Hello, i was wondering where they came From, because on many of the 80s Models is something like „Made in Saigon“ or „‚Made i Korea“, where Grundig never built there own things. So i guess they are OEM. I bought a Beat Boy 160 for 15 Euro in Kleinanzeigen. I read that they are Good to Service and in Most cases they work Even After 35 Years. I was looking for an Alternative for my DDs, because it‘s Not easy to keep them working, and it‘s NOT an issue with the CG. i normally don‘t like Plastic Units, but the Beat Boys are relativeley cheap to get and the DDs getting too expensive for everyday use. My silver DD fell to the ground a des days ago and now my silver has scratches, it looked Perfect before and now i hate myself for it... So i‘m looking for a cheap Alternative which Sounds Good and has Good W&F. And i read That especially BB 160 and 170 both got Anti Rolling and doesn‘t Look too ugly, but it would be interesting to know who built them and on which other Brands they came out eventually. Grundig is Not the Most coolest brand and they often Look a Little too much like „Grandpa Style...“... Thanks and Cheers Tobi
A lot of companies sourced tape players from Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong in the 70's-90's and placed their name on them, some where unique and some were blatant copies. For some reason there's very few superstar models, most tend to be entry-level or slightly better. We never got many Grundig's around here besides their beautiful console radios and the little multi-band radios so I've never seen the tape player up close. I usually let the players find me either through garage sales, thrift stores and sometimes Ebay. I really like AIWA's a lot and old member The Lion has a cool website, check out some of his featured models. Some of these are still under the radar and can be reasonably priced. I like the small buttons and compact designs, although the HS-J02, a brick by today's standards is also one of my favorites. https://personalhifiblog.blogspot.com/p/aiwa.html
Grundig never ever produced a walkman-type player themselves. all those units, starting with „Cloneman“ BB100, were oem. some of them like that BB100 where rather good but Grundig shared destiny with all other german brands. they jumped too late on the train for the world wide expanding portable cassette stereo entertainment.
