Technics SL-Q2

tonyb

Thoughts on this old player ?? Seems the wife has had a desire to get a player since rediscovering all her old albums. I haven't screwed around with TT's in 40 years. This one came up locally, has good solid reviews and a decent Grado on it.

I don't need top of the line, but also don't want it to sound like an AM radio either. I know the Q3 is the fully automatic version but I can live without that. Seems solid for the price, thoughts ?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/647372452955127

mhardy6647

Nice piece. Well built at a time when the basic Technics DD tts were getting a bit plastic-y. It's a whole lot nicer than, e.g., the roughly equivalent, non-quartz locked SL-D2 semiauto DD tt of roughly similar vintage.
I used one as our "daily driver" for a few years; supplanted the much, much much more expensive Marantz (Clearaudio OEM) TT15S1 I'd bought because it bettered it in every respect and the arm's heavy enough to track a low compliance MC cartridge.


Of course, mine was a dump find, so the "value proposition" was off the charts.

DSC_2461 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

spinnin2 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

No adjustable pitch, though, on the quartz-locked SL-Q2, so the Mrs. won't be able to scratch-mix or beat-bop or whatever the hep cool kids call it. Yo.

vinylengine has the manuel manual for it, if you're curious/interested.

Given the current insanity of prices in general and all things vinyl in particular -- that price seems extremely fair if it is in good working condition.

PS It should sound darned fine with a Grado -- the lush, sonorous tone of the Grado MI cartridges is pretty much the antihesis of AM radio sound. In fact, listen to The Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here when you get it -- it's like in The Wizard of Oz when the world turns Technicolor when the static-y radio programme fades out and that acoustic guitar part starts.

mhardy6647

Da specks.
(Chicagoan for Here,sir, are the specifications)

Easy Runnin

Mhardy is spot on. I have both the D3 and the Q2, and the Q2 is definitely better than the D2. It’s currently paired up with a Nagaoka MP-110. I have no complaints.

msg

Great deal on a Technics table with oe box to get into listening to records again. That thing would be listed for $250+ around here, and it would be in crappy shape.

I've found some of the similar Technics tables are a bit microphonic, but not really noticeable during play, only with autos at the end, or when operating the table without turning down your volume first, which I've learned I should be doing anyway. Also raising or lowering the top.

If it really bugged you, I'm sure you could sort it with some Dynamat inside or something, but likely it won't bug you enough to mess with.

gudnoyez

I have a couple of Technics tables as spares actually using a SLQ300 with a decent Ortofon cartridge in the home theater rig it's old but still functioning quite well for its age cant remember what the other one is but there both fully automatic and still work for the price they are asking why not, what Grado is on it?

mhardy6647

msg wrote: »

Great deal on a Technics table with oe box to get into listening to records again. That thing would be listed for $250+ around here, and it would be in crappy shape.

I've found some of the similar Technics tables are a bit microphonic, but not really noticeable during play, only with autos at the end, or when operating the table without turning down your volume first, which I've learned I should be doing anyway. Also raising or lowering the top.

If it really bugged you, I'm sure you could sort it with some Dynamat inside or something, but likely it won't bug you enough to mess with.

Oh, it comes with the box?! Heck, the box, in 2021, is probably worth the asking price.

tonyb

Thanks guys, but I went to grab it yesterday and it was gone already. Son of a ....

msg

ah damn, that ucksay.