I love the old "It's a Sony" stickers. From a time when owning a Sony was something to be proud of because you knew you were getting a quality product that would last for years.
...more recently i have a Sony vaio laptop ...10 years old and still working ...perhaps it just as much to do with the owners of certain brands as much as the brands themselves
15 kg, not pounds -- more like 33-ish lbs! Around the same weight as a Compaq "luggable" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Portable), but not nearly as expensive. I guess if you had one of each you wouldn't be listing to one side or the other as you carried them slowly to your destination.
One should never apologize for the 80s aesthetic! I was born right in 1990, and there was this incredible sense of phantom nostalgia of having having missed all the cool stuff as they happened! They really don't make them like they used to.
I too suffer from “secondhand nostalgia” being born in 1999, my parents were using a balanced mix of the tech they bought as teens in the 80’s and as adults in the 90’s. My dad actually still had the same TV he bought as a college kid in the early 80’s, and used it until we moved in 2006 when it finally died.
I feel more normal knowing I wasn't the only one as a kid saving brochures of mini high fi system and looking at them daily. I'm also super happy for you in finding your child hood dream mini system !
Once upon a time back in 1986 my friend bought one of those and I was crazy about it and it was my ultimate desire to own these very one with full logic control, but had no money so I use to go his house along with my normal, CrO2 and Metal hot favorite cassettes, almost 15 to 20 and try my best to play all of them, off course it was impossible to play all of them. now dude playing and displaying it after 34 years. Time flies, ain't it. BTW it is a true story. Thanks man for bringing old memories back.
UPDATES - Various links etc can be found in the video description text box. It has been suggested that the 'hairs' found in the cassette deck might be shredded tape - which would be preferable. FAQ) How can there be old comments under a new video A) Patrons get to see videos early.
Glad to see you managed to find everything to complete the whole unit (sans the CD player but 2/3 of the systems is still pretty good) one thing I feel the need to mention is at the end of the video during the credits after you finish your post-video message you might want to increase the volume of the music back to what it usually is for that part (you really should do more of them imo) because I noticed after you finished that segment the credits music was very quiet which was very noticeable when compared to the rest of the video, just wanted to let you know about that, keep up the good work man you're one of the best vintage/modern audio and video tech discussion channels out there.
What a magnificent beast, much more substantial than it appeared at first! Loved seeing it come together component by component. And wow, that red model is gorgeous, reminds me of certain Sharp and Sony Japanese market computers from the 80s.
It took me a while to find my black FH7 - the silver models seemed to appear more frequently, but I already had the black turntable. However all the time I’ve been looking (a couple of years now) I’ve never seen a red one come up for sale.
I had one that was like golden, I had three parts, cd-player, equalizer and amplifier, sound and power was just amazing. I was around 12, 13 years old and connected huge party-speakers to it and turned the volume up, first time the overload fusing worked but then it didn't work at all, something further broke, I just threw it away and regret it till today, I have a nice Philips Sound-System something more modern with their Woox-System that is just great, but I loved the Sony system because of it's size and that it has seperate modules, just can remove all that isn't needed.
You got to check out the woodgrain REALISTIC brand computer cassette tape case eevblog found in an old warehouse of antique computer stuff. Hit him up because it has LGR all over it.
Growing up in the early 2000s, I thought the fancy stacked tall sound systems were so cool, I always wanted one. Now that I've grown up they are no longer "in style" you could say. Big sound systems just aren't common anymore, but dammit I'm still gonna get me a big tower of sound power to please the 6yr old in me.
I visited my grandparents one summer in Tokyo. They bought the MKI for me. I loved that system. Spent all my downtime listening some George Benson album over and over again. Thanks for posting this. Brought back some nice memories.
It brought to my mind lots of good old memories, thanks for sharing. In the 1980's we were selling in our shop a lot of Sony, JVC, Sanyo, Panasonic, AKAI, Philips and Pioneer audio and video products like walkmans, radio cassettes, Hi-Fi Stereos, Record players, VHS video recorders and Televisions
The Copyright Police hasn't catalogued the golden age of hip-hop yet on UA-cam and gangsta Techmoan gets away without sharing ad revenue / monetization demand by publishing, good 'ol Harry Fox, and whoring Orchard among the hundreds of copyright gangstas doing something quite different than 'Moan.
As a young U.S. Army Soldier stationed in Germany in 1984-85, I bought one of these along with the corresponding record player. I opted for the D-5 CD player that came with a regular wall wart power adapter. And back then my paycheck was around $1,100 a month so it was expensive as you mentioned. But, like a dummy, I sold it to a buddy real cheap and only recently did I finally replace everything.
I was born in 1985 so I am also 33. I'm so glad I was born when I was. I'm old enough to remember recording song into cassette off of the radio. I remember huge component systems that cost as much as a decent used car... remember being the only one on the house who could program the VCR. But right as I was coming of age Napster and recordable CDs were coming out. I remember flipping thru electronic store catalogs just like you mentioned. I owned both multiple Walkmans and a Discmans. I used to fawn over minidisc and wanted one so bad when I was 13 or 14 but as you've mentioned they never really caught on in the u.s. and they were nigh unaffordable for me at that age... anyways. I could wax nostalgic all morning but I mostly wanted to say I really appreciate your channel sir. Please keep up the great work.
I'm an 1986 model :-), nice time to born, we lived in the birth of the internet and modern tech like smartphones and enjoy some of the cool late 80's and all the 90's consumer electronics. As a teenager in a poor country i just dreamed to have a nice portable MD recorder, as in your case, it was out of reach, but i managed to save some money an bought a cool Sony walkman with digital AM/FM radio, remote control and auto reverse mechanism, good times man, good times!
I'm only a year older, my dad had an early-mid 80's Marantz full-size component system, he might actually have bought it in my lifetime, but I can just remember being a toddler in the early 90's and pretending it was the controls of a spaceship. It even had an oscilloscope type thing that you could get a point of light on and then adjust up and down, this naturally became my radar for spotting enemy ships.
Born in 1988. A classmate in my second year in high school had a Minidisc player, and basically everyone wanted to listen to music with him during art class. At first I thought he was going to show a 4 or 5-in-1 hi-fi system that an aunt and uncle of mine did away with (I have absolutely no clue what the brand was, the speakers look sort of identical) and had this supercool 3D-VU meter in the shape of LED's placed in a trapeziumshaped piece of plastic running up to the middle which was slanted and had some aluminium foil on the sides to make it look wider than it actually was. It had dual cassettedecks making you able to record from A to B, and I think you you could record radio on the A deck and something different on deck B, it was pretty advanced compared to the simple one I had before that one.
@@Dutch3DMaster appreciate that story. I love hearing other people's experiences. I remember my moms had a Fischer(sp?) silver stack component. Duel cassette deck. Record player. Stereo tuner. Small amp. I just remember that the speakers were weak. She probably bought it around 1984 or '85.
Its funny how much more Space age this thing looks compared to my 1981 RFT Stereo (made in GDR) sice they where about the same price when they where new. Its a RK88 Sensit if anybody wants to look it up
This entire line by Sony is my favourite design ever! It's probably the most futuristic, late 80s/early 90s aesthetic they've ever produced. Also, that David Bowie Labyrinth play is a sound for sore ears; one of my favourite soundtracks ever. As people have said, your channel is lethal for making me want to buy new retro tech. It's because of you now I own two HIFI systems, a Sanyo from 1990 and a Sony from 2001! It's becoming a problem. 😂
Oh Biy, you just took me down my childhood days,my wife is commenting as she is listening in the background. I used to do the same, I'd geek out at all the hifi stores in Melbourne Australia. And i finally saved all my pocket money and got the beloved Aiwa CA100. And many years afterwards it was stolen when i was married. It was the best sounding portable stereo, such fond memories. God I love this channel. I just want to buy all the old stuff......
Oh man this takes me back to the mid to late '80s when I was earning about £8k/year and got myself into about £7k of debt buying hi-fi, computers, games, vinyl, CDs and financing it over X months direct from the stores. I thought I'd never get out from under that debt until I went freelance and then wiped the debt off in 3 months :-)
Can also remember flicking through catalogues and hi-fi magazines back in the day and lusting after those REALLY expensive bits of kit. Thanks for the nostalgia ;-)
I love seeing this stuff from the golden age of what would later be called midi/mini systems. Back when the beauty of the designs stemmed from practicality and function, before the mid-90s fixation on geometric angles and excessive animated LED displays that made all mini HiFis look like a cross between Optimus Prime's head and a stealth fighter. The first compact component system I bought with my own earnings was a JVC MX-50 from about 1990 and it was lovely. Gorgeous industrial design, with understated dimmable orange displays and bass port speakers that weighed a ton and packed an incredible amount of oomph. But the most impressive feature was the auto CD-to-tape dubbing which would not only re-order tracks to fill the maximum space on the tape but, if the tape ran out before the last track was complete, would rewind the tape and re-record the last track with a slow fade out before the leader. An incredibly smart combination of hardware and logic for its day.
