Jimmy, I couldn't disagree more. I've owned or worked on over a dozen M90's and have likewise own/owned/worked on almost as many M9998's. When both are working in top condition like they were meant to, they are in a different class. The prices aren't all dictated simply by an album cover nor scarcity. Anyone that owns one in good working condition will probably agree. That's not knocking the M9998, which is a terrific boombox. But to say that the difference comes down to an album cover simply isn't accurate. I for one couldn't care less for an album cover, nor did I even know it existed until seeing images of it from time to time, and as far as scarcity goes, that may be so in AU but here in USA, it's not at all scarce, just in high demand. You can see from one (to many) almost every day of the week on eBay and I have purchased several locally. My interest in them has always been in quality, relative ease in servicing, aesthetic appeal and sonic qualities. The M9998's have their own set of problems and challenges. Here in the States, it's M9998 (not K). The M9998 has a weaker tuner than the K model and prone to failures in the tuning circuitry. It is a nightmare to work on and you will find very few hobbyists who will tell you that they sooo look forward to rebelting or otherwise service their M9998. Shoehorning the innards back in is like trying to stuff a foam mattress back into the box after it was removed from packaging. Also, rather than a few well designed connectors in varying pin widths to prevent misconnections, the M9998 has many connectors that aren't intuitively placed making it easy to misconnect any number of connectors. The deck, when working properly is terrific, but when it needs service, it requires more advanced skills. I would say there's probably more than one junked M9998 because the owner attempted to rebelt it and the task went south. No motor speed adjustment also means that when the speed isn't right, it can be a huge issue. The cassette keys are easy to break off for some reason as I have seen that on several examples. Finally, the reels are made of plastic that has exceeded it's design life, as they have, are, or will be breaking soon. When newly released, perhaps none of these would be concerning to a buyer. But now that they are all 35 years old, these qualities are things a buyer needs to keep in mind and I'm sure some of these are factors that can cause a buyer to look elsewhere. Make no mistake, the M90 also has some of it's own quirks, but it's far easier to rebelt the M90 than the Sanyo. Also, don't underestimate the importance of power. It takes a bit of power to produce quality sound at certain loudness levels. Anyone that owns a wide range of home audio gear can attest that a high powered receiver usually sounds noticeably better than a lower powered receiver set to the same volume level. The greater dynamic headroom of the higher powered amp does make a difference and can reproduce music effortlessly while a lower powered amp can seemingly struggle. The M90 tweeters are something like 2-3/4 compared to the smallish 1 inches of the Sanyo. Whenever I listen to a freshly serviced M90, I am always impressed with it's sound quality. It's not just that it gets loud, the clarity and detail in the sound just always puts a smile to my face. I dunno, I'm sharing this as my own personal experience, I'm sure for others, and depending upon where they live and the availability of either of these models, their perceptions might differ. I'm not saying that your ears deceive you, but it's easy to get a skewed impression if you based the entire model on the experience of a single specimen. I have heard night and day level differences between M90s in various states of condition and repair. Anyhow, bottom line is that I highly disagree with the suggestion that the popularity of the M90 is due to an album cover. I got my first one because I was impressed with the M70. As a higher model, it's reasonable to presume that the 90 would be superior. And when I got it, it did not disappoint.
