Got a Panasonic RQ-V185 cassette player today for $1.

The RQ-V185 features auto reverse and a radio with a digital synthesizer tuner.

Hey AA, certainly a Great find for $1. How do you like the sound? Does it have Dolby B ?
I have a focus and love in the Panasonic line. Curious what you think of this model. I have a RQ-V520 Logic controls which is pictured below. It works but makes a noticable running noise that does not affect playback. It appears Panasonic in the RQ-V series was focused on cost first and saved money by going with larger size.
I have several RQ-S series which appear far superior to the RQ-V series which are actually large compared to smaller RQ-S. Does anyone know what these RQ-V series cost new? I know most of the RQ-S series ran $200-$300 USD very pricey.
Took a pic of my RQ-V and a RQ-S44 with Sony WM-10 for size comparison... interesting the RQ-S is actually smaller side to side than WM-10 same height and slightly thicker.

i have both the 500 and the 520. your right,, that motor does have a strange sound when running. i have no idea why the 500 doesn't have that much whinning. also for some reason the 500 has a better base boost. i don't even know what years these players are from. probably around 1990 or so if i had to guess. is there anybody out there that knows where there is more info on this model run ? i know there was a 480 which lacked the XBS feature.

My RQ-V185 doesn't have S-XBS or Dolby B NR.

I also don't know what year the RQ-V185 is from.

The sound quality is quite nice.