Sony’s first CD recorder was released in late 1998 in the company’s native market of Japan. It was a surprise at the time, because Sony had previously stated that MiniDisc was a competitor to Philips’ (then) new CD recordable format, and that as a result, no CD-R machines could be expected! It was odd because […]
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Beryllium has a lot of advantages. Only Hydrogen, Helium, and Lithium are lighter (more stable) metals in the Periodic Table. This results in an extremely sturdy structure for any given weight, which is ideal for loudspeakers! It is significantly more adapted to moving air than anything constructed of heavy old Magnesium or Aluminum, which may
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The TC-152 is one of the most widely available classic Sony portable tape decks, with TC-152s appearing out of nowhere! That’s because they’re tough tiny things, capable of working over the decades. It didn’t bring anything new to the party when it was released in 1974, other from attractive aesthetics and good ergonomics, which may
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This is one of the most cheap tiny speakers in recent memory. It’s a two-way reflex ported bookshelf design, as expected, but that’s where the routine ends. It has an Usher UA25-10 25mm silk dome tweeter and a KSW2-5029B 125mm mid/bass unit with a polypropylene cone; the latter is an interesting choice; this material was
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For 1974, Sony’s exorbitantly priced TC-177SD was a striking offering. It was dubbed “the most complex cassette deck ever built,” and it had three heads, which Yamaha’s beautiful ‘ski-slope’ TC-800GL lacked. This was originally the exclusive domain of open reel, and allowed for ‘off-tape monitoring,’ which allowed you to hear your recording while it was
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The original Wharfedale Diamond was rumored to be the result of research for the company’s high-end TSR102 project, but it was actually just its treble and midrange unit housed in a tiny, handmade bass reflex box. The end result was a small loudspeaker with only 5.2 liters of internal volume to work with. A 19mm
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The A-400 integrated amplifier from Pioneer was released in the spring of 1990 to rave reviews in the United Kingdom. The fact that Japanese amplifiers had been regarded with great distrust in the British press until then, simply because they weren’t particularly audiophile in orientation, played a part in the dynamic. For example, a decade
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It’s unfortunate that so many outstanding brands have faded away, from Leak and Garrard in the United Kingdom to Micro Seiki and Sansui in Japan. In the 1970s, the latter was one of the most well-known Nipponese brands, with a proud array of high-end, high-quality items with an uniquely slimline yet powerful sound. The Sansui
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Pioneer, as its name implies, has often been at the forefront of innovative formats and technologies. It produced various excellent turntables in the 1970s, ranging from the PL-12D budget deck in 1974 to the PL-L1000 high-end parallel tracker in 1978. It was a big shot in cassette, too, making decks that pushed the format to
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It’s been a long time, but if you time-traveled to the mid-1970s and conducted a poll of the most popular phono cartridge on the market, this would undoubtedly come out on top. Between 1974 and 1979, the Shure M75ED ‘Stereo Dynetic Cartridge’ appeared on practically every new turntable on the market. Of course, your Linn
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