Brand new Technics SL-1210GR platter wobble ... disappointed!


Got a brand new Technics SL-1210 GR. Tonearm bearing feels good, no other issues, but it has a wobbly platter. Not as bad as I have seen in Hanpins, but should a $1700 table made in Japan have this amount of wobble? My Project belt driven TT has no wobble that I can see with naked eye.


I have uploaded 3 videos on YT. Can you guys take a look and tell me if this is acceptable for a $1700 TT w/ no cart?

Debating whether I should accept this or return it. I do not want to send a brand new TT for service. FYI, I did reseat the platter at various angles to see if the wobble went away, but no such luck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du8rBwvrhVM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQsdpmKrXhc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm7ghWgcqFo


P.S. Apologies for a bit of camera shake, but I think it is clear to see the platter move up/down


128x128dandaroy
To be honest with the op, I do not see that much of a wobble in any of those videos. I’ve seen a lot worse! It seemingly is mostly/hardly noticeable on the bottom portion of that platter. When looking at the top, I do not notice much if any wobble. The top is what id be concerned about. I am tempted to say that it is within tolerance and I doubt there would be too much improvement in a replacement. I've been through this with another brand....went through 3 of them and all three had similar issue, to a lesser degree. 
@tyray, Technics 1980 is a different company than Technics 2021. Technics 1980 would never have considered moving to Malaysia. They obviously do not care about their Japanese employees. 
@lewm , now with just a small group we have three examples. 
Yes, I am a Sota fan. I just bought one of their top units. But, when I mention what I believe are the best turntables I am careful to include others that I believe perform at the same or higher level, SME, Basis, Avid, Dohmann, Oracle and so forth. If I discount the Technics for anything it is not having a suspension and being adequately isolated. Next would be that fact that it is direct drive which from my experience years ago runs against my grain. They were so bad back then that I have not bothered to look at them since. Maybe they are better now. But, I would never buy a turntable without an adequate suspension. I do not know of a direct drive with an adequate suspension. As far as QC is concerned I think that depends more on the philosophy of the company than on their size. QC is expensive and you would think a large company could afford more of it. On the other hand large companies have investors who only care about profits. Privately owned small companies are usually more concerned about their reputation. I have never seen a bad comment about Sota.
Somebody mentioned the Technics platter being machined from billet aluminum. While that may be true of the SP 10 the others are machined from inferior castings. With a heavy casting that can be fine but with thinner ones you can run into trouble like this. 
Quite correct Audioguy.

DD turntables are forever cogging, trying without success to turn the platter at exactly 33.333333333333333333 rpm.

There is continuous wow and flutter

If the speed is checked 100 times a second (or whatever silly frequency), the platter revolves at constant speed only for 1/100th of a second and then changes speed.  This iterates 100 times a second.

Another example of where digital can't compete with analogue.
@audioguy85 there is wobble of the top surface. I could not capture it with the phone. Whether it is going to be audible is another matter of debate.
This might be the first time I've seen a problem like this with a Technics turntable ever. And since they sell a kajillion of these... probably more than all the other brands combined and then tripled, maybe this is not so bad as some would make it out to be. 

I would try placing the platter upside down on a sheet of glass and pushing down at various points on the perimeter. If you get a buzz or increased buzz at s point or two, then the platter is warped. If not, then it could be the spindle or user installation issue.

I have a 1200G. The brass platter is mounted by 3 brass screws. It took me 3 times to get the screws to seat perfectly into their counter sinks.
Would they have seated on their own if I just continued to tighten? Probably...but I didn't want to take a chance so I restarted 3 times until I got it right.

The point is. The turntable may be completely defective...but sometimes it's just easy to get something wrong 3 times. Try to find out what's going on. Yes, it should never be this difficult. But sometimes I've found that I've done some strange things to get things consistently wrong.
But then again I'm a special case.