Satellite solid state Radio/Phonograph

Here are some pictures of a unit I picked up cheaply recently on EBay Made by Satellite ,I have never seen one before. It is portable and strangely combines a radio and record player. . The radio works and the record player turns but I have not yet dared to try a record. I will have to find one I can risk damaging first . It has a battery compartment with electric lead connected inside. There are no other markings on the exterior save made inJapan by the battery compartment and aa warning about opening the back cover.there are no markings in the interior either . I find it a weird unit. There is also inside an adaptor for 45 rpm disc with no centrepiece Any further information about this unit or company who made it would be welcome .

 

This was a semi-popular device that was sold under many names and brands during the 1960s (and 70s?). Here's one by Barrington:



Same idea. This is one of those 'novelty' players. It was designed to play small single records and probably doesn't sound too great at all. I definitely wouldn't play any records you care about keeping in good condition on it.

This unit was most likely not made by Satelite or Barrington, but rather just a mass market commodity that many 'in-house' brands used.

Nevertheless, a very cool looking piece of audio history. Before the whole Walkman thing happened, this was your 'stereo to go' if you will.

More like your 'mono to go'...

On a side note, this player made an appearence in the 2012 movie, "Moonrise Kingdom"

 

Recaptcha

Many thanks for the interesting info re the Satellite player .the one in your pictur looks in a better condition than the one I have .I must retry and see the movie you refer to in order to see it .however did you know that?
I was not expecting great things in terms of sound aas you point out and it is just a mono player but it still has a certain cachet I feel and I only paid £25 inc P&P so it is not too exorbitant a sum .My wife is less pleased with it though !

 

Back in the 1970s Philips seemed to rule the European market for simple plastic record players
This one has similar styling to yours.

http://www.retrotogo.com/2018/01/19...lips-113-space-age-record-player-on-ebay.html

I don't think they did one with a built in radio though. My Mother bought new one of the incredibly funky Philips UFO ones to play records like The Teddy Bears Picnic to her class of five year olds.

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...pAhWRO8AKHXdbDnIQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1670&bih=890

The Japanese seemed to prefer the attache case style which could incorporate a radio and tape as well.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?sou...pAhWfVhUIHRO0DEoQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1670&bih=890

Recaptcha is right that these were "Mono to go". Back in about 1974 I went on school camp. A classmate brought with him a little suitcase record player (an older model than any of these with cloth covered sides) and a single KTel album of chart hits. That was our entertainment for the evenings, At the time it seemed really cool. Nowadays every child would probably have their own Smartphone.

p.s A few months ago I saw something on the internet about a plastic record player (I'm sure it was Pioneer) which somehow managed to work (after a fashion) with no transistors or valves/tubes by using a high output cartridge and very efficient loudspeaker. After watching Techmoan's latest Patreon video on wind up gramophones I tried to find it again and failed dismally with Google just find Pioneer HiFi decks.

 

The movie thing was actually recommended to me by Google. I kept looking up "Barrington record player" after finding that photo and the movie title just popped up somewhere in the search results.

Yep, I'm a bit too young for that memory, but I can relate to that concept with portable video games. Used to be, we had the Gameboy and it had a terrible screen (that didn't even light up) and a mono speaker. Now, as you pointed out, the smart phone can do everything a GameBoy (or mono phono player) can do, but much MUCH better.

Still, the sound you get out of a smart phone is a far cry from what we users on this forum so avidly collect.

 

The difference is that a record player can entertain 30 kids at once. However, by the end of the 1970s people were more likely to use a Radio Cassette. I have said before how my Mother used to use her Sanyo mono Radio Cassette as the sound system for school performances with 100 parents in a hall.

The record player which went to school camp was something like this one


Made by EMI. The same company that made their fortune by signing a band called The Beatles.
All of these small record players will play LPs but you certainly can't close the lid while doing so.

It wouldn't take a very expensive Bluetooth speaker to beat one of these record players, although they might beat a Crossley as they typically had bigger speakers. At Christmas the local Vicar was using a Sony speaker about the size of a Coke bottle in Church and it sounded quite decent. Not as good as the JVC Kaboom they were using a few years ago at the school where my sister teaches though.

 

Those Patrice DuPont design players for Philips do not come cheap I have seen them for sale on auction sites for hundreds of ponds. Here is a link to one sold on EBay a day it sold for over £300 if you follow the link to eBay

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&ved=2ahUKEwiLoJ3-orbpAhUwQEEAHXzqCyEQFjAKegQIAxAB&url=https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-22-AF-180-00-Portable-Record-Player-Turntable-Patrice-Dupont-Vintage-/113718998096&usg=AOvVaw2DydW-47x8L1hx9FIVpSl6

Here is one now forsake and there is another as well but with bids starting at £180

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Orange-P...418364?hash=item34232c803c:g:hx8AAOSwFIFeVoIG

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1970-s-P...835227?hash=item3da2a6a4db:g:VWgAAOSw~15elwUz

 

Here are 3 more models starting at about £60 to £180 but buy it now

https://pulsar.ebay.co.uk/plsr/clk/0/SADS/9?pld={"mecs":"312890124380ae81cf920bd74ac59422ffca2a327051","ampid":"PL_CLK","enc":"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"}

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/National...761948?hash=item23d219ce5c:g:pOcAAOSw0jteV4tl

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-...721654?hash=item2d0a713cf6:g:X5IAAOSw2fherpjy

 

Any Space Age styled equipment is now considered to be highly collectable. You have to admit they look pretty cool, and closed wouldn't look out of place on the set of Space 1999.

