It also has a non-magnetic plate with an illuminated strobe and a distortion-free tonearm. Direct Drive (it does not require a drive belt), is equipped with an electronically controlled direct drive engine system. A great, fully automatic Technics SL-QD33 turntable.
Technics Turntable Sl Qd33 Series Of Components
One of Technics’ last consumer turntables, offered as part of their 360 series of components, the J300R was a turntable that offered the vinyl lover a simple, close-and-play turntable with many of the convenience features found in CD players, such as automatic track detection, track programming and repeat. The component in question is a Technics SL-J300R fully automatic linear tracking turntable system. Here’s the first in the Retro Review series.
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Next to the tonearm itself is an optical sensor, which is used to scan the record to determine the record size, the number of tracks and the location of those tracks. The entire mechanism is driven by a small DC motor, which drives a gear assembly back and forth to move the arm to where it needs to be.The use of a linear tracking mechanism is essential for this turntable to operate. It’s pulled by a guide rope, much like that found on the dial of an analogue tuner. The mechanism itself is fixed to the lid – meaning the turntable can only run with the lid closed – and can be seen in the picture below.Technics SL-J300R Linear Tracking MechanismAs you can see, the arm slides along a rail (held in place with rubber supports to minimise resonance).
If you select a track in this way, the player enters program mode – meaning that once the track in question has finished, assuming no other track has been selected, the arm will return and playback will stop. Pressing one of the illuminated track numbers followed by start causes the player to seek too and begin playing that track. If a 12” record is detected, the arm will traverse across the record, searching out the tracks and illuminating the track LEDs on the front of the turntable.Pressing start causes the turntable to begin playback.
There are some user-accessible adjustments to adjust the position at which the stylus drops – so you get some control over the track detection system. For those records, you’ll have to put the table in manual mode – at which point you can use the search controls on the front panel to move the arm to the correct spot.Track detection doesn’t always work as planned – for it to work properly, the vinyl must be clean, flat, and undamaged. Firstly, it doesn’t work particularly well with coloured vinyl – and it won’t work at all with transparent or white vinyl. Pressing start will cause the arm to traverse the record, at which point it will locate the 7” record and drop the stylus in the right place to begin playback.This system does have its disadvantages.
This general maintenance should be carried out on all of these turntables, many of which are approaching 30 years old. The tonearm mechanism has been relubricated, the tonearm belt replaced, and the main bearing oil replaced. Before we get onto that, it’s important to note that this particular example has been serviced and restored to full working condition.
Status Quo’s ‘Don’t Drive My Car’ offered up a beautifully rendered 3-dimensional sound stage, and a rhythmic, powerful, well-defined bass line. This rock steady speed allows instruments to really shine – emotional wavering guitar notes sound simply stunning.I installed an Ortofon OMP-20 cartridge and got straight to some listening tests. Here, surface noise is incredibly low – better, in fact, than many modern belt drive turntables.The speed is also very accurate – with no discernible wow and flutter, even during sustained piano notes. Many audiophiles claim that direct-drive turntables suffer from excessive rumble and surface noise – but in truth, that’s mainly due to lack of maintenance.
The performance is smooth with no hint of distortion, and the rasp of the violins is beautifully portrayed.For its time, this turntable is hard to fault. The various layers of the track hang in the sound stage, painting quite the sonic picture in the process.And it’s the same story with the Beatles ‘She’s Leaving Home’ from the 2009 pressing of SGT Pepper. There’s clear instrument separation, particularly between the instruments and vocals. Freddie Mercury’s ‘In My Defence’ is possibly one of my favourite rock ballads, and it’s delivered with power and precision here. It’s a turntable that gets you up and out of your seat – a turntable that bring the life and soul to the party.And it’s just as happy with emotional ballads as it is rocking out.
I’ve uploaded it to our library for use by anyone wishing to repair their own unit. Be sure to post in the comments below your thoughts on this machine – perhaps you own or have owned one (or a similar model) in the past?Huge thanks to Alberto, who kindly shared the service manual for the J300R below. And with a little TLC, you can have one running, and sounding, like new.That’s all for this Retro review – hopefully this has been of interest. Technics offered many similar turntables, dating back to the beginning of the 80s – so there are plenty to choose from. If you want a simple and convenient turntable, it’s a great option, and readily available on the second-hand market. It’s certainly unique – nothing like this is manufactured today – and, I can’t help thinking that with the resurgence of vinyl, it would be a hit.So, should you run out and buy one? Well, sure.
That said some carts, such as the Ortofon, track best at around 1.5 grams and the adjustment on these technics tables usually allows for an adjustment of +/-0.25 grams. The cart and stylus should also be of the correct weight (6 grams) to meet the spec. The P mount specification requires that all carts track at 1.25 grams, but sadly not all cart makers followed that spec. The tracking adjustment I refer too will raise the tracking for of the cart slightly. At the end of the day with a lower end table and a lower end cart there will probably always be some distortion, though it shouldn’t be excessive. I do think the older tables are the better tables, but you pay the price for them and the J300R is a good table.
The SL-7, SL-10, SL-15, SL-DL1 and SL-QL1 all share a similar mechanism which is IMO the superior mechanism. Definitely worth a read before you start.Be aware that the SL-5 and SL-6 are vastly different to the SL-7. See the service manual that Alberto kindly posted above, it contains all the info you need to find the tracking adjustments and to disassemble and reassemble the table.
The SL-J series all share the mechanism of your J300R and are probably the technically inferior turntables, though they do sound very good when they’re working properly.I certainly agree with you, there was some very good hi-fi being produced back then. The SL-5, SL-6, and most of the other turntables aside from the SL-J series use a later mechanism which is also very good, albeit with a plastic tonearm.
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