In the bustling consumer electronics landscape of the 1970s, the United Kingdom's Dixons-Group Warehouse held a prominent position, steering the course of mass-market technology. At the heart of their far-eastern import endeavors stood the Prinzsound brand, a label that had been synonymous with Dixons since the 1950s expansion into Japanese-manufactured goods. At the beginning of the 70s, the Dixon chain reported that its cassette tape sales picked up dramatically. The company immediately marketed Prinzsound compact cassettes in 60, 90, and 120-minute lengths, made in Japan, and offered a whole new line of Prinzsound cassette recorders. As part of this lineup, the Prinzsound STD 500 Stereo Cassette Deck emerged in 1973, proudly crafted in Taiwan. This unassuming deck offered a blend of simplicity and functionality, capturing the essence of British sound in a Taiwanese workshop. The STD 500 gave users a straightforward interface—connect it to the amplifier and signal source for recording, manually adjust record levels, or opt for CrO2 tapes for enhanced audio quality. The deck accommodated microphones through minijacks and provided an outlet for stereo headphones. In essence, it encapsulated the essentials of cassette recording technology. Despite its unpretentious design, the Prinzsound STD 500 held a trump card—affordability. In 1974, it emerged as a cost-effective alternative to competitors like the AKAI CS 30D. The retail price of STD 500 was 100 USD while the retail price of CS 30D was 160 USD. In Holland, where the guilder was the currency of choice, it was 250 to 390 goulders accordingly. The Prinzsound STD 500 stood out as an economical yet capable choice for enthusiasts and audio aficionados.
That is low price, I think, going by old ads, the crappy portable mono players were around $60 USD. Personally I didn't really see component tape decks until around 1980 although the dudes with the cool cars always had a nice system in their cars. My older brother got his car tape deck around 78 but we never had one on our home stereo, he had some friends that supplied the copied tapes.
Dixons are the last real survivor from all the electronics stores we once had. They bought out rivals Curry's who got away from the high street to out of town parks quicker and will now sell you everything from a new laptop to a new washer machine https://www.currys.co.uk/ Prinz was one of the many brand names they have used for their own badge equipment tying to make it sound German. When Japanese products were perceived as better they switched to Saisho then Matsui. Amongst my catalogue collection I have the Dixon's one from 1974 which shows two more cassette decks badged Prinz The same catalogue has an entire section of Sony with these two decks View attachment 43614 It is interesting to see the premium for buying Sony and the even bigger premium for having Dolby on a deck.
Dixons (and successors) have been going since 1937 and originally started out in photography. My first camera was a Prinz 126 while my first calculator was a Prinztronic. In both cases my parents took me to one of their shops to choose what I wanted as a present. A far more recent purchase was a Weltron 2001 which was sold as a Prinzsound in the U.K. https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/weltron-2001.4641/ Proving that not all Prinz products were cheap someone worked out that the inflation adjusted price was around £1000 back when they were being sold in the early 1970s. Back in the 1980s I spotted an advert for what I thought might have been my dream job = being a buyer for Dixon's. I had / have no experience of doing that sort of thing but I imagined going out to Japan to check out all the latest gear. Of course the reality would have probably been going to Brentwood to try and do deals with Amstrad.
The Sony TC-121 is priced nicely but I think that's when the pound was roughly $2 USD. Early component decks were pretty expensive but they were also mostly metal construction. I feel like when car tape decks got hot in the late 70's, component deck sales exploded and the world of cassette's really expanded like crazy. Longman, what was the model and price on the Sony TT, I love those early 70's models.
