Technics - SU-R1000 Reference Stereo Integrated Amplifier

Technics’ reference integrated amplifier: a full-digital design with four independent power supplies, active distortion cancellation in the output stage, and a phono section that measures your actual cartridge with a supplied calibration record and corrects for what it finds.

The SU-R1000 is a full-digital amplifier, which means something specific. There is no conventional preamplifier feeding a Class AB output stage. The signal is handled in the digital domain and the power stage itself performs the conversion, switching directly into the loudspeaker. Done badly this is a cheap way to make watts. Done the way Technics does it, it removes several analogue stages that would otherwise each add their own noise and distortion.

Four things do the heavy lifting. JENO Engine handles jitter. LAPC measures the actual speaker load and corrects the amplifier’s response for it. ADCT — Active Distortion Cancelling Technology — extracts the distortion generated in the power output stage and subtracts it. And the Advanced Speed Silent Power Supply runs its switching fixed in the 400kHz band specifically to move switching artefacts away from anything that could reach the audio. On top of that there are four independent power supply units: analogue, digital, and one for each power amplifier channel.

The phono section is the reason a lot of people buy this amplifier, and it is genuinely unusual. Technics calls it Intelligent Phono EQ and it has three parts. Accurate EQ Curve is a hybrid analogue and digital RIAA implementation. Crosstalk Canceller plays a measuring signal from a calibration record supplied in the box, measures your cartridge’s actual channel-to-channel crosstalk, and applies a reverse correction in DSP. PHONO Response Optimizer sends a test signal through the cartridge and corrects the frequency-response anomalies caused by its own electrical and mechanical resonances.

That is a real answer to a real problem. Every cartridge has a resonance where its inductance meets the load capacitance, and every cartridge leaks a little of one channel into the other. Conventionally you manage those with loading choices and live with the rest. The SU-R1000 measures them on your specific sample and corrects them.

Moving coil gets its own balanced XLR input on Neutrik connectors — the correct way to receive a floating differential source. Moving magnet is on RCA.

Be clear about what this amplifier is not: it has no network features at all. No Ethernet, no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth, no streaming services, no app. Its digital inputs are two optical, two coaxial and two USB-B. If you want to stream, put a streamer in front of it.

Features

• Full-digital amplifier: 150W + 150W into 8Ω, 300W + 300W into 4Ω
• Intelligent Phono EQ with Crosstalk Canceller and PHONO Response Optimizer, using a supplied calibration record
• Balanced XLR moving-coil phono input on Neutrik connectors, plus RCA moving magnet
• ADCT active distortion cancellation in the power output stage
• JENO Engine jitter elimination and LAPC speaker-load calibration
• Advanced Speed Silent Power Supply switching in the 400kHz band
• Four independent power supplies: analogue, digital, and one per amplifier channel
• Two optical, two coaxial and two USB-B digital inputs; PCM to 384kHz/32-bit and DSD to 22.4MHz
• No network features — this is a pure amplifier

