Akai F3L

Rather than hijack the Akai Cassette Deck thread I thought I'd start a new one.

As explained in that thread I admired the Akai F3L Hi Fi Composite System for about a year while it was in Dixons. I thought the styling was quite B&O ish. The unit has remote control of most functions with a really neat remote that looks as if it is part of the front panel as it is held there with magnets, but can be ejected and used remotely. I also thought the motorised slide out turntable was neat.

However, the price in Dixons was £400 the equivalent of £1200 today.
In 1985 I noticed that a small company with just two shops who advertised in magazines like What HiFi selling customer returns and discontinued lines had them advertised for just £200. That was in my price range so I drove my Capri the 100 miles to the nearest branch in Birmingham and bought one.

If you are wondering the company was Richer Sounds who are now one of UKs largest AV retailers

https://www.richersounds.com/

Here is my F3L in the late 1980s.



When I finally got a CD player in 1989 I was able to use the Digital Audio Disc input. When they were designing this they obviously knew they were coming but didn't know what they would be called.

I still have it in the loft but it hasn't been powered on for about 15 years.

Do you have any photos of your HiFi years ago? I am tempted to say digital photos aren't allowed as they would be too recent. The photo above would have been taken with a Praktica fixed focus 35mm Compact Camera.

 

That brings back some memories! My granddad had one of these when I was a kid, was always fun to watch the turntable slide in and out with the little glass part folding into it. I wish I knew what happened to it, I'd love to find one just for nostalgia's sake. I used to have the speakers from it in my bedroom, albeit with 'bass-port' holes drilled into the backs. I think I swapped them for something a few years later though I can't remember what now.

My first 'proper' hi-fi of my own was a Sony MHC-701, bought from Comets. I think it was around £200ish. I still have it today and it still works perfectly. Sounds pretty good too, I used to plug my Amiga 500+ into it. I previously used my Panasonic FT-500 boombox for those duties, my brother's Sharp WQ-268 didn't have the AUX inputs.

My dad bought a Pioneer Z81 system in the late 80's with some compensation money he got from a crash. Still have that, though sadly the cd-player packed-up a few years back, which was a shame as it was the 6 disc cartridge version. He also had the correct 'surround-sound' speakers that were an option, and I think my mum bought him some Pioneer headphones that matched it too. I need to get another cd-player for it one-day, they seem to be quite cheap on eBay.

I don't have any photos on hand apart from maybe a digital photo or two of my Sony unit, I'm sure I could find some photos at home I could scan in though.



Please excuse it being very dusty and dirty, in this shed it didn't get that much use and I was always messing around with my RC modelling stuff, cutting bits of plastic and making things. Despite being covered in a layer of crap, it still worked just fine!

 

The truck was actually a kit AMT / Matchbox . I have just checked the box which is still here at my Mums house. It is copyright 1979 and interestingly it was made in the USA presumably by AMT but packed in the UK by Matchbox My Father used to help organise Packaging Exhibitions and would come back with a car full of Freebies (mainly things like Sellotape and Toiletries) which were given away to the organisers at the end of the exhibition. The truck was one of the biggest freebies and well worth building. I still have it (somewhere).

 

I was trying to think why a British Company would suddenly want to start selling models of American trucks, the likes of which are never seen over here. Then I realised this was one year after the film "Convoy" which was a huge hit over here. The record even got its own British parody:

 

I just found another picture from the 1985.
How is this for a feast of mid 1980s electronics which were all mine.


For the moment I won't say what they are so you can try and guess.
But will list them sometime next week.

 

I think its a Toshiba HX-10D MSX 1, quite a rare beast on these shores!

 

Spot on about the computer.

I'm not sure about rarity - at one point I had three of these.
At the time the HX10 was by far the most common MSX in UK shops.
It even had its own TV advert !



I have my doubts about the 1996 date though, as I bought mine new in 1995 for just £60 when MSX was in decline in the UK.
Looking for a bargain computer to replace my Texas TI99/4A, also bought for £60 about nine months earlier the choice was this or a Commodore Plus 4 for the same price. The older but more popular Spectrum and C64 were both double that price.

Although I bought the Toshiba in a short lived rival to Comet called Saturn, a few months later I got the matching Toshiba Music Keyboard reduced from £250 to £100 from Boots (the Chemist who back in the 1980s wanted to be a department store).

MSX was popular enough in the UK to have its own magazine "MSX User" and a reasonable range of games, although most f them were Spectrum ports.

Mister X

Until 1995 when the law changed UK equipment wouldn't be supplied with a plug and you would have to buy one and fit it yourself. Most were black or more commonly white but a few larger retailers did different colours. You can still buy wire on plugs, although there isn't much need for them these days. Quite recently I picked up a Translucent Purple one - ideal for a 1990s Imac.

 

While clearing out my Mum's house loft I found the Akai F-3L box. Back in the 1980s even the boxes had to have a trendy red grid.
The shops sticker is dated 14th December 1984. I am pretty sure that like many products the L designates that this has Longwave,
so presumably the USA versions got a different box!