Jalen Sigh Tech

Verdict

If you want to hear every scrap of information contained in the grooves of your records, and if you value musicality as much as analysis, and if you don’t mind buying and fitting a doubtless expensive cartridge, the Technics SL-1300G will reward like little else at this sort of money

Introduction

Technics, of course, is synonymous with turntables in much the same way fish is synonymous with chips.

But the company has always had ambitions beyond supplying every DJ who knows anything about anything with a pair of decks (and perhaps a mixer) – that’s why its current range of turntables extends all the way to the £20K mark.

Its latest machine, the SL-1300G, isn’t quite as headily priced as that – but it’s no one’s idea of a bargain, either. When you consider the quality of the alternative turntables this sort of money can buy you, what does this Technics have to recommend it – beyond Big Night Out cachet, I mean?

Availability

The Technics SL-1300G direct-drive turntable is on sale, and in the United Kingdom it will set you back £2799 – and that’s without a cartridge. In the United States it’s cartridge-less too, and it sells for $3299. In Australia, meanwhile, you should expect to hand over AU$4999 – and then find the money for an appropriate cartridge.

Looks like a lot of money, doesn’t it? Especially after you’ve spent another £500 or so on a worthwhile cartridge (sorry to labour the point, but I think it’s worth labouring – and there’s more where that came from). There are more affordable Technics record players available, of course – but there are some considerably pricier models too: the flagship SL-1000R, for instance, will set you back very nearly £20K…

Design

• 173 x 453 x 372mm (HxWxD)
• 13kg
• Anti-vibration platter and chassis

Generally, it’s safe to say that if you’ve seen one turntable design you’ve seen them all – there are exceptions at the very top and very bottom ends of the market, of course, but broadly speaking one turntable looks very like another. And specifically, if you’ve seen one Technics turntable you’ve very much seen them all. The overall Technics look was established some time ago, and hard-won ubiquity is not to be tampered with.

So the SL-1300G is, at 173 x 453 x 372mm (HWD), of standard turntable size. It’s a fairly substantial 13kg – and it’s worth noting that a whole 3.6kg of that is the platter. Technics never scrimps on construction, and the SL-1300G has a two-part chassis and three-part platter in an effort to make its structure, to all intents and purposes, immune to vibration.

So the platter comprises a three-layer construction. The main body is of aluminium, the upper surface is of brass (2mm thick), and the entire rear surface is covered in deadening rubber – the result is high rigidity, significant vibration damping and the virtual elimination of resonance. It also means smooth rotational stability and considerable inertial mass. Fundamentally, it’s the same platter as the one fitted to 2018’s £4K SL-1200G.

And it sits on a body of similar rigidity and efficiency. A two-layer construction this time, the body of the SL1300G is of a die-cast aluminium top plate sitting on a BMC (bulk moulding compound) base – and further rigidity and vibration damping comes courtesy of the reinforcing ribs positioned between the motor and the tonearm assembly. 

Each SL-1300G is balanced after assembly – after all, if the weight distribution of the turntable is uneven, excess vibration and/or noise can be generated by the rotation of the platter. You’ll know your SL-1300G has been perfectly balanced using specialised equipment by the BALANCED sticker on the underside of the platter.

As is standard Technics practice, the SL-1300G has a power on/off button above a start/stop button on the bottom left of the top plate. There are also speed-selection buttons for 33.3 and 45 – press them at the same time and your perfectly balanced platter will spin at 78rpm.

Features

• Coreless direct-drive motor
• 230mm S-shaped aluminium tonearm
• Gold-plated terminals

Technics introduced its first coreless direct drive motor in 2016 – by removing the iron core, so the theory went, rotational instability called cogging can be eliminated. For the SL-1300G, a twin-rotor construction reduces the load on the bearings and minimises rotational vibration too. 

Like the platter it turns, the motor here is closely based on that fitted to the SL-1200G. But it also incorporates the Delta Sigma (ΔΣ) motor control software and drive system that debuted in last year’s SL-1200GR2. It uses Technics’ expertise where pulse width modulation is concerned in an effort to eradicate even the most minor rotational inaccuracies and minimise errors in the drive signals – the smoother, more accurate rotation that should result, reckons Technics, means smoother, more accurate sound.    

