I found and restored this radio five or six years ago. It proudly sits front and center of my collection, but it doesn't mean it doesn't get used. However, it has been about a year since it came down and was pressed into action. Now it's cranking in the garage and doing what it was designed to do, PISS OFF THE NEIGHBORS!
An interesting fact about these radio's and their logic decks is, they have many, many tiny leaf switches that act like sensors to tell the system what is happening and what function needs to take place. They are micro contact points. I cleaned them all when I restored it, but after sitting, oxidation builds up and it takes a little time for the system to come back around. When I first popped a cassette in, the deck was resistant to fire up. Upon pushing the PLAY button, the unit would power up, the play LED would illuminate but the tape reels did not turn. I found that if I used the AMSS and pressed fast forward that the reels would turn and after a few goes like that, it started playing. Then, after some use, the system started coming around, but would still occasionally stumble. Now, after about a week of using the unit, its all working perfectly.
This is such a beautiful stereo system. The sound is incredibly warm, rich and full. The deck is intuitive and precise. The tuner is incredibly strong and doesn't even need the antenna's up to pull in stations across the dial and the fine tuning knob really helps dial the channel in precisely. The unit is dense and the handle feels strong and secure providing confidence in transport. This unit has ton's of features, but I find it odd that with the Automatic Music Search System (AMSS) that it will only skip one song at a time where so many other radios, you can choose how many songs you'd like to skip. Regardless, it's a gem.
If you'd like to see the entire story of this box, you can find it here: https://www.boomboxery.com/forum/threads/in-the-wild-find-sanyo-mx-820.29968/
An interesting fact about these radio's and their logic decks is, they have many, many tiny leaf switches that act like sensors to tell the system what is happening and what function needs to take place. They are micro contact points. I cleaned them all when I restored it, but after sitting, oxidation builds up and it takes a little time for the system to come back around. When I first popped a cassette in, the deck was resistant to fire up. Upon pushing the PLAY button, the unit would power up, the play LED would illuminate but the tape reels did not turn. I found that if I used the AMSS and pressed fast forward that the reels would turn and after a few goes like that, it started playing. Then, after some use, the system started coming around, but would still occasionally stumble. Now, after about a week of using the unit, its all working perfectly.
This is such a beautiful stereo system. The sound is incredibly warm, rich and full. The deck is intuitive and precise. The tuner is incredibly strong and doesn't even need the antenna's up to pull in stations across the dial and the fine tuning knob really helps dial the channel in precisely. The unit is dense and the handle feels strong and secure providing confidence in transport. This unit has ton's of features, but I find it odd that with the Automatic Music Search System (AMSS) that it will only skip one song at a time where so many other radios, you can choose how many songs you'd like to skip. Regardless, it's a gem.
If you'd like to see the entire story of this box, you can find it here: https://www.boomboxery.com/forum/threads/in-the-wild-find-sanyo-mx-820.29968/
