Here ya go it's all summed up:
Technics, like most other Japanese equipment manufacturers, builds equipment destined for the four corners of the globe. Units headed for North America are 110 volt, those going to Europe and elsewhere are 220. During the 70s and 80s, at least until the uniform black plastic look took over consumer electronics entirely, those Technics units destined for the U.S. and Canadian market (with the exception of the "Pro Series") were silver in color, whereas the rest of the world was treated to a dark chocolate brown—almost black. At least initially, Panasonic assigned different model numbers to these color variations, usually adding a "10" to the numeric designation to indicate the chocolate brown or black color, i.e. the SL-1300 (silver) sold in the U.S. had the designation SL-1310 (brown/black) in foreign markets. At some point, however, things started getting very confusing. For example, the SL-1350 (brown/black) sold in the U.S. also had a silver counterpart unavailable in the states, and it was called the SL-1360. To further complicate things, this "+10" designation didn't apply to all equipment. Occasionally a "K" was added to indicate the black color, and apparently that grew into a veritable alphabet-soup of designations tacked onto the main model number to indicate where in the world the unit was destined.
Generally speaking, the silver and brown/black units are identical electronically. The only real difference between the two is whatever is required by the different voltages the respective equipment was designed to be powered from, or in the case of receivers and tuners, the different range of radio frequencies they're designed to receive. It annoys me no end to see the SL-1210Mk2 advertised on eBay by totally clueless sellers who claim enthusiastically that it's "better" than the SL-1200Mk2. This is simply not true. The units are identical. The part numbers listed in the service manual are exactly the same, with the sole exception being those parts which are black instead of silver.
Another interesting variation between "domestic" and "foreign" units is the Technics logo itself. At least through 1980, depending on where the unit was destined for sale, you'll see either "Technics by Panasonic" (U.S./Canada), "Technics" or "National" (foreign). It seems in 1980 the different variations were dropped in favor of the simple, now-classic "Technics" logo that's used worldwide.
mainly on the grounds that they look better :0 Havn't really played on any 1210's long enough to notice the difference.
