5196105887

AUDIO New Eguipment Reports

		V
BAND SELECTORS	(T
AC POWER
	1		— START/STOP/ PICKUP POSITION
			CUEING (UP/DOWN) REPEAT

Technlcs' Tangential Thinks for You

Techntcs SL-1S automatic smgle-play tangent - tracking tumtable, wtth Technics EPC-P205C Mk. 3 flxed-coil phonoplckup Olmenslons: 12% by 12’A inches (top), 3% inches high with cover closed; additlonal 11 Inches vertical clearance requlred with cover open. Price: $875. Warranty: "limłted," two years parts and labor. Manufac-turer: Matsushlta Electric, Ltd., Japan; U.S. dlstributor: Panasonic Co., Oivision of Matsushlta Electric Corp. of America, 1 Panasonic Way, Secaucus. N.J. 07094.

SPEED ACCURACY (at 33 or 45 rpm)

nomeasurable error. 105-127 VAC

wow 4 FLUTTER (ANSI/ IEEE weighted peak) ł0.04%average, tO 055% maximum

TOTAL AUDIBLE RUMBLE (ARLL) -68V>dB

TONEARM RESONANCE 4 DAMPING (measured with suppiiedcadridge) vertical    9Hz. 10-dBnse

lateral    10 6 Hz.9%-dBnse

TOTAL LEAD CAPACITANCE    64 pF

Technics EPC-P205C Mk. 3 cartridge

FREOUENCY RESPONSE

Lch    ♦ %.-1 dB. 20 Hz to 20 kHz

Rch    4 15,-'/. dB. 20 Hz to 20 kHz

CHANNEl SEPARATK)N

-*18dB. 20 Hz to 20 kHz

SENSITIVITY(1 kHz) 0 82mV/cm/sec

CHANNEL BALANCE(1 kHz)    iOdB

MAXIMUM TRACKING LEVEL (re RIAA 0 VU. 1 % grams)

• 4 18 dB lateral. > 4 i2dBvertical

Wiihn we tested Technics* original linear-tracking lurntable. the SL-I0 (May I980). wc noted the company*s hope that the format would gain the kind of acceptance direcl drivc did a decade ago. The jur)^- is still out on that. hut therc certainly has been enough dcmand for Technics to expand the linę to five mod-els. with the SL-15 as the new top con-tender.

In most respects. the SL-15 is a vir-tual clone of its progenitor. li is a fully automatic direct-drive lurntable only vcry slightly wider and decpcr than the diametcrof an LP. Buttonson eitherside are presscd to raise the hinged cover. re-vealing the platter (with an inset. twist-to-use spindle adapter for largc-holc 45s) helów and the tonearm assemhly and a record stahilizcr ahove. attached to the inside of the lid. The stahilizcr presses the disc heing played łirmly down against the platter mat. The tonearm. which is moved along a guide raił by an optically controlled servo system. is dynamically halanced and comes prefitted with a Technics fixed-coil cartridge. Tracking force is prcset at the fac-tory via a screwdriver adjustment. Al-though the setscrew is accessible to the tumtable’s user. in normal use there would never be anv reason for you to ad-just the tracking force. Ali cartridges dc-signed for use in Technics* linear-tracking turntables (including models from Technics. Shure. Audio-Technica. and Ortofon) will operate at the correct force when plugged into the tonearm.

Indeed. two of the SL-I5*s chief strengths are its simplicity of setup and operation and its astonishingly high de-gree of foolproofness. It requires nonę of the elaborate fiddling (such as cartridge installation and arm balancing) that is neccssary to get most other turntables running. Unpack it. remove theshipping stays. pług in the audio cables and power cord. and vou*re ready to roli (qu ite liter-a11 v. in fact. if you buy the special adapter that enables the turnlabie to run on power from an automobile cigarette lighter).

The basie Controls are a row of.i-pushbuttons on the front edge of tfthat turntable*s lid. To the cxtreme left is./i per-power switch. Just right of center is £ sizc<f PF at switch. which when activ;jth \h( causes the turntable to play the s»ridg( record continually until you signal a hi£ stop. A smali red light just abovc/ tur switch indicates when the Repeat fea. esp is in force. The ncxt button condier. . cueing. Whenever the arm is cued hidden lamp comes on that illumir*/ the record and the Stylus, which ar ible through the smoked plastic p( of the cover. In addition. a red an linę with the Stylus travels along a gr*.. icule as the tonearm moves across ; record.

One morę step to the right is the siart button. which serves two func* tions. When the platter is stopped ant the tonearm is at the far right in its rest position. pressing start (or cue) starts the platter spinning and lowcrs the stvlus down into the lead-in groove of the record. When the platter is turning. but the tonearm is cued up. pressing start moves the tonearm to the left. toward the center of the disc. Light pressure moves it slowly: heavy pressure moves it morę rapidły; a quick tap advances the arm just one millimeter.

The STOP/clear button at the far right is the functional “mirror image” of the start. When the arm is cued up. pressing stop/clear retracts the arm toward the edge of the record. When the arm is down. stop/clear returns it to rest. slops the platter. and clears what-ever sequencing program you have keved in.

Which brings up one of the SL- I5*s two main differences from the SL-10: its programmability. (The second is that the SL-15 comes with a moving-magnet rather than a moving-coi! cartridge. and thereforc does not have a built-in head amp.) Along the left side of the top covcr is a column of buttons labeled from one to ten. These can be used to program a built-in microprocessor to play the bands on a disc in any sequence you de-

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