Production of the Technics 1200 and 1210 turntables will cease permanently this year, according to a statement that reportedly came from the product's owners, Panasonic Japan.
Various blogs and websites have posted translations of the press release as of late, which was originally written in Japanese. Music technology website Audiobeef posted this version on Friday:Regarding our analogue turntable products, we have to inform you of our decision to terminate the business within this year, regrettably. Here are the reasons which made us reach this conclusion.
1. Since beginning of last decade, our sales of turntables have been decreasing drastically. They're almost one-fifteenth of the sales 10 years
2. Many key parts are no longer available as some of our suppliers stopped production or discontinued their businesses. Also, there is the risk that some key parts' availabilities might stop suddenly, and these parts are only being produced for our turntables. In that case we cannot produce the products that we have taken orders for already.
We cannot help discontinuing production in advance in order to avoid the worst case scenario.
Word of the iconic turntable's demise first cropped up a year ago when a similar statement leaked from Panasonic, only to be retracted shortly after a comment to Resident Advisor, a spokesperson from the company said there were "no current plans to discontinue the Technics brand and the production of Technics turntables." More info will be posted on this story as it becomes available.