Add this to the list of unexpected, but pleasant, surprises at this year's IFA: Panasonic, which revived the iconic Technics audio brand last year, is working on a big comeback in 2016.
The brand is being applied to a variety of different products including high-end CD players, but the big news is the resurgence of an even older technology — the one long-synonymous with the Technics name.
Panasonic reserved a chunk of its massive IFA from the brand, including a behind-glass prototype of a new turntable due out sometime in 2016. Details are still extremely sparse for the upcoming system, but the minimalist industrial design lends some hope that the company will maintain the quality build and aesthetics of forebears like the SL-1200.
The turntables will also support a new direct drive motor system — the first major upgrade of its kind in decades, designed to take the wear of record-scratching DJs and help the system's already impressive longevity.
Of course, the relaunch couldn't come at a better time, when vinyl sales mark a rare bright spot for otherwise dim music industry forecasts mucked up by illegal digital downloads and questionably profitable streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.
