The Tables Have Turned

I stole this write up from the NPR website. It made my stomach turn since Technics turntables have been such a HUGE part of my life. RIP!

VIA NPR

Sometimes a piece of equipment outlives its usefulness before it outlives its place in our heart. The Technics 1200 turntables were central to the creation of hip-hop, even elemental — when people say "two turntables and a microphone" they're referring to that model.

Panasonic Corporation, which manufactures the Technics brand, has announced that it's ceased production of its analogue turntables. The announcement read, in part:

After more than 35 years as a leading manufacturer of analogue turntables, Panasonic has regretfully taken the decision to leave this market. However, Panasonic will continue to sell headphones under the Technics brand.

We are sure that retailers and consumers will understand that our product range has to reflect the accelerating transformation of the entire audio market from analogue to digital.

In addition, the number of component suppliers serving the analogue market has dwindled in recent years and we brought forward the decision to leave the market rather than risk being unable to fulfill future orders because of a lack of parts.

The Technics 1200s were the gold standard — for a practical reason: they're almost indestructible. But being the war horse of the market comes at a cost: these turntables are very heavy (27 pounds). And as technology began to marginalize vinyl among DJs (who needed more equipment to spin mp3s, usually a mixer and Scratch Live, a piece of software referred to by it's company's name, Serato), turntables began to seem less desirable.

The death was reported by Resident Advisor, the dance music online magazine. The site says Panasonic, the company that's been producing the tables and acquiring parts for them from a dwindling group of manufacturers since 1972, is discontinuing them.

Panasonic put out a press release written in Japanese saying as much back in October. The language barrier led to lots of confusion and speculation on this side of the Pacific, but yesterday Panasonic put out a statement in English confirming the unfortunate demise.

Technics were so beloved they pop up often in the lyrics of old-school and golden era rap songs (music made in the mid '80s to mid '90s). In honor of the venerable tables, and as a balm to those DJ friends of ours running all over town stocking up on parts, a few of our favorite Technic name-checks.

NOTE: NPR posted some videos but I am posting my own that coincide with the last paragraph...