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Diatone LT-1 All but remembered, the real LT turntables were built very much in high-end fashion and looked quite classy and luxurious. The only visible Diatone is the LT-5V verttical cutie and, in Japan, the 1970s ground-breaking DP-EC1 and DP-EC2. The 17,5cm tonearm is moved by a steel string and rests on three rollers ; geometry and dimensions were calculated with computer simulation to keep tracking error & distortion to a minimum - here 0,05°. The tonearm wand is made of a titanium alloy, damped internally by rubber ; the supplied headshell is cast from a magnesium alloy ; OFC copper wiring inside. The platter is split in two (stainless steel + diecast aluminium) ; the base is also made of diecast aluminium, circled by 4cm thick laminated wood. Delivered with each LT-1 (but never shown in the ads) was a 700g record stabilizer. Drive is high-torque 12-pole DC Servo with Quartz PLL locking (but uni-directional I believe - more details at a later date !). However - Sony (in 1981) Technics (1980) and Yamaha (1979) made most of the sales for these ultimate (and excellent) LP record players which CD would gradually eradicate. The LT-1 is like Pioneer's PL-L1 : unseen and almost invisible, despite a realistic pricing of 200,000¥ in 1980. The LT-1, LT-2 and smaller LT-3 were (somewhat) distributed outside Japan under the Mitsubishi LT-10, LT-20 and LT-30 monikers : |
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