Another one for my hoard.

[Beosystem10]

I've done it again. Taken pity on something from eBay just because I liked the way it looks and that it ended at early o' clock so a snipe was always likely to put me in with a chance at buying it,
The "it" in this case is this:

I'd never seen one until this appeared on eBay UK and had been bidding on clean TRK8190s with no success as their values (or prices realised which aren't always the same thing) seem to be heading into JVC/Sharp territory these days.
The seller came across as a really genuine guy and the fact that the tape transport doesn't work is of no consequence, that will be up & running within a week of its landing here, but more importantly since I prefer engineering to restoring; the condition of the cabinet and control surfaces is close to perfect,
I just sent the payment a couple of hours ago, will describe how good, bad or indifferent it sounds when it's arrived, been brought up gently on the lamp limiter at first and then tested with various favourite tunes via FM reception and my iCast FM transmitter with the music library from my HOX.
At less than a third of the cost of the last TRK8190 that I failed to purchase, I feel that this could prove to be an older and arguably more interesting alternative, time will tell.

 

[Northerner]

Congrats!...saw that one and thought it looked really minty...fair amount of nice shiny chrome on it too which is always a bonus. Woulda bid myself but trying not to rile the wife too much at the moment

8190's do go for good money tho I sold mine for £20!!...Sir Alan Sugar I ain't

Congrats on a good pick up mate

 

[Gluecifer]

That's gotta be the rarest Hitachi I've seen! LOVE the design, looks like it's monster-tough, but still hase a quiet elegance.
Great score!



Rock On.

 

[Reli]

Great find!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

that has a HUGE volume knob!

looking forward to more pictures!

 

[fresh produce]

That's dope

 

[im_alan_partridge]

Nice Hitachi John, ive seen a couple of these on ebay and have never been able to make my mind up. Yours looks great.

 

[Beosystem10]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm really looking forward to having this one on the bench and getting that tape transport mech running sweetly again and I'm really quite fired up by the way it looks as it's the closest I've yet come to buying a "traditional" one-piece box with the chrome, the meters and the tweeter grilles that look like the sort of wheels that people put on Datsun Skylines.

It appears that the box has woofers which are actually the same size as their cutouts in the front of the cabinet, now there's a novel concept!
The other little detail that has me grinning to myself is that Hitachi found it necessary to fit labels to tell the user which side of the box is the left and which is the right, most useful as I'm not getting any younger and could forget that sort of thing without these handy little reminders.
:unsure:

And yes, that volume knob does appear to be one of the biggest I've seen when compared to its neighbours on the front panel - in the tone controls department, I'm hoping that a big knob means a big sound.

 

[floyd]

killer box , i only seen this model about 2 times .

perfect size box for carrying around and one of the best looking in it's size .. awesome

 

[Hurb]

Great design! Haven't seen one before. VU's rule, chrome rocks!!

 

[oldskool69]

That's a looker there. Tough and elegant at the same time.

 

[retrohead]

had a mint one and a battered one of these,and they actually sound great for an earlier era hitachi....might have to get one of these myself now

 

[Beosystem10]

Well this is on its way to me and I'm all excited about its impending arrival. "Working" |-) from home today so that I'm here when the postman arrives, that's usually around 2pm on a weekday.

 

[Hurb]

don't keep us waiting to long!

 

[Beosystem10]

don't keep us waiting too long!

Today, at last, my Hitachi arrived. It's exactly as the seller described it, good & clean too so I probably won't risk catching some horrible disease just by touching it!

It sounds really sweet and the tuner is sensitive yet selective too, just as it should be. Although it couldn't find any of the Norwegian FM stations that the GF-555 and the Hackers can all pull in at certain times of the day, reception of FM stations from local relays (typically within 40 miles of here) is strong enough to deflect the meter to its end stop.
As promised, the cassette deck is dead, but the motor runs and when I popped the demagnetiser - on its very lowest setting - up against the head and pressed the play button, a good howl was heard on both channels and shown as being nice and even on the meters so the deck's issues are purely mechanical which will save time.
There is a line in facility via the 5 pin socket at the back but that also needs some investigation as the level there, when tested with input from my HOX's mp3 library, was so weak as to be inaudible at anything below full volume, this might be an issue with decoupling caps that have gone off from lack of use, it may be simple corrosion in the socket but a tentative scoosh of Servisol S10 in the socket suggests that this isn't a simple mechanical problem so that should keep me busy for an hour or three.
More photos, these showing what the box looked like as soon as I'd got it out of its massive amount of carefully used packing materials. Honestly, this package could have survived being driven over by the postman's Land Rover as it was so well protected.
So, photos:

'Tis in great condition generally and there are no signs of anyone having had it apart so it should be all nice & untouched inside, just the way I like them.

 

[systemaddict]

congrats Beosystem, had a minty one myself a few years back and loved it, very well built box and good sound to match.
it kinda reminds me a bit of the 8600 but smaller, great looking box from the earlier period i think 79, nice one congrats on a great buy

 

[AE_Stereo]

I Really liked the box.
Looks rock solid construction.

Top class aristocratic design.

Congrats.

 

[blu_fuz]

That is beautiful!

 

[Robb]

Looks to be in great shape !

 

[Beosystem10]

Yes, it's really well preserved, there's only one tiny dent in that big slab of aluminium across the top of the cabinet and the foam on the battery compartment cover is crumbly but it's otherwise as the seller described it; almost mint.

I rebelted it this afternoon and now it works as well as it looks. Sound quality from tape is very impressive and it's logically laid out inside so fitting the belts wasn't a bad job. The only other tasks I had to carry out while I had it opened up for surgery were fitting a fresh hub idler tyre and cleaning the contacts in the reed switch that selects between forward and reverse directions when using fast wind. A little Servisol S10 soon took care of that.