Marantz Personal Cassette Players

I'm a big fan of Marantz and admire just about all of the line up until the early 80's when the company was broken up and seemly abused for it's name and prestige by the three entities that owned, or licensed the name.

Just about everyone has seen or heard of the Marantz/Superscope Field Recorders, the CD and PMD Lines include both mono and stereo versions, the stereo versions still command high dollars today when up for sale. I think the smallest of the cassette line is the PMD 420/430 Versions that would be about the size of four Walkmans stacked up. While fairly small it's just barely considered a personal cassette player.

Marantz made a few more smaller personal cassette players. Much more rare with little to no information available except when they show up for sale every 3-8 years. The model that might be the most famous is the CP-53, thought to be part of the MS-53 Micro-System. The convential wisdom is that you could either buy the system with the cassette or the EQ. The box for the system only holds three components. This model has a neat FM broadcasting feature so it doesn't need to be connected to the system.



I've recently acquired another personal cassette player advertised as a Marantz. This unit is 99% identical to the CP-53 but has no Marantz Markings on the player other than a small Marantz Tag on the front. It also lacks the recording feature but otherwise it's the same case, just one less button and plug, although it does have some different colored buttons. Without opening it up, yet, I would say this was a Marantz Unit. The model number on it is PC-30 and it also has the FM broadcasting feature.



While doing research for the Beer and Boomboxes Thread I came upon another Marantz Personal Cassette Player. I'll post the links to the blogs I got the photos from up in the Another Cool Japanese Website Thread that is also up top. Very few people know that during the early 80's Marantz Japan had the "UNIX" Brand Name. Rumor is that it was sold shortly after to a Silicone Valley Firm for millions of dollars, but for a brief few years Unix Branded Players existed mostly in Asian Countries, part of the licensing agreement between the three world-wide manufacturers/distributors of Marantz Products.

This player is branded UNIX, and all the UNIX I own say "Manufactured By Marantz" on the back information plate so I consider them a Marantz Product just like the Superscope Boxes will say the same thing on the back plate. Unfortunately I can't make out the model number but it looks like it begins with PC-XXXX. It's not a very glamorous unit but since I like Marantz, I'd love to get one someday. Something to note is that it has the USA FM Band on the pop in cassette tuning cartridge but I don't think UNIX was ever sold in the US.

 

Very curious and rare. It remembers me the look of those mini AIWA stacks from the early 80s.

 

God i love that Marantz micro stack, i gots to find one of them

 

So I found a few more listings on Yahoo.jp with this curious Marantz UNIX Player. Unfortunately I can't download the photos so here's a link to the auction completed November 2017.
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c628056704
There's two units, a PC-88 and a PC-88 DB. It looks like one unit has a clear cover and a radio cassette. One unit is similar to the unit shown above. These units had 49 bids! and went for an astounding 67,000 Yen, close to $600.00 USD! Looking at these they don't look that special but they must be highly collectable over there.

T-ster, the Marantz Micro Stereo is also extremely rare, pieces come up for sale about every 2 and a half years. I believe these were Marantz Japan Units. The unit has a really unique power set-up, there's a 13.5v wall wart for the main unit and the speakers kind of daisy chain off that since they have internal power. It's very confusing to hook it up and if you don't have the right cables it's nearly impossible. Complete systems with all the wiring and wall wart are super rare. Word is that it was sold in airport executive lounges and when it comes up for sale it's in the most far-flung places. I was chasing one in Thailand that unfortunately sold and I have sights on one in South America, I just need some help if it's still for sale. Arkay found one where he is years ago, I can't remember if he posted it on here (without pics) or not. I think his was missing a speaker.

 

While the tuner dial doesn't mirror the classic Marantz Flywheel Dial, it is a solid piece of metal and has substantial resistance so it doesn't feel "cheap." The whole unit is metal except for the cases of the components, even the speakers are solid metal casing.

 

Some more photos of Marantz's Personal Cassette Players.
Overall they look fairly similar, it's heard to tell if someone put a sticker on the bottom unit.

 

Another Marantz Unix Model, it's much more traditional looking. The Unix PC200 looks like an early 80's clunky style player, but I think it's a little newer. This is was a staggering $217.00 USD back then putting it into a higher end model.

 

Here's some photos of the Unix PC200





You can just barely make out the "Marantz Japan" on the bottom of the tag

 

I haven't found any photos yet but Arkay was reporting back in 2008 that he had seen "Standard" and "Universal" Names stuck on some of the bigger boxes, all seemingly made by Marantz Japan. There's some good update articles in older Billboard Magazine issues found on Google Books. It looks like Marantz Japan started marketing Superscope in Japan and Superscope's 50% owned subsidiary, Standard Taiwan, started building tape units in late 1974. The Superscope-Marantz-Standard-Unix companies have an interesting and complicated relationship due to none of the companies having 100% ownership, throw in that Superscope US was distributing Sony in the US starting around 1962.

I was on another site looking at a Superscope by Marantz stack of three components from the late 70's. On the surface they looked like high-end Marantz, identical except the faces were black. When the guy got them he found out the truth, plastic faces, pressboard bottom and plastic buttons, although the internals were nearly identical.

 

When I was in the audio/visual manufacturing world in the late 90's I think of lot of those brands were just "names" put on mass-produced Taiwanese Products. I remember looking through catalogs and seeing boomboxes that looked like something nice but you could buy say 100 for $200.00 USD and slap your name on them. Brands like Citizen, Sylvania, Emerson were victims of licensed marketing (and still are). Now were seeing Nakamichi, Sansui and other old school high-end brands being used as a pawn in money grubbering.....

 

I'm still trying to find a connection to the Marantz PMS Line and Phillips. My personal opinion is that the Marantz PMS Line was designed by Phillips but manufactured by Marantz Japan. The way the cassette tray looks is very Phillips. Marantz Japan also made UNIX CRS models well into the 80's but we never see these outside of Asia. The PMS or Superscope PMS Line seems to have had worldwide distribution (outside of Asia). Marantz CRS Models are found in the US but every once in a while you'll see a Superscope PMS Model in Europe, which is really weird considering the relationship all these companies had.

 

And I found another Marantz UNIX Personal Cassette Player, the UNIX PC-36. This looks like it has recording and a tape counter over the PC-30. I'm curious what "stereo mixing/ON AIR" means, followed by key control # & b? These units can broadcast to the FM Band so you don't need a physical connection. This just sold for a staggering $280.00 USD over in Japan.

 

Check out my thread in the boombox section with the Marantz Micro System Junkerman. They are one of the most fascinating units of all time and extremely rare. Information on a lot of these units coming from Marantz Japan is very limited but looking at the prices they get at auction they are highly sought after.

 

If you ever run across the brochures stuck-in-time, take photos, although we'll need someone to translate. One of these days I'll find a mic and play with mine to figure it out. They must have been pretty cool with these features, I don't know of other players with the same thing.