Technics SL-J2 (c. 1984–1985)
Not much is documented about the Technics SL-J2 beyond its period press coverage, but that coverage is fairly substantial. The SL-J2 was a fully automatic, direct-drive turntable with a servo-driven linear-tracking tonearm that took plug-in P-mount cartridges. HiFi/Stereo Review (April 1985, p.28) called it inexpensive yet sophisticated. It sold for $200.
Automation was the big feature. The turntable picked playing speed and tonearm indexing position on its own, returned the arm and shut itself off. It also had a skip-search mode. An optical sensor on the tonearm counted the blank spaces between bands, so the arm could jump up to nine tracks in either direction. The same review found skip-search worked as claimed on records with visible gaps between bands, though the brief intervals between portions of some discs could confuse it. Measured rumble was average for a direct-drive deck: -32 dB unweighted, -55 dB with ARLL weighting, and -61 dB with DIN-B weighting (HiFi/Stereo Review, April 1985, p.31).
Technics' own advertising ran in Audio (September 1984, p.95) and High Fidelity (November 1984, p.7). It pushed the combination of linear tracking and quartz drive, plus automatic speed and disc-size selection, front-panel controls, and a digital display of the track number in use. The SL-J2 was compact - about 12½ inches square, 3½ inches high, and 9½ pounds.
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