Technics SL-1300G Review: A Grand Class turntable

Decision

If you want to listen to every scrap of details had in the grooves of your records, and if you value musicality as high as evaluation, and if you don’t mind purchasing and fitting a doubtless pricey cartridge, the Technics SL- 1300 G will award like little else at this kind of money

Intro

Technics, obviously, is identified with turntables in similar method fish is synonymous with chips.

However the business has actually constantly had ambitions past providing every DJ that knows anything concerning anything with a set of decks (and perhaps a mixer)– that’s why its existing variety of turntables expands completely to the ₤ 20 K mark.

Its most current machine, the SL- 1300 G, isn’t rather as headily valued as that– yet it’s no person’s idea of a bargain, either. When you consider the quality of the alternate turntables this kind of money can get you, what does this Technics need to recommend it– beyond Big Night Out prestige, I imply?

Schedule

The Technics SL- 1300 G direct-drive turntable is on sale, and in the UK it will certainly establish you back ₤ 2799– and that lacks a cartridge. In the USA it’s cartridge-less also, and it costs $ 3299 In Australia, meanwhile, you must anticipate to turn over AU$ 4999– and after that find the cash for an appropriate cartridge.

Resembles a great deal of cash, doesn’t it? Specifically after you’ve invested another ₤ 500 or so on a beneficial cartridge (sorry to labour the factor, but I think it deserves labouring– and there’s more where that originated from). There are more budget friendly Technics record players offered, naturally– but there are some considerably costlier versions also: the flagship SL- 1000 R, as an example, will certainly set you back really nearly ₤ 20 K.

Design

• 173 x 453 x 372 mm (HxWxD)
• 13 kg
• Anti-vibration platter and framework

Generally, it’s safe to state that if you have actually seen one turntable layout you have actually seen them all– there are exceptions at the very top and really bottom ends of the marketplace, of course, yet broadly speaking one turntable looks really like one more. And especially, if you have actually seen one Technics turntable you’ve very much seen them all. The general Technics look was established some time back, and hard-won ubiquity is not to be damaged.

So the SL- 1300 G is, at 173 x 453 x 372 mm (HWD), of common turntable size. It’s a relatively significant 13 kg– and it deserves noting that an entire 3 6 kg of that is the platter. Technics never ever cuts corners on building, and the SL- 1300 G has a two-part framework and three-part plate in an initiative to make its framework, to all intents and functions, unsusceptible to resonance.

So the plate consists of a three-layer building. The main body is of aluminium, the top surface is of brass (2 mm thick), and the entire rear surface is covered in deadening rubber– the result is high rigidity, considerable vibration damping and the virtual elimination of resonance. It additionally suggests smooth rotational stability and substantial inertial mass. Basically, it’s the same plate as the one fitted to 2018’s ₤ 4 K SL- 1200 G.

And it sits on a body of comparable strength and effectiveness. A two-layer construction this moment, the body of the SL 1300 G is of a die-cast aluminium leading plate sitting on a BMC (bulk moulding substance) base– and further rigidity and vibration damping comes thanks to the enhancing ribs placed in between the electric motor and the tonearm setting up.

Each SL- 1300 G is stabilized after setting up– nevertheless, if the weight circulation of the turntable is unequal, excess resonance and/or noise can be created by the rotation of the plate. You’ll know your SL- 1300 G has actually been flawlessly stabilized utilizing specialised devices by the well balanced sticker on the underside of the plate.

As is common Technics method, the SL- 1300 G has a power on/off button above a start/stop switch on the bottom left of the leading plate. There are also speed-selection buttons for 33 3 and 45– press them at the very same time and your perfectly well balanced platter will spin at 78 rpm.

Attributes

• Coreless direct-drive motor
• 230 mm S-shaped aluminium tonearm
• Gold-plated terminals

Technics presented its first coreless straight drive electric motor in 2016– by getting rid of the iron core, so the theory went, rotational instability called cogging can be removed. For the SL- 1300 G, a twin-rotor construction minimizes the tons on the bearings and minimises rotational resonance too.

Like the platter it turns, the motor here is closely based upon that fitted to the SL- 1200 G. Yet it additionally integrates the Delta Sigma (ΔΣ) electric motor control software and drive system that debuted in in 2014’s SL- 1200 GR 2 It uses Technics’ know-how where pulse width modulation is concerned in an effort to eliminate even one of the most small rotational inaccuracies and reduce mistakes in the drive signals– the smoother, more precise turning that ought to result, reckons Technics, implies smoother, much more precise noise.

