Price Paid:  $450.00 from Guitar Center

Summary:
Well I admit I'm "only" a deejay, but there are some important things to be said about the Technics mark 3. Primarily it's a worthwhile upgrade over the mark 2 and superior to most if not all the other deejay decks.

Strengths:
* Vastly superior torque compared to the more popular mark 2's. I hate ending up at a friend's house who only has mark 2's, it's practically a toy.

* The S-shaped tonearm is frequently sacrificed by cheaper competitors at the excuse of "straight tonearms hold the groove better" but I think the reason for the S-shape is that it cuts a more perpendicular angle between cartridge and spindle.

* Tonearm assembly is much more adjustable than any other deejay decks.

* Sound quality is superior to other deejay decks. Why, I dunno, but I definitely noticed a huge difference over Stanton's best deck, and the Stantons were $300 each.

* Rugged as hell, you know this.

Weaknesses:
* Fact is, you can't play ANY record at consistent tempo on this deck. I did a whole set of recordings against a digital tracker and I was forced to adjust every record in a predictable way. Question, is this Technics problem or a problem with all turntables? The Technics platter spins perfectly, so it must be something else. It's definitely a REAL inconvenience if you go up against a tracker, and will teach you more discipline than you possibly need.

* -/+8 pitch limit and no 78rpm is hella rude. This reduces the Technics to more art than science, a musical instrument with charming quirks rather than playback device. No tempo overlap between 33 and 45, such a downer.

* RCA leads coming out the back is a bit funny. RCA cables have no copper in them. But if this is universal practice then oh well. I don't know if it is or isn't.

* Would like to see a deck that has really extreme torque, even more than the mark 3.

Anyway, I do love these decks. Even if it's a musical instrument, this only makes it more human.

Similar Products Used:
Stantons (lower torque, straight tonearm, and poorer sound quality), Vestax PDX-2000 (auditioned in the store, an altogether different approach with a few plusses and minuses over the Technics)

With the techics and vestax decks being so different, I wonder if you need both - technics to fit in, and vestax for experimental work.

Price Paid:  $460.00 from Midwest Stereo

Summary:
You can't go wrong with Techniques!