Stanton STR8-150 vs. Technics 1200-MK2

[Nales]

Thanks for all the responses guys. All are very helpful!

As for prices, STR8-150s are currently $500 new in the States - was not able to find many used ones. As for Technics, I found prices for the M2 and M5 range from $300-600 used on Ebay and Craigslist. Because on average the 150s are about $100 more for one, I am thinking "why not just get the new one." I am also afraid of having a used 1200 break on me / get one that is kinda screwey and have to deal with hassle. But, I guess that would also be a good experience to learn how to fix a turntable. Also, having the 150 come with a cartridge is nice .

But yeah, this turntable is definitely for practice (and since I am working 3 jobs this summer, I can afford something quality). Like someone said, by the point I get GOOD with a turntable, it shouldn't matter which turntable I use - I would think I would be able to adapt. However, I would like to have a 1200 one day just as a piece of history heh.

I think I am going to wait around for another week or so and just watch the prices. I am leaning more towards the 150 if they remain at the $500 price tag. However, like some of you mentioned, if I find a 1200 that is selling for cheap, I might as well pick it up.

Another question: What color are the STR8-150s? I thought they were black but when I google image them, they seem to be more of a blue. I would hate to receive a blue one (totally biased towards the black look).

Thanks for the help guys, love DJTT <3. If anyone has anything to say, please continue to post!

[MrPopinjay]

They are a really dark blue I believe. I've only ever seen them in bars so I can't be sure.

Also check out all the other "super oem turntables". They are all pretty much the same as the stantons (except they may not have line out, etc) and I see them on ebay for next to nothing all the time.

[JamesT]

The stantons have many advantages over the 1200's, though it pains me to say.

Just for the simple fact they aren't in manufacture anymore just means if they break it will be far harder to find spare parts and such, also, the phono plugs are attached to the turntable, very annoying as they only stretch so far and are not easily replaceable/removable. The stantons also have more torque and more features, and in my opinion better pitch sliders (they are so smoooooth!)

I cannot speak for other turntables mentioned as I haven't tried them, all I know is that the stantons look good, especially the ST-150 (the S-arm model), feel amazing to use, have amazing amounts of torque and have been the best investment I made, in fact, I am now looking for my third and fourth STR8-150.

[photojojo]

I think this is a complete list of Super OEM's

Synq XTRM1
Stanton T.120/T.120C
Reloop RP6000
Stanton STR8-150/ST 150
Akiyama Acura
Citronic PD45
Omnitronic DD5250
American Audio HTD4.5

[Nales]

Thanks! I shall check out the list.

After reading the comments from the other thread "Should I bother learning how to DJ with vinyl??," I need to keep thinking if I really want a turntable (and if I really want to invest that much money when I can get something like the Denon-SC2000 or SCS.1d.

I guess I have to make a pro/con sheet....

[ellgieff]

Just for the simple fact they aren't in manufacture anymore just means if they break it will be far harder to find spare parts and such, also, the phono plugs are attached to the turntable, very annoying as they only stretch so far and are not easily replaceable/removable.

I'm not sure the manufacturing status of the Technics will make any difference to the availability of parts. There's so, so many of them around that there's plenty to cannabalise (if they ever break) and there's probably a business opportunity for someone to build/sell spare parts.

Also, the mod to change the phono cables to replacable ones doesn't look _that_ hard from the stuff I've seen.

That being said: I don't think there's enough difference between any of the top of the line TT's to make a sensible "pick this one" comment. I have Technics because that's what I found at a good price when I was looking.

[mostapha]

Round here I find there are three groups when it comes to the stantons, those who refuse to even try them as they believe anything other than technics are shit (even though they've never touched another pro turntable), people who have used them and respect them and those who have used them and actually prefer them over technics. I've certainly never met anyone who's spent time with them and dislike them.…
edit: OMFG DETACHABLE RCAS AND GROUND WIRE

I bought technics over them, but when Technics cost what they're actually worth used ($250 for mk2, $300 for m3d & mk5, $350 for m5g) instead of several times that and st150s weren't showing up on the used market and had unknown reliability at that point…it was an easy choice. Now…it's still an easy choice AFAIC, it just leans the other direction.

Plus, when I was buying, the st150 was just released. So they were only new and people–in general–didn't really know how good they were. It took several years for those "Super OEM" decks to show their worth.

As for the detachable leads…yeah. Huge advantage. Well…if you're moving them around without cases…which seems kind of pointless.

As far as banana vs traditional carts there is 0 difference.

Banana cartridges are easier to mount if you're not technically inclined. Plus a lot of people mount the traditional ones crooked because an old wives' tale showed up saying that they were more skip resistant that way…which is totally wrong. All it does is wear records and styli faster.

