u/No-Sleep1981

The cover says Plasma Diamond Speaker System. Inside, Kenwood breaks that down into driver materials: a Crystal Plasma Diamond dome tweeter, plus 3000-fiber carbon ceramic diaphragms for the woofer and squawker.

The LS-990HG page also talks about a large rigid round-baffle cabinet, low-loss internal wiring, and an Energy Loss Elimination crossover network.

The LS-990HG was ¥59,800 each - about $410 then, roughly $1,200 today. The floor-standing LS-G5000 was ¥170,000 each, with dedicated stands sold separately at ¥50,000 per pair.

The MA-XG shell had five sections: two composite halves held together by a three-piece metal frame. TDK said every cassette was assembled and individually inspected by hand.

In Japan it was called MA-XG Fermo. Internationally, it dropped the Fermo suffix.

The MA-XG shell had five sections: two composite halves held together by a three-piece metal frame. TDK said every cassette was assembled and individually inspected by hand.

In Japan it was called MA-XG Fermo. Internationally, it dropped the Fermo suffix.

The A-260 mixed mic + line or line + line inputs. TEAC listed tape + tape, tape + record, and mic + tape among the combinations, with a reverb mode for DJ practice and language study.

Its A-450 flagship had a cassette holder built into the top panel, with space for six cassettes. That was far from standard equipment on cassette decks of the day.

DENON's DCT-A1-N was an FM/AM CD player with AL24 Processing, a method the catalog described as adding lower 8-bit data to the upper 16 bits for a 24-bit output. It also had an 8 V balanced output for the DCA-760BL and DCA-660BL amplifiers.

Price was ¥250,000 - about $2,100 then, roughly $4,100 today. The two DCA amplifiers used balanced inputs and supported loads down to 1 ohm.

The SA-100 used four 6DJ8/ECC88 tubes in the input and driver stages, with MOSFETs in an output stage outside the global feedback loop. It delivered 100 W into 8 ohms and 170 W into 4 ohms, with a specified frequency response of 5 Hz to 100 kHz.

The copper-plated steel chassis sat behind a 10 mm milled aluminum front panel. The amplifier weighed 12.7 kg, drew 100 W at idle, and cost ¥400,000 in Japan - about $2,760 then, roughly $7,000 today.

At one end, the portable Point series weighed almost nothing by full-size headphone standards. Point 1 was 53 g at ¥3,600 - about $14 then, roughly $47 today. Point 3 and Point 5 were both 55 g, priced at ¥5,500 - about $22 then, roughly $72 today - and ¥7,700 - about $31 then, roughly $101 today.

At the other end, ATH-8 used a bipolar electret-condenser system and came with a separate step-up adapter. The headphones weighed 210 g; the adapter, 820 g. Its ¥34,000 price was about $135 then, roughly $440 today.

The brochure listed ten models: ATH-2, ATH-3, ATH-4, ATH-5, ATH-6D, ATH-7, ATH-8, plus Point 1, Point 3, and Point 5.

So we added the garage. I know about IPX6, but hard to see him under rain without any roof. More calm now 🙃

In July 1976, the YOU-OZ DD system paired an SL-2000 direct-drive turntable with an ST-2400 tuner, SU-2400 integrated amplifier and SB-240(A) speakers. The set cost ¥99,800 - about $340 then, roughly $2,000 today.

The RS-605U cassette deck was sold separately. Technics also offered stands, microphones, headphones and a National audio timer. I doubt the English bulldog was chosen at random: British loudspeakers were widely treated as a benchmark at the time, and the joke seems to be that even the dog knew Technics could sound just as good.

Betamax was a powerful format that lost the mass market to VHS. Sony pushed it into almost every niche it could find: home video, portable recording, cameras, PCM digital audio, hi-fi sound, and complete AV systems.

The April 1983 catalog has nine VCRs, including the portable SL-F1 and SL-B5. With the PCM-F1 processor, a Betamax deck could record digital audio on video tape. The July 1984 Betaplus catalog pairs the SL-HFR60 and SL-HFR30 with the HFP-100 for Beta hi-fi and the BMC-100 and BMC-200 Betamovie cameras.

The format never won the mass market, but it remained in regional television studios for years.

CD Graphics in a portable Lo-D catalog is the whole bit here: plug in a TV, put on the karaoke disc, and the screen gets pictures with the lyrics.

