I wish I could see the picture but the phone kicks me out after I view the picture and I have to go use the history to come back. Once again, I've never seen a miniature or micro cassette Walkman before. I've seen boomboxes that have a micro cassette in them along with a standard. Is that the right word cassette in them but this is the first I've seen a micro or mini cassette. Again, don't know right language here because there are so many different sizes of cassette, but I've never seen a Walkman for a micro or mini cassette before next to a regular standard cassette. Hope I'm using the right language for the sizes. Anyway, thanks for that view.
I believe mini-cassette is the Philips format that uses rim-drive and thus not very accurate for music. In the micro-cassette (and mini) thread I added my IBM Mini-Cassette which is kind of a cool shelf queen. The format was featured in Clockwork Orange, with music cassettes, but Olympus's Micro-Cassette, with Metal Tapes provided much better sonics and less wow and flutter using traditional belt drive. The Metal Tapes didn't come around until around 1981 and are one of the rarest tapes to find. While there were several manufacturers for stereo-micro, Sony's Two Stereo Walkmans were the M-1000 and M-50.
I do not collect the mono recorders but I happen to have a few: Aiwa TP-25, nice solid device Sony TCM-37V, how do you like the CUE MARKER green button? Sony TCS-430. Oops, that's actually stereo, but it belongs to this category IMHO Also stereo, a really nice one this WM-R2 Back to mono, see description and more pics in my gallery TCM-55, a very common model TCM-38V, featuring a nice digital clock TCM-S66V, this one I actually bought new and used it myself, long time ago TCM-17, nice model when it first came out Aiwa TP-S30, this is a very basic plastic model. Does have speed control though. This is a CAS-R538Y, unknown model Sony M-550 micro cassette, pretty basic TCM-R2, pretty nice model but unfortunately this one is damaged Panasonic RQ-L11. I haven't seen many Panasonic mono recorders, it's one of the few I have Same for Hitachi, this is their TRQ-5 with Sound Zoom Recording System. Zoom zoom! TCM-48 Sony TCM-36, one of a series of model numbers that are very similar TCM-40, the next in line TCM-400 TCM-50, the next in line. Feels a lot better than the lower models with it, more metal, more solid, even though it looks similar. Auto reverse. Another TCM-50 The TCS-60 is a similarly nice model, but stereo. I know this is about mono recorders but for completeness I add it. You gotta like the back of this one... such a nice sturdy old Sony speaker look! The R-909... what's not to like about this super miniature micro cassette recorder, incredibly small and feature rich including auto reverse Cool, isn't it? A cheap plasticky micro cassette recorder, the M-430 A M-750V micro cassette recorder, they came in these boxes And the Aiwa TP-M9, a very nice metal device, very solid, much nicer than the two Sony's above And now for something completely different, a TCM-IC100. I like this one. A lot! It plays tapes through its speaker with pretty nice audio quality, very clear. And it has an IC recorder, which works very well. Mine came from Japan and actually had a lot of recordings still on it. I do not understand Japanese, but the interviews between a man and a lady are so super cool to listen to. This is basically a plastic device lacking the sturdyness of the high end models, but the looks and the functionality are just so cool in my view Talking about cool... this Aiwa TP-750 falls into the same category. Soft touch buttons, auto reverse, many other features and a great look. I like it, it was a reason for me to refurbish this one. The TCS-90. Again cheating as this is stereo, but it was in the same category so I photographed it anyway. For me, a 9 out of 10 at least. The look, the feel (metal case all around), the nice display... this one is super super nice. Unfortunately mine has had so much battery leakage that it's beyond repair, so I'll be looking for a mint and working one. Talking about battery, as far as I know this is the only one where the battery compartment takes both a gumstick and double AAA batteries, quite neat. What do you think? In the same category of super-cool, but mono this time is the TCM-77V I love this design. The display is nice too, with a cassette animation I think this may be my favourite mono recorder actually, it's a genius
It's hard not to end up with some along the way. The green strip is interesting, the color also shows up on other equipment especially car tape decks always seem to have a green button or painted dot.
Michael Jordan, he played for the Tar Heels, the team that is printed on the can in the photo before my post.
Carolina blue soda tar heels soda can number one. I finally saw that but didn't make any sense of that to me. I was thinking Michael Jackson for the letters. MJ and I couldn't begin to think that he even had any boomboxes. Yes, I don't follow sports. I only root for the winning team after they've won LOL
I found the sister to my earlier TC-56, the Sony TC-55 in silver! Found locally, it also has the leather case, I'm not sure what the differences are besides the color. Remember when Goodwill used to have tapes?
A big, kind of dusty Panasonic RQ-548S, I was debating whether to post it since it needs a good bath but that might be awhile. From a distance these are pretty nice looking with the "target" MIC and round VU meter. The display plastic is also curved giving the front a lot of round/square cues. As an added bonus it has AUX in but it's just 3.5mm and probably needs the record button trick to work with something like bluetooth. The speaker is interesting, the "18" mm has to do with it's size which might have been impressive in the mid-70's but it also has that brown cone. The inside of the cone attaches to the top of the brown cone and the cone recesses back around 1".
One of the coolest looking 70's mono boomers (from the B&B Thread). Centrex was Pioneer's Budget Line but this is high-class all the way. Audiophiles hated boomboxes back then so Pioneer and Marantz (Superscope) had "budget" lines under different branding, at least that's my theory.
Yesterday finally got this TCM-7 working again...with its three motors and early mcu this was a hard nut to crack.... Was doa but is playing fine now and i didn't have to change a single component. First worked thru the electro mechanical stuff like switches etc...had some weird readings on the power supply transistors but in hindsight this was due to the mcu sending and receiving wrong signals at the button and mech switch end. Also found a crack in the 5 pin flatcable going from the audioboard to the control board, this is an important voltage line carrying the 2.65v for the button assembly. Fixed this by running a direct wire to the controlboard. This TCM-7 uses three motors just like its brother the WM-7. There is ofcourse the capstan motor and two auxiliry motors. One drives the play and rec mech and the other engages fwd and rew mech modes. These two motors each also drive a rotary pcb switch. If the signals don't match, the mcu gets confused and refuses to engage since it can't finish it's routine. When i took the control board out, the position of fwd/rew switch wasn't as stated in the service manual. Put that in the correct position and remounted the control board. On top of the rotary switches, which are driven by the aux motors, on each of them is a pin that needs to slide into the position as stated in the service manual. Took me several tries to get all the sliding levers in the correct position so the pin could drop in...once all is the correct position the mcu gets the correct signals from both switches and the mech will wake up. See the flowchart in the sm. I think this little walkman/recorder is a technical marvel, the way Sony came up with this mech to make it function with a mcu is just brilliant. For me this is the king of handheld mono recorders..... And on a sidenote, this is the most silent mech that, well, i just can't hear...it is that quiet...... Even found the rare MDR-E212MRV remote control headphones. Although this is a mono machine the remote has two earbuds attached. Not real stereo but double mono...the orange button is to pause the TCM and works well. Just a good looking recorder.