They are a really dark blue I believe. I've only ever seen them in bars so I can't be sure.

They are. It's a really dark cold(blue)-tone grey. It's not black.

I actually prefer the look of the older ones when they were flat-out blue before stanton changed their branding.

Plus, the older ones still had a 45-adapter slot that would hold dicers. Just one more reason they shouldn't have changed.

After reading the comments from the other thread "Should I bother learning how to DJ with vinyl??," I need to keep thinking if I really want a turntable (and if I really want to invest that much money when I can get something like the Denon-SC2000 or SCS.1d.

I guess I have to make a pro/con sheet....

It's worth seriously thinking about that. I'd buy an SCS.1d over a turntable in a heartbeat if I wanted turntable-like control. But I'm weird. I have no desire to spin vinyl again.

I kind of approached this thread as though you were already set on buying tables. If you're not sure…that puts a tick in the "used" box. There's a good chance buying a used Stanton that you could flip it for about the same price you buy it for if you decide not to keep it.

If you buy stanton new and decide to sell, you will certainly lose money.

If you buy technics now with their inflated prices, you can probably flip them without losing anything…if you buy and then sell before the prices come back down to a reasonable level.

If you wait long enough, I'm betting that Technics prices will drop again and the mk2 that you might pay $400-500 for will only be worth $250…as it should be.

Now is not the time to buy SL-1200s unless you just want to keep them or are gigging with them. There are so many SL-1200s out there, they're never going to be a collector's item…despite the fact that they basically last forever. Technics (aka Panasonic) discontinued them because stores couldn't sell them new…the used market was too saturated. And they got basically no orders. Then the whole world flipped out and prices skyrocketed. They'll come back down.

Now is the time to short sell Technics…not buy them.

[Nales]

Thanks mostapha for that post. Your lengthy ones from the other thread was what made me think twice about my purchase ... I've only REALLY started thinking about getting a turntable for a couple weeks (it is highly possible that I'm using the "I want the bitches" excuse). Definitely should wait it out.

Although I haven't seen them in person, the scs.1d looks like it would fit in with my workflow better (would like the extra buttons to map superknobs). Just sucks that there isn't TP2 support yet (luckily I'm still running on TP1). Does anyone know how good the turntable is? Is there a noticeable difference between the scs.1d vs. turntable or can only hardcore turntabilists really feel the difference?

[mostapha]

Thanks mostapha for that post. Your lengthy ones from the other thread was what made me think twice about my purchase ... I've only REALLY started thinking about getting a turntable for a couple weeks (it is highly possible that I'm using the "I want the bitches" excuse). Definitely should wait it out.

Although I haven't seen them in person, the scs.1d looks like it would fit in with my workflow better (would like the extra buttons to map superknobs). Just sucks that there isn't TP2 support yet (luckily I'm still running on TP1). Does anyone know how good the turntable is? Is there a noticeable difference between the scs.1d vs. turntable or can only hardcore turntabilists really feel the difference?

I'm sure there's a difference. But if you don't have experience on vinyl, why does that matter?

Just a small piece of conjecture this time.


I'm not actually all that curious, because I'm happy with my controllers as is, but I'm wondering how there isn't TP2 support? I know weird things like that sometimes happen, but I thought DaRouter was just supposed to translate whatever it's doing to standard midi…so it's just a matter of tuning the relative CC messages–or something like that–based on experimentation and preference.

Don't go buy it just from my conjecture that it doesn't make that much sense to me that it would work in TP but not TP2, because I'm probably dead wrong about this one…it's just odd.

[Nales]

Yeah I was thinking about the lack of TP2 support. I am still using TP1 so it would work great at the moment, but I may want to upgrade to TP2 sometime in the future. I hope they get support for it sometime soon.... they seemed to have just ditched the controller and moved on to bigger things but maybe I should contact them (their forum is pretty dead and I can only find very little information when I google).

But yeah, it is pretty weird. I am confused as to if it is entirely useless in TP2 or if it is just the platter. From what I gathered, if you tried scratching in TP2, the pitch fader moves with it. That could be annoying.

Are there any more controllers that have similar features to the SCS1d? I really like that it has encoders and buttons that I plan on using to map superknobs to. If not, then that kinda sucks that there aren't enough of these types of controllers on the market :/.

Still got a whole lot of thinking to do, especially cause my current list of possible controllers to get is quite diverse.

1.) Turntable + Traktor Scratch Duo + upgrade to Traktor Scratch 2 Pro
2.) SCS1D
3.) Midifighter Pro Super Knob (map the top knobs to dry/wet as well as a filter and bottom two as the actual superknobs. buttons for cuepoint juggling + superknob selection).
4.) DJ Tech Kontrol One.

Yeah... just need to do a decision-making worksheet to see what comes on top probably....