Can This New Pioneer Turntable Replace The Classic Technics SL-1200?

At Musikmesse 2014, Pioneer is teasing a new DJ turntable. 

Pioneer isn’t announcing a product, they haven’t given it a name and the new turntable looks a bit like a Technics SL-1200 spray-painted black.

But it sounds like Pioneer is taking the vinyl resurgence seriously – and wants to fill the gap left behind when Panasonic killed off the Technics SL-1200. They may be showing it at this early prototype stage to gauge interest…

via Digital DJ Tips:

34 thoughts on “Can This New Pioneer Turntable Replace The Classic Technics SL-1200?”

  1. Killing the SL-1200 is one of the worse thing Matsushita/Panasonic could have done, at worse they should have slowed down the production or make them on demand. Gladly, it seems like there is still a lot of spare parts to go around for the next few years and a lot of techs and aficionados who know how to service them, thus, it will still be around for a good while, hopefully. If Pioneer make it happen, I’d love to compare them!

  2. I will only be convinced if Pio can equal or surpass the Technics 1200 level of quality. If all Pio does is put their name on a SUPER-OEM turntable, then the game is already over. OTOH, if Pio does make a kick-ass deck, then I can only hope they don’t price it in line with their CDJs or it might end up costing about $3000..

  4. The pioneer looks like a carbon copy of the technics. Im willing to bet that pioneer have the production machinery/tools used to produce the 1200/1210.

    1. Interesting theory. This would be the best case scenario. If Pioneer bought the equipment / rights / etc. from Panasonic in order to continue making the 1200, then the consumer wins. Unless, of course, they charge ridiculous amounts of money for them. But, really, is vinyl coming back, or are we kidding ourselves?

      2. Vinyl never went away and a lot of djs are going back to vinyl with people like carl cox starting his record lable backup as vinyl goes anyways. and new releases coming out all the time on vinyl.also places like dc10s in ibiza 80percent is on technics.its here and always was and will get more popular again.but it will never be like it was,but then again you never no.even places like Hmv has started selling vinyl again. The future looks good my friends.

  8. Looks beautiful. Same simple layout, no fancy buttons etc. I’d buy this if it’s correctly priced.
    And vinyl never left, ir’s aways there.

  9. PIONEER (you’re welcome, frodo ;)) does not own Technics. Technics is a division of Panasonic/Matsushita and Pioneer is a separate company.

  10. Pioneer already make a Technics clone, its called the DJ-3500, and I’m pretty sure a version of it was being produced in the late 90’s

  11. My bet is: they bought the rights of Technics/Panasonic with their CDJ and DJM billions and introduce this as a 1:1 copy with a few design changes. I hope they (or anybody else) will actually do this and that the quality of the components remains the same. I would definitely buy it then. But only then.

  12. Hi people just to let ya all no that pioneer do not own the rights to technics. And technics have just brought a new range of headphones out with decks to follow and that has come from someone I no at Panasonic. I do think the pioneer will be okay but as looks go it looks shite and cheap. But be reassured the decks will be overpriced and not up to the same standards but a great deck to be had at the right price.

    1. i agree Pioneer did go out of their way to show everybody that these new turntables are different on the inside.That’s usually a sign that they are not as good as the original. But there’s only one way to find out. Buy a pair or wait to see if there’s a big sell off on EBAY or on Facebook of these new Pioneers in a year….you gotta remember though that Panasonic held their own for 35 years and they chose to get out instead of changing. i bet the components are cheaper now…

  13. The Pioneer pro dj 3500 looks very similar to the Audio-Technica ATPL-120 and ATLP-120 turntables.
    I owned a pair of Audio-Technica ATLP-120s which I sold to someone once I tried a Technics sl1200 at scratch dj academy in nyc, I fell in love and bought a used pair of the Technics 1200 M3Ds which I changed the platters, motors along with a few other moving parts…. There is nothing like the Technics 1200 design with the platter being part of the motor… On the other-hand the ATLP-120, the spindle drove the platter once the platter is installed being that the spindle needs the weight from the platter to turn… I also noticed on the 120 that there was a low annoying clicking sound in the motor which bothered me allot so if the new upcoming pioneer turntable has the quality of the audio-technica then all bets are off. I will not buy it until i see what the other DJs are saying as well as obtaining the service manual for the new turntable to compare the nuts and bolts to the technics 1200 series. I agree with the first comment stating that Panasonic made a big mistake in discontinuing the sl1200s and they should make it on a demand basis! The 1200s are reliable and easy to maintain and service altogether! I also think DJs who love the 1200s should contact panasonic by the thousands to put the 1200s back in production so maybe they might reconsider!

