SEIKO EPSON
Record player
Seiko Epson Player (Teragaki Player)
Σ 2000, Σ 5000 and Σ 5000 II sold by Seiko Epson are all record players designed by Mr. Takeru Teragaki.
Mr. Teragaki said that the trial production of the first to sixth stages of the development of the record player was carried out by Audiotechnica, and the total development cost was over 400,000,000 yen. As a result of the development at that time, Audiotechnica commercialized an adsorption stabilizer.
After that, trial production was continued through development with Tohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd., and the No. 11 machine, the Σ 3000, was manufactured. It seems that several units of this model were made and the price was 2,300,000 yen. However, as for the Σ 3000, there is no catalog made and it seems that it is not in the form of public sale.
The Σ 5000 is based on the Σ 3000, and they did everything they wanted to do by removing the cost constraint (according to the person in charge of Epson at that time). Therefore, the base plate has been changed from 15 mm to 25 mm, and the top surface of the turntable is also diamond cut. In addition, the wooden part has been improved in many ways such as Kiso's original lacquer coating. Also, the sliding part of Σ 5000 seems to have been finished with the highest level of EPSON, and the precision processing technology of SEIKO brand is alive.
Other than that, it seems that the changes have been made so that it is easy to handle the service which needs reinforcement and maintenance around the power supply.
There are various stories about the number of units sold on the internet, but according to the manager, the Σ 5000 was produced 3 times each of 10 units and sold out, and after that, the remaining one for service was sold out. In addition, the Σ 2000 was produced 2 times each of 50 units and a total of 100 units were sold out.
It seems that it was not exported, but there are some people who brought it back from Japan to overseas as hand luggage.