End Of an Era: Panasonic Kills Off Technics Turntables [Discontinued]

When you’ve ever been a DJ, known a DJ, or listened to a DJ, there’s a great opportunity you’re aware of Technics. Panasonic’s analog turntables are legend among scratchers and spinners. And now they’re gone.

Panny made the announcement that they’d cease Technic sproduction as a result of ” a decline trendy for these analog products and likewise the growing difficulty of procuring key analog components necessary to sustain production.” In a word: obsolescence.

3.5 million SL-1200 turntables sold since 1972. Countless audio mixers and stereo headphones that also bear the Technics name. But with sales of analog decks being just 5% of what they were 10 years ago, Panasonic’s finally pulled the plug on a classic.

What made Technics so good? A reliable Direct Drive turning mechanism. A heavy, rock-solid 27 pound base. And three decades of tradition.

It’s not that Technics are the sole analog turntables on earth. It that they were the analog turntables. And now, like every other technology that gets eclipsed, they’re antiques, collectibles, curios for fanatics. Lets hope anyone who’s got one keeps it well preserved. [ Tokyo Reporter ]

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This post is tagged: analog components, analog decks, analog products, antiques collectibles, audio mixers, stereo headphones, three decades