Another Hitachi in the sunshine!

Been lucky with the weather in the North-West over the last few days, so I decided to take the TRK-8200E out for a spin to accompany me. Now fully working thanks to Ewen, I listened to some Gang Starr on tape as well as tunes from the brick of awesomess, the H340 (has its own line-in to lossless WAV or ogg/mp3 ).

As this box has, in my opinion a tough industrial look to it, I decided to take the photos against some derelict scenes, to show how the box had survived the test of time while the buildings had not. I think this is becoming my favourite box, just wish it was louder. Mine isn't perfect, there are a few scratches here and there, need to respray the right grill at some point as thats the most noticable one.













Awesome boombox, love Hitachi's designs

thanks for the very unique pictures //angles---
that green reelie cassette --helps to make it perfect

Yes! Those are some great shots, Glen! I agree with Ira about the green reel too.

How does the 8200 sound compared to your other Hitachi? Just based on looks, I would believe they sound very similar in tone.

Cheers guys, as for the comparison, I'm no expert in describing them lol, but I'd say that the 8080 has a warmer sound, and clearer highs, but the 8200 really puts out, and bass response seems a little better. Also when I play tapes through the 8200, which sadly I can't do on my 8080 at the moment, it gives everything an "old-school" sound. That's a rubbish description I know but it's the best way I can describe it, like recording from the line in to tape you lose some quality but at the same time for certain types of music like classic Hip-Hop it's not actually detrimental to the sound, just different.

Pretty HITACHI !
Love those design.
Analog VU´s are a winner.
Does they go with the radio too?
Only my SHARP GF-9191 is going with radio music.
All others are only at tape.

Nice way to show of the 8200, she looks great.

Kerotan said:

Cheers guys, as for the comparison, I'm no expert in describing them lol, but I'd say that the 8080 has a warmer sound, and clearer highs, but the 8200 really puts out, and bass response seems a little better. Also when I play tapes through the 8200, which sadly I can't do on my 8080 at the moment, it gives everything an "old-school" sound. That's a rubbish description I know but it's the best way I can describe it, like recording from the line in to tape you lose some quality but at the same time for certain types of music like classic Hip-Hop it's not actually detrimental to the sound, just different.

Click to expand...

That's a pretty good description; most everybody here will understand exactly.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments

ViennaSound said:

Pretty HITACHI !
Love those design.
Analog VU´s are a winner.
Does they go with the radio too?
Only my SHARP GF-9191 is going with radio music.
All others are only at tape.

Click to expand...

The analogue VUs on the 8200 are some of the best I've seen, even on some vintage home hifi- the decay is set perfectly so they always follow the main beat of the music. Even better is that they work in all modes, Tuner, Tape and Line-In! There is a switch to use them for tuning strength as well, sadly no battery meter on the left VU though.

I have a tip though if you want to use VUs on other modes if your tape deck doesn't work (ie the motor is not turning and trying to strain) you can pause the tape deck then press rec and play and your VUs should work on the audio signal in all modes. I do this on my 8080 as the tape deck doesn't work and I haven't opened it up yet to investigate.

nice pics

Great shots of a beautiful radio, thanks very much Kerotan!



Rock On.

Have to agree on both the shots being tip-top and those awesome VU's which just look perfect in that machine.

Definitely looks like it means business that one!

Nice pictures, nice box

I love that hitachi

That is phenomenal pics Kerotan ,

can't stop looking those pics
thanks for sharing.