The CX-G700 page goes all in on that setup: boombox, Hitachi TV, two microphones, remote, and boxes of song cards. A few pages later the CX-G30W pulls the same trick in a more regular EDITBORG CD radio-cassette shape.

The catalog is 12 pages, and the rest is exactly 1992 Lo-D: CX-70W and CX-50W, 3D Super Woofer, dual decks, remote controls, plus the smaller cassette players and radios after the main machines.

The first page almost looks like a headphones ad: portrait, TRIO logo, and a small room photo in the corner.

Stage Master is five separate pieces: KA-71G amp, KT-31 tuner, KP-51F turntable, KX-71R cassette deck and JL-71 speakers. The KA-71G is rated 75 W + 75 W, and the KX-71R page calls out D.P.S.S.

The best page is the layout page. Same components, shown as horizontal systems or vertical towers, across six configurations.

Stereo as proper furniture. Not really a metaphor here, the catalog shows it that way.

The Greenwich meridian runs down the center of the map, with a row of printed clock faces showing different hours across the zones.

The FV-5000 covered LW, MW, three shortwave bands and FM. Its BFO mixed an internally generated signal with incoming CW to create an audible beat tone, making Morse dots and dashes listenable through the speaker. The shortwave section also used double conversion.

This Sansui ælf (I have no idea how to pronounce that) cover is pretty enough to look suspicious: waterfall, tiny stack, calm little speakers. Then the pages get specific.

The top amp is the A-α9. The catalog gives it NEW Advanced Diamond, CD-Direct, Twin-Monaural construction and a copper-plated iron front panel. The cassette deck is D-α7 with Dolby B/C, HX-PRO and CARS PRO auto calibration. The MD-α7 is a separate MiniDisc recorder, not a token logo on the brochure.

The biggest full set was ¥333,000 - about $3,100 then, roughly $6,500 today. Small stack, real component pricing.

This is a Type I tape, but basically pushed to the limit, including the upgraded shell design with the double diagonal window.

Funny thing is, Denon later had several lines imitating this shell: just a regular molded clear window made to look like this design. They even did it on Type IV tapes, including the CD/JACK IV.

Sony called the TC-5350SD's mechanism "the first upright, see-through cassette-loading system." Its Japanese copy says the upright lettering on the cassette face could be viewed directly.

Through the transparent lid, the index written on the cassette and the amount of tape remaining were visible at a glance. Sony stressed that this was not a horizontal mechanism merely turned on its side, but a dedicated vertical design.

Yet in 1974, Sony was introducing it as an innovation and explaining why.

Sony called the TC-5350SD's mechanism "the first upright, see-through cassette-loading system." Its Japanese copy says the upright lettering on the cassette face could be viewed directly.

Through the transparent lid, the index written on the cassette and the amount of tape remaining were visible at a glance. Sony stressed that this was not a horizontal mechanism merely turned on its side, but a dedicated vertical design.

Yet in 1974, Sony was introducing it as an innovation and explaining why.

The original That's SUONO Metal appeared in Japan in 1988. Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the domed shell, whose heavy rubber-composite resin was intended to resist parasitic vibration; the cassette won a Good Design Award that year.

The lower dome did not agree with some slot-loading car decks. That's issued a warning that the product might be incompatible with certain automotive audio loading and ejecting mechanisms because of its special shape.

By 1990, the international version kept the SUONO look but lost the full lower circle. Design had beaten the engineers, then the engineers had to cut it back.

The original That's SUONO Metal appeared in Japan in 1988. Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the domed shell, whose heavy rubber-composite resin was intended to resist parasitic vibration; the cassette won a Good Design Award that year.

The lower dome did not agree with some slot-loading car decks. That's issued a warning that the product might be incompatible with certain automotive audio loading and ejecting mechanisms because of its special shape.

By 1990, the international version kept the SUONO look but lost the full lower circle. Design had beaten the engineers, then the engineers had to cut it back.

The broadcast servo turntable was not part of the GP home lineup. Nippon Columbia presented it as proof of its engineering level: the catalog says the R&D behind DENON's professional player was brought together in five Hi-Fi component turntables.

On the next page, the DL-103 is described as a broadcast cartridge jointly developed with NHK's Science and Technical Research Laboratories. The DP-4500 is described as a component player for enthusiasts seeking professional functions, followed by the GP-500, GP-400, GP-300 and GP-200.