vintage turntables?

the 600/650's were the same except they were quartz locked. Nice tt's for the day, still are. You could pick one of these up, and mount whatever arm you wanted. One of the few tables in the mid 70's to offer that option.

Creative edge is correct. The Technics 12xx series are so-so in stock form, but with the KAB upgrades compete seriously with the multikilo buck tables; have been there and done the comparison myself. Its tough to admit a hot rodded KAB technics is giving a TNT a run for the money, but it does.

The other key option to get on the technics is the RCA outboard connector termination, allowing the user to select his cables of choice to route the signal to the pre amp or phono stage.

never liked technics...... fancy word for panasonic....matsushita...all the same

I contacted Kevin (KAB) last year to ask about his mods and their potential. He told me to keep the SP-10 because the best he can achieve with the 1200 series won't quite reach that level. Bigger, better motor, etc.

I already had the SP-10 so the debate does not apply to me but I can see where the KAB mods might be a better deal considering you can get one with zero miles on it whereas, if you found an SP-10 brand new, it would cost a fortune and a half.
Also, you can move up incrementally with KAB instead of having to plunk it all down at once on an SP-10. In my experience it is more fun to get your improvements in small doses.
Bottom line, in my opinion, is that you can get way more bang for your bucks with a high end, vintage, Japanese direct drive than any modern table can deliver.

Check out yard sales. You may very well get lucky and buy a very serious DD table for $15. If it is heavy, holds speed, and appears to be complete, buy it.

Raul,

Do you have any thoughts to a London Decca cartridge on the Phantom? I have the Ortofon 2M Black on the way. This will be my first MM.

thanks,
James