From the same era the JVC Videosphere TV is now considered to be highly collectable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videosphere

I have two but despite spending around £80 each they are both in a rather sorry condition in dire need of cleaning and retrobright.

Unlike this little Fidelity which, despite the "Selected for the Design centre" tag and original box and paperwork has been on ebay for months



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fidelity...205300?hash=item48d1a9b4b4:g:w~4AAOSwMOtdbuX7

A poor investment for someone. Looking at the price of £17.95 on the correct 1977 Currys receipt and feeding it through the BOE inflation calculator I get £112 in 2019 money. I just hope they did get some use out of it.

p.s while looking again for the Pioneer I found this interesting article
https://thevinylfactory.com/news/portable-japanese-record-players-exhibition/
If you click the sideways arrows there are some way out designs like one with a Ladybird shaped headshell.

 

I note a lack of headphone jack on all of these... except for the National/Panasonic model. I guess even back then, they considered that someone might want to listen to their records "privately" while out-&-about.

 

I have tracked down a trailer or clip for the film “ Moonrise Kingdom “ which Longman mentioned in his post and yes he is correct there is the player on the Beach playing a cool French record Anyone know the title? I am not so sure about the dancing though !

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=2ahUKEwi814fFtrrpAhUztHEKHTAGBnwQwqsBMAZ6BAgeEA4&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ4W71BepAI&usg=AOvVaw0kYerc4ZQ_o2pcb6GNQMIw

 

I have got it Le Temps de l’Amour by Françoise Hardy. Most appropriate for the film

 

Ya know, "Private" listening was kinda new for listeners back in the day. I read somewhere that a poll was taken in the early 80s and that the kids in the 80s were the first to really prefer headphones and private listening on a large scale. Now that's Walkman Culture.

AND, most likely the headphone jack on that national player was for a "earplug", which is the mono old-school version of stereo headphones.

Yeah, I think I mentioned this in a post. I just love it when stuff I own makes cameo's in films. It's almost like having a famous actor right in your listening area!

 

The reason was that until the Walkman was released headphones were either large and very heavy with reasonable sound or of more moderate weight but rubbish sound. Some weren't much better than a telephone handset. I had some Altai ones like that.

If you go about half way down this page http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/40th-anniversary-of-the-walkman.4546/
you can watch an original review of the Walkman that was on the BBC's popular Tomorrows World programme.
Click "Watch the Video" in The Walkman Archive's post.

They spend about 30 seconds looking at the small tape recorder, and then five minutes analysing the "Impressive Headphones" that came with it, even testing the magnets against the less powerful ones used in normal headphones.

Back to portable record players I was just looking for something else and noticed these two in the very first Argos catalogue (1973). I doubt if UK manufacturer Alba had much input into the design of the Made in Japan "Portable Radiogram".

 

Here's a starting point....: https://images.app.goo.gl/XdK446e3SiCpR9UeA

 

Very nice, although I suspect the boy in the film would have been worn out before he got to the beach carrying one of those. The same with the similar JVCs and the two super heavy Sharps.

The Panasonic SG-J500 was quite common over here and is probably a more reasonable weight but with a corresponding drop in sound quality. I never saw that SG-J800 on sale here.

Back to true portables have any of you seen or had one one these ?



The only time I saw a similar model was back in about 1972.
A family whose kids went to the same Junior School had a French Au-Pair and the kids borrowed hers to bring into school to show people. Somehow they even incorporated it into a short play they did. Maybe that was the reason they brought it in.

Doing some internet searches they seemed to be more popular in Europe. They are strictly 7" only, unlike the other small players that will take LPs if you don't mind them overhanging the platter.

 

I actually have a '500... it was my first stereo, in fact. Still have it now, but only as parts. (Last time I loan equipment to a Boy Scout troop...!) And from what I've seen [on eBay], I'm under the impression the SGJ-555 was what Europe saw: Same functions, but with a tuner set-up for short-wave & long-wave, and the "Loudness" button relabeled as "Ambiance".

Now: Had I seen one of those "singles" players? Not ITR, but certainly on YouTube. There's an Italian-made one in orange that caught my eye and I tried to get one, for my now "late" friend to enjoy while in a care center during her final days.
https://images.app.goo.gl/yLFiUkAUjN4Up1rT7

She had mentioned wanting to listen to 45s, and being the player was old-world Italian, like her (in heart), I figured "What could be better?"... especially since I came in doubt of her claimed computer skills, after seeing her struggle with anything more advanced than a television remote.