Leave it to legendary turntable-manufacturing monster Technics (nee Panasonic) to put a Godzilla-like foot into the high-end analog ring. With the announcement at CES in Vegas Monday of the SL-1000R – boasting a rumoured $20,000 USD price tag, along with the SP-10R announced in September which is expected to come in around $10,000 USD – the Japanese record player company (among many other things high fidelity) is firmly saying “we’re back.”
These two decks should set hardcore turntablists hearts pounding, and their minds scheming at financing options to get their hands on either of these two precision ‘tables. As reported previously, the SP-10R builds on the success of it’s much older forebear, the SP-10 with reported astonishingly low specs for wow and flutter thanks to a separate power supply (in its own chassis), a direct-drive coreless motor with a high-mass platter, and like many other high-end turntable manufacturer’s: no tonearm supplied.
From what I understand via the Internet (I’m not at CES kids) the SL-1000R adds upon the SP-10R with a base, and tonearm (hence the price doubling), and from Panasonic promotional images looks to be available with an additional metal base that supports up to three separate tonearms.
–Rafe Arnott
