Audio companies can throw all the advertising campaigns in the world at music fans, but the true die-hards among them will never budge from a truth buried deep within their sonic hearts: Nothing trumps a good vinyl record spinning on a finely-tuned turntable.
It was a sad day when Panasonic closed the Technics brand in 2010, at the too-young age of 45 (the last turntable model they released still goes for quite a bit on eBay), but it was an arm of the company that refused to stay asleep.
When the conglomerate announced the rebirth of the music aficionado’s choice brand, just shy of a year ago, the excitement of Technics’ return was, from fans, hampered by a cautious attitude. While Technics announced new products to accompany a vague high-resolution audio format—the same format is rumored to be behind Sony’s release of a $1,200 Walkman—there was no mention of what they really wanted to hear.
The die-hards and DJs were only interested in one product to return: The industry standard-setting Technics turntable.
Their wishes have now become a reality: Panasonic announced yesterday, at their annual IFA festival in Berlin, that a new line of Technics turntables are on the way.
The reaction on Twitter was, to understate it a bit, quite positive:
I couldn’t be happier to hear this :) Welcome back my favorite decks I’ve used since the beginning! http://t.co/Bk30bXmlC4
— Genki (@DjGenki) September 2, 2015
Panasonic to relaunch Technics turntable. It is beautiful. http://t.co/Ypp4udSPsa
— alunthorne (@alunthorne) September 3, 2015
*This is why I hung on to my vinyl ;)* Panasonic Technics prototype turntable at IFA 2015 http://t.co/HAdMC5DMei
— Jason Bradbury (@JasonBradbury) September 3, 2015
Panasonic has remained vague on the specifics, but is very reassuring of the fact that the new Technics line of turntables will use the latest in direct-drive motor technology to bring the best analogue sound possible to an industry steeped in binary.
The company gave the The Wall Street Journal a release timeframe of some time between April 2016 and March 2017, and while that seems like a long wait, it also means they’re putting a lot of work into this lineup.
Vinyl fans: Rejoice.
