What do you guy think of this unit PANASONIC RQ-S80 it's silver plated!! Didn't even know panasonic made this, look very impressive, has DOLBY B, C 20-18000hz and use a 12 LAMINATED CORE HEAD? How much do you guys think this one worth paying?

Well, Panasonics seem not to go that higher in prices. The S80 is very similar in specs to the S65 but does not have an amorphous head of the S65. It has twin-rotor motor as all the modern Panasonics after it have and has dolby c nr. Mechanically it uses the same mechanism as the older S units as well as the older SX units which means one larger belt and a pcb that is soldered at 13 points to the lower subchassis. If it work (very doubtful), get it. If it is not, it will be very difficult to repair it. I have been fixing my SX33 for weeks now and I haven't finished yet!

It does not have music search or the stuff more modern players have, but I think it will sound as good as the best Panasonic players for sure.

Also, one note - don't expect it will be working. Panasonics of the S and SX sereis are known to give up much more rapidly than Sonys. The reason for that are the gears of unequal size which are run by the belts so belts deform very fast.

Don't get me wrong, i like Panasonics very much but they are difficult to repair.

Pictures, link?

$27.45?

Funny Cris.
But seriously DrMR2000, where did you see this unit?

PM sented

Okay, got your PM, thank you.
I just saw the S80 in which you were referring. This unit is not silver plated but has an all metal body with a dark brown ultra shinny finish similar to a pair of highly polished leather shoes. It is very pretty.

The Panasonic RQ-S80 is a impressive unit by specs. Came out in 1991, have 12 core LAMINATED CORE HEAD 15-21,000hz better then laser amorphous head, and most cd players, also does have blank skip, dual motors and 8 preset EQ Dolby B-C NR. This is Panasonic flagship model. Probably one of the best sounding unit made to dated.

do you have a picture Drmr200?
I had one of these back in the day, $136 on sale--it was painfully expensive back then. Very good unit, I'm sure I've posted about it in the past. Beware, I'm not too sure on the model # but it was top of the line at BestBuy electronic store back then I know. Chose that one over others because I had herd that the equalizer sliders that had become so popular even on the budget models would gum up and put out bad sound. So, this panasonic was just buttons. They are quite reasonable in price now. I bought one w/o Dolby (rq-v460)for about $25 including overseas shipping. If I could get another (w/Dolby)I'd use it for listening rather than collecting. Small and easy to control even if it's in your jacket pocket unseen.

This one is a bit earlier: Panasonic RQ-s35 made for the Japanese market
http://stereo2go.com/eve/forum...=235104331#235104331

i have a small collecton of those players. they are kinda strange as they like a real strong battery to fire up for some reason. they are all pretty clean too. i have the rq-460 which i think were made to clear your eardrums out (very load). i have the rq-520,,,that's the one with dolby and XBS. also the rq-v500 is the last and has dolby abd base boost. for some reason i like the sound of that one the best. they all came from ebay and were priced right. the delivered price was $19.00 for the first 2 and $7.00 for the last but not least one. the radio is not working on it for some reason they all have a nice smooth sound especially the rq-v500.

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBAT:
do you have a picture Drmr200?
I had one of these back in the day, $136 on sale--it was painfully expensive back then. Very good unit, I'm sure I've posted about it in the past. Beware, I'm not too sure on the model # but it was top of the line at BestBuy electronic store back then I know. Chose that one over others because I had herd that the equalizer sliders that had become so popular even on the budget models would gum up and put out bad sound. So, this panasonic was just buttons. They are quite reasonable in price now. I bought one w/o Dolby (rq-v460)for about $25 including overseas shipping. If I could get another (w/Dolby)I'd use it for listening rather than collecting. Small and easy to control even if it's in your jacket pocket unseen.

This one is a bit earlier: Panasonic RQ-s35 made for the Japanese market
http://stereo2go.com/eve/forum...=235104331#235104331

Sure be getting it anyday, he sent it out two days ago, will take some pictures, got it more for listening then collecting, but I still will keep it in mint condition.

