Hi Guys,
Well it's been quite a week hasn't it with that massive BB40 deal going down?!! Simply amazing stuff!
Well it's time for me to get back to reality so here we go with another Jimmy budget buster.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hitachi-Boom-Box-AM-FM-RADIO-CASSETTE-PLAYER-AC-DC-VOLTAGE-/151752909864?ssPageName=STRK%3AMESINDXX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=qHkTVf0GwkyXY8H3TZnj3GzkKU4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
I was watching an Ebay auction last week where a local seller with 100% feedback had a low $20 starting price on a radio I've been looking for for some time - the very first 3D model from Hitachi. In fact, this model pre-dates the official 3D model designation.
I shot the seller an offer of $40 to end the auction early but as usual, the seller refused so I had to wait another 4 days for the auction to end. I had to laugh as I ended up winning the Hitachi for $20.50 with local pick up so sometimes, it is worth ending an auction early!
I sent the seller an immediate request to pick up the boomer that afternoon. He got back to me 3 hrs later so off I went into the night. Turns out the seller lived in the middle of nowhere. 1 hour later, after getting lost, I finally rock up to the sellers house. The wife brings out this black, filthy, sharp edged boomer that stank of cigarettes and had a piece of something rattling around inside.
After I plugged it in and tried the controls, I found all the sliders were frozen in place but it did sound loud and clear on FM. It was complete too with a nice antenna and good speaker grills so I handed over a $20.50 and headed home.
Anyone familiar with this model would know that the sliders have a plastic cover over the opening to stop crap dropping inside. It's a good design but it does mean you have to dismantle the unit to spray the switches and sliders.
View attachment 20637
So far I thought I had scored a unit with potential however, I did notice the bass from the centre woofer didn't hit as hard as my bigger TRK-3D8.
Fast forward to today, it was time to get into the Darth Vader TRK-7620!
After previously working on the later model 3D8, I could see the better build quality offered by the 1984 model TRK-7620. The 1986 model 3D8 missed out on the VU meter and 5 band equaliser instead getting no meter and a 3 band equaliser. I like the built in side handles of the 7620 as apposed to the bolt on side handles of the bulkier 3D8. The 3 speaker grills of the 7620 are made of thicker guage metal with larger holes in the grills. They are also removable unlike the later model 3Ds where the grills are molded into the front case.
All the case screws were present and I received that classic 'crack' noise as each one was loosened so a non-messed with Hitachi was on the work bench.
After you have removed the rear case screws, you then remove two screws from the around the top handle bases plus two fine thread screws in the side handles area. After a little wiggling, the front/side panel housing the speakers comes forward leaving the rear panel carrying all the electronics.
The top panel is then lifted up taking the tuner dial/wheel and string, tape deck door, slider controls and handle.
View attachment 20638
Inside it was a complete, filthy mess with dust bunnies galore. The electronics board was chock full of crap also.
View attachment 20639
View attachment 20640
Here is the front/bottom/side casing that houses the main 4 ohm 6 watt drivers, two peizo tweeters and the long throw 8 ohm 16 watt max 6 inch woofer: The TRK-7620 has 3 amps. The two main speakers/ tweeters each receive 3 watts RMS each with the centre speaker receiving 8 watts RMS.
View attachment 20642
View attachment 20643
After pulling the centre speaker, I set to work cleaning up the front panel opening and cleaning all the dust off the cone - a quick re-colour with black marker restored the heavily faded cones to their original black on chrome. The side speakers were then cleaned and re-coloured - looking much better now:
Before:
View attachment 20644
After:
View attachment 20645
While cleaning this and that, I decided to find the source of the rattling noise - yep, a snapped off screw tower. I also spotted another screw post sporting a healthy crack on one side. So I'm assuming someone dropped it at some stage. The casing of this model is very thick and internally reinforced which must have helped it resist cracking when it was dropped.
The screw tower was an easy fix with a little super glue to hold things in place then some JB Weld to hold things in place for ever more:
View attachment 20646
I had to clamp the screw post to bring it back to the correct position as it was leaning a little:
View attachment 20647
Ok, time to clean up those frozen sliders and take a look at the slow playing deck:
Now that the top panel has been removed, I now had access to spray some Fader Lube into the sliders. This restored movement to all sliders but the action was very stiff. I noticed after a day or two, the solvent in this spray seems to evaporate off leaving just the lube. This improves the sliding action but these particular sliders needed some greasing. I usually de-solder the sliders and pull them down but this time around, I used a quicker method. I used a super fine screw driver to carefully run grease above and below the plastic slider. Being very careful though to avoid contaminating the electrical surfaces.
View attachment 20648
Notice how the tuner wheel detaches from the tuner capacitor when the top panel is lifted off!
Be careful not to disturb the position of the tuner dial when you have the top panel removed.
