For the Donkey Kong Lovers, this is a little older (from the arcade days), from 1995 but it's a Nintendo Release and it's a portable cassette player! I wonder why it doesn't look more like DK? https://www.ebay.com/itm/193963726087?_trkparms=aid=1110006&algo=HOMESPLICE.SIM&ao=1&asc=20131231084308&meid=60cae1e01fc2486db6ce3863f34437b4&pid=100010&rk=3&rkt=12&sd=203394363187&itm=193963726087&pmt=1&noa=1&pg=2047675&algv=DefaultOrganicWithAblationExplorer&brand=Nintendo&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109
This is not actually arcade era. This looks just like DK, but just the DK that appears in Donkey Kong Country on the SNES onward. 1995 would be the right year too. Also Donkey Kong Land on the OG gameboy. I'm sure this cassette player sounds awful. It was only a gimme merchandise play for fans of the game released a year earlier. That speaker on his belly button is disturbing to say the VERY least. If you are on a budget, perhaps consider: 1997 STAR WARS R2-D2 Data Droid Cassette Player Tiger Electronics Music NRFB NEW | eBay It's an R2D2 portable cassette player from 1997. 97 was a HUGE year for Star Wars. I'd love to say it sounds good, but I have personally auditioned one of these buggers, and I can honestly attest to its horribleness in sound quality. All of that aside, its an awesome novelty by Tiger toys, and It's only like what, $30 round about?
Check out this beast, competing with some of the other suitcase heavyweights, the Blaupunkt Micronic, I love this type of boombox, there weren't many but they are impressive. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Blaupunkt-Micronic-Koffer-/233574176135
Here's a Candle TV Boombox Model JCTR 108 made by Gold Star Company (Korea) in 1983. I like the looks of this one with the big mono speaker and it even has an analog meter which is kind of rare this late in the boombox world. https://www.ebay.com/itm/363093103885?hash=item548a09150d:g:SrUAAOSwXR1gKCtI
Hitachi K-2400, this is really nice looking but I suspect it's missing a battery compartment. It looks like the power supply can be removed and maybe there was a battery holder? Even though it's 2/3rds of a boombox I love it and these Hitachis don't show up very often. This has to be one of the smallest of the 70's "chunky" radio/cassette/tv portables before JVC and Sharp released the LCD Walkman Sized Versions. https://www.ebay.com/itm/233201118170?hash=item364bdeabda:g:WNEAAOSwkCZcfVku
This is a neat little radio, almost a boombox but no cassette, still nice looking, it's too bad they don't have a photo with the handle up. The Panasonic RF-559 https://www.ebay.com/itm/2548871352...rand=Panasonic&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982
Don't forget your cent.ldn JVC M90 Candle, now available! Hand made goodness https://www.centldn.com/ They also had this cool photo on their website
I was watching 1995 TV comedy "Game On" and the character Matthew was messing around in the middle of the night with one of these keeping his flatmates awake. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224444909748?_trkparms=aid=111001&algo=REC.SEED&ao=1&asc=20160908105057&meid=6183d199380549839f580488efc2d1ff&pid=100675&rk=1&rkt=15&mehot=none&sd=224444909748&itm=224444909748&pmt=0&noa=1&pg=2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci:ecd35465-aead-11eb-9e03-2a2b3c150c4f|parentrq:437a4c821790a7b0e2073150fff403aa|iid:1 Now I know what it is. Judging from the size of the speakers I'm not sure if it would wake anyone up. Teac made some similar mains only CD Radio units that looked and probably sounded far better.
Sanyo M7500 fresh out of 1979! This is one of their Mini-Slim Line Up Boomboxes and although it's a mini, it's super nice. The first thing you'll notice is they might weigh more than a full size Lasonic, I think the entire top and front panel is metal and it has AUX in, 1/4" headphone jack, speaker outs and L + R mic in. It's also kind of rare seeing mini's with dual antennas, although the photo looks like it's missing one. Sanyo made some of the nicest minis of all time and these don't come up for sale very often, at least over here. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1848202167...rentrq:6120ed7a1790a7b9dd4fb060ffe91204|iid:1
I'm going to post the photo of that system, I've never seeen the full unit for sale before and I've looked for a complete system over the years. Interestingly, the tape deck is made by TEAC! Randix sold some interesting products, mostly made in Taiwan, over the years, the design of most of it makes me think that they didn't copy and most were original.
