Matsushita starts with 50 yens for electronic success

Press, 14 December 1977, Page 35

Matsushita starts with 50 yens for electronic success

Matsushita Electric is hardly a household word. Yet, the Japanese company maintains 126 manufacturing departments and 55 overseas companies, em-

ploys more than 100,000 people worldwide, and last year reached nearly $6OOO million in sales. Perhaps two names synonymous with Matsushita Electric are more familiar —National Panasonic and Technics.

Just before the end of World War 1 in Osaka, Japan, a young man set himself up in business with 100 yen (about $5O). His name was Konosuke Matsushita and he sold adaptor plugs that his wife and her brother made in their family home. His business failed. No one wanted his plugs. He decided he had been more concerned with what he wanted to sell, than what people wanted to buy, so he tried again. This time, with an improved two-way plug, he was successful. The company, which began with a $5O investment and a single product, last year capitalised at around SI7OM selling over 10.000 products. Matsushita makes a vast range of consumer electronic products, including television receivers, citizen’s band mobile transceivers, hi-fi components and electronic organs. A few years ago Matsushita Electric decided to move into the field of high fidelity equipment. They chose “Technics” as the name for their new line of products. Matsushita believed that

one area of the audio scene had been neglected by other manufacturers—turntable design. Their first goal was to make a turntable for the consumer market that would equal ; the best studio turntables i in use. Designers were looking i for a motor drive which I would be quiet and main- ; tain a stable speed over a i long period of time. Technics developed and | perfected the first direct drive turntable, with its electronically regulated | motor. The Technics direct-drive turntable uses a brushless, electronically controlled DC motor that rotates at the same speed as the platter (33 1/3 or 45 r.p.m.). The direct-drive system attains an extremely low rumble, I wow and flutter. Some of the Technics : direct-drive turntables use i a double isolated suspen- ; sion system which gives I protection against feedback and other external : vibrations. The first stage has iso- ■ lators in each of the turnI table feet, which damp I vibrations in the unit’s rest- ■ ing surface. The second stage isolates the platter,

motor and tone arm assembly from the external turntable base. Three of the Technics turntables available at the Duty Free Shop, the SL--1300, SL-1400 and the SL-1500, all have the double isolated suspension system. The SL-1300 features a quartz phase locked control at 199-speed increments, which means the speed can be raised or lowered in exact 0.1 per cent increments, by as much as (plus or minus) 9.9 per cent. It has a quartz, synthesizer pitch control with a digital LED readout. The SL-1300 also features a fully automatic turntable. Duty free it costs $338.70. The SL-1400 offers the same features, except its turntable is semi-auto-matic, with an auto-return tone arm. The SL-1500 has a manually operated turntable and tone arm and sells, duty free, for $204.80.

Technics cartridges available at the Duty Free Shop include the EPC--205C-lIS, which is a stand-

ard type with an output voltage of 3.5mV. The EPC-270C-II cartridge has an output voltage of 3.2 mV and uses a new magnetic material which eliminates the coupler for over-all mass and reduced partial vibrations. Speaker systems include the Technics SB-202, SB-92 and SB-40. The SB-202, acoustic suspension, two-way, twospeaker system sells for $214.50 duty free. It features a 20cm low distortion woofer with a linear core, and a 2.5 cm titanium diaphragm tweeter, its maximum input power is 40 watts. The SB-92 is a bass reflex, two-way, two-speaker system, with a 20cm high compliance cone woofer, and 6.5 cone tweeter. Its peak input power is 36 watts. The SB-40 system is a 12cm full-range speaker, plus a 12cm drone cone unit, with a maximum input power of 24 watts. Its duty free price is $139.90. Other Technics stereo equipment available at the Duty Free Shop includes

amplifiers, tuners and receivers. The 5A5150 FM/ AM stereo receiver sells for $274.90. Technics tape decks include the RS269US for $202.60. Matsushita Electric claims to have manufactured more radios and cassette radios than any other consumer electronics compay in the world. National Radios available at the Duty Free Shop range from $9.70 to $146.60. The R-302, threeband, eight-transistor, twostep tone control radio sells for $36.60 duty free. The RF-527 with two bands, 11 transistors and LED tuning costs $34.50. At the top of the line is the RF-1180DBfor $146.60. It has six bands, 19 transistors, a tuned RF amplifier, separate bass/treble controls, 3.3-watt output and a 12cm double-range speaker. National’s combination radio/cassette recorders range from $80.50 to $211.80. They include the RF53108, four band, AC/ DC for $160.10 and RQSI2S, two-band, AC/DC for $80.50.