Technics 1210 GAE 55th Anniv Ltd. Ed. Turntable in the House!

malvai

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Well certainly have tickled the taste buds. Awaiting your detailed writeup with bated breath.
 
Congratulations Malvai!!!

Eagerly awaiting your detailed impressions. Do include notes vis a vis the Garrard too! Curious to know the differences in sound between them. Some videos of it playing would be fantastic!

Regards
 
So it's been about 45 days of extensive listening. And I must say that after the initial few weeks, unlike with most upgrades, the love and magic of this purchase is still alive… nay its growing.


The team at Panasonic/ Matushita certainly have created a winner. I don’t see any other turntable coming even remotely close to this TT’s performance.


Now on the Net I feel there are many audiofool comments about 1. “upgrading” the power supply and 2. Upgrading the arm here are my thoughts on this:


  • “Upgrading” the power supply… The TT is already has the darkest backgrounds. And anyway I have swapped many Power cables on many TT’s, I don’t see a damned difference in SQ with that. Similarly, unless the power supply is causing speed variations, there should be no reasosn for that to be upgraded…. This power supply is perfectly mated to drive the flawless and over engineered motor…

    also, Technics have keen a keen eye on all the kinds of upgrades people do to the MKII’s and EVERYTHING has been taken care of… GEL feet, Platter arm… everything!

  • THE ARM: Does it need to be upgraded/ replaced?
    Now that is all as per your personal taste…. For me the arm is perfectly fine… with 3 different weights packed along it, it can take on MOST cartridges with aplomb!

    I have tried it with all the cartridges that I have (mentioned in my signature below) and I feel that it works beautifully with all except the Koetsu Onyx… Here the Ortofon RMG 309 arm trounces it by a mile…

    I would not need 2 arms at all, but on the fly it makes sense to have two arms to get two different perspectives… Plus, there are times when one plays older slightly scratchy LPs… that when one of the arms with a more rugged profile is put to play (like the Shure)… or in the future a mono (78) cartridge… Which is precisely why a specially designed arm board was commissioned and put next to the Techy!

    So my verdict on this: The arm is pretty darned good as is… but some of you finicky ones, listen to it stock… then decide to upgrade, or not.



What I like about what I am listening to:

TECHY STOCK ARM with NAGAOKA 1210 Ltd edn CART
With the stock arm and with the matched cartridge from Technics (the Ltd. Ed, Nagaoka 1210 mm) the sound is awesome from the word go! One would not find anything “missing” … the arm and cart took 20 hours to open up and when they did, it blew my conceptions away about the MM vs MC debate (more on this later, as I still find MC carts edge out MM due to many other facts as well)….


Ortofon RMG 309 arm with DENON 103 pro Wood body and Sapphire tip
This cartridge on the arm was chosen for this comparison as it is the only MC cart that is somewhat comparable in price to the Nagaoka cart…


I found both kind of sounds to be convincing. Depends on what you like… Denon’s mid-range is still unbeatable after all these decades and always puts a smile on the face. The Nagaoka is very awesome too and it really surprised me… It’s the onlt MM that I have liked apart from the V15…



Note: After extensive listening, with mix and match and permutation and combination of all carts, I have this to say about both arms: BOTH ARMS ARE GREAT… the only place where the Ortofon beats the Techy arm is when I put on the Koetsu ONYX… and that is because the Techy arm is not built to play such heavy carts…


Here are the two videos for you to hear for yourselves… (despite the compression on youtube, see if you can make sense).

With Stock arm & Nagaoka 1210 MM cart






With Outboard Ortofon RMG 209 & Denon 103 Pro (modded)





Cheers!
 
Its so heartening and joyful to see this deck, first of all congrats and its truly magnificent. Of course we all know about the variables but I think the stock arm sounds great. What's great about it is also that future generations can also have an opportunity to enjoy the flavours of a Technics turntable, now that its back with a bang! Having being through a few TTs over the years, I can say for sure, the Technics 1200 is definitely the most versatile turntables on which almost all records (irrespective of age, pressing, flat vs warped, etc) sound great. Congrats again!