I pulled the deck and checked the single belt - the belt looked fine so I turned to the capstan tyre - yep, cracked. The deck rewinds very strong but ffwd and play is weak so I'll have to find a suitable O ring to fix this issue - I lubed the deck and record bar mechanism and switch. You have to be careful with these decks as the keys are a bit on the weak side. If you force them down with a sticky deck, the keys are easily broken in the process. The keys are now super easy to push down so hopefully, no broken deck keys in this Hitachi's future.
The tuner had a constant static noise particularly on FM. If you stand up the antenna, the static decreases but it's still there. After removing the mast from the box and spraying a little contact cleaner, crystal clear FM stereo reception was restored. In fact, there is now no need to raise the antenna for excellent FM reception.
The battery compartment was clean and looked unused. However, after testing 8 D cells, I had no power. Easy fix though as the AC/DC switch on the back just needed some switch cleaner to get things rocking.
One thing I can't stand on the 3Ds is the fixed power cord - it's a stupid design. I robbed a parts Sanyo for the AC input that I'm going to retro fit into the battery compartment of the Hitachi. So after removing the battery cover, I will be able to fit a standard power cord into the AC input and close the battery cover as per usual. I'll post some pics of the mod when I'm done.
Ok, time to screw this beasty back together for some testing.
Immediately, I noticed a big improvement in the output from the centre speaker - much improved with a similar bass performance as my 3D8! The 5 band equaliser must have been the source of the bass shy sound.
One downside of this early model is the lack of a dedicated line in. RCA inputs are provided but the record key must be pressed to enable the line in to work. Unfortunately, pressing the record key also has the deck motor running so a future blue tooth mod will be installed soon.
One interesting feature of this aussie AU version is the tuning knob that has an internal gearing set up to allow fine tuning of the SW bands. The centre section of the tuner knob spins at 3 times the speed of the outer ring.
View attachment 20657View attachment 20659
So here she is and must say I'm amazed by the big bass, clear mids and highs and overall super loud performance of this modestly sized 12v unit - I'm amazed it only pulls 22 watts in the process!
I know she's a sinister looking beast with no bling what so ever but she cranks - unlike many of my 'looker boxes' that are best left on the shelf looking pretty but turned off!
As with many of these old 3Ds, she's had a hard life and has the battle scars to prove it but boy, does this thing still shake the foundations!!
View attachment 20650View attachment 20651View attachment 20652
View attachment 20654View attachment 20655
It's fun switching the 3rd speaker off to make the Hitachi sound like your standard 12V box and then feeling the big box sound with the 3rd speaker activated!View attachment 20656View attachment 20658
Short video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=LP2HqbcK3O8
Well it's been quite a week hasn't it with that massive BB40 deal going down?!! Simply amazing stuff!
Well it's time for me to get back to reality so here we go with another Jimmy budget buster.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hitachi-Boom-Box-AM-FM-RADIO-CASSETTE-PLAYER-AC-DC-VOLTAGE-/151752909864?ssPageName=STRK%3AMESINDXX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=qHkTVf0GwkyXY8H3TZnj3GzkKU4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
I was watching an Ebay auction last week where a local seller with 100% feedback had a low $20 starting price on a radio I've been looking for for some time - the very first 3D model from Hitachi. In fact, this model pre-dates the official 3D model designation.
I shot the seller an offer of $40 to end the auction early but as usual, the seller refused so I had to wait another 4 days for the auction to end. I had to laugh as I ended up winning the Hitachi for $20.50 with local pick up so sometimes, it is worth ending an auction early!
I sent the seller an immediate request to pick up the boomer that afternoon. He got back to me 3 hrs later so off I went into the night. Turns out the seller lived in the middle of nowhere. 1 hour later, after getting lost, I finally rock up to the sellers house. The wife brings out this black, filthy, sharp edged boomer that stank of cigarettes and had a piece of something rattling around inside.
After I plugged it in and tried the controls, I found all the sliders were frozen in place but it did sound loud and clear on FM. It was complete too with a nice antenna and good speaker grills so I handed over a $20.50 and headed home.
Anyone familiar with this model would know that the sliders have a plastic cover over the opening to stop crap dropping inside. It's a good design but it does mean you have to dismantle the unit to spray the switches and sliders.
View attachment 20637
So far I thought I had scored a unit with potential however, I did notice the bass from the centre woofer didn't hit as hard as my bigger TRK-3D8.
Fast forward to today, it was time to get into the Darth Vader TRK-7620!
After previously working on the later model 3D8, I could see the better build quality offered by the 1984 model TRK-7620. The 1986 model 3D8 missed out on the VU meter and 5 band equaliser instead getting no meter and a 3 band equaliser. I like the built in side handles of the 7620 as apposed to the bolt on side handles of the bulkier 3D8. The 3 speaker grills of the 7620 are made of thicker guage metal with larger holes in the grills. They are also removable unlike the later model 3Ds where the grills are molded into the front case.
All the case screws were present and I received that classic 'crack' noise as each one was loosened so a non-messed with Hitachi was on the work bench.
