Have your say & ask the experts

Looks hideous. Where is the lid?

This is more like it (apart from the mat)....

 

Shiny 

Shirley you mean...



;)

Merely offering a counterpoint to the view that non-1210 decks are all MDF plinthed blandular efforts! Nice to see a company turn out an innovative design for once. Shame Technics couldn't have done sometrhing with that arm after all these years though. I'd have the one reviewed in another title this month though....real quality item.

Lots of good suggestions here. One thing to note about the Technics 1210 deck is that as your funds allow, you can modify the deck to make it sound much better e.g. replace the arm, put on a new mat etc.

My leftfield suggestion if you want to go down the second hand route is to get a second hand Manticore Mantra with stock RB 250 arm. They sound fantastic and can be had for around £200 - £250.

Manticore Mantra: mmmmmm - big thumbs up from here!

It's interesting how these 70's and 80's DD decks have gone from being merely average in their day to 5 star award winners.....when I was a kid my uncles had an AR suspended TT (the spiritual father of the LP12) and theother had a couple of technics DD decks, and my grandfather had the Pioner PL12D. Nojne of them frankly comes remotely clsoe to a Linn Axis, let alone an LP12, in fact to my ears (and may others of the day it seemed) a Dual CS505 was better than either the Pioneer and the Technics.

mephistophelean:

Lots of good suggestions here. One thing to note about the Technics 1210 deck is that as your funds allow, you can modify the deck to make it sound much better e.g. replace the arm, put on a new mat etc.

My leftfield suggestion if you want to go down the second hand route is to get a second hand Manticore Mantra with stock RB 250 arm. They sound fantastic and can be had for around £200 - £250.

Finally...while ago I was trying to remember what deck's platter I used to replace the stock one on my Systemdex - I knew it began with 'M'...

SteveR750:

It's interesting how these 70's and 80's DD decks have gone from being merely average in their day to 5 star award winners.....when I was a kid my uncles had an AR suspended TT (the spiritual father of the LP12) and theother had a couple of technics DD decks, and my grandfather had the Pioner PL12D. Nojne of them frankly comes remotely clsoe to a Linn Axis, let alone an LP12, in fact to my ears (and may others of the day it seemed) a Dual CS505 was better than either the Pioneer and the Technics.

Well, I'm basing my comments on actually owning the turntables mentioned rather than a 20-year old memory. I also have an Dual 505/2, which to my ears, having compared it yesterday to my PL-12d and newly-acquired LP12, is nowhere near as good.

Of course the PL-12d is nowhere near the LP12 - I wouldn't have just spent the cash on it if it were. But what I'm saying is that it's a good starting block, to see if vinyl floats your boat.

However, your point about the Axis stands - and for the £150 or so for which they sell (minus cart, or including an old tired K9 normally), they are a very good bet. The perfect step in-between the PL-12d and the LP12 for me.