sachu888
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
Gigantic & Tremendous series of extremely successful LP turntables, alas only distributed in Japan. In exchange, the rest of us got the PF-1000 and PF-800 belt-driven record players.
So while we got belt-drive touted as best-as-can-be for LP replay, the japanese got direct-drive touted as best-as-can-be to spin musical vinyl - the arcanes of market-related marketing will always be full of contradictions. Not to mention that the GT-2000 series took on where the PX-1, PX-2 and PX-3 left off, when tangential tonearms were supposed to be top of the pops
The 5,8kg platter is made from ultra-pure aluminum cast between 500 and 700C with alumite coating.
he 14,5kg enclosure is made of 5-layer particle board, coated with either walnut veneer (2000L) or the same rugged black finish as used in the NS-1000M loudspeaker for the regular GT-2000. With a 4,5mm thickness, the acrylic cover ads 2kg to the already impressive weight. Feet are height adjustable spring+rubber. However intriguing, the big post stuck into the front of the platter only displays speed lock for either speeds.
The GT-2000x has an even taller enclosure (and 6-layer in thickness), glossy polyester coating on the american walnut veneer, an improved shaft (20mm vs. 10mm) and upgraded output cables (0,15 Ohm per channel !) plus a dedicated disc stabilizer adding 850g to the 34kg total.
The accessories go from dedicated external power supply (YOP-1), air-sucking turntable mat (YDS-1), cast-iron base (YAB-1), solid gun-metal platter (YGT-1), one straight tonearm (YSA-1), an upgraded version of said straight tonearm (YSA-2, very very rare), one S-shaped tonearm (YA-39), a dedicated wood rack (GTR-1B), an adaptable automatic arm-lifter (YAL-1), various counterweights (YPB-1), two central pucks (YDS-3 & YDS-9) and... I believe that's all !
A GT-2000L with all accessories skyrockets above 60kg and close to 500,000. An expensive Lego of sorts
There are thousands and thousands and thousands of these in Japan, spare parts still available and a small but developed market of audiophile mods and upgrades. For the price these were sold in Japan (158,000 for a GT-2000L, without any accessories), it is quite probable Yamaha didn't make much profit. The limited edition GT-2000x was sold at 320,000, again without any accessories.
The entire series was withdrawn in 1988/89 but, surprisingly, made a quick reappearance in the early 1990s as "limited edition" : just for those who still didn't have that ultimate high-end japanese LP turntable before analogue reproduction on disc did finally vanish while CD sales started to outperform that of the good vinyl grooves.
You can buy them from
GT-2000X YAMAHA HiFi-Do McIntosh/JBL/audio-technica/Jeff Rowland/Accuphase
Regards,
Sachin
Gigantic & Tremendous series of extremely successful LP turntables, alas only distributed in Japan. In exchange, the rest of us got the PF-1000 and PF-800 belt-driven record players.
So while we got belt-drive touted as best-as-can-be for LP replay, the japanese got direct-drive touted as best-as-can-be to spin musical vinyl - the arcanes of market-related marketing will always be full of contradictions. Not to mention that the GT-2000 series took on where the PX-1, PX-2 and PX-3 left off, when tangential tonearms were supposed to be top of the pops
The 5,8kg platter is made from ultra-pure aluminum cast between 500 and 700C with alumite coating.
he 14,5kg enclosure is made of 5-layer particle board, coated with either walnut veneer (2000L) or the same rugged black finish as used in the NS-1000M loudspeaker for the regular GT-2000. With a 4,5mm thickness, the acrylic cover ads 2kg to the already impressive weight. Feet are height adjustable spring+rubber. However intriguing, the big post stuck into the front of the platter only displays speed lock for either speeds.
The GT-2000x has an even taller enclosure (and 6-layer in thickness), glossy polyester coating on the american walnut veneer, an improved shaft (20mm vs. 10mm) and upgraded output cables (0,15 Ohm per channel !) plus a dedicated disc stabilizer adding 850g to the 34kg total.
The accessories go from dedicated external power supply (YOP-1), air-sucking turntable mat (YDS-1), cast-iron base (YAB-1), solid gun-metal platter (YGT-1), one straight tonearm (YSA-1), an upgraded version of said straight tonearm (YSA-2, very very rare), one S-shaped tonearm (YA-39), a dedicated wood rack (GTR-1B), an adaptable automatic arm-lifter (YAL-1), various counterweights (YPB-1), two central pucks (YDS-3 & YDS-9) and... I believe that's all !
A GT-2000L with all accessories skyrockets above 60kg and close to 500,000. An expensive Lego of sorts
There are thousands and thousands and thousands of these in Japan, spare parts still available and a small but developed market of audiophile mods and upgrades. For the price these were sold in Japan (158,000 for a GT-2000L, without any accessories), it is quite probable Yamaha didn't make much profit. The limited edition GT-2000x was sold at 320,000, again without any accessories.
The entire series was withdrawn in 1988/89 but, surprisingly, made a quick reappearance in the early 1990s as "limited edition" : just for those who still didn't have that ultimate high-end japanese LP turntable before analogue reproduction on disc did finally vanish while CD sales started to outperform that of the good vinyl grooves.
You can buy them from
GT-2000X YAMAHA HiFi-Do McIntosh/JBL/audio-technica/Jeff Rowland/Accuphase
Regards,
Sachin
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