Technics SL-Z1000

Rare combo which didn't make a single dent into the established high-end bestsellers of the time (Sony CDP-R1 & DAS-R1) and the emerging non-japanese drive+dac combos like those from Krell, Proceed & Mark Levinson or the late California Audio Labs.

Although the star of the show and where Matsushita put more research money was the SH-X1000 d/a, the SL-Z1000 was no afterthought and is built like everything was back then : 20kg solid.

The enclosure is surrounded by 2mm steel plates (bottom & sides), 3mm aluminium plate (top) and added 2mm steel plate at the base ; the front plate is made of 8mm diecast and extruded aluminium.

The overall base is Technics TNRC, a variant of commposite and non-resonant material which Sony and others used since the mid 1970s. The massive sideburns are of japanese oak.

The mechanism itself is a magnetic linear reading type, suspended on four pillars (rubber + springs) and enclosed into an diecast aluminium shell resting on a steel plate. The motor itself is, naturally, of the brush-less & slot-less type.
The loading system rests on ball bearings, too, and the optic is made of glass.

There is no particular servo system or anti-jitter implemented in the Z1000 : no Twin-Link d/a-drive re-clocking here.

The two digital / servo trafos are encapsulated into special composite material and rest on rubbery material.

Unlike for all of Accuphase, the optical block isn't a Sony but Panasonic's own SOAD70A ; it also fits the SL-PA10, SL-P2000, SL-P999, SL-P900, SL-P777, SL-PS860, SL-PS840 and SL-PS700.
Since Matsushita buried the Technics brand in 2005, the end result might be the same as if one own a CDP-R1 or CDP-X777ES : unobtainium ?

Peculiarities of the Z1000 :
• when a CD-Single is inserted, the motor reacts to the lighter weight of the latter so as to accelerate its servo reactions,
• if shocks are received by the pickup and/or linear motor, an "auto-stop" trigger stops the reading,
• switching contacts are gold-plated,
• outputs are two TOS plastic fiber terminals, and these two only.