Text: Olaf Adam; Photos: Olaf Adam, Technics
This article originally appeared in 0dB - The Magazine of Passion N ° 3
There is probably no other audio product where precision is as crucial as with a turntable. A diamond needle as thin as a hair is pulled through the record groove at the end of a long tone arm. It scans micrometer-sized structures on the flanks of the groove. At the top of the needle carrier sits a tiny electromagnet that converts the resulting movements into tiny current fluctuations. These electrical modulations are transmitted to a phono preamp and then to a power amplifier via cables that are almost infinitely long compared to the dimensions of the pickup. There the signal, but also every error that occurs along the way, is amplified many times over. In order for such a difficult mechanical and electrical system to work, everything has to fit right down to the smallest detail. To get as much music out as possible in the end, with all the details, with the full force of the emotions.
As an ambitious hi-fi fan, you are always on the lookout. In search of perfection in reproduction, for the ultimate listening experience. If you prefer to pursue this goal using the analogue route, you need a record player that was manufactured with the same standards. Which also emerged from the pursuit of the perfect. Like the Technics SL-1000R, with which the Japanese manufacturer breathes new life into its SP-10 from the 70s using the latest technology. The SP-10 established the excellent reputation of the then still young Technics brand, and expectations of the modern interpretation of this legend are correspondingly high. That is why the effort that Technics put into this new edition is enormous.
This is exemplified by the turntable of the SL-1000R. It is made up of three layers with different properties and tasks. The core consists of thick cast aluminum, which is cushioned on the underside by a layer of natural rubber. The third layer made of solid brass, ten millimeters thick and precisely turned from the solid material, serves as the support plate. Twelve heavy tungsten weights are embedded on the edge of the support plate. The entire construction weighs almost eight kilograms and its accuracy would probably already satisfy many other manufacturers. Not so with Technics, not with the SL-1000R. Before final assembly, each plate is weighed, measured and then finely balanced using an individual bore on the underside. Tolerances at the absolute limits of measurement technology - that's the only thing the Japanese accept with a turntable that they call "Reference Class".
Like all Technics turntables, the SL-1000R has a powerful direct drive. The advantages of this principle are a high starting torque and the possibility of controlling the rotational speed very precisely. However, there is also the risk that vibrations from the motor will be transmitted to the turntable. That is why the engineers have taken the newly developed iron-core-less drive motor a few years ago for the SL-12000GAE again, optimized it further and reduced the synchronization deviation to below 0.015%. Maybe a little more could have been achieved, but here, too, the limits of the available measurement technology were simply reached.
An external control unit takes over the regulation of the modern direct drive, completely decoupled from the mechanical activities of the drive, completely independent, incorruptibly precise. The complex optimization of the plate and the drive only pays off if the electronic control of the motor is also absolutely perfect.
This perfection in detail continues in all other areas of the SL-1000R. The chassis / sub-chassis construction is made from a composite of solid aluminum and vibration-resistant special plastic. Inside the technical effort of the mechanical and electrical construction. And even the feet are a completely new development in which various damping elements and materials work together to fight the smallest vibrations. The tonearm base is firmly coupled to the well-protected turntable chassis. The turntable bearings and tonearm always work under the same mechanical conditions, the ideal prerequisite for a precise scanning process.
Appropriate for this festival of Japanese engineering is of course also the external appearance. Wherever you look, you will find sublime workmanship beyond any doubt, your gaze sticks to the noble surfaces, which are almost too good to touch. But only almost.
There is no doubt that the Technics SL-1000R is a very exquisite turntable. Assuming a correspondingly good hi-fi chain, you can enjoy analogue music playback on a level that only few other players allow. But the SL-1000R is also - at the same time and precisely because of this - a fine mechanical work of art, in which one can lose oneself just as much in love with detail as in listening to music with it. All around: a nice thing.
