This little guy arrived yesterday from Budapest Hungary! I bought it because I like generic multi brand stereo's & it looked in great condition......... I knew the cassette deck was not working & all the controls were very dirty resulting in some very strange symptoms when testing out radio function So open up time it is - What do we find?? First a very well thought out & designed chassis which after removing 3 screws & unplugging speakers along with led panel, lets you lift the entire internals out in one piece! So a great start! The cassette deck comes out of the chassis very easily so belt change was done - I observed that this is the same deck used in many generic early 1980's stereo's & it's a very good one too.......Flat belt & a decent size flywheel along with an all metal construction & strong mechanics, it's no surprise to me that there was nothing else wrong with the mechanism at all! Autostop also working correctly leaving pinch roller & heads to deep clean as they were all very dirty Next job: Clean every switch & control in sight, even the headphone & microphone sockets, everything was dirty & sticky & this took a good half an hour just cleaning over & over until I was satisfied all functions should now be restored! No further adjustments were needed at all - Cassette deck reinstalled & tested & all working like new again! The build quality is really above average & that's why I love these long forgotten little radio cassette recorders, still working in 2018 with minimum attention!! I should mention the condition was described as very good.........It's better than that, this machine may as well be brand new in it's box (Which I don't have) the condition is simply stunning & hard to believe you have something from 1982 still in this condition - What a bonus! Sound quality is as good as you can expect here, 2 way 4 speaker arrangement & a tuner that covers both the FM bands..........My first stereo with both of them & I found that unusual on what is clearly a European model! Both radio & cassette work perfectly as do all the controls, we can now adjust balance tone & everything else - None of these worked when it arrived.......... All there is left to do is to introduce.......... The Asahi RD-8024 Stereo Radio Recorder!! I am very happy with this & I paid very little money for it plus it was so easy to do - Some of these generic machines have led me on a real wild goose neck!! Result!! Et Viola: Hi-Res Images Here: https://onedrive.live.com/?id=BEA218B70F2B18D1!31248&cid=BEA218B70F2B18D1
Any idea where it was made or how old it is ? I see the speakers were made in Singapore but that is the only clue. Even if made in the 90s it would have been an expensive luxury in Hungary back then. P.s having commented in the past on beautiful hand drawn PCBs, that one looks much more modern - probably created using Rubylith tape.
Back in my younger days I used to sell against Asahi Plastic Products which had a huge line of plastic valves and piping for the chemical and electronics industry. They are out of Japan and they are a pretty big industrial manufacturer so it wouldn't surprise me that they might have entered the electronics market through private branding. That's a nice looking box, the speakers really looked like the ones on my Marantz PMS 3500, I have it behind me and they are very close but the Marantz has a little more box at the top. Nice job, I'm surprised you didn't pull out something grungier.
nickeccles, have you ever tried the aux speaker outputs? I never have but I'm curious if you need speakers with some juice or if there's enough coming out of the unit. In some of the Marantz Literature it states that there's a separate amp for the them but I've only seen that written in one place and haven't cracked open any of my Marantz/Superscopes yet.
No separate amp just 2 sockets that cuts internal speakers off!! These speakers are 4 ohms so output to external speakers would be low!
The "flipper" treatment of the tuner dial is interesting. Most at the time of this box's build would've optioned for a plain face... if not a finger-divot for ease of one-handed spinning. And seeing those LEDs along the front panel reminds me of the green LED signal-strength meter on the front of my brother's old Soundesign compact stereo, which was built around the same time--when esthetics mattered just as much as performance!
