I've had a little free time and have been fixing a bunch of my benched systems. I've had this Panasonic SU-CH10 for years just sitting up on the shelf. I bought it at our local Goodwill, it was actually a return (to GW) due to a non-working CD player. They didn't want to sell it to me since it was broken but, after begging, the manager marked down the $14.99 price 1/2 off and it was sold! These little guys are really neat and are much better than the BPC that dominated the late 80's, although one of the flaws is that if one of the components (they are separates) doesn't work you can't take it out since they daisy chain off each other. There is some information on the net but it's pretty scarce, the Japanese Wikipedia lists it as the top of the line up for 1990 at 139,800 yen ($1200.00 USD!). https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/HALF%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9D&prev=search Most of the units I've seen on the net seem to be missing the speakers, which is strange since these are bi-amp units and the speakers have four inputs on them, making them almost exclusive for these units. Mine was no exception, the speakers were missing but after a few years of kind-of looking, I finally found some for the CH7 unit, but still usable for mine. I finally got the system hooked up and it sounds pretty good, the CH10 speakers have two woofers and this only has one which probably effects the bass. This is a heavy unit, kind of an extension of a boombox without a handle or battery compartment. I have opened it up and the inner circuitry is marked Technics although the outer branding is Panasonic (I know they're the same company). I've pulled down the control covers but there's a lot of user input available, and I think I have one of those million button remotes for it around here somewhere. I also found this page on it being an award winning design for 1990 in Japan. https://translate.google.com/transl...w.g-mark.org/award/describe/16707&prev=search Sadly the units that followed it went for the egg look and don't have nearly the sleek design elements of this unit.
From what I can gather the unit was built by Technics, which was the up-market division of Panasonic. Some of these might have been branded Technics but I think the US Versions, for some reason, are Panasonic. These are heavy-duty metal skinned units. The speakers are laminated wood with polypropylene speakers and are also substantial in heft. The tape decks, which are also heavy, makes me think there's multiple motors in there, I'm resisting the urge to open it up but once I start playing with these things then I get occupied all night.
There's so little information out there on these units, there's a little more on the some of the Technics Versions but I'm trying to figure out the surround speakers that were options for it. There seems to be a center self-powered speaker and two rear speakers that were sold as options. The Technics SB-S30A rear ball speakers are neat looking, there's some on Ebay UK, it looks like the balls hang on the ceiling like the 70's ball lights. The Technics SB-AV30 is the center powered speaker which seems to be very rare, I haven't found much on it except for some service manuals in Germany.