Specifications

• Type: Stereo integrated amplifier, Reference Class, with digital inputs and a phono stage
• Topology: Full digital amplifier with a PWM output stage — not a conventional Class AB design
• Rated power output: 150W + 150W (1kHz, THD 0.5%, 8Ω, 20kHz LPF); 300W + 300W (1kHz, THD 0.5%, 4Ω, 20kHz LPF). Note these are single-frequency ratings at a stated 0.5% distortion point — Technics publishes no FTC-style continuous 20Hz–20kHz rating for this model, and these figures are not comparable with the SU-GX70 or SA-C600, which are rated at 1.0% distortion
• Load impedance: 4–16Ω
• Frequency response, line: 5Hz–80kHz (−3dB, 8Ω)
• Frequency response, digital: 5Hz–80kHz (−3dB, 8Ω)
• Frequency response, phono MM: 20Hz–20kHz, RIAA deviation ±1dB, 8Ω
• THD: Only the 0.5% figure quoted with the power ratings is published. No standalone distortion figure at reference output is given
• Signal-to-noise ratio: Not published. Technics publishes no signal-to-noise ratio for any of its full-digital amplifiers — we checked the US page, the UK page, the catalogue and the owner’s manual.
• Damping factor: Not published. Technics publishes no damping factor for any of its full-digital amplifiers. A conventional damping-factor figure is arguably less meaningful for a switching output stage, but Technics does not say that either — the row is simply absent.
• JENO Engine: JENO Engine — Jitter Elimination and Noise-shaping Optimisation. A clock generator and re-clocking stage that Technics says reduces jitter across the entire frequency range. Jitter is timing error in the digital signal; left alone it smears detail, and it is the single most audible failing of an indifferent digital front end.
• LAPC: LAPC — Load Adaptive Phase Calibration. The amplifier sends a test signal through the actual speakers and cables you have connected, measures what comes back, and uses DSP to correct its own phase and frequency response toward that of an ideal amplifier driving that specific load. Most amplifiers are designed against an assumed resistive load; a real loudspeaker is nothing of the sort.
• ADCT: Active Distortion Cancelling Technology. Technics states it “accurately extracts and removes distortion in the power output stage” — an active circuit that measures the distortion the final stage generates and subtracts it
• Power supply design: Advanced Speed Silent Power Supply, switching fixed in the 400kHz band to push switching noise clear of the audio measurement chain. Four independent power supply units: analogue, digital, and one for each power amplifier channel
• Phono stage: Moving magnet and moving coil. MM input sensitivity 2.5mV at 47kΩ; MC input sensitivity 300µV at 100Ω. Gain is not published as a separate dB figure. Loading is not user-adjustable in steps — Technics handles cartridge matching through the calibration features instead
• Intelligent Phono EQ: Three parts. Accurate EQ Curve: a hybrid analogue and digital RIAA equalisation design. Crosstalk Canceller: measures the fitted cartridge’s crosstalk using a signal on the bundled Calibration Record and applies a reverse correction in DSP. PHONO Response Optimizer: measures the cartridge with a test signal and corrects resonance-driven frequency-response anomalies specific to it
• Calibration record: A physical calibration record is supplied with the amplifier
• Digital conversion: Technics’ own full-digital / PWM architecture built around JENO Engine. No off-the-shelf DAC chip is used or named
• PCM support: 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192, 352.8 and 384kHz at 16, 24 and 32 bit
• DSD support: 2.8MHz, 5.6MHz, 11.2MHz and 22.4MHz. Technics footnotes 22.4MHz as ASIO native mode only
• MQA: Not published. No Technics source for this model mentions MQA support
• Network features: None. No Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirPlay, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, TIDAL, Deezer, Qobuz, Amazon Music, internet radio, Roon or DLNA. There is no control app because there is no network module
• Inputs: LINE (RCA), LINE (balanced XLR) x1, PHONO MM (RCA), PHONO MC (balanced XLR, Neutrik), MAIN IN x1, REC IN x1, optical x2, coaxial x2, USB-B x2. No USB-A
• Outputs: PRE OUT x1, REC OUT x1, headphone (6.3mm stereo). No subwoofer output
• Headphone output: 6.3mm stereo, 0.75mW into 32Ω. This figure appears only in the North American owner’s manual; Technics’ US and UK web spec pages list the jack with no rating at all
• Speaker terminals: Gold-plated machined brass, described by Technics as designed for extra-large diameter speaker cables. One set. Bi-wiring is not mentioned in any Technics spec table
• Dimensions: 430 x 191 x 459 mm (W x H x D)
• Weight: Approximately 22.8kg (50.3 lbs)
• Power supply: AC 120V, 60Hz in the US; AC 220–240V, 50/60Hz in the UK. All performance figures are identical between the two regions
• Power consumption: 220W
• Standby consumption: Approximately 0.3W. Found in the owner’s manual only, not on either web spec page
• Country of manufacture: Not published. Technics prints no country-of-manufacture statement on its product pages, specification sheets or owner’s manuals for this product — we checked all three. The owner’s manual lists Panasonic’s corporate address in Osaka, but a head office is not a factory and we are not going to present it as one.
• Warranty: Panasonic administers Technics warranty in the United States and the term varies by model rather than by product category. The SU-R1000 is listed in Technics’ own US warranty table at three years parts and three years labour. Technics states that product registration is not required and does not extend coverage. A dated sales receipt is required, coverage runs to the original purchaser, and the product must be purchased and serviced in the United States. Non-rechargeable batteries, antennas and cosmetic cabinet parts are excluded.