VINTAGE GEAR

Coveted by audiophiles and DJs, the iconic turntable is still going strong half a century later.

It’s rare for any piece of audio gear to remain in production for more than a few years, let alone a turntable that not only survives but continues to evolve for the better part of five decades. The Technics SL-1200 turntable and its many iterations have been in production for 43 of the last 49 years, an extraordinary feat by any measure.

In this edition of Sound & Vision’s Audio Time Machine, we highlight the Marantz Model Eighteen, the iconic brand’s original stereo receiver.

Mainstream audio came into its own in the 1960s-70s. At the heart of every “stereo” was an indispensable predecessor to the modern day AVR — the receiver. Simple by today’s standards, the receiver of 40 years ago combined two channels of solid-state power, a preamp section with switching for a turntable and tape deck, and an AM/FM tuner in an impressive looking component with a gleaming faceplate featuring a prominent tuner display and a row of knobs, switches, and buttons.