Technics’ Silver Dream Machine
In August, Technics announced their SP-10R high-end turntable to a drooling public. Technics describe the SP-10R as their “most premium analog, direct-drive turntable to date”
Parent company Panasonic made the announcement after what has been an interesting couple of years for fans of Technics turntables. The original Technics 1200 turntable was manufactured between 1972 - 2010 and in that time became the unrivalled industry standard for DJs and nightclubs. 1200’s had direct drive rather than a belt drive motor, and high torque which made them ideal to withstand the abuse that DJs needed to put them through. The 1200 also had reliable pitch control and was built like tanks. They were extremely popular with DJs and until the advent of digital music, there really wasn’t any alternative.
Technics restarted manufacture in 2016, but controversially - for DJs at least - made a move away from the DJ market. The initial run of the Technics SL-1200GAE and SL-1200G turntables came with an initial quoted $4000 price tag and were clearly aimed at the audiophile market rather than nightclubs. A standard SL 1200G later appeared with a lower price, but a creative director at Technics, Hiro Morishia was quoted in The New York Times saying “Our concept is analog records for hi-fi listening,D.J.s are fine, too, but as a marketing target it’s problematic. We don’t want to sell the 1200 as the best tool for D.J.ing."
Then in August this year, Technics turned more heads with the announcement of their new SP-10R Reference Class Direct Drive Turntable. It’s a reissue of their legendary audiophile turntable the SP-10 and will come with a price tag to match. It’s a beautiful piece of design and clearly not expected to withstand the rigours of club use.
The first thing that strikes you is that it has a independent power supply, so you get a striking gold platter and then a separate silver box with a digital screen on the front. The SP-10R boasts what Technics are calling the “world's top-level S/N (signal-to-noise) ratio and rotational stability.” They have achieved this by the use of a brand new heavyweight platter, redesigned direct drive motor and the power supply unit.
For the audiophiles then, the SP-10R features a wow and flutter rate (this essentially refers to irregularities in the motor speed) of 0.015% - most decent turntables generally have a wow and flutter rate of below 0.2%. The other main element in high-end audio equipment is the signal to noise ratio (S/N). The SP-10R’s separate power supply minimises hum and vibration and substantially contributes to a dramatically low S/N ratio of 92dB.
The SP-10R is an alluring, high-end bit of kit and it’s definitely a luxury item. Think of it as a fur-lined Rolls `Royce of a turntable. It’s not getting a full launch until 2018 so as yet the price tag hasn’t been announced, but bearing in mind the original price tag of the 1200G and 1200GAE, you might want to start saving now.
Technical specs:
http://news.panasonic.com/global/press/data/2017/08/en170831-8/en170831-8.html
