I’ve got one of these since new and I believe I bought it in late 1976. Still runs perfect but I notice the gearing is a bit noisy now when running its movements. I imagine it could use a little lube. It came with an Audio Technica 12SA and Shibata stylus from the factory. I modified it about 10 years ago to run at 78 with a push button on the side and have a separate headshell and cartridge for the 78s. All around solid player that never let me down. Thanks for the video.
I used to turn my nose up at these DD turntables but they're rather good, way better than the modern equivalents. I've just got myself a mint 40 year old quarts locked direct drive Technics SL-L3 linear tracking turntable for a good price and that's great even compared to my Rega Planner 3.
I found that with a cork mat, and an upgraded headshell etc it sounds amazing. I reckon the most important thing is to get the antiskate right on them to give a really nice sound. Your deck sounds nice, why were they considered to be not so good in the past?
@@pwrestoration From what I have read DD decks were supposed to have more rumble? From listening to a few that's simply not the case and the W/F numbers are great too? The Best Turntable I've ever owned was DD, a Micro Seiki DD-8. I still kick myself for getting rid of that when I was skint in my teens... Maybe One day I'll get lucky and get a cheap one again? lol ;)
it was running a bit fast :) I have an SL-2000 which appears to be a manual version of this, but it really isn't. The motor is different, no magnets on the platter for example, and the tone arm is different. It came with a technics cartridge and a different platter mat (still thick rubber though). I can't detect any electrical noise in the signal and don't hear any rumble. The w&f is a bit higher on sunny days (around 0.08%), I suspect the electricity is dirty from peoples solar panels and inverters.
Thanks for the video. I use SL-1900 turntable with diamond stylus (good condition), Marantz SR3500 Amplifier, Phono Preamp PP400, SONY speakers. The vocals of a few songs are consistently dampened. Panasonic suggested the PCB is faulty. Would you share your thoughts on this, please.
It's difficult to say but endure the earth is good on the TT and your antiskate is correct. Turn it all the way off to check if it's that. It's very uncommon a PCB will fail. After that it's a case of cutting things out to see if it's that. If you can swap the amp etc, swap the speaker cables round etc etc
Nice video. I'm thinking about picking one up but again it's got the arm issue (what led me to this video), apparently it's auto functions don't work right and when it finishes playing it skates back across the disc. Reckon that's a similar issue to yours?
Yes, it sounds like the arm lift is stuck. it should lift the arm first before returning, I'd say the auto return is working. Once you get the cover off and under the tonearm it will just need all the grease removed and regreased. Very common and a simple fix!
@@pwrestoration thanks for the reply, I'm seriously thinking of taking a punt on it. What shell casing and stylus do you have on yours? I'm only just getting into vinyl so know F all at the moment.
@@davidupton73 mines got a bit of a custom headsshell and an AT VMN95SH. Id recommend if you need one pickup at AT95. Cheap as chips and pretty good too.
PW Restoration, I just bought the same model form US, but it seems that it does not come with a voltage converter built in. Could you be kind to confirm what's written on the back side label of your turntable - 120V and 240V? Mine has only 120V 50 or 60 Hz written on it.
I can do better, here's a photo: pasteboard.co/bJGn3Rpe6JUj.jpg It seems that in the US maybe they saved money on production and skipped the voltage selector under the platter? Mine will be for sale once I receive a cartridge for it (to sell as working) if you're after one. If you're only has a 110 input does it only show a strobe setting for 60hz too?
The arm lift and general tonearm mech always seems to be stuck up with old grease on these. Once that's cleaned out and regrease, generally they're party robust. Good luck!
I would like to take a sympathetic tone in my corrections but am having difficulty bothering because Mr Restorations has passed on so much bad information in this video under the auspices of being an expert, here to teach us all and clearly does not know of what he speaks. First issue is this silly claim that direct drive keeps better time. Balogna. Servo controlled is servo controlled is servo controlled. A belt drive SL-23 will keep as good time as this SL-1900. The real advantage with the direct drive is quicker acceleration up to speed and lower maintenance with the absence of a drive belt. Next up is this claim that the zero of the tone arm weight is for the stock headshell. That doesn't even make sense. Why would they have an adjustable weight with an integral vernier scale if it could only work with one specific headshell and cartridge?? That sounds more like a T4P (P-mount). Check again and you will see that the scale wheel and the weight spin independently of eachother. If yours does not, remove the weight from the tone arm and free the stuck scale wheel. Clean it like you cleaned all of the grease elsewhere. Lastly and speaking of grease; saying that the tone arm is a weak point on these machine because old grease gums things up is like saying a lamp is weak because a bulb burnt out. If you service the machine, the tone arm works perfectly. That is not a design flaw, it's just forty year old grease. Change the oil, the engine is fine. I own an SL-1900 and a dozen other Technics turntables. What I say if from experience, not what I read on the world wide web or ascertained in fifteen minutes of tinkering. The internet definitely wrestled control away from publishers (which is good) but the ability to self publish also killed off a lot of quality control as evidenced in this video.
I would like to get your advice on how to get my SL-1900 platter to spin! Light comes on and tone arm raises and lowers fine. Platter will not spin at all and put a few drops of oil in platter stem to no avail. Any help would be appreciated, thanks! You seem to have better knowledge of these DD systems.
I’ve got one of these since new and I believe I bought it in late 1976. Still runs perfect but I notice the gearing is a bit noisy now when running its movements. I imagine it could use a little lube. It came with an Audio Technica 12SA and Shibata stylus from the factory. I modified it about 10 years ago to run at 78 with a push button on the side and have a separate headshell and cartridge for the 78s. All around solid player that never let me down. Thanks for the video.
