Technics’ $33k deck

The revival of Panasonic’s audio brand Technics continues to aim higher, with Australian availability confirmed for the reference-class SL-1000RE-S

Direct Drive Turntable System, priced at $32,999 and available on special order via selected Technics retailers.

It features an S-type lightweight high-damping magnesium tonearm with gimbal suspension, high-precision bearings, and oxygen-free copper internal wiring. And being Technics, this is, of course, a direct-drive turntable — Technics claims the world’s first directdrive turntable with the SP-10 in 1969, which used technology developed by Japanese engineer Shuichi Obata for Matsushita. Here the company’s “legendary direct drive engine”, as they describe it, is redesigned as a twin rotor coreless direct-drive motor with coils on both sides for 12-pole 18-coil drive and high enough torque to drive the heavy

7.9kg platter, achieving stable rotation of 0.015% wow and flutter or lower, which Technics considers to be the limit of measurement. More information: technics.com/au