Have been a fan of these little JVC systems for many years. The FS-7000 hides on my computer desk and still sounds great after all these years. The CD player lid is a bit sticky but otherwise still works fine. That Tivoli is ok sounding, they all seem to have issues with their tuners getting crackly and this cannot be solved with a shot of dexoit as it apparently will ruin the tuning mechanism. Basically I just work the dial back and forth a few times and that seems to clear it. We also have an FS-T100 in the kitchen which keeps the fids company during the day. They like CBC FM. And in my collection I have a UX1 along with a few other things I'll have to dig out....
Good to see some love for the JVC Mini Systems. Here is my UX-A52 The colour changing front sold it to me. In the loft I have an Aiwa with illuminated speakers (but no cassette). There is a very similar model with JVC with Minidisc instead of the cassette. In fact my remote is for that one as it was far easier to source one. On the subject of Mini Hi-Fis they seem to turn up regularly at the local charity shops. At the weekend I saw a Sony with full logic cassette very similar to the FS-T100 for about £20
That's really cool with the multi colour faceplate! Probably not a big deal about the lack of cassette, most of the decks from back then have dead belts! I would have bought it for the illumination in a heartbeat as well! Over here we get quite a few boom boxes and portable stereos turning up in Thrift Shops as well, I picked up my second FS-7000 for $25 at a Goodwill and the T100 for $15 at a charity thrift shop. Same with the UX-1. It's amazing how 'disposable' electronics are today.
Here's my RC838 that I purchased brand new in the 70's. Had it at work running 24/7 for 15 years until we relocated our area. Replaced the antennas after a coworker broke them. Otherwise still works fine. Even have the wacky biphonic demo tape.
Just realized the first mini system I bought brand new was an FS-2000. It's packed away in it's box after I found a second in a Goodwill. This is the 'cheap' one. Main difference was the display with the older FS-2000 being more spartan.
As shown in the second photo the UX-A52 does have a cassette deck (but no Minidisc). What you can't tell from the photo is that it loads like a front loading VCR pulling the cassette into itself. I haven't seen that on any other tape deck. The CD player is at the bottom and the front panel swings in the other direction to reveal that. Regarding charity shops, the area where I live is full of pensioners so I wonder how many come from house clearances. However there is still a market for new mini systems. I was in Currys (large UK electrical retailer) and the person in front of me at the till was buying a Sony one for about £90.
Whoa, that is way cool. I've also never seen a slot loading cassette player. Wonder if that is a bit of a spin on slot loading video tape player/recorders. Over here I see a lot of interesting stuff turning up in some thrift stores. Was looking at a rather boxy looking Panasonic boom box for $11 at one I frequent. They get a lot of the really big tabletop boxes which don't seem popular any more. Seems MP3's have killed off a lot of these old big boxes. Guess on the bright side is that some of these rigs are dirt cheap and sound pretty good. Not a big fan of todays compressed music.
Lots of car stereos use slot loading cassette decks, but on most you have to physically push the cassette quite hard until their is a big clunk and the heads engage. It wouldn't surprise me if JVC used the same mechanism in some high end car unit. As for the big boomboxes, the ones with line in so they can easily be connected to an MP3 player are the more desirable ones. Whether they have that seems to depend on their age I have a cheap Made in China Panasonic Radio Cassette that does and a much more upmarket but older Panasonic with a CD player that doesn't.
Yes, was thinking of mini's. At least over here most of the one's I've come across are front loading with the pop open door. I'm from the era of 8 track and then cassette car decks so yes all of those decks were slot loading. I had a Marantz car cassette deck in a 77 T-Bird which actually sounded very good. Granted I also replaced the factory speakers with high end 2 way 6x9's. I still have an Alpine cassette deck in my Jeep CJ and my Turbo Coupe has the Ford slot loading not so 'Premium' JBL system. I still have a boxed JVC car deck that was in a pickup I sold. Seems to me it was the old school push the tape in and it dropped with a clunk into the unit to engage the head. I seem to recall a Concord slot loading deck that loaded the cassette with tape side facing the deck and that didn't clunk. But it was common for manufacturers to pull parts from different products and reuse them in something else. My big JVC boom box has a pair of RCA phono inputs but that is prior to the introduction of CD players.
Found a Sharp XL-35 at a resale shop years ago, and gave it to a [now late] friend to use in her apartment... which she never did. Best thing I did with it was upgrade the the speakers from the original single-element ones to a pair of 2-ways that matched the output, and add a powered (90w) subwoofer. The worst thing I did was replace the 2-ways with a larger set of 3-ways... Never sounded the same after that, but at least I found a matching replacement remote! It currently serves as a system for my dad's laptop. It's preferable to the built-in speakers because of not only does it sound better, but the volume control is right-there within easy reach.
