So I have always had a solid rubber mat on my 1200. I'm cleaning up my old Pioneer for my dad and don't have a mat.  What do you guys dig?  Cork, rubber?  Keeping it cheap here as it's a decent but low budget setup. It has a lot less mass than my Technics so I was leaning towards rubber.  Ortofon 2M Red and Schiit Mani. Thanks in advance!

damn I'll be honest I was to lazy to plug in my 450+ uerms, so I just put my protapros to my laptop jack and it sounded amazing.  Anybody know where I can buy digital files that are that dynamic?

hello,

i would be happy buying cd's if they sounded this good. i can't imagine what something like "The Best Damn Thing" could hit like if it were mastered at all well.

Gotta love vinyl when it's done right.  How can something with such a high noise floor have such huge dynamics?  What voodoo is this? 

Seriously though the exact same thoughts hit me big time a month ago.  I was DJing for one of the biggest local salsa/dance events of the year and we had a great sounding big open room with a pretty big PA setup (2xEVZXA5 + 2xJBL535).  I was playing my 24/96 vinyl rips back to back with modern masters and the dynamics of (well mastered) vinyl was absolutely slaying the modern stuff.  The best modern recordings (which sound VERY good) got close but still not quite the same magic as the best vintage stuff....

That's pretty much it about digital v. TT atm. Yggy ended my digital search till a better output comes round. The rest is tweaking around USB or avoiding it. Apart from that, it's vinyl. Unfortunately some will hear bad vinyl on a poorly set up vinyl rig and it. Till you hear the best that both digital and vinyl have to offer, the difference is clear. Close at best, but no cigar. Of course, convenience is no contest at all.

What would it take to make bring back their turntables?

I wouldn't hold your breath. The business case for a new, genuine SL-1200 would be pretty difficult considering how easy it would be to just slap their name on yet another Hanpin SuperOEM, as much of an insult that would be to the real SL-1200...which was also always a bit of an overrated table to begin with. Sure it was incredibly robust, great at beat matching etc, but as an audiophile table, at least out of the box, eh.

The Technics you want is the SP-10 MKIII, which ranks up there with the best Japanese direct drives ever produced, and it ain't comin' back. I imagine the cost to bring a new one out would be astronomical, and a direct drive with a five figure price tag wearing the Technics badge I just don't think is going to sell, at least not outside of a tiny niche that has fetishized tables like the Garrard 401 and the Pioneer Exclusive P3a.

The one company that I think could do something like that is Sony - build a new PS-X9 for the home market to go along with their $20K speakers that came out a few years back. I don't think they will though. The other guys though, Denon, Yamaha, Kenwood, Pioneer, Technics - never again.

Getting a custom tonearm base that I got made in India!  It's shipping out July 29th....damn excited!