Completely agree! My father gifted me a MkIII that he used when he was 19. 40 years later (and after being abandoned for several years), IT STILL WORKS! I have now to make some money to buy all the accesories.
My friend in like 83 had a Sony system like that in his room and thought it looked and sounded fantastic. He said it also recorded tapes and sounded greats. Back when so many cool Japanese electronics were coming out. I remember buying a tape deck that was auto reverse and had a real digital counter vs the old one that had a physical 3 number counter. I remember there was a small Sony store in this Japanese mall in San Francisco that had this tape deck. So I bought one when it was on sale like around 87 or 88. Or ember strapping it on the back of my scooter and praying it would fly off. Lol! I did the same when buying my first Hitachi vcr around 86-97. Yes when I was a kid, visiting a stereo store was like visiting a museum in the late 70’s. Each set up was so beautiful and showcased like they were jewelry. None I could afford at the age 13 in the 70’s. Lol! But in the 90’s I would visit the stereo store often and there was always something I wanted. Like the thin Sony Walkman or cd portable player, handy cam, and I even bought a Casio digital contact / phone rollerdex that was also a pager. I wish someone open a museum for ppl. to see what we had in the 70’s and 80’s. And I need to find a book on Japanese electronics bc I love looking at. In the early 80’s, my stereo unit was my top of the line Sanyo boombox with the 2 mics and a Sony turntable. It sounded great and how I taped my records on that setup. The boombox had world radio bands also and a light to see the radio dial at night . It suppose to one of the top 5 boomboxes from 80’s. I’m now looking to get a Sony Ps- Q7 compact turntable that I had rediscovered just today and now obsessed with now and have to get one. But they are now going for around $400. and most are Japanese sellers on eBay. I’m so nuts about getting that Sony PS- Q7, I even went ahead and bought this tone arm lock that only one US seller was selling for $11. Lol! Yup, I’m already buying parts for something I don’t own. Lol!
Absolutely awesome piece of kit, as an 80s kid I absolutely love these old midi systems and boom boxes, bluetooth speakers don't really have the same cache do they.
IntyMichael I truthfully don't think so. I think the hi-fi system is on the rise again and will look back on these mini media devices (iPod and smartphones for "professional audio quality") and think how stupid we were. Not all things from the past people liked. I think most people are happy with 50"+ TVs and not stuck with only 20" ones. Though TVs did have much better speakers then.
@@IntyMichael I totally agree. I was struck by the beauty of my iPod touch when I first got it, and it stands out even more now against the current bland anti-skeumorphic iPhones with the headphone jack removed!
Being able to use this setup as a portable boombox is incredible! True hi-fi quality sound on the move, this is the kind of thing the rich-kid in the group would rock up to the house party with back in the day…
This channel only adds to my nostalgia. Who knew people would ditch these formidable, intricate, rich systems for such tiny, tinny, bluetooth speakers? Even standard car stereos are a toss-up depending on what make you buy.
You are absolutely right, they don't make stereo systems like they used to. And I do remember walking into the HiFi parts of a few places with the lights turned down so you could see all the GEQ lights dancing on the various units and whatnot. Never could afford anything back then, but used to love going there while on a search for a new CD or tape and drooling over some of the gigantic home setups.
My dad has a 1977 Sony trinitron with the wood base and built in Betamax. It was in the attic for a couple of decades and he pulled it out and put it in his home office a few years ago. I watched the movie ‘Splash’ on it recently and it’s still mind blowing how good the product was. Sony went all out.
Sony had done a great job with their APM speakers in the 80s. Will always miss that hifi era. Tape, CD, Phono and Tuner were the inputs that we use to listen on almost everyday!!!
Amazing quality. You can just tell every piece was thought out all the way down to the lights! Design-wise it doesn't age. The red one looks very futuristic but the charcoal/grey colour looks very nice
unhban wait how can you say Sony had lost their way, when in fact they are still revered in the camera world, and camera sensors are used by all of the premium cell phone brands.. sure they don't make electronics like they used to but Sony is still Sony.
Yeah, Sony still makes good headphones and I have a Sony Bluetooth speaker that sounds great. They've always been a pretty good brand. You can make good quality stuff in countries like China as long as you maintain quality control over the factory.
I love these little component systems, and I have to agree that the old designs were nicer than what's available now. I used to fantasise about owning a Pioneer XC-L77 or one of its variants. I'm not sure if I should get one now, because I'm afraid reality won't live up to my youthful impressions...
Great to see people giving some love to these hig fidelity compact high density sony system. My setup: I have a fh 10w with apm 108 speakers (4ohm speakers, yes the fh10 worked with 4ohm) and a fh11w (6 to 16ohm) with apm 115 speakers (6ohm). The Fh10w i have it since 1986 when dad bought it. i use the fh11w amp (st 118) and fh10w amp (st 108) as part of a true 7.1 system together with grundig super hi fi 1500 pro speakers as front (connected to a yamaha rx receiver and sansui equalizer), a pair of pioneer s x20, as lateral connected to another sony receiver, The apm 115 speaker connected to the fh11w as rear speakers and a center sanyo and sony subwoofer connected to the fh10w. Every amp connects independently to The Asus rog supreme fx that do the 7.1 channel upmix and I enjoy 3d sound on every spotify song at 320kbps.(you can switch from stereo to,quadraphonic to 5.1 and to 7.1). All vintage hi fi.
I used to listen to Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" in this unit and it sounded fantastic, deep, powerful tight, bass and crystal clear treble. Funny you didn't mention the pistonic speaker system, it was the heart and highlight of the system and they worked very, very well. Cheers Techmoan!
I could walk around Dixons for hours seeing the speed of the eject buttons and how many lights and what the biggest displays were and new features. I loved that but my gf did not lol.
@7:48 In case anyone was curious, it's also possible to use vinegar on leaky battery residue (distilled white vinegar best here). Batteries are basic, vinegar is acidic, use the hardware store vinegar so it doesn't leave residue (like apple cider might, for example).
I grew up listening to the Sony FM 7 mk3 an still kept one of the speakers, the sound is awesome. Just seeing and listening to your demo brought back so many great memories which is why this channel is so amazing & entertaining. It bring back forgotten lives of so many people all over the world !!
I too have always been drawn to component systems. I remember begging my parents for one. They eventually did buy one for me, however it was merely a cheap knock off all-in-one system where the the "components" could not be separated. Basically a big hunk of plastic made to look like a component system. I still loved it though. I did recently manage to pick up a JVC Micro Component System at a local good will that I really love. The UX-A4 system.
My brother had one of those pseudo component systems as well. Didn't even realize it wasn't a true component system back then. But I prefer the full size stuff. It's basically a standard like 19 inch for server/network stuff. My modern AVR, my laserdisc player, HD-DVD Player, Blu-Ray, network music player ... all of different manufacturers, stack up together niceley and look at least somewhat matching. You can even get some HTPC cases in that format. It's just brilliant.
Chris Jones --- If that annoys you, you need to either not read the comments or find a hobby to chill you out. It's certainly weird when people do that, but it doesn't outright annoy me. If they want to look like idiots, that's their business...
When I was little, I saw this Sony hi fi in a catalog that came with my father's purchase of a Sony Betamax video player. At that time I thought, how cool this electronic device is. I imagine having one of these. Even after I grow up until found this video, I still want to have it. This Sony hi fi never feels outdated even in 2024!
I want so badly to look through this catalogue as it contains a close system to the one that was bought for by my Dad as my first music system. In my wisdom I wanted a Schneider stack system that was absolute rubbish but I knew best. He was right of course and he swapped it out for an Akai separates / portable system with a turntable which weighed a ton but was quality! I dread to think how much it cost him at the time but we were both happy and I had it for years but still not really realising what I had until now !!! So thank you Sir Moan of Techshire for this lovely trip down that road to my youth with many , many hours of recording late night radio such as LWR , early Kiss (coldcut solid steel) and of course Peter Cook 's phone calls to LBC . A gem of a channel !
I've bought two things on eBay, one is a “refurbished” reverb that even if it's in really good shape for its 35 years it clearly was not refurbished. This seems to be a very common problem unfortunately. (Although I'm very sure there's also a lot of decent and honest sellers on eBay.)
Collecting disc-based media from eBay is a real treat. "New" means only a few major scratches. "Like New" means it still technically works. "Brand New" means it still has the insert.
