Hello everyone. I've just, literally half an hour ago, impulsively bought a Sharp GF-9090 off ebay. The Sharp GF-9090 Bought one in 1978 for the then very considerable sum of £200 ( £2.25 a week from Mrs Goddard's Littlewoods cataogue) which seems to be roughly what one in decent and full working condition is going for 40 years later. This was and still is a thing of beauty. This thing was my constant companion and assisted in shaping my musical tastes from the age of 16 to my early 20's. To this day, I still get a flutter in my heart when I see a picture of one. To think I will be the owner of one again soon is quite something. I've pipe dreamed with the idea of one day getting one and either gutting and converting to bluetooth or adding bluetooth to the existing system. (I'm hoping to do the latter) I have minimal electronics knowledge but am an IT Technician/gadget geek so disassembly and having a bash etc holds no fears. Description described it as not fully working with the cassette playing slow etc (I assume it'll be decomposing belts). I'm hoping it will arrive in a week or so. The first thing I want to do is order a bluetooth board for it. My first question, and I'm sure it will be the first of many is what output board should I be getting. I am, possibly wrongly, assuming that if I am going to tap into the cassette players preamp, I would need a very low output (or non amplified?) board than if i was gutting the case and feeding directly to the speakers. The speakers are listed as 2x3.5w and 2x5w, I've seen a Youtube video where someone has done this on the same model but it just shows it working. I've messaged to the poster so am hoping I might get some advice from them. Finally, thanks for letting me join. Any advice, tips, pointers will be very gratefully received. (And needed!)
According go the Bank of England Inflation Calculator £200 = £1127 in 2018. I was actually earning £25 a week back then. For £200 you could have bought one of these although noting your age maybe you already had something better. Regarding Bluetooth, some people use Bluetooth Cassettes. You don't need working belts for those. If you want to fit an internal module I would ask someone who has done it before, like the people who sell modules/kits for the Sharp VZ2000 on Ebay.
I was just 17 and just left home. I was earning 65p an hour and taking home 19 quid a week. I've never been as well off since! I'm hoping to use an internal board. Will take a look for the kits you mentioned. Many thanks Edit - The kits seem to be external and use a second power supply so not what I'm looking for.
I had realised that you are a year older than me hence the comment. Personally I spent £500 on a new Honda CB100N motorbike before spending £80 on the bottom of the range Sony CFS45L Boombox back in 1079. I still have the Sony after all these years. Regarding Bluetooth this guy seems to have got it sorted
It's arrived and it's love all over again. Gf-9090 Delivered by Mike Plowman posted Sep 17, 2019 at 9:16 PM One speaker dislocated, one speaker grill dislocated, tape deck play seized, waveband buttons dodgy, last 4 toggle switches not working, sliders very rough and 42 years of dust, grease and human dna in every orifice but lights and vu meters are working and FM radio this beauty sounds just as good to my ageing ears as it did when i owned one back in 1978. But dear God is it heavy. I thought there must have been 8 batteries in it but no. How on earth did I walk 4 miles to and from work every day carrying one of these? I needed a lie down after putting it on the kitchen counter. It's one serious lump. But my goodness, it is one beautiful lump. My 12 year old daughter, who carries the entire world round in a smartphone, cannot quite get her head round that we used such behemoths. I'm now seriously considering gutting it and just putting a bluetooth amp in it (I'd never play tapes or listen to radio) or keeping the amp in and putting a bluetooth receiver in as I'd really love to keep the vu meters volume and eq sliders active. Decisions decisions! Some dismantling and the beginning of a cleanup this weekend. More pics anon.
If you sign up to "The Hi Fi Engine`" you can download a service manual. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sharp/gf-9090.shtml Even if you don't bother with the cassette deck I think it would be good to keep the original amp. That way all the control like volume and tone should still work, as well as the meters you mention. P.s Ask your daughter how she would do something like a dance class using a Smartphone ? Not many years ago I went to a school fete where they were using a JVC Kaboom which did the job quite well.
Hi Mike, After a few glasses of wine I also impulsively bought one - it arrives Monday! My goal is to service it, change the bands on the cassette and add Bluetooth. How did you get on with yours? Cheers
