Found this today from thriftstore. It was cheap but is dirty and missing one antenna and one switch cover. As usual, tape is not working. Radio is very good.
HitachiTRK-8190E

Nice box! I have the 8290 variant, with silver round the tweeters instead of grey. It has different cassette keys too. Here's mine...

TRK-8290E


The 8190 that you have, is nicer looking IMO. I like the black tuner scale.

Retro Addict: Also very good looking box. I have a 9696 with a very similar colours and it looks sweet.

Can someone compare this box to more expensive ones like Sharps and JVC's? How does they sound compared to TRK-8190/8290?

hi there muto, i have had lots of sharp models and a couple of jvc,s, i have also had the 8190e and i have the 8290e at the mo. in my opinion the hitachi models are behind in sound quality, they are loud but lack the clarity and bass of the sharps and jvc,s. having said that they are nice lookers, hope this as answered your question.

Thanks lav loo. it would be nice to hear M90 or other "high end" boxes. I have gf-9696 but i'm not sure if i like how it sounds. It is very powerful but does not sound "good" when listening at low volume. It's weird how much difference there is between different models. Maybe thats what makes this so interesting?

hi there muto, remember it,s only my opinion and different people appreciate different sound . i have had most sharp gf,s and i am quiet impressed with their sound quality, unfortunately i have never had a gf9696, i have heard good things about the 9696 and would love to own 1 i have a jvc rcm80 and the sound is sweet, maybe we should do a swap, my m80 for your 9696

hehe, i will need to test it properly before . maybe it will sound better after turning volume UP!

yeah give it a blast my friend and blow the cobwebs off. you see a ghetto blaster is like a vintage car, once in a while you gotta put it through it,s paces you can only appreciate a box a top volume that defines true sound quality, and if it shakes or brakes, get it out of the place. stay retro

quote:

I have gf-9696 but i'm not sure if i like how it sounds. It is very powerful but does not sound "good" when listening at low volume.

Lack of bass at low volume is typical for 1-piece boxes. Except for the TPR-950 and the "big guns" like M90, Crown 850, etc.

hi there reli, i can,t speak for any of the boxes you have mentioned because i have never owned any of them. i can say there,s another one piece box that does throw out good bass even at low volume. im talking about the pioneer sk909L a sweet box and built like a tank. this awesome machine can really pump out some noise and sounds fantastic at any volume. sadly i had to let mine go along with some other boxes due to cash issues. it got shipped to the U.S. last year, boy do i miss that box

I have the Hitachi TRK-8290 and aside from some cosmetic differences, I believe it's probably similar and the later variant of the 8190. I also have the GF-9494 and GF-9696. I never listen full blast but I can say that those Hitachi's sound very good and balanced. I think my 9696 might get louder but I'm not prepared to say definitively that it sounds better than the Hitachi. In fact, I don't really like the sound of my 9696 all that much. Just MY ears speaking here.

Nice Hitachi The tape isn't too bad to fix, I did mine (belt replacement). I have this and the 9696 and to me the 9696 is *leaps and bounds* ahead on sound quality, more akin to a JVC M70. Remember at low volumes that's where the loudness switch enters the equation - boosts the lows and highs to give a somewhat richer sound when the volume is low.

The Hitachi sound isn't bad of course, not much deep bass and feels most at home at low-mid volume settings and cautious use of the bass slider.

Oh, and regarding the switch tips, I superglued mine on as they were alarmingly loose and I didn't want any parting company along the way.

Nice find!! congrtas!!

i used to have the 8290,till it went to a good friend of mine.the thing for me with hitachis is they tend to look good,some cases really good-but the sound they put out is dissapointing-ive had a few-8290,8020,8120,and the only one that has the best of both worlds is the 8155.but thats going anyway.i had a 3d8e too-that looked rubbish but sounded good-cant win!!!!!!!!!!!!and ive only ever owned 2 hitachis with working decks-the 8020 and the 78 something or another-still got that squat in the shed somewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by 2steppa:
Nice Hitachi The tape isn't too bad to fix, I did mine (belt replacement). I have this and the 9696 and to me the 9696 is *leaps and bounds* ahead on sound quality, more akin to a JVC M70. Remember at low volumes that's where the loudness switch enters the equation - boosts the lows and highs to give a somewhat richer sound when the volume is low.

Thanks, played little more with controls and now i'm actually very pleased with the sound. The loudness switch really saves it. Usually i hate to use loudness because they will spoil the sound. This one got a really powerful high end and doesn't sound blurry at all.

Nice find!Great looking boxes.
The Hitachi trk 8290 was not so cheap compared for example with some of the Sharp GF when new back in 1981.I remember a BADER BADER catalogue(1981)with the folowing listed prices:
-TRK 8292-798DM(Deutsche Mark)
-GF 9191-698DM
-GF 9595-999DM.

quote:

Originally posted by Retro Addict:
Nice box! I have the 8290 variant, with silver sound the tweeters instead of grey. It has different cassette keys too. Here's mine...

TRK-8290E


The 8190 that you have, is nicer looking IMO. I like the black tuner scale.

Ah, so thats the one from Knight Rider.

i own to the 8190E. One of the best looking boxes in my opinion, but the sound is total crap (IMHO, again).

Oh my Goodness, stop teasing me!!! Man, if I were you, I'd get the tape deck fixed in a heart beat!!!

That Box can really kick some butt!!! Great find!!!

'NUFF SAID

I certainly wouldn't mind finding one of those at a thrift store!

I too own this box, agreed, more of a shelf box than a 'player' due to poor sound/build quality.

That iz a great find...
Im off to the thrifts today..
Thanks for sharing.

Ok, i did some reseach and found out that the condensators connected to the tweeters are too small! Added 2,2uf condensators and now i can hear tweeters. I will get some 6,8uf bipolar condensators and try it. I don't know why they put 1uf instead of bigger ones. Maybe someone can calculate the cutoff frequency when using 1uf and when using bigger ones...

Difference is amazing.. very clear sound compared to the original. i will report when i try the 6,8uf ones.

Here is an another picture from inside:



Very easy to dissamble and very nice design!

I've got four 8190's and all suffer from the same problem, when you switch the radio's on, you get full volume, then the volume slowly dies and the LED's fade untill you can no longer hear it. If you then switch it off and back on, the same thing happens again.

It's driving me bonkers , any one out there with an idea to fix this problem.

quote:

Originally posted by adespin:
I've got four 8190's and all suffer from the same problem, when you switch the radio's on, you get full volume, then the volume slowly dies and the LED's fade untill you can no longer hear it. If you then switch it off and back on, the same thing happens again.

It's driving me bonkers , any one out there with an idea to fix this problem.

it,s hitachis ade mate, they look absolutely great, but usually have probs iv,e got the 8290, when i switch it on it can work fine, then all of a sudden the left l.e.d section will fade and the sound in left speaker too.
i can fix the problem by switching power button on the back on and off.
that,s what i do, regularly

Then it sounds like it's a common problem, if somebody knows what the problem is, we can fix a lot of radio's and have better sounding Hitachi's.

Hey drmz, what episode ode of Knight Rider is that?

Cheers OSS

OK, If you want to have a very good treble from this box: Replace the original tweeter condensators from 1uF -> 4,7-6,8uF! The difference is AMAZING. At the same time clean the power switch and micro switch connected to it with some kind of electrical cleaner (its important to have something with lubricants). This seems to fix the power problems many of as are having with this box.