Great video. I have the Sony FH55W stored away in my loft. In excellent condition although the volume slider is erratic. Also, an ex-girlfriend threw away the handle because she found it in a drawer doing nothing and decided it was taking up space and just disposed of it. Needless to say I disposed of the girlfriend not long after. At some point I will get the volume slider sorted at a reputable hi-fi store and maybe put the unit back on display in my bedroom. In case you were wondering my lounge is powered by Technics separates including a pair of SL 1200s and a SL MC7 CD changer. My nephews and nieces think I'm old-fashioned, that is until I turn the volume up. Might is right.
This really takes me back, it was using these sort of things from Aiwa and the likes that really started my appreciation of music. I had a great time of my life in this era, and it’s great to see this stuff again
This is one of my favorite episodes of yours and I´ve seen it a couple of times now... I want my own FH-7. Thanks for the work you put into your channel, I´m a big fan. Keep up the great work.
These shelf systems were my favorite stereo format while growing up. I owned a fairly decent Aiwa system, but always drooled over the high end Sony models, such as the MHC-2200. I have since owned a few of those older Sony models. The cable ribbons are always a hassle, and I definitely now prefer the quality of separates over the "coolness" of these shelf systems, but I will always have a soft spot for these systems.
Ah, the 80's !!! ; ) remember it well ..................... I was a Hi-Fi salesman at the time, and I still remember selling most of the products you cover on your channel. That's why I love watching you so much, takes me back to better times. Even though those mini-stack Hi-Fi systems were very expensive at the time, they used to sell like hot cakes! I could sell at least half a dozen systems like that on a Saturday afternoon! As we were in Jersey ( the 'real' Jersey in the Channel Islands and not the US one! ), most of our customers buying Hi-Fi equipment were French. Tax free shopping for them when they sailed across from France for the day ; ) You also mentioned the Compact Disc ................. yeah, remember that day very well, we were all cob-smacked when the rep demonstrated it to us. He put a CD on the floor, put his foot on it and twisted his foot on it, thereby scratching it! Then put it back in the CD player, and it played flawlessly!!! Back in the day when we were used to vinyl, when the simplest of scratches would ruin a perfectly good record. That was 1984 when I first saw my very first Compact Disc : ) Prerecorded CD's were very difficult to get hold of at first, and you can forget about recordable CD, that didn't happen for a few years yet. I guess you must of been the sort of guy I used to chat to every Saturday, the enthusiast picking my brains, and never buying anything! ; ) I was lucky enough to have lived, and experienced all these new technologies as they came out, as I was one of the first to 'have a play', and demonstrate them to the consumer. I'd spend days reading the user manuals and comparing various models, Panasonic, Sony, Akai, Technics, Pioneer, Amstrad, Benitone, and countless others. One model of 'compact-mini-system' I've never been able to find to this day, as I can't remember who made it ( maybe Panasonic ), was a tiny system designed like the Sony FH-7. Each 'separate' were about the size of a walkman, in fact, the tape section of the system was a walkman! You could simply detach the tape section and use it as a walkman with the optional headhones. To this day I still love my Hi-Fi .................. I've still got my Marantz separates that I bought in the early 90's ; ) TURK
Reminds me of the Aiwa that powered my dormrooms at university from 1983-87; complete with lighted graphic equalizer and wooden speaker boxes but minus the turntable. :-)
I don't remember the exact model, but my Aiwa mini system (similar to this Sony) was pretty slick and was built and worked well. It sounded great. It was not garbage at all.
I have a aiwa nsxs90 great systems very loud the one I have is 500 Watts fan cooled amp with both Sony and aiwa components inside great things is they are packed with features you don't get this on systems nowadays you only pay for garbage can't beat the old systems
Aiwa are pretty good to be fair the system I have kicks 500 Watts out fan cooled in the late 90s they had both aiwa and Sony components inside they made some pretty good systems unlike half the garbage you see in currys today
I love when I buy things that I wanted to buy as a kid electronic wise and couldn't afford it and now I bought it 20 years later over there many years it's been long time waiting
Oh man... How I wanted one of these back in the day (this and a similar "stackable" JVC unit were among my all time faves)... I too used to have electronics store catalogs and I would just fawn at all the great new electronics featured there. This unit was one of the ones I always dreamt of having. Really nice to see you got one and showcased all it's features, so thank you for that. Great job tracking down the correct speakers. Hope you find the elusive CD player someday. What an absolutely *_GORGEOUS_* piece. Wish SONY and other well-known manufacturers would re-continue making units like this with upgraded, high quality components and modern features such as Bluetooth, multi dock and various format (MP3, MP4, WAV etc. etc..) playability... Can't get over how beautiful this stereo was and still is.... Awesome video upload here... Nod in your direction...
Yeah the old £1.99-2.99 games, remember them well. some of the games were great value. Also remember buying my first computer, a ZX81 from W H Smith , if only I had known then how much money I would end up spending over the years on computers etc !!. Doe's anyone remember the old mags ie CRASH, SPECTRUM, CB64 etc, My wife went crazy with me!!. Oh those were the days. MAN but I am an old git lol.
It's easy to forget that Boots used to carry a much wider range of merchandise back then. Although they were still (nominally) "Boots The Chemist", they were in some respects more like a mini department store. They had audiovisual equipment (TVs, hifis, videos) and accessories (#), prerecorded music, photo departments with a decent range of accessories, homeware, computers and computer games. My Dad even bought his homebrew beer kits there! I'm guessing they focused on their core business of toiletries and medicines as they were increasingly outcompeted by specialist retailers. I remember the music department slowly fizzling out as the 90s went on until it was reduced to a single rack of bashed-about looking CDs by the early 2000s IIRC. (#) Although f--- those poxy own-brand blank cassettes they sold in the mid-80s, I should have just save up the extra for TDKs!
This is basically the big kids version of a Soundwave Transformer toy. Or Soundwave’s ultimate form. Also you should do an update on what you’ve done with all the items you’ve covered so far. A “Where are they now” of hifi components.
I miss my Sony FH7 MK II now... these were my bedside system (handed down from my Dad) where I grew to love music through the 80s. Wish I could find a gem like yours!
I love old systems. I enjoy seeing the more complicated units. Very futuristic for the 80s and 90s. It’s amazing all that gear is now in the palm in of our hands. Not sure they saw that coming in the 80s.
What a coincidence! There's actually a FH-7 MK III at my local thrift store for about $85 USD. I'm still trying to convince my fiancee to let me get it....
I love being divorced, I can buy what I want, when I want! Freedom, baby! Do u really want to get married, bro? If you have to get permission to spend $85 the power balance is definitely not in your favor. You will resent it sooner or later. Me, I greatly prefer not being married 😂
Hahaha, I too read those store booklets cover to cover. The orange dot sony logo still is my favourite. The Sharp unit above the Sony looked interesting too. Square, leds and soft touch buttons were so modern.
Yeah, I see whatcha mean, it's a bit malformed though. I dunno, I figured it meant something more significant. But maybe it's simpler than that and they were just going for a "graphic equalizer" look.
One of my dream purchases back in the day. I had to make do with a JVC R-E22L from a catalogue that took 2 years to pay off! It wasn't a separate system, but it did have a linear tracking turntable - I loved that! And guess what... I still listen to the local radio station on it every day now, the tapes and 'table still work too.
I imagine you're on the lookout for the battery power supply module for that. I would guess they are pretty rare and of the few sold, many have been damaged by leaky batteries. Still 15 kg plus 12 D batteries would make for quite the workout.
I remember these so well. My absolute favorite model was the FH-215R - infra-red remote and a tape deck that recorded on Metal with a 7-band digital EQ and SA. Then they had models later on with Dolby C/HX-Pro, twin tape decks, MD player modules and probably even DAT recorder options as well. Hugely popular around the globe for Sony since these came right at a time when the big floor standing HIFI systems in those glass/wood cabinets were going out of style. You no longer needed living room furniture to enjoy HIFI quality sound. Oh, and the EXTRA BASS on these was AMAZING!!! They changed the battery on later models as well with a piggy-back design that you would mount to the back of the unit instead of swapping out the base. I remember asking the dealer who said he sold one to a guy and the thing ran for only 20 minutes on a fresh set of batteries. Clearly D-size alkalines couldn't push enough juice, but there's nothing stopping some lucky guy from modding a modern lithium ion pack that could push one of these to an hour or more of unplugged run time. I need a time machine.
This reminds me of being a young child in the 80s and marveling at all the sleek, sterile looking technology. I would definitely jam to some California Raisins on full blast on this beast.
