TECHNICS SL-1300G record player > Stereophile Gramophone Dreams #92

To play a disc with Technics' new SL-1300G record player means pushing its round On button, then touching one or more of its rectangular speed selector buttons, then pushing the big square [Start:Stop] button, then unclamping the tonearm and using its cue lever to raise it up.

Technics' first generation of direct drives began in 1970 and included the SP-10 and the SL-1100. Technics' second generation, which added quartz-locked speed control, was labeled Mk.II. It included the SP-10 Mk.II and the biggest-selling turntable of all time: the SL-1200 Mk.II. The third generation began in 2016 with the SL-1200GAE/G and employed all new closer-tolerance tooling for every part. It also introduced a new coreless motor with digital speed control, which Technics says eliminated the cogging issue. Technics' fourth generation began last year with the introduction of the $2199 SL-1200GR2, and now the SL-1300G, which I will be discussing in this month's Dreams.

Hi-fi styling

Incorporating features from the other fourth-generation turntables, the Technics SL-1300G represents a crossbreeding of the 'GR2 and the 'G (with a little SL-1000R thrown in for good measure). The result is a domesticated 1200G and a sonically upgraded 1200GR2. The 1300G uses the same triple-layered platter as the 1200G, and an "improved" version of the 1200G's twin-rotor, nine-stator motor. This means the 1300G's motor delivers the same amount of torque as the classic SP-10 Mk.II in a very un–DJ-looking package.

Listening

My first impression of the Technics SL-1300G was "Holy cow! Are you kidding me? That's the smoothest, quietest analog I've ever heard from any record player." Then I remembered Ken Micallef's dead-silent J.Sikora deck. And Alex Halberstadt's "quiet with push" Well Tempered Lab Amadeus record player. And my Trei-optimized Linn LP12, which wins medals for silence and PRaT. The 1300G was not as quiet as those decks, but it was conspicuously quiet.

Listening with the Nagaoka MP-200

The first arrangement I tried felt like roots audio: the SL-1300G sporting a $509 Nagaoka MP-200 moving magnet cartridge feeding my beloved Sun Valley SV-EQ1616D phono equalizer ($850 in kit form). This created a jumping, live-wire–sounding analog source that played an original pressing of Dinah Washington's This Is My Story Vol.1 (Mercury Stereo SR60788) in a manner that felt crisp, direct, and authentic to its era (1963). What stood out was how Dinah's voice was so clear and present it became impossible to not pay complete attention to how the artist was forming each word and shaping each phrase of each song.

I found a new drug

Initially, the Technics SL-1300G played smooth and quiet to a point where for a while I thought it was too smooth and too seductive. Then just as I'd get lulled out, it would startle me with a sledgehammer bass transient, followed by a head-rushing bevy of train-wrecking momentum. I forgot how quiet turntables with great tonearms are the ones most likely to startle listeners. Turns out, this deck's best talent was how it could go from dreamy and dead silent to explosive—with elan, and understated ease.
Like all Technics turntables, the SL-1300G was engineered to be set up easily and correctly by average users, and to last decades under heavy use. In my system, the 1300G performed like a Class A turntable at a Class B price. That's why it's my new budget reference.