Naturally these are not the only lengths Technics has gone to. The SL-1300G features a low-noise switching circuit – it eliminates the need for a transformer power supply and the vibration-suppressing counter-measures that a transformer demands. Current injection technology detects residual noise in the transformerless power supply and applies inverse phase current to remove them – it’s a more effective system than the more common regulator alternative, according to Technics.

The SL-1300G is supplied with a lightweight, rigid aluminium pipe tonearm – it’s 230mm long and is the traditional static-balance S-shape. At the fixed end it features gimbal suspension and a high-precision bearing – there is a multi-part counterweight and anti-skate mechanism along with a lift and tonearm lock. At the other end, though, there’s just a headshell. Technics will happily tell you that this allows you to specify your preferred cartridge – the cynical among us (by which I mean me) will almost certainly expect outlay as significant as this to include a cartridge that Technics engineers think suits the turntable well.

And that’s very nearly your lot where features are concerned. In a recess at the rear of the chassis are connections for mains power and gold-plated stereo RCA connections along with a grounding post. Technics supplies a mains cable and a pair of absolutely bog-standard stereo RCA cables (see my cartridge-related complaints above) along with a grounding lead. And the entire thing sits on four extremely sturdy, very pliant and rigorously engineered silicone rubber insulators – because they’re nothing as mundane as feet. 

Sound Quality

• Clean, detailed and full-bodied sound
• Poise and energy in equal measure
• Quite assertive top-end reproduction

So you’ve spent good money on a good cartridge, and have put yourself through the harrowing experience of fitting and balancing it. Finally, you’re good to go – and guess what? The Technics SL-1300G makes it all worthwhile – well, very nearly.

It’s the equilibrium the SL-1300G demonstrates at every turn that’s the most straightforwardly impressive thing about it. It’s balanced, but it’s energetic. It’s dynamic, but it’s composed. It can extract and contextualise even the finest details, but it’s entertaining. There are two sides to every coin, and this Technics polishes both of them to a high shine.

With a heavyweight reissue of Sounds Like The Flirtations playing, the midrange fidelity is really striking. It presents voices in a direct, articulate and absolutely naturalistic manner, keeps them secure in a small pocket of space in order for them to communicate fully, and balances a lead vocal line against the harmonies supporting it as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

There’s drive and dynamism to the presentation, but the SL-1300G never loses the run of itself and is able to retain its poise even when voices and instruments are attacking with gusto. It creates a persuasive soundstage even with a fairly primitive recording like this one, and it manages to unify every element into a convincing whole. Its frequency response is brilliantly even, and it travels from the top end to the bottom in an entirely unforced and confident manner.

Switch to the rather more modern sounds of James Holden’s Imagine This is a High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities and the good news keeps on coming. The Technics has authentic presence at the bottom of the frequency range, giving proper heft and punch to the low end – but it pounces on bass sounds with authority, and really snaps into them. Attack is straight-edged and controlled, so rhythmic expression is persuasive – this is one of the traits the vinyl format is widely fetishised for, and the SL-1300G is as good in this respect as the very best of its rivals.

The overall tonal balance is nicely judged, and the music is presented with clarity and space just as much as it is with dynamism and drive. Detail levels are high across the board, and insight into the minutiae of tone and texture is considerable. As ever, the Technics covers all the bases – it can analyse the recording and make pertinent observations about the transient, most fleeting moments in it, but at the same time it’s an uncomplicatedly entertaining and engrossing listen.

It’s really only at the top of the frequency range that problems lurk – and in my time with the turntable, those problems remain latent rather than overt. The SL-1300G reproduces treble sounds very assertively – it’s not strident, but it’s not far off. There’s substance to the top end sounds it delivers, but there’s unarguable shine too – and in an unsympathetic system it’s all too easy to imagine them becoming rather edgy.

A moment or two spent system-matching is in order, because if paired with a similarly zingy amplifier or stentorian loudspeakers the Technics could reach a tipping-point altogether too quickly. In a well-matched system, though, the highest frequencies have just the same level of attack and insight as the rest of the frequency range – which makes them of a convincingly unified piece. Just don’t provoke the top-end response here, that’s all…     

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