12:30 Mk1 claims that it can auto detect type III cassettes. Auto detection relied on notches on the back of the cassette shell, but there were no notches defined for type III tapes. So by definition, any deck that could handle type III would have to have manual selection at least for that one type. So I wonder how that worked.
All Compact Cassettes have a write protect notch; it's additional notches that indicate what type of tape is in it. Type I tapes have only the write protect notch, so that would be the "lack of notches" you are guessing at.
The bias and equalization requirements for FeCr (type III) are close enough to type I, no special settings are required for playback. It may be that when recording, it ran a short test recording sequence to determine the tape type. Couldn't find a user manual, so this is just a guess. I do remember that there were cassette decks from this era that did something like this.
Might be careful with those, I think they had a big issue with foam rot. I believe there are repair foam kits out there though. What a gorgeous little minisystem. My best memories of the 80's were these 80's mini systems and boom box designs... the higher end for consumer ones.
Have had dozens of the APM speakers, and unfortunately foam repair kits are VERY hard to find, and that for the most popular models. A low volume model will NOT have a foam kit available at any price. I managed to repair a single APM-8 woofer by forming a chamois into the proper shape and coating it with some liquid rubber stuff. Speaking of coating, the best thing you can do for a foam surround, especially square ones that are irreplaceable, is to thin down something like Eileen's Tacky Glue and gently brush it on the back of the foam. Do this BEFORE it rots, because just touching it with a soft brush will cause it to disintegrate.
Well after a long wait I finally found a Sony FH-7 MKIII only a 25 min drive away fully working in almost new condition. Thanks to the previous owner who passed away but looked after his audio gear. :) Glad I watched this video and found the 2 x AA original Sony batteries in the back of the tuner but no corrosion :)
One of the unique features of the FH series were its APM speakers. APM stands for "Accurate Pistonic Motion”. In contrast to the concave/convex diaphragms of regular speakers, Sony engineers designed the APM speakers to have flat square rigid diaphragms to avoid split vibrations, have a much higher breakup frequency and much lower distortion levels across the whole frequency spectrum.
Yep, my APM room is my best sounding 5.1 system. Custom center made from 2 APM-22ES woofers, high and mid from APM-8, plus 22-ES fronts, and custom dipole rears. The rears are 4 X5A woofers each, with 2 22-ES tweeters.
I love how much I enjoyed watching you explain so much about a music system that I have no desire of ever owning. It must be your enthusiasm for the system.
I would pay $1200 for a modern version with Digital AM/FM.SW, Satellite, Wifi/Bluetooth, mp3-4a-ogg and CD/Turntable in a similar format. I miss the days of quality wooden speakers...
The cassette deck of the FH-3 at least had manual rec level, although only for both channels at once. And all of those had Dolby, full-logic control and metal tape capability.
My neighbor had this. I remember when I was young playing in their house. If only I knew that he wont go back to his house since he moved to US i should ask for this.
As always, another nice video. You mention 1980's hifi shops. In my teen years (1965) Acoustic Research had a Sound Room in Grand Central Station, NYC. It had some of the latest speakers and turntables from AR. I think they were powered by a Dynaco amp. I'd hang out there during summer vacation, sometimes all day asking questions, at least till they told me to leave. It was a swell place. Into the 1970's I shopped at Harvey Sound, tech hifi, Great Sounds, The WIZ, Stereo Warehouse, Audio Graveyard and Lafayette's to name a few stores. In 1983 I got my dad a Sanyo C-4 (carrying combo). Not as sophisticated as yours but pretty sweet. AM/FM, five band EQ, cassette deck, phono and aux inputs and decent speakers with 1.5" tweeters and 4" vented woofers. Power is 6wpc. When dad died in 1998 I got it back and use it in my office room. Thanks for posting this video. I do doubt the 280w peak and 140w "music power" though. Sony hyperbole???
"I know you're probably sick of hearing people say 'they don't make things like they used to,' but when it comes to things like this, they definitely don't. I'm not saying that they need to, either; this is something from the past. But I'm just glad that they did make it at one point, and I've managed to finally get hold of one." Every once in a while, it's good to run into a kindred soul when it comes to collecting, owning, and maintaining old electronics like these.
I love the old "It's a Sony" stickers. From a time when owning a Sony was something to be proud of because you knew you were getting a quality product that would last for years.
My late-1980s Sony DigiCube alarm clock still has the sticker... and it still works. ;-)
I have to say, Sony is still one of the most reliable brands today.
...more recently i have a Sony vaio laptop ...10 years old and still working ...perhaps it just as much to do with the owners of certain brands as much as the brands themselves
Well done sony nerfing visual novels
@@strawberryjam3670 not any more.. all companies have degraded their product quality..
This approaches the military definition of portable: can be moved without a forklift.
Hey at 15lbs that thing wasn't that heavy back then, a really cheap boombox might be 5-8lbs with either C or D batteries in them.
15 kg, not pounds -- more like 33-ish lbs! Around the same weight as a Compaq "luggable" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Portable), but not nearly as expensive. I guess if you had one of each you wouldn't be listing to one side or the other as you carried them slowly to your destination.
The real military portable is the 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗛𝗶 𝗙𝗶 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝟭𝗠
For large values of portable.
@@mariocomeq1961 It's like the IBM PS/2 8580 (huge PC tower)...portable because it has a fold down handle fully loaded probably weighs 70 lb.
One should never apologize for the 80s aesthetic! I was born right in 1990, and there was this incredible sense of phantom nostalgia of having having missed all the cool stuff as they happened! They really don't make them like they used to.
80s refrigerator still rocks today
That phantom nostalgia hits every generation. The movie 'Midnight in Paris' is kind of based on it
I too suffer from “secondhand nostalgia” being born in 1999, my parents were using a balanced mix of the tech they bought as teens in the 80’s and as adults in the 90’s. My dad actually still had the same TV he bought as a college kid in the early 80’s, and used it until we moved in 2006 when it finally died.
I feel more normal knowing I wasn't the only one as a kid saving brochures of mini high fi system and looking at them daily. I'm also super happy for you in finding your child hood dream mini system !
Once upon a time back in 1986 my friend bought one of those and I was crazy about it and it was my ultimate desire to own these very one with full logic control, but had no money so I use to go his house along with my normal, CrO2 and Metal hot favorite cassettes, almost 15 to 20 and try my best to play all of them, off course it was impossible to play all of them. now dude playing and displaying it after 34 years. Time flies, ain't it. BTW it is a true story. Thanks man for bringing old memories back.
UPDATES - Various links etc can be found in the video description text box.
It has been suggested that the 'hairs' found in the cassette deck might be shredded tape - which would be preferable.
FAQ) How can there be old comments under a new video A) Patrons get to see videos early.
Techmoan
Hi any chance you could review the Sony MDS-JB930 QS UK Special Edition, at some point. Thanks.
I've watched a lot of your videos. This one made me jealous.
May I ask why that particular model? What's special about it?
Glad to see you managed to find everything to complete the whole unit (sans the CD player but 2/3 of the systems is still pretty good) one thing I feel the need to mention is at the end of the video during the credits after you finish your post-video message you might want to increase the volume of the music back to what it usually is for that part (you really should do more of them imo) because I noticed after you finished that segment the credits music was very quiet which was very noticeable when compared to the rest of the video, just wanted to let you know about that, keep up the good work man you're one of the best vintage/modern audio and video tech discussion channels out there.
If you burn the "hairs" it'll be easy to tell.
What a magnificent beast, much more substantial than it appeared at first! Loved seeing it come together component by component. And wow, that red model is gorgeous, reminds me of certain Sharp and Sony Japanese market computers from the 80s.
It took me a while to find my black FH7 - the silver models seemed to appear more frequently, but I already had the black turntable. However all the time I’ve been looking (a couple of years now) I’ve never seen a red one come up for sale.
Hi Clint! :)
I had one that was like golden, I had three parts, cd-player, equalizer and amplifier, sound and power was just amazing. I was around 12, 13 years old and connected huge party-speakers to it and turned the volume up, first time the overload fusing worked but then it didn't work at all, something further broke, I just threw it away and regret it till today, I have a nice Philips Sound-System something more modern with their Woox-System that is just great, but I loved the Sony system because of it's size and that it has seperate modules, just can remove all that isn't needed.
You got to check out the woodgrain REALISTIC brand computer cassette tape case eevblog found in an old warehouse of antique computer stuff. Hit him up because it has LGR all over it.
Mr Basinger, how's tricks stateside?
Back in the 80's I'm dreaming of owning some of these great hi-fis, now in the 21st century, I'm still dreaming of owning some of these great hi-fis!
