ACP-100

TURNTABLE CHOICE


There exist many brands and types of turntables. Here are some considerations:

As professional turntables designed for DJ use are very expensive, I am targeting on a
not so popular turntable having the same or almost the same features and quality.
To serve robustness, a turntable of the technics family will be chosen (heavy aluminium case).
For high torque, less wear and constant speed, a direct driven turntable will be chosen.
Now there are some specs, that will not be entirely fulfilled unless spending incredible amounts
of money for those above mentioned professional DJ turntables. Those are:
Fully manual operation, manual cue lever, no unneded switches (only on/off, start/stop, 33/45 RPM),
standard tonarm connector to fit professional needles/systems.
For conveniant operation, the layout should be similar to the well known technic 1210, with whom most
DJs are familiar.
Last but not least, a technics 1210 look would be appreciated as well.

hacking through the pages www.VintageTechnics.Com and www.VinylEngine.Com I found some turntables that fit most of these requirements. Those are:

Also very expensive:

Technics Sl 1300
Technics Sl 1350
Technics Sl 1400
Technics Sl 1500
Technics Sl 1600
Technics Sl 1600 MK2
Technics SL-1650
Technics SL-1700
Technics SL-1700 MK2
Technics SL-1800
Technics SL-1800 MK2


More cheap are:

Technics SL-D202
Technics SL-D303
Technics SL-Q2
Technics SL-Q3
Technics SL-Q303

Whereby the 3ers have a repeat-function and an according switches at the front desk, which are unneded.
The Q-series have a manual cueing lever, but the turntable-plate does not look so 1210-like.
The D-series in opposite have an electrical cue switch but the plate has a more 1210-like look.
The D-series also have pitch control which can be most likely adopted to a linear fader without difficulties.
The Q-series miss this pitching function and it will be more effort to investigate the wireing and implement
a pitch-function afterwards.

Well, best choice would be the quite expensive MK2-series because the really look like the Technics 1210 MK2
and have almost all features already built in (such as the stylus lamp and other nice thingies).

If this is not affordable, either the SL-Q2 or the SL-D202 should be approached.

For me, I will try to get an SL-Q2 in the bay of E.

Well, and if you still don't believe that the SL-Q2 is a decent turntable, check out the fotos of
Peter Schmitz' SL-Q3 which is pretty much the same design as an SL-Q2.


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