It’s 2017. Our smartphones can read our fingerprint, our TVs can stream 4K movies at the tap of a button, and the smart speakers on our coffee tables can order food for us. Oh, and Panasonic is making a turntable.
The Technic’s SP-10R, which Panasonic has declared its “most premium turntable ever,” is a gorgeous marriage of brushed aluminum and brass accents. In its prototype form, which Panasonic showed off at this year’s IFA conference, features an incredibly high signal-to-noise ratio, and if you’re buying a turntable in 2017, you obviously care enough about vinyl to want the best-of-the-best.
The deck is separated from its power source in order to keep any interference or vibration to an absolute minimum. The entire system weighs in at over 15 pounds, and it looks like something out of a retro-futuristic sci-fi flick.
There’s no telling what this beast is going to end up costing, and considering it’s not slated to hit retail until summer of 2018 we probably won’t find out for some time, but going by Panasonic’s pricing of its SL-1200 turntable — which landed at over $3,700 — you can bet the SP-10R will cost more than your first car.
So, who’s buying these things? Well, audiophiles are an interesting crowd, and with vinyl record sales soaring to a 25-year high in 2016, it seems there’s still a massive market for retro audio technology.