After you have removed the rear case screws, you then remove two screws from the around the top handle bases plus two fine thread screws in the side handles area. After a little wiggling, the front/side panel housing the speakers comes forward leaving the rear panel carrying all the electronics.The top panel is then lifted up taking the tuner dial/wheel and string, tape deck door, slider controls and handle.
View attachment 20638
Inside it was a complete, filthy mess with dust bunnies galore. The electronics board was chock full of crap also.
View attachment 20639
View attachment 20640
Here is the front/bottom/side casing that houses the main 4 ohm 6 watt drivers, two peizo tweeters and the long throw 8 ohm 16 watt max 6 inch woofer: The TRK-7620 has 3 amps. The two main speakers/ tweeters each receive 3 watts RMS each with the centre speaker receiving 8 watts RMS.
View attachment 20642
View attachment 20643
After pulling the centre speaker, I set to work cleaning up the front panel opening and cleaning all the dust off the cone - a quick re-colour with black marker restored the heavily faded cones to their original black on chrome. The side speakers were then cleaned and re-coloured - looking much better now:
Before:
View attachment 20644
After:
View attachment 20645
While cleaning this and that, I decided to find the source of the rattling noise - yep, a snapped off screw tower. I also spotted another screw post sporting a healthy crack on one side. So I'm assuming someone dropped it at some stage. The casing of this model is very thick and internally reinforced which must have helped it resist cracking when it was dropped.
The screw tower was an easy fix with a little super glue to hold things in place then some JB Weld to hold things in place for ever more:
View attachment 20646
I had to clamp the screw post to bring it back to the correct position as it was leaning a little:
View attachment 20647
Ok, time to clean up those frozen sliders and take a look at the slow playing deck:
Now that the top panel has been removed, I now had access to spray some Fader Lube into the sliders. This restored movement to all sliders but the action was very stiff. I noticed after a day or two, the solvent in this spray seems to evaporate off leaving just the lube. This improves the sliding action but these particular sliders needed some greasing. I usually de-solder the sliders and pull them down but this time around, I used a quicker method. I used a super fine screw driver to carefully run grease above and below the plastic slider. Being very careful though to avoid contaminating the electrical surfaces.
View attachment 20648
Notice how the tuner wheel detaches from the tuner capacitor when the top panel is lifted off!
Be careful not to disturb the position of the tuner dial when you have the top panel removed.I pulled the deck and checked the single belt - the belt looked fine so I turned to the capstan tyre - yep, cracked. The deck rewinds very strong but ffwd and play is weak so I'll have to find a suitable O ring to fix this issue - I lubed the deck and record bar mechanism and switch. You have to be careful with these decks as the keys are a bit on the weak side. If you force them down with a sticky deck, the keys are easily broken in the process. The keys are now super easy to push down so hopefully, no broken deck keys in this Hitachi's future.
The tuner had a constant static noise particularly on FM. If you stand up the antenna, the static decreases but it's still there. After removing the mast from the box and spraying a little contact cleaner, crystal clear FM stereo reception was restored. In fact, there is now no need to raise the antenna for excellent FM reception.
The battery compartment was clean and looked unused. However, after testing 8 D cells, I had no power. Easy fix though as the AC/DC switch on the back just needed some switch cleaner to get things rocking.
One thing I can't stand on the 3Ds is the fixed power cord - it's a stupid design. I robbed a parts Sanyo for the AC input that I'm going to retro fit into the battery compartment of the Hitachi. So after removing the battery cover, I will be able to fit a standard power cord into the AC input and close the battery cover as per usual. I'll post some pics of the mod when I'm done.
Ok, time to screw this beasty back together for some testing.
Immediately, I noticed a big improvement in the output from the centre speaker - much improved with a similar bass performance as my 3D8! The 5 band equaliser must have been the source of the bass shy sound.
One downside of this early model is the lack of a dedicated line in. RCA inputs are provided but the record key must be pressed to enable the line in to work. Unfortunately, pressing the record key also has the deck motor running so a future blue tooth mod will be installed soon.
One interesting feature of this aussie AU version is the tuning knob that has an internal gearing set up to allow fine tuning of the SW bands. The centre section of the tuner knob spins at 3 times the speed of the outer ring.
View attachment 20657View attachment 20659
So here she is and must say I'm amazed by the big bass, clear mids and highs and overall super loud performance of this modestly sized 12v unit - I'm amazed it only pulls 22 watts in the process!
I know she's a sinister looking beast with no bling what so ever but she cranks - unlike many of my 'looker boxes' that are best left on the shelf looking pretty but turned off!
As with many of these old 3Ds, she's had a hard life and has the battle scars to prove it but boy, does this thing still shake the foundations!!
View attachment 20650View attachment 20651View attachment 20652
View attachment 20654View attachment 20655
It's fun switching the 3rd speaker off to make the Hitachi sound like your standard 12V box and then feeling the big box sound with the 3rd speaker activated!
View attachment 20656View attachment 20658Short video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=LP2HqbcK3O8