I don't wanna rain on your parade or something, but if it hasn't been repaired (belts changed), the possibility that you are going to enjoy it's sound is really remote. I repaired several of these Panasonics and they all have the same common problems. As a collector's item, it's great but I just don't want you to get disappointed about it. I had my eye on it too but decided not to go for it as you clearly wanted it more. That plus I am not in the mood of repairing another one and I don't like my stuff non-functional and just for the looks. Cheers!

Good thing is I have the parts and belts to fix this unit if it broken, couldn't be worst then any of the other Panasonic's or Aiwa's I fixed, He said it works so hope for the best, worst case may need a belt.

I know he told me the same thing. And maybe it does.

When I got an Panasonic SX20 it was new. Never used and unopened. It worked great for about half an hour and then everything became really bad. It started slowing down, distorting and wowing. I knew it needed a new belt so i went for it. I will post some pics in another thread about panasonic players in general and how to fix them them but I will tell you only this - the pcb is completely soldered on the chassis and there are no wires. Not a single one! Usually it is soldered in 13 points which are hard to desolder because the temperature needed is about 330 degress celsius versus tanin which needs like 220 degrees. But that is not the main problem. The pcb is very fragile and VERY thin and flexible and it is impossible to desolder it without it deforming. I lost 2 players that way - the SX33 and SX3 which i regret.

If you repaired Aiwas, I hope you can do it and if you devise a new method of doing it quickly, please let me know. The Panasonics are good players and apart from belt problems are extremly reliable - mechanically and electronically even after hard use. IMO they are worth the money as they are far more cheaper than Sonys and some of them sound actually better than the comparable SOny models. It just depends on preferences but I really like them.

Good luck!

When i'll have the time, I will open the thread for all panny lovers.

I use a airstation Aoyue 2702A+ paid $280 bucks Heat it to exact temperture 200-480 C (392-896 F) and Vacuum pump in the de-soldering tool works very well fixed alot of panasonics with this device also does seamloss soldering smt components, have to use this alot on older Sonys discmans they have alot of problem with buffer chips and so forth.

Wow! That is really impressive! If you will need some repairing to do on your new S80, take some pictures of your gear and the internal of the walkman! I hope you don't have to do it though. I have seen some people having similar things but since I really don't have the nerves for something like, that, I really don't need it. But it's good to know there are people here who are really serious into the szuff. Ok, you are now officially the new Panasonic-capo-di-machina and we will expect nothing less than instant problem solving from you!!!

Here a airstsation for $119 with 24v iron and temp display. You may find one use for cheaper, never use a regular Solder iron on those thin PCB or any PCB with SMT on them, if heat doesn't destroy the components the voltage from the iron will.

If I have to fix the unit, which I will because I like to relube the gears and change the belts even if it works, will put picture up on the tech section, so others can benefit from it

quote:

If I have to fix the unit, which I will because I like to relube the gears and change the belts even if it works, will put picture up on the tech section, so others can benefit from it

Yeah that's what we need! Coll thanks for the info I will look into it. Though I must say, I never repaired any electronics before I got into this stuff couple of months ago but i am amazed at how actually things simple are. they are just very small!

i did a cassette player a long time ago that sounds like what you are talking about. i had no idea then and really made a mess of it with my 25W ace hardware soldiering gun. the pcb was amazing,,it was like a piece of notebook paper and it even folded around the bend in the corner. after a little cussing i stripped any usable parts and trash canned the rest. RIP

Just got this guy in, and have to say it is one of the best sounding player I heard to dated, this thing sound very detail, with not way to much bass like the other Panasonic, also noticed when I took apart unit to see if belt was still good and for good cleaning, has a Quartz lock system saw the circuit for it, but also that 12 LAMINATED CORE HEAD, it beat out the Laser amorphous tape head counter part in sound quality. 15-21,000hz

Congrats on your S80!
It's great that Panasonic integrated it into the S80. Please provide a pic of that internal component, as we would love to see what it looks like.
Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by DrMR2000:
Just got this guy in, and have to say it is one of the best sounding player I heard to dated, this thing sound very detail, with not way to much bass like the other Panasonic, also noticed when I took apart unit to see if belt was still good and for good cleaning, has a Quartz lock system saw the circuit for it, but also that 12 LAMINATED CORE HEAD, it beat out the Laser amorphous tape head counter part in sound quality. 15-21,000hz

