Technics Turntable, Premium Class HiFi Record Player with Coreless Direct, Stable Playback, Audiophile-Grade Cartridge and Auto-Lift Tonearm, Dustcover Included – SL-100C, Black (SL-100C-K)

I received my Technics in September of 2023, and would like to share my thoughts on what I feel is the best value on the turntable market, one year later.Technics builds a wide range of models, all the way up to their 20 grand reference series. They've been designing phonograph players for 60 years and have built some of best selling models of all time, including the SL-1200 series.What attracted me to the 100-c was build, function and price. This model offers the same build of the 1200 without all the strobe lighting and pitch control DJing features I did not care for. The chassis is aluminum with damping material to reduce vibration. It comes in at 20 lbs. It features the same mid weight tonearm as the 1200 that will accommodate a wide variety of MM/MC cartridges and 6mm of adjustable height control. The auto-lift is spotty at best, but will eventually pick up should you leave the room and forget you have a record playing. I would suggest going online and learn how to calibrate this feature. The shell is plastic with no aluminum top. The feet are it's downfall. I replaced the rubber/ plastic ones with machined aluminum, sorbathane filled feet and this really steadied vibration and lowered the noise floor. The Audio Technica 95 conical cartridge is also budget and was immediately replaced by one of my MC carts. Alot of these budget friendly features are easily replaceable and upgradable but I understand Technics reasoning as wanting to keep cost as low as possible. The speed is rock solid on both 33 and 45 rpm with the same coreless motor used on the 1200 and many other Technics models. It does also offer 78 speed, but I have yet to try it. The brass platter mat (pictured) was another add-on and offers no benefits except for a slight static reduction and aesthetics. Finally in conclusion, the price, ranging from $899 to $1099 is a tremendous value when you consider prices for a well made turntable these days. To own a well made turntable, while listening to a well pressed vinyl record is second to none. This deck checks all the boxes for me, and one year later, I have no intentions of replacing it.

The SL-100c is very quiet and its rotation is very accurate, and the tone arm is very light and stable, and it looks great.In addition, by taking out all un-needed features including the phono pre-amp, strobe, speed adjust, and record light, Technics made a world class audiophile turntable. The only thing they could have done better is offer it without a cartridge.In most cases any person purchasing a $1,099.00 turntable is most likely not a HiFi Noves and will be changing out the supplied phono cartridge for a more comparable one.For myself I installed my AT-155LC unit and also can change to my Audio-Technica VM750SH as well. I can keep the supplied cartridge for playing older damaged or other people's records, I guess.The SL-100c may not be the most expensive TT out there, but it will handle some very high-end phono styles, making it sound like a $20k system.

Outstanding turntable from the folks that pioneered and perfected direct drive. Coming from many different belt drive tables over my 50 years in the hobby, the latest being a Pro-Ject X1 this is my first direct drive. I'm a believer! The speed stability truly makes a difference in the presentation of the music. I was one of the folks who was taught and truly believed that belt drive was superior in eliminating motor noise due to the decoupling of belt. I will say with SL-100C I haven't noticed any appreciable noise at all. What I have noticed is the timing and pace of the music is more lifelike. It draws you into the performance and makes you want to listen to more and more music, after all isn't that what this hobby is all about. I won't get into the spec's here, but the features this table offers are exceptional. While my X1 offers VTA adjustment it is nowhere near as easy to set as the SL-100's. The main reason I purchased the Technics was the ease of changing cartridges (I have a few). This is not the first table I've owned with that capability, but it's been a minute since I have. I think if you are an analog enthusiast and this is within your budget, I would put this on your short list.

Just for starters, I received my turntable a couple of days ago and I finally got a chance to get it set up and running. After getting the through the initial tweeks I now have it up and running. It took maybe 45 minutes at the most to get it setup, but believe me it has been worth every minute getting together.Setup was not that difficult, the instructions were easy to follow.Well now for the first listening. I put Howard Jones- Hide & Seek( long version) on and I’m here to tell you the clarity was amazing. Next selection was Andreas Vollenweider- Dancing with the Lion and it sounds simply amazing as well. And last but not least Checkfield - Water, Wind and Stone, this was another home run. This turntable brings out the clarity and brightness of the songs I could not hear before. Simply amazing.I guess if there is one negative thing is the Auto-Lift, it can take up to 60 seconds to engage and it can engage before the end of the last song finishes playing on each side of the run-off. To me this is no game changer. I simply just turn the switch off. Problem solved.I started using the Audio-Technica AT-VM95C cartridge which is included with this turntable.This is a good cartridge. But I changed the cartridge to the AT-VM95SH and this a major improvement to the overall sound. I’m hearing instruments in the songs that I couldn’t hear before. I couldn’t hear this much clarity with my Fluance RT85N turntable which came with the Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge.The SL-100C turntable takes your music to another level.I highly recommend this outstanding turntable, you will not be disappointed. Also I was able to get this at a lower price point.Cheers 🎶