Technics SU-A2
(1977 - 1980)

Chances are you've never seen one of these and chances are you never will, either.
But thanks to Dieter Schaub, you will find here most of what can be gathered about these supreme monsters without actually being invited to visit the many Matsushita vaults.

Launched as an "absolute" project in 1976, the SU-A2 preamplifier and SE-A1 power amplifier were advertised (discreetely), tested in (a few) hifi magazines, made (sort of) available for sale but... never really got into production. That is: Matsushita changed its mind and the combo was finally offered "on order only" so, in fact, only a certain amount of somewhat pre-production samples were made. For by the time these would've been fully available, 1980, the trend was to miniaturization and upcoming digital formats - exit the A1, exit the A2. The adventure cost a lot of research money to Matsushita and that may be why they still refuse to answer any question about that combo, let alone provide some kind of help to the (rare) owners - sauer taste.

The result of this aborted launch is that, unlike other contemporary "absolute" projects, the Technics SE-A1 and SU-A2 are virtually non-existent. One SE-A1 has recently resurfaced in Russia, presumably bought by the Red Army - yep. A ceiling-high stack of A1s and A2s was seen in an emirate state some years ago - whatever became of those is even more mysterious.

The planned production run is anybody's guess but it is probable this very point hadn't even been discussed when the project was shelved. Catalog images are extremely rare, service-manuals are nowhere to be found and, according to Dieter, no two units were built alike! But, if one believes the few magazine tests, the Technics SE-A1 and SU-A2 were to be the absolute reference. It should be noted that a later unit was added to this mini-lineup of ultraweights: the SH-P1, a huge PCM adaptor which however didn't even go beyond a couple of pre-production samples.

The images on this page come from a german 1979/80 source (left), the september 1977 original japanese "new product" sheet (above) which I was very lucky to find in Japan, thanks to Eiichi Muratomi and a 1980 japanese catalog (top).

The SE-A1 power amplifier will be posted separately at a later date, alongwith more on the SU-A2.