable, then will you have the will to tell me that comparable turntables from Sony. I mean, SONY,
- a direct competitor to Matsushita
- a company that introduced some of the first transistors and ICs in japan
- which also had not just capability to manufacture their own ICs in the 70s
- and to invent new devices like the VFET)
- fully dedicated to audio and video unlike Matsushita
... can't make reliable turntables?
You are putting ALL Sony and Denon DD turntables in the same basket, so let me do the same for Technics DD turntables, and comment that in my country the amount of Technics DD turntables with failed ICs like the AN630 or AN620 is comical. A lot of them. And note that i'm a defender of ICs in turntables, i'm not from the school that says "oohh IC bad, discrete good", however there are owners that abuse their turntables, as simple as that.
So I guess nothing is reliable right? Where do we stand?
How do you treat a turntable will always have an impact on the performance and/or reliablity. Put your SL-1300 on a horribly humid climate and it's just a matter of time until bad contacts or cold solder joints or failed capacitors wreak havoc with the performance. Maybe the turntable will still turn, but it will not meet original specs.
I find it not reasonable to think that Technics somehow created more reliable electronics than Sony. And, as mentioned, to say that Sony introduced more complexity in their models is a wrong generalization.
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JP
7480 74111110101115
AN660, AN640G, DN860, and MN6042 are the only proprietary ones.
There are four boards of consequence in the controller. The motor chassis board have only a few diodes and resistors on them, otherwise used for connection points, tactile switches, strobe LEDs, etc. Nearly nothing to go wrong on those and one really never touches them.
Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
How is the DIY power supply project going?