Technics - What happened to them?

Technics - What happened to them?

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Discussion

heisthegaffer

Original Poster:

3,607 posts

204 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
quotequote all
As above, I am curious, what happened to them? Used to love their gear and still have a CD player in the garage, 10 years plus and still works, even aftr dropping from 5 foot onto a concrete floor!

JumboBeef

3,772 posts

183 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
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Originally created by Panasonic to show off their high-end offerings, by the early 1980s Technics ended up offering an entire range of equipment from entry-level to high-end.

Matsush'ta retired the Technics name almost completely in the early 2000s. Currently, it's used on the 1200 series turntables, and digital pianos, thus limiting their dealerships to music/pro audio stores.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technics_%28brand%29

Edited by JumboBeef on Saturday 14th August 14:42

deevlash

10,442 posts

243 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
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I love my technics stereo, 11 years old and still faultless.

heisthegaffer

Original Poster:

3,607 posts

204 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
quotequote all
Thanks guys, i was feeling a bit misty eyed as I ecall reading all about their amps in the mid/late 90's and how lovely they were:-

http://www.vintagetechnics.info/integrated/sua600....

Bit sad I know but I love that sort of stuff. In fact a mate thinks he still has a Kenwood KA-3020SE somewhere for me.

andy_s

19,519 posts

265 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
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I always liked the look of this one - VDU-a-go-go...

Technics SE-A1000


heisthegaffer

Original Poster:

3,607 posts

204 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
quotequote all
andy_s said:
I always liked the look of this one - VDU-a-go-go...

Technics SE-A1000

MMMMMM lovely. Very stylish, IIRC it has a battery pack for a purer sound.

andy_s

19,519 posts

265 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
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That's right - there were two versions, one without and one with I think.

Racefan_uk

2,935 posts

262 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
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My Technics system is still sitting across the room from me and works just as well as it did when I first bought it back in 1995! hehe

It was the first thing I ever purchased after starting my first job out of Uni.

Zod

35,295 posts

264 months

Sunday 15th August 2010
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it was never more than a Panasonic brand.

roorky

41 posts

171 months

Sunday 15th August 2010
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Zod said:
it was never more than a Panasonic brand.
As has been said it was high end Panasonic equipment, but it wasn't high end audio equipment by a long shot.

deevlash

10,442 posts

243 months

Sunday 15th August 2010
quotequote all
roorky said:
Zod said:
it was never more than a Panasonic brand.
As has been said it was high end Panasonic equipment, but it wasn't high end audio equipment by a long shot.
1210's were and still are

Plotloss

67,280 posts

276 months

Sunday 15th August 2010
quotequote all
deevlash said:
roorky said:
Zod said:
it was never more than a Panasonic brand.
As has been said it was high end Panasonic equipment, but it wasn't high end audio equipment by a long shot.
1210's were and still are
1200s/1210s were well built solid decks that could take a kicking, they were never and never will be high end record decks.

They hit above their weight for sure but it was their build that was their biggest selling point.

Kindersley

329 posts

171 months

Sunday 15th August 2010
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deevlash said:
roorky said:
Zod said:
it was never more than a Panasonic brand.
As has been said it was high end Panasonic equipment, but it wasn't high end audio equipment by a long shot.
1210's were and still are
so wrong !!!!

jackal

11,249 posts

288 months

Sunday 15th August 2010
quotequote all
Kindersley said:
deevlash said:
roorky said:
Zod said:
it was never more than a Panasonic brand.
As has been said it was high end Panasonic equipment, but it wasn't high end audio equipment by a long shot.
1210's were and still are
so wrong !!!!
He's right.

With the right set up they are detailed all right with decent timing. Same with the SP10.

But they are mechanical sounding and crap at 'playing music'.

If you want to enjoy tunes and be involved then look elsewhere.

TonyRPH

13,120 posts

174 months

Monday 16th August 2010
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deevlash said:
1210's were and still are
The 1200 series was actually just a midrange model in the original Technics turntable range IIRC.

The 1200 series only acquired it's 'legendary' status by virtue of the fact that it was a durable piece of kit, that could stand up to the rigours of DJ use (and it had the slider for pitch control).

It's is by no means an 'audiophile' turntable, and for sound quality will easily be beaten by one of the lower range of Project turntables, at about 1/3 the price.

As it happens, IIRC there were several models above the 1200/1210

SL1000, SL1600, etc.

These were all much of a muchness - the only real differences being the electronics that controlled the speed, as the higher up the range you went, the more accurate the speed became, resulting in less wow & flutter.

The bearings were also slightly better, but only in the very top models.


TonyRPH

13,120 posts

174 months

Monday 16th August 2010
quotequote all
heisthegaffer said:
andy_s said:
I always liked the look of this one - VDU-a-go-go...

Technics SE-A1000

MMMMMM lovely. Very stylish, IIRC it has a battery pack for a purer sound.
The SU-C1000 preamp had a battery pack - not the power amp.

The other (similar looking) preamps had something called AVBO (Advanced Virtual Battery Operation).

This was a gimmick, using a simple decoupling circuit with capacitors and transistors. (there is a technical name for this but it escapes me right now).

As it happens, the almost identical circuitry was used in the integrated amps, as was used in the SE-A909 and the SU-A800 pre - power combinations.

It was all just marketing.

These power amps simply do not compare to the likes of (from the same vintage) NAD / Rotel etc.

Even Rotel cheated with their preamps, most of which shared the identical (preamp) circuit to the integrated amp - just without the power amp stages..





rhinochopig

17,932 posts

204 months

Monday 16th August 2010
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Did anyone have one of their monster equalisers and/or spectrum analysers?

When flashing lights were still cool, I used to drool over a Technics system in the window of my local Hi-Fi shop. It had something like 32 or 64 channels and an octave of equalisation. Totally silly and over the top - but all those pretty lights hehe

TonyRPH

13,120 posts

174 months

Monday 16th August 2010
quotequote all
rhinochopig said:
Did anyone have one of their monster equalisers and/or spectrum analysers?

When flashing lights were still cool, I used to drool over a Technics system in the window of my local Hi-Fi shop. It had something like 32 or 64 channels and an octave of equalisation. Totally silly and over the top - but all those pretty lights hehe
You mean one of these?


jackal

11,249 posts

288 months

Monday 16th August 2010
quotequote all
TonyRPH said:
rhinochopig said:
Did anyone have one of their monster equalisers and/or spectrum analysers?

When flashing lights were still cool, I used to drool over a Technics system in the window of my local Hi-Fi shop. It had something like 32 or 64 channels and an octave of equalisation. Totally silly and over the top - but all those pretty lights hehe
You mean one of these?

there was an equaliser with about a million sliders all the way across it IIRC

looked impressive at the time

jackal

11,249 posts

288 months

Monday 16th August 2010
quotequote all
lol, thats the fella: