Crown --- The King is Back

Discussion in 'Chat Area' started by deech, Dec 4, 2017.

  1. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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  2. Radio Raheem

    Radio Raheem Well-Known Member

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    one can only point and laugh at that price I'm afraid

    mine is in cassette needs new belts but it's quite loud for what it is, not sure how to clean the heads though as play wont engage with the door open
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2021
  3. CDV

    CDV Well-Known Member

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    Is it just a humongous calculator on the right?
     
  4. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

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    It looks to be. Actually the whole unit isn't much bigger than some of the ones early in this advert.

    Make sure you watch to the end to see the price of the "pocket" calculator.
    I think it was in a 1973 TV series "Last of the Summer Wine" that one character was often hoping that her son would become "a young executive with a pocket calculator".
     
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  5. TooCooL4

    TooCooL4 Well-Known Member

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    Longman love it, the price is as big as the unit. :loldiag:
     
  6. CDV

    CDV Well-Known Member

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    The $100+ price of TI graphing calculator has not changed much for the last 30 years, despite that a smartphone with access to graphing software can be bought for $20. This calculator has been a staple of the American high school. What is more profitable than selling drugs? Government contracts.
     
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  7. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

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    LGR did a video about that which I found very surprising

    The U.K. has never been so restrictive, with most pupils using a mixture of Casio and Sharp calculators.
    Nowaday's I'm sure that a £1 scientific from Poundland would be good enough.
    https://ocr.org.uk/Images/69918-faqs-calculators-in-exams.pdf

    I can see why mobile phones aren't allowed. You could fill the entire memory with a textbook or even text a friend asking how to do something.

    p.s. Showing my age, the only school exam where we were allowed to use calculators was Chemistry Practical and that was a new thing.
    However, the sums in other exams tended to be easy. Along the lines of "A circular swimming pool has a circumference of 62.83 m. To the nearest cm what is its diameter".
     
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  8. Philip Taylor

    Philip Taylor Active Member

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    I have forgotten everything but I recall the equation is c=62.83/3.14 = 20.01 .ps I hope that is correct
     
  9. CDV

    CDV Well-Known Member

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    @Longman , this was a nice investigative piece from LGR. TI was a major sponsor of NCTM's conferences and road shows, and NCTM in turn basically made the TI calculator a part of the curriculum. NCTM and NCTE are, in my opinion, rogue organizations, ruining teaching of mathematics and English language, respectively, in American schools.

    I cannot help sharing this video, even though it veers further away from the original topic. The relevant piece starts from 4:12, but the preceding part provides context.

    When I was in school, we were not allowed to use calculators. The exercises were designed so, that if you group like terms and simplify fractions, you would be able to calculate it on paper easily.

     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2021
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  10. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    Interesting information, I never knew about the TI's, I still have my TI-81 from school and my teaching must have been effective. I still like to do long math at work, it seems to be highly effective brain exercise, along with typing in audio forums.

    I think the first large calculators were sized that way so you could do one-handed addition, most 70's calculators had a lot of air inside of them.
     
  11. CDV

    CDV Well-Known Member

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    Right, I think originally they were meant as table calculators to use in an office, not handheld calculators. So the buttons were large, the display was tilted towards a clerk. At least it made some functional sense. Looking at Techmoan's video about the GPO boombox, specifically at the section starting at 22:35, one can only agree with him, that the makers of that machine tried to create something decent, but "did not quite achieve their aim" :) A couple of circuit boards, lots of air, and the heft comes from two circular magnets on the speakers.

    This GPO boombox looks similar to the Crown boomboxes, and I like this style. But it is totally fake: tape counter that is simply stopwatch, CD counter that counts in seconds, crudely rigged small battery held in a large compartment with foam pads, digital radio posing as analog, etc. Even my 1991 double-cassette deck, that has lots of air inside, is not as fake.

    At 31:00 he shows some older, real boomboxes including a Sanyo one, very similar to M7770 that I have. The reverse side of this being a "real" boombox is that, according to those who opened it up, I need to unsolder quite a few wires just to get to the rubber belt. I have M7750 and M7770, one worked then stopped, another did not work as I bought it (the seller refunded the money). So I dread the moment when I need to open them up. They are definitely not as airy inside like the fake GPO boombox with nice flat cables and computer-style no-solder connectors.

     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2021
  12. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    The Crown's are surprisingly heavy, they don't look like it and they aren't quite as flashy as some of the big manufacturer's offerings but they are really nice. The big old one is really heavy but I'd expect to find a big metal chassis in it, the speakers are pretty light but definately an upgrade from a transistor radio speaker, but not much.

    There are some later Crowns that do look like plastic fantastic, I'm sure they got creamed by sales in the mid-80's and had to trim production costs.
     
  13. CDV

    CDV Well-Known Member

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    I guess that GPO box was going for a look like this. It even has piano keys exactly at the same location. The GPO has a guard around the keys, while the Crown has these keys in a recessed area, if I see it right? And it looks like there is a cover to hide them out of sight? I have a similar cover on my plasma TV to hide buttons and front-panel inputs.

    Crown CSC-840
    [​IMG]
     
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  14. Radio Raheem

    Radio Raheem Well-Known Member

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    another 970 to the collection, i think it's raining 970's at the moment, never thought i would have three and this one although in rough shape was the cheapest of them all, i will get her done in time tho
    s-l1600 (3).jpg
     
  15. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    Crusty is the new cool, war wounds showing they were loved, I think that one will clean up nicely.
     
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  16. Radio Raheem

    Radio Raheem Well-Known Member

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    yes this one is as you say Mr x roached out lol but I'm building another out of my parts unit and this one my friend, it was quarter the price of a usual 970 so all good lad
     
  17. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    I'd take it, I don't care about the dust and wounds, the amazing thing is most of them still work. I have gotten a few lately with the rattling piece inside, that always stinks.....
     
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  18. Radio Raheem

    Radio Raheem Well-Known Member

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    It came of our ebay mr x, i don't hang about lol, only ever seen 2 on uk ebay, i made an under the table offer and the seller bit my hand off, i would love to have seen how much it would have normally sold for though...i bet i would have been out of the bidding , knowing the crazy prices that boxes go for........it's my birthday soon so with the missions and 2 crown 970 bought that is me done... ohh one other good thing i did not pay tax on the other so that was £150 saved guys...it's in for repair but it could be months before i see it, the guy is so damn slow grrrr
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2021
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  19. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

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    It's boombox season right now, things don't sell as easily until mid-January. I've got several bids out on oddball equipment, I'll maybe get one or two. You guys have big tax, ours is creeping up on everything lately and they want to monitor our bank accounts to see what we're buying.
     
  20. Radio Raheem

    Radio Raheem Well-Known Member

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    Here she is after some work, was quite a drama as most of the screws had rotted away (no heads) had to smash the old front off, had no choice, most switches were dead took more than servisol radio was dead as advertised now the tuner works, replaced all knobs not original but look great, also sprayed all knobs to match and replaced both antenna with original ones....need to sort out the deck also need to sort out the led's as they don't work at the moment but I'm more than happy with the result so far DSCN3056[1].JPG

    deck and led's will be sorted by engineer in time, wish i had all 3 here for a pic lol
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2021
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