In article , Mikkel Breiler
wrote:


I am continually impressed and sad by the fact that mags like HFN have
many ads for second hand equipment and rarely any Technics is offered.
Given some of it is highly sought after I have resorted to thinking that
they never did penetrate into England by much, mostly because it was not
kosher to buy japanese if you were in England and need a stereo
component.

They penetrated UK well enough for me to buy one (which I still have and
use). However back in circa the 1980s the UK mags generally droned on about
the 'magic' of belt drive and Linn in particular. Anyone who didn't prefer
them to Japanese DD was regarded as being cloth-eared or an idiot.

FWIW having used a Linn system for show demos and tests I had no real wish
to personally own/use one at home, and preferred a Technics DD turntable.
It still works nicely.

Also IIRC Linn, etc, tended to have both a higher markup and a higher
price. So some dealers - who then could legally have controlled-area
dealerships with effective price-control - could treat them as a license to
print money *if* they obtained a dealership. Given the way magazines talked
about them such items virtually sold themselves in the shop. I wonder if
most buyers even tried listening to the DD alternatives at all.Have my
doubts about how many dealers back then would have suggested they do so.
:-)

That said, since I used to work designing equipment for a UK maker I am
certainly sympathetic to the idea of encouraging UK citizens to consider
buying UK equipment, etc. :-) But only if there isn't some other factor
that overloads that. Like performance for price. ;-

Slainte,

Jim

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