Technics SL 1900 Turntable
kevhed72
Posts: 5,055
I just located one locally in decent, working condition. My current table is an older Music Hall 7.1 with the Project arm. For discussions sake: which one stays and which one goes...and why?
Comments
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Does your Music Hall have the carbon arm?
I'm not sure that 1900 has the quartz lock, does it? I have/had an earlier gen Technics at one point with similar controls that did not have the speed lock and it drifted a lot. I tried cleaning the control pots on it, and still couldn't get it right.
If you want to get a Technics, maybe hold for a tried and true 1200/10 that you can buy mods for through KAB, or the Pioneer PLX 1000. (The Pioneer was the victim of a documentation error, and there was a ton of discussion about horrible wow and flutter spec, but those who owned it seemed to report no problems. Later the doc error was corrected. The PLX 1000 has some cool upgrades over early Technics tables, like plinth and tonearm damping)I disabled signatures. -
I would get the 1900 and play around with it to see. I have a Music Hall too and an SL1200. The SL1200 is fun for playing Iron Maiden at volume level 11 but not even close to the refinement of a modern belt drive table with a good cartridge. I had a Pioneer direct drive table back in the day and the SL1200 would have been a dream to have back in the 1980s. My SL1200 isn’t going anywhere.
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there are many controls on this thing compared to the Music Hall. I dont think the MH has the carbon arm....it appears to be the standard solid black project arm. Here are some pics of the Technics:
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Nice looking table
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Does it have a dustcover and the platter mat? Looks like the tonearm lock broke off. There may be better/cleaner examples out there, but if the price is right...
I know some of those turntables need some maintenance on the lubrication of the tonearm that involves taking the turntable apart. People like the 1900 because ot its auto start and return features.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HTskP4Wak -
It's a lesser Technics DD, but also an older one -- in terms of overall quality, those two parameters probably largely cancel each other out!
(I mean that in a good way)
They're gonna be very different beasts and will likely sound different (i.e., offer a different presentation, to go all snooty audiophile ) even with the same cartridge installed. The arm on that Technics is somewhat crude compared to the "better" ones -- but that is relative. If everything is in good condition, it's probably capable of pretty solid performance. -
Does it have a dustcover and the platter mat? Looks like the tonearm lock broke off. There may be better/cleaner examples out there, but if the price is right...
I know some of those turntables need some maintenance on the lubrication of the tonearm that involves taking the turntable apart. People like the 1900 because ot its auto start and return features.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HTskP4Wak
It has the dust cover which has a couple big scratches on the top. It has a rubbery platter mat which is about the size of a 45. Not sure what that is about.
Yeah part of the tonearm lock is snapped off. I started it up and it runs pretty smooth and actually functions as an auto turntable. I want to hook it up to the main rig tonite but cannot locate my friggin stylus brush. Maybe Ill throw on a crappy LP and see what happens. Big Saturday night at the ranch....man am I getting old! lol -
Any decent "camel's hair" brush (like an artist's brush) should be fine in a pinch -- just remember, back to front!
Alternatively, there's the time-honored (well... in some circles... and decried in others) tradition of using a little cube cut from a [regular style] Mr. Clean "Magic Eraser".
The latter does work pretty well -- but there are, in full disclosure, sporadic & anecdotal reports of styli being removed by overzealous use of the Magic Eraser!
https://uturnaudio.com/pages/how-to-clean-your-stylus (option 2 on this page)
Oh, and speaking of Onzow stylus cleaning goop glop ("goop" is too Gwyneth Paltrow! ) -- it is widely reputed that this stuff is the same glop as Onzow but much, much, much less expensive. Did I mention it's cheaper, too? 
https://www.guitarcenter.com/RTOM/Moongel-Percussion-Dampening-Gels.gc
It is, however, also blue -- so if your listening plans don't include, e.g., Robert Johnson, you might not want to go this route
N.B. No warranty express or implied! Stylus cleaning strategy and tactics are like religion.
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Good stuff...I was trying to remember the direction. We have a surplus of brushes laying around from abandoned craft projects of another era.
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Those tables are built to be tossed around a bit. 😬
Playing an LP with a ball of dust and hair under the stylus wasn’t unusual when that table was made. -
Playing an LP with a ball of dust and hair under the stylus wasn’t unusual when that table was made.
Helps give that warm analog sound...
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My guess is that you'll keep the MH 7.1, and give the SL1900 to a beginner friend or family member. If it didn't have the cosmetic issues, and if it were quartz-lock, maybe the outcome would be different. YMMV!"This may not matter to you, but it does to me for various reasons, many of them illogical or irrational, but the vinyl hobby is not really logical or rational..." - member on Vinyl Engine
"Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to." - Cicero, in Gladiator
Regarding collectibles: "It's not who gets it. It's who gets stuck with it." - Jimmy Fallon -
The 1900 was also sold as a MCS 6601 Had one in college 79-83 and I have two of them downstairs Nice units Better sounding to me them some of these pricey/ trendy stuff today
