I have seen little discussion on these here, except for some old adverts so thought I would start a new thread. Is anyone else into these ? I am as I actually have a use for one listening to late night programmes like Sounds of the 80s while my wife is asleep. Most of my Cassette Players and MP3 players incorporate radios but here are three dedicated ones I have acquired in the last couple of years. The SRF-59 is the only one I have actually branded "Walkman". I had read great things about this but took an instant dislike to it when I got one. It seems to have Mega Bass permanently engaged so sounds too Bassy. The Credit Card size SRF-220 is my most recent purchase. They had these for sale as souvenirs in the Sony Centre in Tokyo when we visited in 2006. However they were about £50 and that was at the start of our holiday so I didn't buy one. When I saw this one on Ebay recently with a start price of £30 I bid and was the only bidder. When I received the radio I couldn't use it until I got a headphone adapter as I didn't anticipate it having a 2.5mm headphone jack, although as the radio is 5mm thick fitting in a 3.5mm jack would have been challenging. The radio runs off a CR2032 coin cell. Performance is OK on Stereo FM although it is a bit fiddly to use. Yes the radio is in this photo ! These were sold with a variety of pictures mainly with a Japanese theme, this one being an exception. As I own an ICF-SW100S receiver as shown in the picture on the radio I thought it might be nice to get the other radio shown, a TR-55. Then I discovered that TR-55s, are worth about £2000 as it was Sony's very first radio. Not quite as silly as a Apple 1 prices but 100 times what I would be prepared to pay. The radio I use the most is the Prinztronic Cruiser 1 which was by far the cheapest of the lot (again bought on Ebay). Although the size of a small walkman it is very easy to use, and more imporatantly has good reception and sounds great. For those outside the UK, Prinz was one of the brand names used by Dixons stores, probably the UKs biggest seller of Gadgets like Cameras and Stereos, so I am sure there would be an AKA of this. Does anyone else have any interesting headphone radios ? Sony alone made dozens over the years.
I've got a bunch down in the stacks, mostly low-end similar to your Sony. The credit card model is neat, I'd like to check out one of those. Personally I really like the Sony ICF models with several bands, they seem to have higher build quality and look cool but they tend to go for silly money and are a little rare.
My latest one of those an ICF-SW40 was "silly money"; £5 in working order. It cost slightly more to get a replacement antenna for it. It even qualifies for Stereo2go having stereo on the headphone output unlike my more expensive ones. Back to Walkman Radios here is my latest purchase, a Sony SRF-35W from 1985. I was the only bidder in an Ebay auction starting at £10. It looks better in real life than in the listing, although the back is a bit faded. No problems with uncontrollable Megabass with this one. Reception isn't very good at the top of the FM band but it is fine for Radio 2 on 88.5MHz. I was using it for that last night.
I love those little Sony Multibands, I have a few but I'm not sure what box they went into before I moved a few years ago. The Walkman Radio is neat, I've never seen one with an EQ. Did it come with the whip antenna or did you mod it?
I have quite a few; SW7600DS (bought new in 1989), SW7600GR, Sw1000, SW1. SW2010, and best of all an SW2001D mint in the box. At one point I was seriously thinking of trying to collect the whole range. That is actually the rather bulky jack on my MDR605 headphones. Like most these personal radios the headphone lead is used as the antenna.
Here's one of my contributions, the Sony FM Walkman model SRF-40W. This is FM only but it has two headphone jacks and separate left and right volume control. I might not have grabbed it but they are pretty heavy units and don't feel cheap at all. It's a little grungy and needs a nice bath.
Hello all, I just happen to have one of these in front of me as I'm reading the thread so here it is. A nice Panasonic with its original headphones. I picked this up at a car boot sale a couple of weeks ago. I like the design and the 4 band equalizer. It has a power switch, tuner and volume rollers on the top, and an AM/FM switch on the side. Belt clip on rear.
That looks nice. Two questions What is the model number ? What batteries does it take ? (which will give people an idea of thickness)
Hi Longman, it is a Panasonic RF-435 and it takes two AAA batteries. Here is a sideways photo. It is the same size in length and depth as a packet of long "super king" size cigarettes. The width is a bit larger.
Here is my Sony Walkman I've had since December 1995 when I bought it from Hughes in Bury St Edmunds, I think it was £49.95, still playing beautifully. I bought the foldable headphones separately a lot later.
Another one for my collection It is the right way up on my computer. It has a radiomuseum entry showing it is only about 25 years old https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/radioshack_realistic_amfm_stereo_mate_12_182.html performance is about the same as the Sony but not as good as the Prinz.
I've been seeing a ton of really cool ones show up on ebay lately, I've been very tempted to pull the trigger since they look very well constructed and they are still pretty cheap. Are there any that were better builds then the typical models?
Today I went to the local charity shop and sat on the electricals shelf was this for £2. As soon as I saw the price it didn't my hand. It even came with good batteries in it, and some grotty earbuds that I will probably bin. Performance so far seems to be good with very few FM reception drop outs walking around the house. Twin volume sliders - one for each channel, takes a bit of getting used to. It actually seems to be very similar to the Realistic I bought being the same dimensions, but every case part is different, the Realistic having curved corners and a textured finish while this one is angular and shiney. Another purchase was a new in the box 20 x LG DVD writer for £5. A tenth of what I paid for my first 4 x CD ROM drive !
That took some finding but embossed in the base is Made in Hong Kong. I believe Philips had a factory there and the part number label is very Philips. The Realistic was made in China. Looking in the battery compartment I can see enough of the PCB to see that the PCB is different. However, they are definitely cousins. Maybe the company making the Philips case "lost" the drawings.
