...it had a handle and battery compartment, it looks so much like a boombox but the pressboard on the back makes it look less than ideal. It was auction site click-bait.... Technics SC-K4W
A drawer loading turntable I didn't know about. The tonearm etc looks similar to the Panasonic SL-N5. No CD Player though. I guess it dates from a either before them or when they cost big money. Also available in Green and Pink ! p.s I sure you could knock up a handle, battery compartment and go to weightlifting training
When I saw the photo I thought it looked more like an unknown Sansui Boombox and was excited to see a Technics Turntable Model but was crushed when I saw the back. I'd guess about a 1982 vintage, the Japanese had so many variations of turntable/stereos combo units cool ones pop up all the time but it's hard to get an idea of the quality. That aqua unit is really nice looking Longman, after watching the video I might have changed my mind, it looks like it would be a great little desktop unit. This would have made a killer boombox but the battery compartment would have been huge.
I was thinking about the Panasonic / technics cross over and would put it at about £200. There were some Panasonic music centres for £100 which were heavily advertised but I think anything with a Logic Cassette deck would have been Technics. I actually have a Technics record deck that came with a stack system similar to this and it is very plasticey. I agree with your guess at the date. Drawer turntables were an in thing in the early 1980s with Sony and Philips also making them. Something I thought later is whether the Technics deck could be used stand alone. The deck on my Akai F3L doesn't have a top and conncts directly into the system above it so couldn't.
I'm not sure what you meant by the Panasonic/Technics cross over? Here's the listing, no bids yet and it's not a cool color like the aqua one. The turntable looks like it can be unscrewed and detached since it has it's own power cord and it looks like RCA's on the back. https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n269108642?rkf=2&p=technics+sc+k4w&isdd=1
Panasonic and Technics were both trade names of Matsushita. However, the Technics products were the more upmarket ones. A similar arrangement to Toyota and Lexus in cars.
Sorry. £200. It means I can't type on an Ipad. While I am on the main computer this is what I would think of as a typical Panasonic product. The price is about £20 more than the equivalent no name products. I know Panasonic or more accurately National Panasonic produced some better ones in the 1970s In contrast as this advert translates Technics - In a Class of its own, (and they mean high end) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=t...h=722#imgrc=6RZPDfuO6me28M:&spf=1528840297717 Interestingly I can't find any Technics products in any of my usual catalogues like the Dixons one the Panasonic came from. There are plenty of Akai, Rotel, JVC, Pioneer, Philips, and Marantz Mid Fi separates and systems but I guess you would have gone to a more specialist audio retailer like Lasky's to buy Technics.
In some markets you'll find Technics Products branded as Panasonic. I'm not sure why but my mini-system I posted in another thread is branded Panasonic but when I look at the circuit boards the ICs are marked Technics. It was over $1000.00 USD in the 90's and all of the information on the web is on the Technics Version. I think your right on the price point, I think of most Panasonic as very good entry level products and it's probably the least collected in my audio stash, while Technics is a step better and in some cases, much better. Technics was also really conscience about the visual design of the equipment and even the mass-marketed turntables are very good looking, Technics could have pummeled Garrard on looks alone. Who knows about the marketing, we had the mass merchandisers with the weekend sales and they had the $200 receivers but you went to the audio "boutiques" for the $600 + receivers.
Don't forget the Amstrad & Fidelity (Still separate names then) so called draw loading turntables Hopelessly unreliable Bsr decks with ceramic cartridge driven by an unstable plastic platter! More rumble than music & hell to repair Oh, I have a 1982 Technics SL-D2 turntable - still working as it's meant to! Original Technics/Panasonic 2700 cartridge & stylus still working just fine! Audio Technica AT-110E was fitted a week later - these are not the last word in tt's but they are real quality & still look beautiful! Draw turntables.......a bit of an early 80's fad & couldn't match a proper deck - glad they faded away.....
When I set up a turntable it will be my Sony PS-FL3 or maybe the PS-FL1 both purchased in the last year. Why does vintage audio gear always involve buying two or more to make a decent one ?
We take so many of the design elements for granted, I wonder if anyone tried doing a insert type player for LPs like automotive cd players. Personally I think these drawer models are super cool but all of the ones I've seen up close are cheap plastic, similar to the vast majority of linear-tracking TTs.
I don't know about LPs but there were some cheap and cheerful ones for singles. Back in the early seventies when I was at Junior School another student brought one in that belonged to their French Au Pair. That was the only time I have ever seen one. The Sonys are quite solidly made and aren't all linear tracking. This is like one of the two I have and the other is very similar, to the point that the case is interchangeable, which is why I bought the second. Sold as faulty the problem was that the arm weight was so far back it was giving a tracking force of about -5g ! https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/gallery/image_page.php?album_id=76&image_id=33870 One of the Sony linear tracking ones was the cheapest way to get a Biotracer arm with electronic damping. I think the problem was that once CD was launched all research into better record decks basically ended. Most of the modern decks, either low or high end are just copies of what was made before CD.
Thanks for posting that 45 player Longman, I've never seen one before, that is so cool. That Sony Drawer Model is nice, I just never run into them in the wild, just about everything else though including the Sony PS-5011 that's in the corner of the page, I've got one of those out in the stacks, I think it's a Swiss Made Unit. Post some photos of your TT when it's up and working.
I never understood the purpose of particle board backs. If Technics was already building metal or plastic sides for it, why not make one for the back too? Also, fake square woofers look cheap. They make it look like a discount system from Emerson or Yorx. The speaker walls look very thin too.
i agree with Reli, this is technics cheap end tat, im surprised they put there name to it, it does look appealing though... i have a jvc that is similar and it is portable to boot but it doesn't have the record player.
