SOTA NOVA, HR-X VPI, Technics 1200G recommendations?

Thank you Ralph. In addition the cartridge is on a pivoted tonearm with it's own suspension and vibration characteristics. Noise in the room will affect the tonearm differently than it will the chassis creating a differential the cartridge could certainly pick up. With vibration passed through the bass such as foot fall the base is actually doing the moving and the chassis sits still in the same position in space. 
@chakster, if you have 100 people dancing on a bad floor the Technics will fail badly. DJs use them because they are cheap and they have a lot of torque. Not to mention that they put an oscillating magnetic device right under a very sensitive magnetic pick-up. No scientist in his right mind would ever do such a silly thing:-)  

Just stop repeating the "oscillating magnetic device" meme, please, and the rest of your thesis would be less indigestible.  You seem to think that the engineers who designed these devices were idiots unaware of EMI and the use of shielding materials.  First of all or maybe last of all, a motor is not "oscillating" in the formal sense of the word. 

I could say how can "they" use an compliant belt to drive a platter with an outboard motor and then mount the platter and tonearm on a sprung subassembly, whilst mounting the motor on a solid unsuspended support?  Isn't that a recipe for speed instability? But I won't say that.

@chakster, if you have 100 people dancing on a bad floor the Technics will fail badly. DJs use them because they are cheap and they have a lot of torque. Not to mention that they put an oscillating magnetic device right under a very sensitive magnetic pick-up. No scientist in his right mind would ever do such a silly thing:-)

@mijostyn I’m been playing vintage records for over 25 years and got paid for this job, traveled all over Europe and the whole Russia, worked on radiostations and hosted my own radioshow, invited artists from Japan, Europe and USA to spin rare Soul records in my town. I also produced records pressed in Detroit on the same pressing plant where Motown pressed their Soul in the 60s. I’ve been using Technics all my life and still have a pair of upgraded SL1210mk2 (they are not in my main system). I was surrounded by dancing people all my life and they danced to the 70’s Soul 45s played with Grado DJ200i MI cartridges on Technics turntables, when we hosted our own Soul parties I brought my external Grado phono stages and edjusted EQs of the main system by myself or with a help of professionals. Even in the early 90s when SL1210mk2 retail in Panasonic stores in Russia was $450 it wasn’t cheap at all. Now a brand new mk7 cost 3 times as much locally and it’s not cheap for ‘normal people’. Isonoe footers designed to solve bass feedback on old SL1200, but Technics redesigned their stock feet on new mk7, GR, G. Needles does not skip at 2g tracking force even if 100 people dancing in front of the deejay in the bar on wooden floor. Same with cheaper Pioneer PLX-1000 turntable for example (I tried when i was in Paris).

Before super powerful and stable Technics SL1200mk2 became a Disco standard worldwide, Garrard and Thorens were DJ turntables! In Studio 54 in NYC you can see Thorens, and Garrard were everywhere in UK. Technics put them into dust forever.

A lonely audiophile sitting alone in front of his system in the dark corner of his room and still thinking about vibration from outer space or what??? I don’t know why people think those butchers wooden block is necessary under their turntables, properly designed turntable is already very well isolated for home listening (they are heavy) if you are not place them right on subwoofer.

My Luxman PD-444 in the main system is quite heavy, suspended, sitting on superheavy metal rack on spikes. No feedback or vibrations that I can detect.

@chakster,  Michael Fremer liked some carbon fiber mat on Technics 1200G. Do you think CU-180 is better? How do you handle warped records? Periphery ring?

I don't have warped records in my collection, I use weight or clamp on top. 

Mr. Fremer do not review vintage analog gear, you can read his opinion only about new gear available today from dealers, shops etc. 

Micro CU-180 designed in the 70s, you can read about it from audio enthusiasts on various forums, but not from professional reviewers like Mr. Fremer. 

I have all 3 mats that I like:

1. SAEC SS-300 -very nice aluminum lighweight mat 
2. MICRO CU-180 -very expensive superheavy vintage copper mat

3. The Mat from Sakura Systems - this is brand new graphite mat for $250 


Do not overestimate the importance of turntable mat, mat will never change the sound as much as a cartridge for example. 

@chungjh, 
While I agree w/ @chakster that mats won't affect sound as much as a cartridge, IMHE, they have a fairly significant impact on Technics tables and are worthwhile.

When I owned my SP10mk2, @dgarretson came over with his superheavy CU-180 mat, a heavy steel mat and we tried both together. I also tried Funk Achromat, Boston carbon mat, and a couple of others not worth remembering. Every one sounded different. Generally, higher mass was best, up until the point where too much started to strain the motor(two heavy metal mats together). When I pondered the ~$800 cost and limited availability of the CU-180 mat, I couldn't justify the expense. Better to go lower cost and invest more in cartridge, etc. That led to...

I turned to Tran Van Tan, a Vietnamese analog machinist, whose TVT Analog Shop makes custom parts for mostly vintage tables. His 2 layer copper/stainless mat was made to meet my requirements for mass & height and was beautifully made for $250. For me a good balance in sound improvement and value. Can't recommend him enough.  He has many photos on his site that will instantly make an impression http://tvtanalogshop.com/   
@chakster with all your vintage stuff, he may be a good resource in the future for you.

Back to your warps question, the Technics platter shape is not friendly to most ring clamps. I gave up on that with mine. Now that my Sota has vacuum and the Sota Reflex clamp, warps are conquered without a second thought. Cheers,

Spencer