Yes, but you have to realize that not everything is in the specifications. The specs tell you nothing actally, nothing tzhat is worth mentioning. For instance, i have Ultimate Ears earphones that cost me 500$ and have a frequency response of 10Hz-17kHz and Sony earbuds with a response of 5Hz-25kHz. Surely the Sony doesn't sound better than the UE. Also, I have an otl headphone amp zhat has a linear frequency response from 20Hz-20KHz and there is a 0.3db tolerance. Now can you describe me how it sounds? Of yourse you can't. No one can without listening to it.

If it sounds better to you, i respoect that as i am sure it sounds wonderfučl and I like Panasonics very much.

Here's another comparison - my technics az7 cassette deck can do 24kHz on metal tape and it's a measured value, not from the manual. Does that make it better than the 24/192 dac with tube ouput stage that can do only 20kHz?

As someone else stated before, any cassette player can be tuned to sound good as long as it's not too below average in components. Choosing the rright headphones is just as important.

Thisis of course just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own.

quote:

Originally posted by Tuna:
Yes, but you have to realize that not everything is in the specifications. The specs tell you nothing actally, nothing tzhat is worth mentioning. For instance, i have Ultimate Ears earphones that cost me 500$ and have a frequency response of 10Hz-17kHz and Sony earbuds with a response of 5Hz-25kHz. Surely the Sony doesn't sound better than the UE. Also, I have an otl headphone amp zhat has a linear frequency response from 20Hz-20KHz and there is a 0.3db tolerance. Now can you describe me how it sounds? Of yourse you can't. No one can without listening to it.

If it sounds better to you, i respoect that as i am sure it sounds wonderfučl and I like Panasonics very much.

Here's another comparison - my technics az7 cassette deck can do 24kHz on metal tape and it's a measured value, not from the manual. Does that make it better than the 24/192 dac with tube ouput stage that can do only 20kHz?

As someone else stated before, any cassette player can be tuned to sound good as long as it's not too below average in components. Choosing the rright headphones is just as important.

Thisis of course just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own.

I never go by specs because none of them are true or better then what listed, I have a few very good units that it was compared to WM-D3, WM-D6C, WM-DC2, WM-550C and AIWA hs-jx707 whioh are all dolby b c nr units, Of course Different types of tapes require the cassette deck to set bias and equalisation differently, not all decks are equal the Sony WM-D6C and WM-DC2 sounded much better with metal bias Type IV then the Panasonic did, but with Type 1 and Type II the Panasonic had a edge over the Sonys. Still use the WM-DC2 the most, I got a custom center gear put in. But still say that the Panasonic did pretty good with most test done and sounded better with the pre-records. Sony still did better with higher quality tapes and built better overall.

Would love to get a hold of a Sony DD9 in mint condition, I heard it was suppose to be the best out of all the DD's

[/QUOTE]I never go by specs because none of them are true or better then what listed, I have a few very good units that it was compared to WM-D3, WM-D6C, WM-DC2, WM-550C and AIWA hs-jx707 whioh are all dolby b c nr units, Of course Different types of tapes require the cassette deck to set bias and equalisation differently, not all decks are equal the Sony WM-D6C and WM-DC2 sounded much better with metal bias Type IV then the Panasonic did, but with Type 1 and Type II the Panasonic had a edge over the Sonys. Still use the WM-DC2 the most, I got a custom center gear put in. But still say that the Panasonic did pretty good with most test done and sounded better with the pre-records. Sony still did better with higher quality tapes and built better overall.

Would love to get a hold of a Sony DD9 in mint condition, I heard it was suppose to be the best out of all the DD's[/QUOTE]

Yeah me too. i don't have a DD9 but some people that have it like rencgi say it is not better than DC2. The higher output on the DC2 makes better use of headphones, especially the really good ones and I have to agree with that. DD9 is probably the best of the auto reverse units but there's no way to be sure until I try one. Cheers!

BTW, I will look for the SX3 parts tomorrow. I'm really busy at the moment.

quote:

I never go by specs because none of them are true or better then what listed

hmmm interesting