I used to turn my nose up at these DD turntables but they're rather good, way better than the modern equivalents. I've just got myself a mint 40 year old quarts locked direct drive Technics SL-L3 linear tracking turntable for a good price and that's great even compared to my Rega Planner 3.
I found that with a cork mat, and an upgraded headshell etc it sounds amazing. I reckon the most important thing is to get the antiskate right on them to give a really nice sound. Your deck sounds nice, why were they considered to be not so good in the past?
@@pwrestoration From what I have read DD decks were supposed to have more rumble? From listening to a few that's simply not the case and the W/F numbers are great too? The Best Turntable I've ever owned was DD, a Micro Seiki DD-8. I still kick myself for getting rid of that when I was skint in my teens... Maybe One day I'll get lucky and get a cheap one again? lol ;)
@@createdezign1840 I've had no rumble at all and three of my feet are knackered. It's been really good
Thanks much :)
it was running a bit fast :)
I have an SL-2000 which appears to be a manual version of this, but it really isn't. The motor is different, no magnets on the platter for example, and the tone arm is different. It came with a technics cartridge and a different platter mat (still thick rubber though). I can't detect any electrical noise in the signal and don't hear any rumble. The w&f is a bit higher on sunny days (around 0.08%), I suspect the electricity is dirty from peoples solar panels and inverters.
Thanks for the video. I use SL-1900 turntable with diamond stylus (good condition), Marantz SR3500 Amplifier, Phono Preamp PP400, SONY speakers. The vocals of a few songs are consistently dampened. Panasonic suggested the PCB is faulty. Would you share your thoughts on this, please.
It's difficult to say but endure the earth is good on the TT and your antiskate is correct. Turn it all the way off to check if it's that.
It's very uncommon a PCB will fail.
After that it's a case of cutting things out to see if it's that. If you can swap the amp etc, swap the speaker cables round etc etc
I love the way you talk
Ha thanks it's a Yorkshire accent
Nice video. I'm thinking about picking one up but again it's got the arm issue (what led me to this video), apparently it's auto functions don't work right and when it finishes playing it skates back across the disc. Reckon that's a similar issue to yours?
Yes, it sounds like the arm lift is stuck. it should lift the arm first before returning, I'd say the auto return is working.
Once you get the cover off and under the tonearm it will just need all the grease removed and regreased. Very common and a simple fix!
@@pwrestoration thanks for the reply, I'm seriously thinking of taking a punt on it.
What shell casing and stylus do you have on yours? I'm only just getting into vinyl so know F all at the moment.
@@davidupton73 mines got a bit of a custom headsshell and an AT VMN95SH.
Id recommend if you need one pickup at AT95. Cheap as chips and pretty good too.
@@pwrestoration thanks very much.
PW Restoration, I just bought the same model form US, but it seems that it does not come with a voltage converter built in. Could you be kind to confirm what's written on the back side label of your turntable - 120V and 240V? Mine has only 120V 50 or 60 Hz written on it.
I can do better, here's a photo:
pasteboard.co/bJGn3Rpe6JUj.jpg
It seems that in the US maybe they saved money on production and skipped the voltage selector under the platter?
Mine will be for sale once I receive a cartridge for it (to sell as working) if you're after one.
If you're only has a 110 input does it only show a strobe setting for 60hz too?
I put a set of M&PC Tech feet on mine
I just one beat to crap off Ebay. Not surprising. I have to learn to fix myself now. I got burned returning before so I'm stuck with it.
The arm lift and general tonearm mech always seems to be stuck up with old grease on these. Once that's cleaned out and regrease, generally they're party robust. Good luck!
I would like to take a sympathetic tone in my corrections but am having difficulty bothering because Mr Restorations has passed on so much bad information in this video under the auspices of being an expert, here to teach us all and clearly does not know of what he speaks.
First issue is this silly claim that direct drive keeps better time. Balogna. Servo controlled is servo controlled is servo controlled. A belt drive SL-23 will keep as good time as this SL-1900. The real advantage with the direct drive is quicker acceleration up to speed and lower maintenance with the absence of a drive belt.
Next up is this claim that the zero of the tone arm weight is for the stock headshell. That doesn't even make sense. Why would they have an adjustable weight with an integral vernier scale if it could only work with one specific headshell and cartridge?? That sounds more like a T4P (P-mount).
Check again and you will see that the scale wheel and the weight spin independently of eachother. If yours does not, remove the weight from the tone arm and free the stuck scale wheel. Clean it like you cleaned all of the grease elsewhere.
Lastly and speaking of grease; saying that the tone arm is a weak point on these machine because old grease gums things up is like saying a lamp is weak because a bulb burnt out. If you service the machine, the tone arm works perfectly. That is not a design flaw, it's just forty year old grease. Change the oil, the engine is fine.
I own an SL-1900 and a dozen other Technics turntables. What I say if from experience, not what I read on the world wide web or ascertained in fifteen minutes of tinkering.
The internet definitely wrestled control away from publishers (which is good) but the ability to self publish also killed off a lot of quality control as evidenced in this video.
Cool story bro!
I would like to get your advice on how to get my SL-1900 platter to spin! Light comes on and tone arm raises and lowers fine. Platter will not spin at all and put a few drops of oil in platter stem to no avail. Any help would be appreciated, thanks! You seem to have better knowledge of these DD systems.
India ho mach
Rare to find in india unless u till someone import it. if you find one it might be on the higher side of 50k to 75k.
I've got the rare green one