小学生から作業所までの頃はステレオコンポを使ってオーディオテープで音楽やテレビ音声などを簡単録音しましたが次第に壊れてワイドFM短波ホームラジオやスマホのネットラジオなどに乗り換えて行きましたので使いこなしに便利かなと思いますよ。だから倉庫などにさようならしました。
I would not have regarded this system as ‘hi fi ‘ but it was very good for my tastes
Growing up in the early 2000s, I thought the fancy stacked tall sound systems were so cool, I always wanted one. Now that I've grown up they are no longer "in style" you could say. Big sound systems just aren't common anymore, but dammit I'm still gonna get me a big tower of sound power to please the 6yr old in me.
I visited my grandparents one summer in Tokyo. They bought the MKI for me. I loved that system. Spent all my downtime listening some George Benson album over and over again.
Thanks for posting this. Brought back some nice memories.
The world is a ghetto
It brought to my mind lots of good old memories, thanks for sharing. In the 1980's we were selling in our shop a lot of Sony, JVC, Sanyo, Panasonic, AKAI, Philips and Pioneer audio and video products like walkmans, radio cassettes, Hi-Fi Stereos, Record players, VHS video recorders and Televisions
I'm glad that Matt is finally getting things he dreamed about as a kid thanks to this youtube channel
Your love for golden age hip hop never fails to amuse me.
Jordan Sim Nothing beats it! Be there or be square!
The Copyright Police hasn't catalogued the golden age of hip-hop yet on UA-cam and gangsta Techmoan gets away without sharing ad revenue / monetization demand by publishing, good 'ol Harry Fox, and whoring Orchard among the hundreds of copyright gangstas doing something quite different than 'Moan.
So wait? Does he actually like it or just use it for that purpose?
We own an FH-7 MKII. It was my wife's first Stereo back in the time as she was a teenager, ;) It still works fine after all theses years.
From when 'Sony' was all you needed to see.
Those Vegas pawn boys will be like umm..." I'llgive you ten bucks"
Guy, you are so nailing this. Broadcast quality productions, you could be making these for the BBC.
Who's Guy?
Just imagine if he had a whole BBC producing crew backing him!
yeah but TV isn't relevant anymore. If anything, BBC should be taking notes
Too good for BBC. they only do shit now
@@bewsket It is pretty relevant, more views than this guy gets live, let alone on iPlayer / rewatches which adds up the number by a good amount
As a young U.S. Army Soldier stationed in Germany in 1984-85, I bought one of these along with the corresponding record player. I opted for the D-5 CD player that came with a regular wall wart power adapter. And back then my paycheck was around $1,100 a month so it was expensive as you mentioned. But, like a dummy, I sold it to a buddy real cheap and only recently did I finally replace everything.
I was born in 1985 so I am also 33. I'm so glad I was born when I was. I'm old enough to remember recording song into cassette off of the radio. I remember huge component systems that cost as much as a decent used car... remember being the only one on the house who could program the VCR. But right as I was coming of age Napster and recordable CDs were coming out. I remember flipping thru electronic store catalogs just like you mentioned. I owned both multiple Walkmans and a Discmans. I used to fawn over minidisc and wanted one so bad when I was 13 or 14 but as you've mentioned they never really caught on in the u.s. and they were nigh unaffordable for me at that age... anyways. I could wax nostalgic all morning but I mostly wanted to say I really appreciate your channel sir. Please keep up the great work.
I'm an 1986 model :-), nice time to born, we lived in the birth of the internet and modern tech like smartphones and enjoy some of the cool late 80's and all the 90's consumer electronics. As a teenager in a poor country i just dreamed to have a nice portable MD recorder, as in your case, it was out of reach, but i managed to save some money an bought a cool Sony walkman with digital AM/FM radio, remote control and auto reverse mechanism, good times man, good times!
I'm only a year older, my dad had an early-mid 80's Marantz full-size component system, he might actually have bought it in my lifetime, but I can just remember being a toddler in the early 90's and pretending it was the controls of a spaceship. It even had an oscilloscope type thing that you could get a point of light on and then adjust up and down, this naturally became my radar for spotting enemy ships.
Born in 1988. A classmate in my second year in high school had a Minidisc player, and basically everyone wanted to listen to music with him during art class.
At first I thought he was going to show a 4 or 5-in-1 hi-fi system that an aunt and uncle of mine did away with (I have absolutely no clue what the brand was, the speakers look sort of identical) and had this supercool 3D-VU meter in the shape of LED's placed in a trapeziumshaped piece of plastic running up to the middle which was slanted and had some aluminium foil on the sides to make it look wider than it actually was.
It had dual cassettedecks making you able to record from A to B, and I think you you could record radio on the A deck and something different on deck B, it was pretty advanced compared to the simple one I had before that one.
@@Dutch3DMaster appreciate that story. I love hearing other people's experiences. I remember my moms had a Fischer(sp?) silver stack component. Duel cassette deck. Record player. Stereo tuner. Small amp. I just remember that the speakers were weak. She probably bought it around 1984 or '85.
Things looked so freaking cool back then.
ungratefulmetalpansy just like 80's sense of fashion:p
Yes they did. But it could make shopping all that harder.
God this looks like shit lmao
Its funny how much more Space age this thing looks compared to my 1981 RFT Stereo (made in GDR) sice they where about the same price when they where new.
Its a RK88 Sensit if anybody wants to look it up
thegrimyeaper Amen to that.
This entire line by Sony is my favourite design ever! It's probably the most futuristic, late 80s/early 90s aesthetic they've ever produced. Also, that David Bowie Labyrinth play is a sound for sore ears; one of my favourite soundtracks ever. As people have said, your channel is lethal for making me want to buy new retro tech. It's because of you now I own two HIFI systems, a Sanyo from 1990 and a Sony from 2001! It's becoming a problem. 😂
This brings back so many memories of my teenage years and the yearning for a stacking system! 😍 MP3 players just dont have the same gravitas 😀
Oh Biy, you just took me down my childhood days,my wife is commenting as she is listening in the background. I used to do the same, I'd geek out at all the hifi stores in Melbourne Australia.
And i finally saved all my pocket money and got the beloved Aiwa CA100. And many years afterwards it was stolen when i was married. It was the best sounding portable stereo, such fond memories. God I love this channel. I just want to buy all the old stuff......
Oh man this takes me back to the mid to late '80s when I was earning about £8k/year and got myself into about £7k of debt buying hi-fi, computers, games, vinyl, CDs and financing it over X months direct from the stores. I thought I'd never get out from under that debt until I went freelance and then wiped the debt off in 3 months :-)
Drive Fast freedom!! Good on you mate!
Cure your debt problems in 3 months with this one easy trick!
Alex Willis bankers hate this method!
Can also remember flicking through catalogues and hi-fi magazines back in the day and lusting after those REALLY expensive bits of kit. Thanks for the nostalgia ;-)
It was literature *and* porn to me, all in one go. : )
Yep here in the US we had the Service Merchandise catalog, wore that shit out. Crutchfield too.
I love seeing this stuff from the golden age of what would later be called midi/mini systems. Back when the beauty of the designs stemmed from practicality and function, before the mid-90s fixation on geometric angles and excessive animated LED displays that made all mini HiFis look like a cross between Optimus Prime's head and a stealth fighter.
The first compact component system I bought with my own earnings was a JVC MX-50 from about 1990 and it was lovely. Gorgeous industrial design, with understated dimmable orange displays and bass port speakers that weighed a ton and packed an incredible amount of oomph.
But the most impressive feature was the auto CD-to-tape dubbing which would not only re-order tracks to fill the maximum space on the tape but, if the tape ran out before the last track was complete, would rewind the tape and re-record the last track with a slow fade out before the leader. An incredibly smart combination of hardware and logic for its day.
"MADE IN JAPAN" in 80's: "will work forever"...
Yep
Completely agree! My father gifted me a MkIII that he used when he was 19. 40 years later (and after being abandoned for several years), IT STILL WORKS! I have now to make some money to buy all the accesories.
Agreed 100%!!
same with Its a Sony
My dad's Sony Walkman receives radio signal better than radios with huge antennas
I don't know what they put in their
My friend in like 83 had a Sony system like that in his room and thought it looked and sounded fantastic. He said it also recorded tapes and sounded greats. Back when so many cool Japanese electronics were coming out.
I remember buying a tape deck that was auto reverse and had a real digital counter vs the old one that had a physical 3 number counter. I remember there was a small Sony store in this Japanese mall in San Francisco that had this tape deck.
So I bought one when it was on sale like around 87 or 88. Or ember strapping it on the back of my scooter and praying it would fly off. Lol! I did the same when buying my first Hitachi vcr around 86-97.
