I love reading John Edwards Threads down in the Forum Reader, some of the craziest, wacky portables passed by him and a few other members knew what he was talking about. It still beguiles me to read about some of the more obscure, rare models that I never saw as a kid. Luckily now-a-days, much more is showing up for sale but you really have to keep an eye open for the "collector" stuff. I've kind of been on a Sanyo bender, they made a ton of stuff, most was nice, mid-level, department store finds. Nothing to be embarrassed by but not "cool," at least in the Midwest. So I snagged a few oddballs, and I really like them, on the left is the Sanyo MR-S1 (JDM), a very early recording model with a tape counter, locking pause and built in stereo MIC. It also has two jacks for external MICs, I had to think about that, it might be one of the only models with that feature and a balance dial. The Sanyo M-G1 in the middle is super-cute, two headphone jacks, and a balance dial, also a very rare feature that Sanyo had on it's early models. This unit also has Pitch Control, just like microcassette, you can fine-tune the tape speed. One of the more odd bricks is the Sanyo M-G70 on the right side. A loveable huge block of a tape player, very similar to the Sony Brick Line. This also qualifies as a boombox if you don't count "handle." It doesn't have a balance dial but it does have dual L+R volume dials. The big buttons are kind of clunky but this looks like it was aimed squarely at the AIWA HS-J02 but it's bigger with the speaker. Both are pretty heavy, I guess if you were looking at both at the store, you'd either want the speaker or "AUTO REVERSE" more. Personally the auto reverse would win for me, the little speakers were kind of useless.
I really like the way the soft touch mechanism of the M-G1 works, an interesting one where the motor turns and pull the heads down too a locking position. Although they're kinda sensitive, if the door is not closed fully, the heads can't go down all the way and the entire thing kinda gets stuck. Nice heavy litte unit nonetheless. I'm still waiting to get my hands on one of those MR-S1.
View attachment 27633 Cool, not seen the M-G1 before. I have an M-G2 which looks similar but with a radio. It has the same soft touch mechanism and pitch control, plus the stereo/mono switch also affects tape playback, which I've never seen on any device ever! Its also a weird shape!
Oh crap, I forgot to post my M-G2, I'm running out of shelf space so I threw it in the closet. Those are really cool, I'd like to know what was in the designer's head.
I might have to break out my Sportster Collection, I only collected them because they were everywhere 20 years ago, I have a feeling they sold more than anybody else in the mid-80's. They were very inexpensive, still nice looking with the classic square body, and you didn't think it was the end of the world if you dropped one or it got full of sand.
And another one from Sanyo themselves, Sanyo MR-JJ I think they made the shape that way to make it follow the curve of the body more when it's attached to your belt. Since it's quite wide.
Look at this Sanyo M6060. The tape loading mechanism resembles that of a car cassette unit. @Valentin: is this the mechanism you recently posted about for more details? Note: this is not my ad. Source: https://ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anz...ereo-selten-vintage-japan/1663760160-172-6415
Indeed this is the mechanism. The picture I commented on was a Sencor SD-6550 (I see some similarity in the model number). I would be curious to see some pictures with the inside, if any forum member owns such a unit. I'll share some pictures found in a different ebay auction (the item is already sold). I really like the headphones that came with this unit and all the accesories/how they are packed.
I love to see these Sanyo units are still very much in the collectors eye. Autoreverser's unique versions of the classic JJ format are just so stupid rare and shouldn't pass without special mention. Who had the red 5550? thought it was you my electric car driving friend? I haven't hung onto many walkmans but I do have my red M-G1 which cost me £50 in 1983. I wanted a WM-2 but that wasn't happening within my budget. This little Sanyo stikll works as it did nearly 40 years ago.
Ha, no, just resurrecting an ancient computer. Someone gave me a brand new, never used G4 iBook. Seemed a shame to waste it.