    1. The digital is too large to financially justify Panasonic bringing the 1200 back. Not to mention other comlanies suchas audio-technica, vestax, reloop, numark, and now pioneer. I thinm this new turntable called the plx-1000 will go over big, if reasonably priced. Oh, I forgot to mention the dn-tecb sl1300mk6. I would love to market some of these turntables on my webstore. musically yours, Gerry C

    2. I don’t think vinyl will ever return to it’s prominance. Digital has made djing way too easy. It wouldn’t make economical sense for Panasonic to bring the 1200 back, especially since you have turntables on the market now like the vestax pdx3000 and the reloop rp-8000 , which have far more features than the technics 1200. However, I would love to market the pioneer plx-1000 on my webstore. musically yours, Gerry C

      1. So to all of us DJs that LOVE or used Technic 1200’s, if they came out with a 1200 that had features like the Reloop Rp8000 yet the dependability known in Technics, would we buy it? Just want some feedback.

  15. it can be hard to gain perspective on things. Consider this, 1984 was the peak sales year for the 1200 with aprox 2000 units sold monthly worldwide. From that very point sales are declining reaching the lowest point in 2010. There was no way for a factory capable of 3000 units a month production to stay in operation. This was a Just in time operation, so once demand had slipped so far, the cost to manufacture small quantities was just out of the question. What does remain amazing is that most all parts remain avaialable. Let’s hope that continues for a few more years.

  16. No pianasonic bought matshusita in 2005, but that aside, offcourse panasonic won’t use the shitty oemtable gear.
    They know it’s junk and thet know the absurd prices for in my opinion ovverrated turntable. Why buying 20 year old electronics when i have a new vestax which outperforms a technics on a scratchlevel . And the second hand market is full of abused secondhands technics, even sold with the original cable , so most people never heared of maintenance and most have a townarm which has have a hit.
    15 year old transformer bearings feet(which dryout) , onboard electronics and capacitors and the money you have to spend to make it a real hifi deck is a waste of money, since a rega or pro-jecf sells nice hifi decks for 500 with a way better tonearm.
    I was that stupid , buying two stanton st.150’s , because some sites said the deck was good, without looking inside and that’s where the crap is. I with a pgd micro-electronics, seldom have seen , such bad built turntable , a technics is way better. Only ain’t state of the art either anymore
    and then is a stokyo the best solution, since a bought one off those recently, with the powdercoating and i trust them way more then all those tiny shops. And it really is good.
    But the main problem stays, except dor scratcher which can buy a vestax, that there ain’t a good new , so no 7 year old oldstock, turntable.
    Dj-tech comes with an oem like table and panasonic builds his own turntable. , selling for 600
    personally i doubt that the technics is any better then my vestax 2000mk2 decks, yes they’re ugly, but the 1200 ain’t a beauty either and they’re easy to repair if something goes wrong. And btw the staton feet are crap for the heavy deck, but perfect for a vestax:) .
    Pioneer just waits till the price of a technics peaks, which is now and launches their tt. How can they loose from the oem crap…. thet can’t.
    greets richard

  17. Sorry to break the news but vinyl will never have a strong hold like it did 10 years ago. No disrespect Iam a vinyl man coming up since the 90s love my technics 1200 one of the only things in this world that was built to last….still use technics 1200 I own 4 pairs bought my last pair before they discontinued them but let’s be REAL in the business world sales were down and falling fast if it don’t make dollars it don’t make (cents)or sense and with serato or any laptop dj program music is easy to get and for all you vinyl djs like myself my back is so much happier know that I don’t have to carry 6 or 8 crates of vinyl with each case holding 100 plus records do the math. And all you people saying you will buy them know why didn’t you buy them when it was a rumor. Ps last if a dying breed rip technics 1200

  18. 10 years ago was 2004. Vinyl was officially dead at that point. Cd’s and digital files were the only things making any money. Vinyl is doing a lot better now than it was ten years ago.

  19. Bring it back with semi auto function for normal home users and they would have a big market . most people would like it to auto shutoff when playing vinyl.

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