Yes when I was a kid, visiting a stereo store was like visiting a museum in the late 70’s. Each set up was so beautiful and showcased like they were jewelry. None I could afford at the age 13 in the 70’s. Lol! But in the 90’s I would visit the stereo store often and there was always something I wanted. Like the thin Sony Walkman or cd portable player, handy cam, and I even bought a Casio digital contact / phone rollerdex that was also a pager.
I wish someone open a museum for ppl. to see what we had in the 70’s and 80’s. And I need to find a book on Japanese electronics bc I love looking at.
In the early 80’s, my stereo unit was my top of the line Sanyo boombox with the 2 mics and a Sony turntable. It sounded great and how I taped my records on that setup. The boombox had world radio bands also and a light to see the radio dial at night . It suppose to one of the top 5 boomboxes from 80’s.
I’m now looking to get a Sony Ps- Q7 compact turntable that I had rediscovered just today and now obsessed with now and have to get one. But they are now going for around $400. and most are Japanese sellers on eBay. I’m so nuts about getting that Sony PS- Q7, I even went ahead and bought this tone arm lock that only one US seller was selling for $11. Lol! Yup, I’m already buying parts for something I don’t own. Lol!
Absolutely awesome piece of kit, as an 80s kid I absolutely love these old midi systems and boom boxes, bluetooth speakers don't really have the same cache do they.
I'm sorry, but smart phones and ipods will NEVER replace these works of art lol!! Great piece.
They already did it.
They will say the exact same thing in 20 - 30 years about the iPod. ;)
IntyMichael I truthfully don't think so. I think the hi-fi system is on the rise again and will look back on these mini media devices (iPod and smartphones for "professional audio quality") and think how stupid we were. Not all things from the past people liked.
I think most people are happy with 50"+ TVs and not stuck with only 20" ones. Though TVs did have much better speakers then.
@@IntyMichael I totally agree.
I was struck by the beauty of my iPod touch when I first got it, and it stands out even more now against the current bland anti-skeumorphic iPhones with the headphone jack removed!
Yes! YES IT HAS!
This week on "Things I didn't know I needed until Techmoan showed it to me" we have a Sony FH-7 Mk2!
Being able to use this setup as a portable boombox is incredible! True hi-fi quality sound on the move, this is the kind of thing the rich-kid in the group would rock up to the house party with back in the day…
This channel only adds to my nostalgia. Who knew people would ditch these formidable, intricate, rich systems for such tiny, tinny, bluetooth speakers? Even standard car stereos are a toss-up depending on what make you buy.
You are absolutely right, they don't make stereo systems like they used to. And I do remember walking into the HiFi parts of a few places with the lights turned down so you could see all the GEQ lights dancing on the various units and whatnot. Never could afford anything back then, but used to love going there while on a search for a new CD or tape and drooling over some of the gigantic home setups.
My dad has a 1977 Sony trinitron with the wood base and built in Betamax. It was in the attic for a couple of decades and he pulled it out and put it in his home office a few years ago. I watched the movie ‘Splash’ on it recently and it’s still mind blowing how good the product was. Sony went all out.
Sony had done a great job with their APM speakers in the 80s. Will always miss that hifi era. Tape, CD, Phono and Tuner were the inputs that we use to listen on almost everyday!!!
Had one of these in my college dorm 1985. Did not disappoint.
God bless the 80s and Japan.
@Josef H. Proof of intelligence.
@ɮօʊռċɛ օʄʄ hell and heaven you've been told are imaginary, while in fact they're life of now how you like to create
God is us inside us
@@RIZFERD If heaven and hell are imaginary the second part of your comment is redundant ya fuckin dingaling
Ever heard of “Shinto”?
No the japnise are pegan they belive in alot of gods
Amazing quality. You can just tell every piece was thought out all the way down to the lights!
Design-wise it doesn't age. The red one looks very futuristic but the charcoal/grey colour looks very nice
Wonderful real Made in Japan Sony, oh the glory days of a stellar brand that is almost no more. 😎😎😎
I agree, back in the days if it was a Sony, you knew it was made in Japan.
Agreed. Very sad how Sony have lost their way.
Ironically, back then older people complained about "Japanese made junk", when in fact it was the best stuff.
unhban wait how can you say Sony had lost their way, when in fact they are still revered in the camera world, and camera sensors are used by all of the premium cell phone brands.. sure they don't make electronics like they used to but Sony is still Sony.
Yeah, Sony still makes good headphones and I have a Sony Bluetooth speaker that sounds great. They've always been a pretty good brand. You can make good quality stuff in countries like China as long as you maintain quality control over the factory.
I love these little component systems, and I have to agree that the old designs were nicer than what's available now. I used to fantasise about owning a Pioneer XC-L77 or one of its variants. I'm not sure if I should get one now, because I'm afraid reality won't live up to my youthful impressions...
Great to see people giving some love to these hig fidelity compact high density sony system.
My setup: I have a fh 10w with apm 108 speakers (4ohm speakers, yes the fh10 worked with 4ohm) and a fh11w (6 to 16ohm) with apm 115 speakers (6ohm). The Fh10w i have it since 1986 when dad bought it. i use the fh11w amp (st 118) and fh10w amp (st 108) as part of a true 7.1 system together with grundig super hi fi 1500 pro speakers as front (connected to a yamaha rx receiver and sansui equalizer), a pair of pioneer s x20, as lateral connected to another sony receiver, The apm 115 speaker connected to the fh11w as rear speakers and a center sanyo and sony subwoofer connected to the fh10w. Every amp connects independently to The Asus rog supreme fx that do the 7.1 channel upmix and I enjoy 3d sound on every spotify song at 320kbps.(you can switch from stereo to,quadraphonic to 5.1 and to 7.1). All vintage hi fi.
I used to have a FH-7 MKIII (three ways speaker) and a FH-15R. I miss them a lot!! Nothing like it nowadays. Thanks for this amazing review!!!
I used to listen to Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" in this unit and it sounded fantastic, deep, powerful tight, bass and crystal clear treble. Funny you didn't mention the pistonic speaker system, it was the heart and highlight of the system and they worked very, very well. Cheers Techmoan!
I could walk around Dixons for hours seeing the speed of the eject buttons and how many lights and what the biggest displays were and new features. I loved that but my gf did not lol.
Those hairs look like the owner liked to sing along to the radio while trimming his 80s mustache.
Pornstache 😂
@7:48 In case anyone was curious, it's also possible to use vinegar on leaky battery residue (distilled white vinegar best here). Batteries are basic, vinegar is acidic, use the hardware store vinegar so it doesn't leave residue (like apple cider might, for example).
I grew up listening to the Sony FM 7 mk3 an still kept one of the speakers, the sound is awesome. Just seeing and listening to your demo brought back so many great memories which is why this channel is so amazing & entertaining. It bring back forgotten lives of so many people all over the world !!
I too have always been drawn to component systems. I remember begging my parents for one. They eventually did buy one for me, however it was merely a cheap knock off all-in-one system where the the "components" could not be separated. Basically a big hunk of plastic made to look like a component system. I still loved it though. I did recently manage to pick up a JVC Micro Component System at a local good will that I really love. The UX-A4 system.
Ryan Schaffer Yes those places (we call them charity shops in the UK ) can be a good source of old Hi-fi systems at bargain prices.
My brother had one of those pseudo component systems as well.
Didn't even realize it wasn't a true component system back then.
But I prefer the full size stuff. It's basically a standard like 19 inch for server/network stuff.
My modern AVR, my laserdisc player, HD-DVD Player, Blu-Ray, network music player ... all of different manufacturers, stack up together niceley and look at least somewhat matching.
You can even get some HTPC cases in that format. It's just brilliant.
Your all in one system. It wasn't one of the Amstrad systems by any chance?
RCA I believe it was
Same here.. Asked for a Sony separates system, got a Matsui... Still loved it though!
Best advantage of patrons seeing the video early - no more annoying 'First' comments.
How about first comment on this comment? 😉
Im sure there is people on the internet that would pay to the patron just to be able to say first on the videos
Third
Chris Jones --- If that annoys you, you need to either not read the comments or find a hobby to chill you out. It's certainly weird when people do that, but it doesn't outright annoy me. If they want to look like idiots, that's their business...
I agree. I'm sure someone will prove me wrong
That recorded player attachment is so freaking dope... I can't believe that was made in the 80s... So cool
When I was little, I saw this Sony hi fi in a catalog that came with my father's purchase of a Sony Betamax video player.
At that time I thought, how cool this electronic device is. I imagine having one of these. Even after I grow up until found this video, I still want to have it.
This Sony hi fi never feels outdated even in 2024!
