Technics SL-1200
The Technics SL-1200 is a series of turntables manufactured by Matsushita under the brand name of Technics. As of 2004, the Technics SL-1200 MK2 is the industry standard turntable for DJ'ing and scratching, MK2 stands for Mark 2, and is an improvement of the Technics SL-1200 first made in October 1972. The MK2 was released in 1978 had several improvements including the motor and casing. Since 1972, more than 3 million units have been sold.
Features
The features that set this turntable apart are:
- a magnetic direct drive, which means there is no wear on the driving mechanism;
- an almost indestructible turntable;
- a high torque (1.5kg/cm), which means the platter will start spinning at the desired speed almost immediately (0.7 second);
- a very low wow and flutter (0.01%), which means that the platter will stay within 1/100th of 1% of the desired speed
- a very heavy base (12kg) which dramatically reduces the likelihood of feedback or stylus jumping; and
- variable pitch control, which allows the turning speed of the platter to be adjusted from -8% to +8% (for the purpose of beatmatching)
Models
- The SL-1210 MK2 has the same functionality as the SL-1200 MK2, but has a matt black finish, as opposed to a silver-aluminium finish.
- The SL-1200 MK3, released in 1989, removed the click at the 0% pitch on the fader control, and the power switch has been altered so that it less likely to be accidentally turned off, otherwise it is the same as the MK2 model.
- The SL-1200 MK3D (1997) adds a quartz lock button witch resets pitch to 0 immediately.
- The SL-1200 MK4 (1997) has no quartz lock but does have a 78 rpm option (other models only have 33rpm and 45rpm), and all the hardware is plated with platinum.
- The SL-1200 MK5 has an easily accessible brake adjustment control underneath the platter, otherwise it is the same as previous models.
- The SL-1200 MK5G was launched in Japan on 1 November 2002 (together with the MK5) and is a special 30th anniversary edition of the SL-1200 MK5 model with the ability to switch between +/-8% and +/-16% ranges for pitch adjustment.
- Finally there are the limited edition gold finishings of the SL-1200 LTD (1998) and SL-1200 GLD (2004) models, the latter also having a blue instead of the usual white target light.