I am a life long fan of Technics TTs (and NAD amplification :) )
 
Congratulations Malvai will surely visit:rolleyes: at your place to listen to this beauty tt
 
Really nice Synergestic setup Manav. The Ear Pre/power and the JBL seem great and now you have a fantastic TT as well !
 
Really nice Synergestic setup Manav. The Ear Pre/power and the JBL seem great and now you have a fantastic TT as well !
Yeah, it sounds good... the best till date... finally the endless chase seems to be over!
 
So it's been about 45 days of extensive listening. And I must say that after the initial few weeks, unlike with most upgrades, the love and magic of this purchase is still alive… nay its growing.


The team at Panasonic/ Matushita certainly have created a winner. I don’t see any other turntable coming even remotely close to this TT’s performance.


Now on the Net I feel there are many audiofool comments about 1. “upgrading” the power supply and 2. Upgrading the arm here are my thoughts on this:


  • “Upgrading” the power supply… The TT is already has the darkest backgrounds. And anyway I have swapped many Power cables on many TT’s, I don’t see a damned difference in SQ with that. Similarly, unless the power supply is causing speed variations, there should be no reasosn for that to be upgraded…. This power supply is perfectly mated to drive the flawless and over engineered motor…

    also, Technics have keen a keen eye on all the kinds of upgrades people do to the MKII’s and EVERYTHING has been taken care of… GEL feet, Platter arm… everything!

  • THE ARM: Does it need to be upgraded/ replaced?
    Now that is all as per your personal taste…. For me the arm is perfectly fine… with 3 different weights packed along it, it can take on MOST cartridges with aplomb!

    I have tried it with all the cartridges that I have (mentioned in my signature below) and I feel that it works beautifully with all except the Koetsu Onyx… Here the Ortofon RMG 309 arm trounces it by a mile…

    I would not need 2 arms at all, but on the fly it makes sense to have two arms to get two different perspectives… Plus, there are times when one plays older slightly scratchy LPs… that when one of the arms with a more rugged profile is put to play (like the Shure)… or in the future a mono (78) cartridge… Which is precisely why a specially designed arm board was commissioned and put next to the Techy!

    So my verdict on this: The arm is pretty darned good as is… but some of you finicky ones, listen to it stock… then decide to upgrade, or not.



What I like about what I am listening to:

TECHY STOCK ARM with NAGAOKA 1210 Ltd edn CART
With the stock arm and with the matched cartridge from Technics (the Ltd. Ed, Nagaoka 1210 mm) the sound is awesome from the word go! One would not find anything “missing” … the arm and cart took 20 hours to open up and when they did, it blew my conceptions away about the MM vs MC debate (more on this later, as I still find MC carts edge out MM due to many other facts as well)….


Ortofon RMG 309 arm with DENON 103 pro Wood body and Sapphire tip
This cartridge on the arm was chosen for this comparison as it is the only MC cart that is somewhat comparable in price to the Nagaoka cart…


I found both kind of sounds to be convincing. Depends on what you like… Denon’s mid-range is still unbeatable after all these decades and always puts a smile on the face. The Nagaoka is very awesome too and it really surprised me… It’s the onlt MM that I have liked apart from the V15…



Note: After extensive listening, with mix and match and permutation and combination of all carts, I have this to say about both arms: BOTH ARMS ARE GREAT… the only place where the Ortofon beats the Techy arm is when I put on the Koetsu ONYX… and that is because the Techy arm is not built to play such heavy carts…


Here are the two videos for you to hear for yourselves… (despite the compression on youtube, see if you can make sense).

With Stock arm & Nagaoka 1210 MM cart






With Outboard Ortofon RMG 209 & Denon 103 Pro (modded)





Cheers!
Fantastic Malvai!

Yet another reason to visit Delhi! Enjoy your new pride and joy!

Regards
 
Wow!!!! So glad to hear great reports about this TT.

I bought one the same one, two months back, it's lying in the USA waiting for me to come by and bring it back home. Now I am feeling so impatient, that I want to ship it here, and not wait. haha
 
Folks, i ordered this last month and its came a week back... will be writing out a full impression soon with photo's a and videos...

First impression: IT IS THE BEST TT EVER!

Till I post more, here is a link about it:
Congratulations...
Coming from you, its quite a recommendation for Technics new TT. Would love to listen to it!
 
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