I want so badly to look through this catalogue as it contains a close system to the one that was bought for by my Dad as my first music system. In my wisdom I wanted a Schneider stack system that was absolute rubbish but I knew best. He was right of course and he swapped it out for an Akai separates / portable system with a turntable which weighed a ton but was quality! I dread to think how much it cost him at the time but we were both happy and I had it for years but still not really realising what I had until now !!! So thank you Sir Moan of Techshire for this lovely trip down that road to my youth with many , many hours of recording late night radio such as LWR , early Kiss (coldcut solid steel) and of course Peter Cook 's phone calls to LBC . A gem of a channel !
Aw... “refurbished” on eBay seems to have its own meaning?
corner liston unfortunately it does. I bought a walkman that was "refurbished" but not certificate by sony
Or creative use of truth.
I've bought two things on eBay, one is a “refurbished” reverb that even if it's in really good shape for its 35 years it clearly was not refurbished.
This seems to be a very common problem unfortunately. (Although I'm very sure there's also a lot of decent and honest sellers on eBay.)
some people probably think refurb just means they cleaned it a bit or some such
Collecting disc-based media from eBay is a real treat. "New" means only a few major scratches. "Like New" means it still technically works. "Brand New" means it still has the insert.
I remember looking trough certain 'catalogues' back in the day thinking "I will have her one day"
And now they are all old grandmas. :/
Great video. I have the Sony FH55W stored away in my loft. In excellent condition although the volume slider is erratic. Also, an ex-girlfriend threw away the handle because she found it in a drawer doing nothing and decided it was taking up space and just disposed of it. Needless to say I disposed of the girlfriend not long after. At some point I will get the volume slider sorted at a reputable hi-fi store and maybe put the unit back on display in my bedroom.
In case you were wondering my lounge is powered by Technics separates including a pair of SL 1200s and a SL MC7 CD changer. My nephews and nieces think I'm old-fashioned, that is until I turn the volume up. Might is right.
I have a mk I fh-7 , bought new in1983 and still in daily use! I liked it new and still like it now. Thanks for your channel - much appreciated.
This really takes me back, it was using these sort of things from Aiwa and the likes that really started my appreciation of music. I had a great time of my life in this era, and it’s great to see this stuff again
This is one of my favorite episodes of yours and I´ve seen it a couple of times now... I want my own FH-7. Thanks for the work you put into your channel, I´m a big fan. Keep up the great work.
Now I want one. Thanks for all the great videos. I’m learning a lot. Jim from Georgia
These shelf systems were my favorite stereo format while growing up. I owned a fairly decent Aiwa system, but always drooled over the high end Sony models, such as the MHC-2200. I have since owned a few of those older Sony models. The cable ribbons are always a hassle, and I definitely now prefer the quality of separates over the "coolness" of these shelf systems, but I will always have a soft spot for these systems.
Ah, the 80's !!! ; ) remember it well ..................... I was a Hi-Fi salesman at the time, and I still remember selling most of the products you cover on your channel. That's why I love watching you so much, takes me back to better times.
Even though those mini-stack Hi-Fi systems were very expensive at the time, they used to sell like hot cakes! I could sell at least half a dozen systems like that on a Saturday afternoon! As we were in Jersey ( the 'real' Jersey in the Channel Islands and not the US one! ), most of our customers buying Hi-Fi equipment were French. Tax free shopping for them when they sailed across from France for the day ; )
You also mentioned the Compact Disc ................. yeah, remember that day very well, we were all cob-smacked when the rep demonstrated it to us. He put a CD on the floor, put his foot on it and twisted his foot on it, thereby scratching it! Then put it back in the CD player, and it played flawlessly!!! Back in the day when we were used to vinyl, when the simplest of scratches would ruin a perfectly good record. That was 1984 when I first saw my very first Compact Disc : )
Prerecorded CD's were very difficult to get hold of at first, and you can forget about recordable CD, that didn't happen for a few years yet.
I guess you must of been the sort of guy I used to chat to every Saturday, the enthusiast picking my brains, and never buying anything! ; )
I was lucky enough to have lived, and experienced all these new technologies as they came out, as I was one of the first to 'have a play', and demonstrate them to the consumer. I'd spend days reading the user manuals and comparing various models, Panasonic, Sony, Akai, Technics, Pioneer, Amstrad, Benitone, and countless others.
One model of 'compact-mini-system' I've never been able to find to this day, as I can't remember who made it ( maybe Panasonic ), was a tiny system designed like the Sony FH-7. Each 'separate' were about the size of a walkman, in fact, the tape section of the system was a walkman! You could simply detach the tape section and use it as a walkman with the optional headhones.
To this day I still love my Hi-Fi .................. I've still got my Marantz separates that I bought in the early 90's ; )
TURK
I just want to say thank you for putting on that jazz spastiks cassette for the demo, it slaps hard. That was an instant buy on Bandcamp for me.
Sony design awesome all the time. Old electronic goods r greatly emotional
Reminds me of the Aiwa that powered my dormrooms at university from 1983-87; complete with lighted graphic equalizer and wooden speaker boxes but minus the turntable. :-)
Aiwa made all the best 80s stuff that was both cool and garbage at the same time.
The Tyttuutface Including that Mega CD boombox.
I don't remember the exact model, but my Aiwa mini system (similar to this Sony) was pretty slick and was built and worked well. It sounded great. It was not garbage at all.
I have a aiwa nsxs90 great systems very loud the one I have is 500 Watts fan cooled amp with both Sony and aiwa components inside great things is they are packed with features you don't get this on systems nowadays you only pay for garbage can't beat the old systems
Aiwa are pretty good to be fair the system I have kicks 500 Watts out fan cooled in the late 90s they had both aiwa and Sony components inside they made some pretty good systems unlike half the garbage you see in currys today
I love when I buy things that I wanted to buy as a kid electronic wise and couldn't afford it and now I bought it 20 years later over there many years it's been long time waiting
Yes. I actually typed in 80s HiFi system and here I am. Fascinated by 80s gadgets.
Oh man... How I wanted one of these back in the day (this and a similar "stackable" JVC unit were among my all time faves)... I too used to have electronics store catalogs and I would just fawn at all the great new electronics featured there. This unit was one of the ones I always dreamt of having. Really nice to see you got one and showcased all it's features, so thank you for that. Great job tracking down the correct speakers. Hope you find the elusive CD player someday. What an absolutely *_GORGEOUS_* piece. Wish SONY and other well-known manufacturers would re-continue making units like this with upgraded, high quality components and modern features such as Bluetooth, multi dock and various format (MP3, MP4, WAV etc. etc..) playability...
Can't get over how beautiful this stereo was and still is.... Awesome video upload here... Nod in your direction...
I used to go to Boots with Grandma back in the 80's, she would usually be open to buying me a budget (£1.99-£2.99) Spectrum game, good times.
You had a good grandma. : )
I bought the early Streetsounds Electro LPs from Boots in my town, happy days...
check this out computer-literacy-project.pilots.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk
Yeah the old £1.99-2.99 games, remember them well. some of the games were great value. Also remember buying my first computer, a ZX81 from W H Smith , if only I had known then how much money I would end up spending over the years on computers etc !!. Doe's anyone remember the old mags ie CRASH, SPECTRUM, CB64 etc, My wife went crazy with me!!. Oh those were the days. MAN but I am an old git lol.
It's easy to forget that Boots used to carry a much wider range of merchandise back then. Although they were still (nominally) "Boots The Chemist", they were in some respects more like a mini department store. They had audiovisual equipment (TVs, hifis, videos) and accessories (#), prerecorded music, photo departments with a decent range of accessories, homeware, computers and computer games. My Dad even bought his homebrew beer kits there!
I'm guessing they focused on their core business of toiletries and medicines as they were increasingly outcompeted by specialist retailers. I remember the music department slowly fizzling out as the 90s went on until it was reduced to a single rack of bashed-about looking CDs by the early 2000s IIRC.
(#) Although f--- those poxy own-brand blank cassettes they sold in the mid-80s, I should have just save up the extra for TDKs!
This is basically the big kids version of a Soundwave Transformer toy. Or Soundwave’s ultimate form. Also you should do an update on what you’ve done with all the items you’ve covered so far. A “Where are they now” of hifi components.
Aiwa was the king of the micro-component stereos of this era.
I miss my Sony FH7 MK II now... these were my bedside system (handed down from my Dad) where I grew to love music through the 80s. Wish I could find a gem like yours!
I love old systems. I enjoy seeing the more complicated units. Very futuristic for the 80s and 90s. It’s amazing all that gear is now in the palm in of our hands. Not sure they saw that coming in the 80s.
