Wednesday, November 10, 2010

End Of an Era: Panasonic Kills Off Technics Turntables

First they announced the walkman, now the turntable. I was surprised that they were still making walkmen, but this right here is truly the end of an era. I guess Fatbeats was the precursor to this.
If you’ve ever been a DJ, known a DJ, or listened to a DJ, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with 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 because of “a decline in demand for these analog products and also 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.

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