Found over on archive.org, 1978. The KD-2 would have been killer looking if it was slightly smaller but it's kind of big in person, it's still a great looking unit trying to be a little different than a square box. ....and the accessories, the rack mount box is awesome, wonder how many are still around?
after at least 20 years intensive looking (!), i found my personal "holy grail", a 1971 designed Telefunken Magnetophone 36 (M36), also called "Tonschreiber". this unit was designed for military use in submarines, tanks and planes, to record sonar, two-way radio conversations etc.etc.. it is a 2-track 3 head unit with astonishing design and performance. mine has a cracked piece front left, but i don't want to complain, otherwise it's in quite good order. somebody has changed the strange military NF-sockets to BNC, wich i don't mind, as i can even use it like that. check up how nice it is built inside, like a Nagra, solid as a rock: find out more about it here: https://www.cryptomuseum.com/covert/rec/telefunken/m36/index.htm
Heavy duty! Wow, that's a real beast and very nicely done. I was just watching Adam Savage Tested today and he has the original Darth Vadar Light Sabar and it has allen-head screws and I was thinking that was early use of them but this is even earlier. We have another die-cast entry, along with the Sony XF-5000, am I missing some?
Sorry, fixed to the right prefix... https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/what-is-the-coolest-boombox-sony-built.4611/
Found this really cool brochure for the JVC Field Recorders, these might have different model numbers in other countries. Birds chirping and recording other sounds were huge, we stuck more with burping and farting plus recording TV shows or off the radio.
One of the very few portable three head machines, the beautiful Aurex (Toshiba) PC-4280 from 1977. I have a feeling this is a heavy duty build, you can see the strap pins on the sides and it looks like it's all metal. Anybody own one of these beauties? https://audio-database.com/AUREX/player/pc-4280.html https://www.1001hifi.info/2021/09/aurex-pc-4280-1977-3-head-to-go.html
Cool photo but the unit itself looks a little plain and underwhelming. Of course if I ever saw one I'd probably jump on it. The L0-D D-150 from Hitichi, I'm not sure of the year.
One of my first favorites when I was discovering the world of field recorders, the Marantz PMD-360. It's big and chunky but it's also three heads and they probably saw a market need for it. I don't know the production years but they're pretty easy to find on ebay. To me it pulls off the beefy plastic look a little better than the Lo-D but the gold is a little obnoxious. I think "The Gold Standard" and "The Solid Gold Sound" were early 80's taglines.
I found a neat website that lists most of the 1970's cassette "field recorders." There's a few missing but overall it's great for the year released, features and sonics. https://www.ccw-ka.eu/site/index/hifi_frame.html There's many more than on this list....
That Victor KD-2 was later also released as the JVC CD1635, i own one....actually own a couple of field recorders This one is my favorite, a combo between boombox and field recorder the JVC 9475LSB...thing looks wicked....looking for those brackets and mics ow and one antenna...ghehehe
The 1635 and KD-2 are different models, Peter Vis has some good information. The KD-2 looks small but it's a pretty beefy unit. https://www.petervis.com/hi-fi-info/jvc-cassette-tape-decks/jvc-cassette-tape-decks.html Yea that JVC is so nice but good luck finding the mic brackets. A few years ago I was lucky to get the generic AIWA Version after a long time of looking (there's a post in the mega-sale thread, he had multiple NOS). With the JVC you might be able to fab up the brackets if you know the dimensions. As far as I know, nobody has posted personal photos of them to help remake them.
aaah i meant the KD-3.....its the same as the CD1635 MKI...... And yeah could try building my own brackets, looks like an angled pice that slides in the boombox, then a rubber grommet that holds the pivot for the mic stand...but tbh even those JVC MU-103 mics are near unobtainable........ill think ill let it fly....
Sometimes you get lucky, especially with the mics cuz no one really wants the consumer models that the boomers used, although some are fairly nice. It might take a few months/years of looking. AIWA's connected with a clamp that went on the handle meaning the system should work with most boomboxes. There's an AIWA CM-1016AP set I'll post in the sale mega-thread that might work but it looks like it has 1/4" (camera style) threaded mount.
tbh i've been looking for some time now for the MU-103, like some years....they pop up now and then but then they are located in VS or AUS....eventually they will find there way to me, gear mostly does noticed in life, as soon as you let go it will come to you
