Technics SP10 Mk2 Fidelity Research FR66 & Stax UA70

A few technical details are this SP10 Mk2 weighs in at 28 KGS. And is solid plywood has a rosewood stain and high gloss poly urethane finish. The tonearm at the rear is a Fidelity Research FR66 with a FR1 Mk3f pickup. On the right side is a Stax UA70 arm with a Ortofon MC20 pickup.

[@stephen579]

Sounds wonderful to me, I would have loved to hear more.

[@deadquietvinyl]

Hello! I would like to ask you if this UA-70 tonearm has indeed a small vertical movement. I am facing some issues in finding its balance because it seems like the limits in which this tonearm is moving vertically is in a very small angle. Could you please confirm you were able to set it up at 12mm overhang? I am curious about these two aspects. Thanks!

[@aaronchew6153]

Beautiful tone arms and good combination of cartridges....a dream to have.... thanks or sharing.

[@Badutspringer]

Wonderful work on the plynth...

[@paulpavlou9294]

Beautiful turntable and my preference was for the Stax/Ortofon combo, although I would have thought the Fidelity research cartridge might have been better. Nice job, nice turntable.

[@daman7129]

Love the instant start! Wish my sl1200s had that much torque. It sounds brilliant.

[@doronor6552]

Beautiful job on the plinth! I like the FR66 with FR1 combination better. Seems more full bodied but hard to judge from a KZbin video. BTW, the heavier the plinth, the better. My custom plinth for my JVC DD Motor is about 150 lbs and adding weight to the original 50 lbs plinth did improve the sound (Better Focus, darker background, improved dynamic contrast).

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

Judging from the fact you have placed the more expensive arms on the SP10 is it reasonable to infer that you consider this to be the better turntable compared to the Commonwealth 12D? Any opinions on the FR66 vs the less often seen Stax UA70?

[@mr586308]

Their both fantastic TTs. They just come from different periods. So I use the tonearms that are a good match for the same period when possible.

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

@@mr586308 I agree with this approach. Every well designed system of its era has its merits.

[@sdmackpictures]

I used these turntables when I worked at a radio station. I remember being able to place the stylus several inches and upon depressing the start button, the platter would be up to speed in an instant! Did they ever make one with speed control or can that be incorporated in any configuration?

[@LeftyPem]

I think the SP15 has speed adjustment and an LCD speed readout.

[@sdmackpictures]

@@LeftyPem Really? That would be worth having. Thanks.

[@Manu_Nayar]

I doubt and only this machine has it all.

[@strawwoodclaw]

Nice Turntable system, what music was that?

[@mr586308]

Saint Thomas by the LA4.

[@naradaian]

How old is the deck....am I right In thinking they were made in the mid to late 1960's?

[@augustomarchand]

St Thomas fits great in whatsoever tonearm.

[@Manu_Nayar]

Are you happy with sound quality ?

[@carmenandthedevil2804]

I thought the FR combo sounded distorted on peaks compare to the Ortofon Stax combo.

[@xrdakis]

This turntable has 4 speeds (78, 45, 33 and 16 rpm), or only 45 and 33 rpm?

[@mr586308]

No 16 Just 33, 45, 78.

[@jimovergaard1254]

Great table and fair arms. I would choose the SME II Improved, SME III but the very best is by far the 2 Technics EPA-100 and Series II. The friction of the Technics arm is almost nil being moved with only 1mg while these require significantly more that 20mg, the best Jelco ever did was 20mg. Technics, Trio, Denon, Nakamichi and others understood what the flywheel effect was and few in audio have a clue, far less than those in industrial power generators from Atomic steam or Damn units. Using the Fritz Geiger stylus of the Garrot Bros. is far better than the ortolan which has had a hard time trying to delete the OM40 original FG which tracking is 100 at 315hz, while the Stanton 881 and 981, Shure V15 type V MR and xMR are the only ones to track the Telarc test disk. Direct to disk Doug Sax reference system was the Technics SP-10 mk II, EPA-100 and the Stanton 981 which can track at 100 for much more of the frequency spectrum and 35db separation and 15-50Khz +/- .5 for the signature. The Shure V15 Type V xMR is the lightest weight armature in history and can track at 100 at 1 gram for much of the frequency spectrum. One has to track before tracing is even discussed. Most low compliance over weight 2.5 g trackers have styli that are one of 4 types, the MicroRidge of Shure, Fritz Geiger, Stereohedron or Shibata. Any other name is a copy of one of these.

[@zimga]

Very nice turntable! Which tonearm sounds better if played with same cartridge?

[@mr586308]

Definitely the FR 66

[@Frederico222]

Great video. Well done!

[@8bit1992]

Which turntable is better in your opinion- commonwealth 12d or sp10 mk2?

[@mr586308]

Difficult to say I enjoy them both. I love the Commonwealth just a little bit better.

[@8bit1992]

@@mr586308 thanks for your answer I'm currently owner of commonwealth in brilliant condition, a few years ago i have bought sp-10mk2a and discovered that it was broken☹️. Now i'm thinking about buying another one

[@billdang3953]

Nice to see that others are also not brainwashed by the Linn Sondek propaganda.

[@bentukow8573]

Hello Peter I used to have this very LP in my student days, my friend inadvertently gave it to charity, been trying to replace it but can't remember what the LP is called. I can only recall that the Jazz flutist is a South American lady. Can you please try help recollect my memory. Tony

[@mr586308]

Hello Tony, The song is St. Thomas and this version is by The LA 4 and on flute is Bud Shank. I recommend all their albums on the Concord label, great jazz.

[@eastindiacompany691]

Beautiful. Dear I m intrested to purchase the turntable . If you have used turntable and reel to reel tape recorder ,please confirm about the same. I m from India. S.N.Malik Best regards

[@davidtaylor9593]

It's strange to be able to hear a difference given that I'm listening with a 50p speaker on my Kindle. Stax is the daddy tho. I have their headphones, and have sold their CD players, but would love to have heard their ELS speakers. I did not know they made tonearms. As I say - The Daddy

[@romywebster7728]

The Stax SR-007 is my favorite headphone of all time. Been using them for decades.

[@robfriedrich2822]

In my opinion two arms would make sense, when you have some real mono records (25 µm groove instead 18 µm) or when you want to play some later shellacs (65 µm) and some earlier (90 µm).

[@longislandcerealkiller6385]

like to hear a b&O sp_12 on that nice turntable

[@retroslmn5469]

whats your opinion about the stax?

[@2ChannelAudio]

Nice 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻

[@mookie2637]

Oooh, Stax made (make?) arms? Never knew that...

[@allanredford6070]

shows it works inside-(down - in Oz :). its hard to do a an interesting vid on TTs' - they go round and round, period. unless you stood on it and went round and round - the SP-10'sparty trick, but risky for you and TT, maybe! MP3 codec is limitationon SQ, on UT, of course.

[@jodysmith7934]

What is the weight for most record players don't have the weight so why does yours!!!!

[@mr586308]

The weight is to couple the vinyl to the platter so as to dampen resonance. Can be used on most TTs.

[@dippin1523]

nice

[@danutmarinescu6509]

Grozav.

[@bbf8411]

👍

[@АлександрКутергин-ж1я]

Хозяин такого замечательного аппарата дожил до седой бороды ,а выкладывает видео с тонармами у которых не работает микролифт,тонармы и руки трясутся,позор!

[@antimatterr5071]

П

[@maxfactor4209]

CD sounds better

[@Poppinwheeeeellllllieeeeez]

Thats a fairly aggressive VTA