Did you ever wonder about the surge of SL-1200 looking Turntables flooding the market?

[Unknown Poster]

Turns out they are all manfuactured by a company out in Taiwan called Hanpin.
Hanpin, build *my* turntable!

Hanpin's website.
Hanpin Electron

Story.
Since Technics discontinueed production on their 1200 turntables, the market for a DD (direct drive) TT for DJs was wide open. Pioneer contracted Hanpin to build their turntables for them since they had already cornered the market on CDJs and have become industry standard, next to their mixers.

The Pioneer PLX-500 (yes, they are Hanpins)

audio technica Lp 120s (hanpin as well)

Roland 909 TT (more than likely Hanpin OEMs as well)

 

[Unknown Poster]

And since the new Technics 1200s are so expensive, these guys were able to flourish and have every other Japanese manufacturer go through them to produce their budget 1200s,

Performance wise, they are not the same, especially if you handled Technics 1200s or 1210s.
THe issue some have with Hanpin TTs is that you may buy one with no defects or problems, you may buy one with several defects of problems.
Some may not like Hanpins cause they aren't Technics, some may not like Hanpins because they are Chinese and not Japanese.
Regardless, there aren't that many performance issues from what I've observed.

 

[greenvale]

I had always thought it was because the patent expired cuz you got other companies making similar designs too now (numark, stanton). either way if it isn't one of the original models i'm not playing on it

 

[Unknown Poster]

I had always thought it was because the patent expired cuz you got other companies making similar designs too now (numark, stanton). either way if it isn't one of the original models i'm not playing on it

I thought about investing in a pair of either the Reloop 3000s or 4000s or a pair of the Audio Tecnica PT 120s, but after reading into this Hanpin OEM thing, I might just settle for a pair of used Techs off of Ebay;.

 

[greenvale]

I thought about investing in a pair of either the Reloop 3000s or 4000s or a pair of the Audio Tecnica PT 120s, but after reading into this Hanpin OEM thing, I might just settle for a pair of used Techs off of Ebay;.

Most people treat their techs VERY well so you should have no issue buying em used. I've been using a pair of Numark TTXs since I first started DJing 7 years ago, but I may swap to techs because they're lighter and nothing quite feels like them.

 

[WheatThins]

its nothin like a pair of technics tho. i love mine and got them used for $500 each, although i had to repair the rca's and power switches myself

but when you feel the click on the pitch control