What a coincidence! There's actually a FH-7 MK III at my local thrift store for about $85 USD. I'm still trying to convince my fiancee to let me get it....
Go and get it. You may never ever see another. Then you'd kick yourself. If she loves you she'll forgive you... smiley.
I love being divorced, I can buy what I want, when I want! Freedom, baby! Do u really want to get married, bro? If you have to get permission to spend $85 the power balance is definitely not in your favor. You will resent it sooner or later. Me, I greatly prefer not being married 😂
leebeatles4ever
If you really love them then you should marry them. Obviously you didn't have a good experience but don't ruin it for others.
Definitely get it, it's worth far more than that.
Lmao shut up we're actually just very tight on space and funds right now.
I would not have even noticed the speakers were not the right ones, unless you pointed them out!...... they look great!
Hahaha, I too read those store booklets cover to cover. The orange dot sony logo still is my favourite. The Sharp unit above the Sony looked interesting too. Square, leds and soft touch buttons were so modern.
Does anyone know what that pattern on the "It's a Sony" logo was supposed to represent?
Jose Pointero the leading edge of it is an 'S'.
Yeah, I see whatcha mean, it's a bit malformed though. I dunno, I figured it meant something more significant. But maybe it's simpler than that and they were just going for a "graphic equalizer" look.
33 years? Pure commitment and sheer will
One of my dream purchases back in the day. I had to make do with a JVC R-E22L from a catalogue that took 2 years to pay off! It wasn't a separate system, but it did have a linear tracking turntable - I loved that! And guess what... I still listen to the local radio station on it every day now, the tapes and 'table still work too.
"HI-FI koffer" 1985 Made in Japan "no China"
i love my Sony FH-433R Hi-Fi Made in Japan " NO CHINA"... :)
Yes everbody like and use made in japan God bless japanese
By the way the LCD has an amber back light on the black model. There is a tiny bulb you can replace behind the display. 👍
You can see that backlight on 17:56
I imagine you're on the lookout for the battery power supply module for that. I would guess they are pretty rare and of the few sold, many have been damaged by leaky batteries. Still 15 kg plus 12 D batteries would make for quite the workout.
I remember these so well. My absolute favorite model was the FH-215R - infra-red remote and a tape deck that recorded on Metal with a 7-band digital EQ and SA. Then they had models later on with Dolby C/HX-Pro, twin tape decks, MD player modules and probably even DAT recorder options as well. Hugely popular around the globe for Sony since these came right at a time when the big floor standing HIFI systems in those glass/wood cabinets were going out of style. You no longer needed living room furniture to enjoy HIFI quality sound.
Oh, and the EXTRA BASS on these was AMAZING!!!
They changed the battery on later models as well with a piggy-back design that you would mount to the back of the unit instead of swapping out the base. I remember asking the dealer who said he sold one to a guy and the thing ran for only 20 minutes on a fresh set of batteries. Clearly D-size alkalines couldn't push enough juice, but there's nothing stopping some lucky guy from modding a modern lithium ion pack that could push one of these to an hour or more of unplugged run time.
I need a time machine.
This reminds me of being a young child in the 80s and marveling at all the sleek, sterile looking technology. I would definitely jam to some California Raisins on full blast on this beast.
12:30 Mk1 claims that it can auto detect type III cassettes. Auto detection relied on notches on the back of the cassette shell, but there were no notches defined for type III tapes. So by definition, any deck that could handle type III would have to have manual selection at least for that one type. So I wonder how that worked.
Maybe it could detect a lack of notches?
All Compact Cassettes have a write protect notch; it's additional notches that indicate what type of tape is in it. Type I tapes have only the write protect notch, so that would be the "lack of notches" you are guessing at.
The bias and equalization requirements for FeCr (type III) are close enough to type I, no special settings are required for playback. It may be that when recording, it ran a short test recording sequence to determine the tape type. Couldn't find a user manual, so this is just a guess. I do remember that there were cassette decks from this era that did something like this.
I do believe there's a switch on the back of the unit to manually select the tapes. EDIT: Just checked, it does have a manual slider on the back.
Man, I love 80s era Japanese styled electronics the most.
basedhalcyon Too Many jappy tech xDDD
Might be careful with those, I think they had a big issue with foam rot. I believe there are repair foam kits out there though. What a gorgeous little minisystem. My best memories of the 80's were these 80's mini systems and boom box designs... the higher end for consumer ones.
I'd buy that for a dollar
A repair foam kit
To repair my old childhood Walkman
sorry for this post
I looked to see if someone had commented this. Yes the speaker driver foam goes to shit. Inspect it carefully, perhaps gently prod it
Have had dozens of the APM speakers, and unfortunately foam repair kits are VERY hard to find, and that for the most popular models. A low volume model will NOT have a foam kit available at any price. I managed to repair a single APM-8 woofer by forming a chamois into the proper shape and coating it with some liquid rubber stuff.
Speaking of coating, the best thing you can do for a foam surround, especially square ones that are irreplaceable, is to thin down something like Eileen's Tacky Glue and gently brush it on the back of the foam. Do this BEFORE it rots, because just touching it with a soft brush will cause it to disintegrate.
I used to have one of them (Mk 1) growing up, it lived on my desk and I heard all the music I loved growing up on it. Really good memories, thanks
Well after a long wait I finally found a Sony FH-7 MKIII only a 25 min drive away fully working in almost new condition. Thanks to the previous owner who passed away but looked after his audio gear. :) Glad I watched this video and found the 2 x AA original Sony batteries in the back of the tuner but no corrosion :)
15:15 nope. Extra wattage comes from losses in trying to get a square driver surround to move. It's especially tight at the corners
Man, Sony's industrial design was so great back then.
One of the unique features of the FH series were its APM speakers. APM stands for "Accurate Pistonic Motion”. In contrast to the concave/convex diaphragms of regular speakers, Sony engineers designed the APM speakers to have flat square rigid diaphragms to avoid split vibrations, have a much higher breakup frequency and much lower distortion levels across the whole frequency spectrum.
Yep, my APM room is my best sounding 5.1 system. Custom center made from 2 APM-22ES woofers, high and mid from APM-8, plus 22-ES fronts, and custom dipole rears. The rears are 4 X5A woofers each, with 2 22-ES tweeters.
I love how much I enjoyed watching you explain so much about a music system that I have no desire of ever owning. It must be your enthusiasm for the system.
85- 95 really are the best ten years that ever were. this thing is so good looking.
I would pay $1200 for a modern version with Digital AM/FM.SW, Satellite, Wifi/Bluetooth, mp3-4a-ogg and CD/Turntable in a similar format. I miss the days of quality wooden speakers...
It's a glorified boom-box essentially. It must be the best boom-box ever produced by Sony. Pretty cool.
Except that it isn't
The cassette deck of the FH-3 at least had manual rec level, although only for both channels at once. And all of those had Dolby, full-logic control and metal tape capability.
My neighbor had this. I remember when I was young playing in their house. If only I knew that he wont go back to his house since he moved to US i should ask for this.
Once upon a time there was the FH 515R in our home in 1989. It was then that the love for music began in me. Old days...
As always, another nice video. You mention 1980's hifi shops. In my teen years (1965) Acoustic Research had a Sound Room in Grand Central Station, NYC. It had some of the latest speakers and turntables from AR. I think they were powered by a Dynaco amp. I'd hang out there during summer vacation, sometimes all day asking questions, at least till they told me to leave. It was a swell place.
Into the 1970's I shopped at Harvey Sound, tech hifi, Great Sounds, The WIZ, Stereo Warehouse, Audio Graveyard and Lafayette's to name a few stores. In 1983 I got my dad a Sanyo C-4 (carrying combo). Not as sophisticated as yours but pretty sweet. AM/FM, five band EQ, cassette deck, phono and aux inputs and decent speakers with 1.5" tweeters and 4" vented woofers. Power is 6wpc. When dad died in 1998 I got it back and use it in my office room. Thanks for posting this video. I do doubt the 280w peak and 140w "music power" though. Sony hyperbole???
Underground- David Bowie
Hell yeah a classic from “labyrinth” 🤘
I was not expecting gangsta rap to come out of a Doraemon cassette tape
Sony really made some pretty stuff I must say!
"I know you're probably sick of hearing people say 'they don't make things like they used to,' but when it comes to things like this, they definitely don't. I'm not saying that they need to, either; this is something from the past. But I'm just glad that they did make it at one point, and I've managed to finally get hold of one."
Every once in a while, it's good to run into a kindred soul when it comes to collecting, owning, and maintaining old electronics like these.
What a memories! this one was the HiFi of my dad. I listened a lot of music back in late 80's and early 90's. Thanks for the video Techmoan!