SIGNALS

1. Program my selfie-drone to will follow me everywhere I go 24/7 and transmit live video across the Internet.

2. Drive a car across North America without using a single drop of gas.

3. Sign up for NASA's one-way mission to Mars. (Many thanks to all my friends and family who are strongly supporting and encouraging me to do this.)

4. Buy a record player.

What?!? In today's fast-paced, all-digital-all-the-time world, why would anyone want to buy a record player? Moreover, why would any company bother to even sell record players? Even more unbelievable, why would any company invest hard-earned Yen to develop a new generation of record players? Why? Because people are still buying record players. And having customers is a good reason for a company to sell something.

Another reason for a company to make turntables is that they're good at it. Enter Pansonic, one of the touchstones of turntable design and manufacture. You surely know (and perhaps own) the iconic Technics SP10 or SL-1200 turntable. The latter was first introduced way back in 1972, and models remained in production until Technics got its plug pulled in 2010. However, you might recall that last year Panasonic announced that it was relaunching the Technics brand.

And now Panasonic is showing very unfinished prototypes of a new Technics turntable. It will use a newly-developed direct-drive design, with a motor with a coreless stator, twin rotors, and oil-impregnated bearings. The design is said to also feature a brand-new control circuit that switches the stator winding to provide both fast torque and precise speed detection and stability.

Frankly, it's been awhile since I've described a new audio product featuring "oil-impregnated bearings," and this is certainly the very first time I've blogged about it, but it's good to see the return of some good, old-fashioned high-tech gear. It will be interesting to see how the new design elements of this 21st century turntable perform. If anyone can build a better turntable, it's probably Panasonic.

Why would Panasonic invest in a new turntable design? Because they read the same tea leaves that everyone else is reading. Vinyl record sales hit 9 million in 2014, up strongly from 2.8 million in 2010. In the first quarter of this year (January to March) vinyl sales were up 53% from the same period a year ago. That's peanuts compared to the billions of downloads and streams, but still an intriguing niche market. Vinyl is hot, at least for now, but Panasonic is unclear as to the availability of the new turntable; it's only saying sometime between April 2016 and March 2017. That's a big window; are they hedging their bets and waiting to see how much interest is generated?

So, I guess I better buy a new turntable. On that one-way mission to Mars, I'll need something to listen to. Hmmmm, tonearm tracking in zero-G .... that could be a problem.