Naturally these are not the only lengths Technics has actually mosted likely to. The SL- 1300 G functions a low-noise switching circuit– it eliminates the need for a transformer power supply and the vibration-suppressing counter-measures that a transformer needs. Current injection modern technology spots recurring noise in the transformerless power supply and applies inverse phase existing to eliminate them– it’s a much more reliable system than the much more common regulatory authority option, according to Technics.

The SL- 1300 G is supplied with a lightweight, inflexible aluminium pipe tonearm– it’s 230 mm long and is the standard static-balance S-shape. At the set end it features gimbal suspension and a high-precision bearing– there is a multi-part weight and anti-skate mechanism together with a lift and tonearm lock. At the other end, however, there’s just a headshell. Technics will happily tell you that this allows you to specify your recommended cartridge– the negative among us (whereby I suggest me) will certainly almost certainly expect expense as considerable as this to include a cartridge that Technics engineers think matches the turntable well.

And that’s extremely virtually your whole lot where attributes are worried. In a recess at the rear of the framework are connections for mains power and gold-plated stereo RCA links along with a basing blog post. Technics supplies a keys cable and a set of definitely bog-standard stereo RCA cords (see my cartridge-related issues above) together with a grounding lead. And the entire point sits on 4 extremely durable, extremely pliable and rigorously crafted silicone rubber insulators– because they’re absolutely nothing as mundane as feet.

Audio Quality

• Clean, in-depth and full-bodied noise
• Poise and energy in equal action
• Rather assertive top-end recreation

So you’ve invested excellent money on a good cartridge, and have put on your own via the traumatic experience of fitting and balancing it. Finally, you’re excellent to go– and guess what? The Technics SL- 1300 G makes it all rewarding– well, extremely almost.

It’s the balance the SL- 1300 G demonstrates every which way that’s one of the most straightforwardly excellent feature of it. It’s well balanced, yet it’s energised. It’s vibrant, however it’s composed. It can draw out and contextualise even the finest information, but it’s entertaining. There are two sides to every coin, and this Technics brightens both of them to a high luster.

With a heavyweight reissue of Sounds Like The Flirtations playing, the midrange integrity is truly striking. It presents voices in a direct, verbalize and absolutely naturalistic fashion, keeps them safeguard in a tiny pocket of area in order for them to interact fully, and balances a lead singing line against the consistencies supporting it as if it was the simplest thing worldwide.

There’s drive and dynamism to the discussion, however the SL- 1300 G never ever sheds the run of itself and is able to keep its poise even when voices and instruments are assaulting with gusto. It produces a convincing soundstage despite having a rather primitive recording such as this one, and it takes care of to link every element into a convincing whole. Its frequency action is remarkably even, and it takes a trip from the leading end to the bottom in an entirely spontaneous and certain way.

Switch over to the instead more modern-day noises of James Holden’s Imagine This is a High Dimensional Space of All Opportunities and fortunately keeps coming. The Technics has genuine presence at the bottom of the regularity variety, giving proper heft and punch to the low end– but it catches bass seems with authority, and really breaks into them. Assault is straight-edged and controlled, so balanced expression is influential– this is one of the attributes the vinyl layout is commonly fetishised for, and the SL- 1300 G is as good in this respect as the greatest of its competitors.

The overall tonal balance is nicely evaluated, and the music exists with quality and space just as much as it is with dynamism and drive. Detail degrees are high across the board, and understanding right into the trivial matters of tone and structure is substantial. As ever, the Technics covers all the bases– it can analyse the recording and make relevant observations about the short-term, the majority of short lived moments in it, yet at the very same time it’s an uncomplicatedly entertaining and gripping listen.

It’s actually just on top of the frequency array that problems prowl– and in my time with the turntable, those problems continue to be latent rather than overt. The SL- 1300 G duplicates treble sounds very assertively– it’s not strident, but it’s stone’s throw off. There’s substance to the top end appears it delivers, but there’s inarguable sparkle as well– and in an unsympathetic system it’s all too very easy to visualize them becoming rather edgy.

A minute or 2 invested system-matching is in order, due to the fact that if paired with a likewise zingy amplifier or stentorian speakers the Technics might reach a tipping-point entirely as well rapidly. In a well-matched system, though, the greatest regularities have just the same level of attack and understanding as the remainder of the frequency variety– which makes them of a convincingly combined piece. Just do not provoke the top-end reaction here, that’s all …

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