Technics SL1500C Turntable Preview

See the complete review for the Technics SL1500C Turntable.

After the release of the “new” SL1200 turntables that heralded Technics’ return to the Hi-Fi marketplace, the company introduced the SL1500C, a platter-spinner that could easily qualify as “everyman’s record player”.

At first blush, you might think that this is simply a stripped-down SL1200 for the masses. I mean other companies have been knocking out copycat versions of the SL1200 for years taking advantage of the look and the formula that Technics pioneered back in the 1970s. The SL1500C is a whole different story, however. It’s a solid and properly built Technics table with drive innovations that have trickled down from the new 1200s and the Reference Class SL1000R. It has the classic S-Shaped tonearm with the easily interchangeable headshell connection and clear access to all necessary adjustments. It has a built-in MM phono preamp that you can easily bypass if you wish, RCA output jacks so you can use the connection cables of your choice, a removable AC power cable, plus an included Ortofon MM phono cartridge. It also does away with the pitch control, strobe, and cueing lights of the SL1200 but gives you 78 RPM playback ability that the SL1200 never had (save for a Japan market Mk 4 model).

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See the complete review for the Technics SL1500C Turntable.

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Carlo Lo Raso

A native of Toronto Canada, Carlo's interest in audio began at a young age when, unbeknownst to his mother, he started taking apart her numerous transistor radios to see how they worked. This desire for “knowledge through deconstruction” continued through to the family’s 8-track tape player, turntable, headphones, and speakers. Carlo subsequently spent a lot of time in his room. Toronto was a fertile ground for Hi-Fi in the 1970s and 80s and Carlo spent much of his wayward youth hanging out in downtown Toronto stereo shops, listening to all manner of gear and picking the brains of the various store owners. Through that formative experience, Carlo developed an appreciation for good music and good sound reproduction. Also, as a budding graphic artist, the aesthetic aspects of a given piece of gear became increasingly of interest to his eyes. It was at about that time as well that Carlo began purchasing “Audio Magazine” on a regular basis and came to appreciate, in particular, the writing and reviewing of the late Leonard Feldman. Later on, he was also influenced by the writing and observations of the staff at Sound and Vision Canada, helmed at the time by Alan Loft. Carlo graduated from Sheridan College with a degree in Classical Animation and was subsequently employed by Walt Disney Consumer Products for 10 years as a Character Artist and Art Director. Having become disenchanted with Los Angeles, he then decided to strike out on his own. Carlo started his own company and has been freelancing artwork, from his home studio, primarily for the toy and publishing industries since 2001. In 2013, on a bit of a lark, Carlo answered a “Call for Writers” ad from an AV website that he had been regularly reading for about 5 years called Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity. He had come to appreciate the website’s combination of subjective impressions along with the objective bench-testing available in several of the reviews. The “B-Team” must have been working that day because by some miracle he was hired as a writer and his first review for the site was published early in 2014. Carlo has been continually writing, editing, traveling, listening, and learning on the company’s behalf ever since. Carlo currently lives in Granville, Ohio with his wife, two sons, and a very old, but chill dachshund.