Technics SP-10 Tonearm Pod instead of Plinth/Base

Macrojack, which Technics plinth came with your table? Technics made four different plinths for the SP-10 series.

First was a standard box frame for the original SP-10. It was all wood and weighed 5.2 kg.

Next was the SH-10B3 introduced with the SP-10 Mk2. This was a combination of Obsidian and wood and weighed 12 kg.

The third plinth was the SH-10B5 that came out at the time of the SP-10 Mk3. It was all Obsidian and weighed 19 kg.

Their last model was the SH-10B7 and sold with both the Mk2(A) and 3. It too was all Obsidian and the listed weight was 17.3 kg.

So other than the slight mass reduction with the 10B7, each plinth was made heavier than it's predecessor. Trusting that Technics engineers knew something of what they were doing, I took all this as a clue that mass is important to performance. But as Raul reminds us, we may never know until someone tests a minimal mass structure against a 40-60 pound plinth.

I will say that I do not see or feel movement with start up, running, or stopping my table. But then my sense of touch is not quite equal to a stylus in the groove!

Mine just says SL-1000 MK II on the back but I think it must be an SH-10B3 according to your description. If mass is the key, perhaps I should just remove the feet and bolt it to the credenza on which it sits. That would add at least a couple of hundred pounds.

Macrojack, Nothing "wrong" with your plinth. I did not get a plinth with my SP10, so had to improvise my own. The question is whether your plinth or my plinth could be "better", This is the hobby aspect. Pure music lovers need not pay any attention to it. There are days when I don't give a rat's arse about plinths and just want to listen to jazz. In fact, any time I am actually listening to my system, that is the case.

Thanks, Lewm. It really is that simple, isn't it? This whole audio thing seems to be fueled by a self-conscious dissatisfaction. Why are we never happy for long? Why the drive for more, more, more always?
Lately I've come to believe that we are treating the wrong end of the equation. Instead of constantly trying to modify our systems to please us, wouldn't it be easier, less expensive and less frustrating to simply change ourselves and our expectations. Perhaps the glass really is half full.

I'm currently using 1973 issue JBL speakers, a Kenwood KT 917 tuner and this Technics table with a Denon DL 103 cartridge. My horns could have been built in the 1930s. All of these items stand very tall in comparison to this months review items. So why the push to modernize? Why the belief in the latest and greatest? Why not just settle in and enjoy what we have? You know as well as I do that it's pretty damn great. There will never be a last nth.

Hi Macrojack. I think the original Obsidian plinths from Technics are fine, and I own two of the SH- B3 and one full Obsidian SH-B5. As stated above by Pryso, these all weigh under 20 kilos.

The OMA slate plinths weigh about 100 pounds for the two layer versions, and half that for the single layer, so we are talking about very different mass from what Technics put out as a product- I doubt plinths of pure stone like slate weighing that much would have gone over well with their marketing people.

Not to mention the fact that without a waterjet, making complex and precise cutouts through slate 2 inches thick would have been difficult if not impossible. It certainly would have been too expensive at the time to offer as a product.