I think the seller has provided too many photos to tempt me to bid but this is cool. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124727332829?hash=item1d0a540fdd:g:390AAOSw1PdgoT6x At £179.90 back in 1986 the Sharp QT90 was expensive. Interestingly, given the bidding war on this, the same seller has a boxed Matchbox Model of Yesteryear car at 99p with no bids. I suspect the reason is that 99.9% of these free leaflets were binned as soon as they were out of date while 99% of Models of Yesteryear were put away in a cabinet with the idea that in the future one BNIB would be worth a lot of money. That sent me off looking at Saisho Radios and I found https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133711072489?hash=item1f21cd0ce9:g:jkAAAOSwg7VgZayn I'm not sure if I would pay £5 for the player at a car boot sale but the tape collection caught my eye. I would be happy to listen to any of those. I have said several times how I think streaming has completely devalued music. You know that with a collection like that, which probably cost £10 or more a tape adjusted for inflation, each tape was either carefully chosen and then cherished for years. I would be interested to know if all the albums on the tapes are actually available on a streaming service, but I am not going to subscribe to one to find out.
Sony NT-1, the Scoopman! These come up for sale about every year or so, here's two units that look like they've been on someone's garage shelf. https://www.ebay.com/itm/144061698381?hash=item218abf114d:g:Wi0AAOSw0cBgt5wQ
This is cool, I haven't seen one of these before. According to wikipedia, it uses helical scan like DAT and it appeared around 1992. Probably SONY tried to make a dictaphone with a technology similar to DAT, but in a more compact form-factor. But I have a feeling it wasn't very popular. If someone has more info about this, I'm curious to know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NT_(cassette)
Here is a rather short demo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXo3_wmqtEQ Techmoan questions why Sony made the format stereo with Bass Boost etc if they weren't also hoping it would get used for music. Look out for the gapless auto-reverse which is impressive.
I think they were taking DAT smaller in case that market took off over MiniDisc but all of this equipment was super-expensive and never reached the consumer market. These two look pretty roached compared to others that came up for sale, I'd hold out for better units but maybe if you could get a better price on them?
I only have one very old Grundig Dictation Recorder but I've looked at other models that pop up from time to time, this one is new for me and I love the 70's beefy units. If I had to guess I'd say around 1976? With a good cleaning I have to believe this would look great on the wall, unfortunately it's a little out of my price range but definately on the radar. Anybody know what the "VAT" and strange symbol on the left of the cassette door are? I love the "Sender" knob and the tiny mics. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3039846423...4dc49e1fa3088e3745eb|ampid:PL_CLK|clp:2334524
All these Digital Formats, including MiniDisc date back to the days when a decent size memory card cost $100 or more. For a non working unit that price is highly optimistic. This unit looks more interesting and works https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/19417931...a=1&pg=2506613&_trksid=p2506613.c100290.m3507 If you can settle for mono this is more realistic (although the postage is high) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/19416833...a=1&pg=2506613&_trksid=p2506613.c100290.m3507 I have a similar unit awaiting restoration that I bought for a couple of £s, mainly because it was "Made in Great Britain" Northern Ireland to be precise. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/19416833...a=1&pg=2506613&_trksid=p2506613.c100290.m3507 To answer the question about the symbol it denotes a long life head like on this Grundig deck https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12463003...&brand=Grundig&_trksid=p2506613.c100290.m3507 I have no idea what the VAT means. Since the 1970s VAT has been a purchase tax we have to pay in the U.K.
this aiwa I did not know AIWA DATA RECORDER DR-2 Energization OK Cassetta Operazione controllata / 8 | EBay