Retro Thing

Maverick Audio's $199 Tube Amplifier

Last night's episode of Top Gear offered a look at the Chinese automotive industry, which has gone from almost nothing to almost respectable in less than a decade. The same can be said of the burgeoning Chinese boutique stereo industry, which sometimes serves up suspiciously good deals. Like this one.

The Maverick Audio TubeMagic A1 is either an oddly named Audi subcompact or a shockingly affordable hybrid integrated amplifier. For the sake of my sanity, I'll go with the latter. The diminutive 10" W x 2.1″ H x 6.5″ D case  features a brushed aluminum front panel "in black color" with a power switch, large volume knob, smaller audio source selector (RCA analog in on the rear or line in from the front panel) and a headphone jack. That's it. The back panel is similarly spartan:

Watch out for the manual voltage selector switch.

The hybrid Class A/B circuit incorporates a pair of matched NOS 6J1 tubes that feed into a solid state final stage capable of driving 20W x 2 into 8 Ohms. It's a necessary compromise to get reasonably high volumes out of an inexpensive design. If you enjoy experimenting with your gadgets, the company offers several tube upgrades including a pair of military grade factory matched Raytheon 6AK5 tubes for $45.

Straightforward through-hole construction.

There's a special treat in store for late night music lovers -- the headphone output is driven solely by the tube circuit. It's beefy enough to drive heaphones with an impedence of 16 ~ 600 ohms with an output power of between 300mW ~ 1000mW. As the company succinctly points out, "It has tons of power to drive any kind of headphones on the planet."

All in all, it's a rather appealing package if you're looking to put together a simple stereo system for your office, garage or basement. Paired with sensitive bookshelf speakers, the A1 should adequately fill a small space. The A1 sells for $199, plus around $30 to ship the unit from China by DHL.

Maverick Audio TubeMagic A1 Hybrid Integrated Amp

IKEA Helps Store Your Records In Style

I've joked many times that collecting records qualifies as a "lifestyle choice". Once you're bitten by the vinyl bug, you'll find yourself scouring the bins at collector shops, scanning the tables at flea markets, and sorting through boxes at the thrift to find your next treasure. It doesn't take long for the records to start stacking up and needing a home of their own. When LPs were more of a mainstay, there were plenty of storage choices out there, but these days its often specialized and very expensive.

That's what makes IKEA's Expedit shelving system a godsend for those of us who have too many records. The biggest one costs in the range of $200, and is perfect for holding thousands of records. Once I'd discovered this for myself, I started sharing the word and found that many of my other record collector friends found the same solution. I've had mine for close to ten years without a hint of sag (you can even see mine in the background of episodes of Retro Thing TV). So there is a whole network of DJs and vinyl fans who have made the trek to their local IKEA (or Amazon) to find a home for their LPs.

A clever Kickstarter project just secured the funding to create a set of front doors for the Expedit that would also display your favorite LP art. I'm totally on board as it's not only stylish, but it's easy to change the whole look of the unit with a whim. Though because it's a small run, it looks like it won't be able to match IKEAs usual economy for these sorts of things i.e. it's not going to be IKEA-level cheap. Looks like we're talking $35 per door.

Even more, I'd also really like IKEA to get on something like this custom DJ booth a friend turned me on to.

Let's make it happen, IKEA - I hereby dub this fantastic contrivance the Expedit 360!

links:

No Ikea nearby? Order your Expedit from Amazon.
Kickstarter project to create LP fronted doors

Playskool Rockin' Robot - The Grinning Cassette Recorder

If there's a theme we encounter time and time again here on Retro Thing, it's the irrational emotional bond people form with retro tech... but this 80's (or 90's? This particular one is labeled 1991) tape recorder makes me a little uneasy. Is it just me, or is it almost like this kiddie cassette player is looking and grinning at us?

There have been lots of tape recorders (fewer these days, I suppose) made expressly for children. Usually these were just chunkier versions of regular adult tape recorders with giant colorful buttons. Playskool took kid-friendly design that extra step to create a funny faced recorder that my adult friends seem to take a shine to, even today.

As a budding junior audio engineer, I would have killed for a tape recorder with features like built-in AM/FM radio, and a hardwired mic for recording my own tapes as well as barking out my demands over the PA system. It's in this public address role that we saw the Rockin' Robot make an appearance in the first two Toy Story movies. Our lanky lead, Woody, used Mr. Mike (the recorder's stage name) to make speeches to the other characters.

Mr. Mike was even issued in non tape-recorder mini version as a Toy Story tie-in later in the 90's. The hard-to-find toy includes a voice-changer to turn you into any of several robots, which is very cool... but doesn't really explain the high prices either version of the toy seems to command on Ebay. I've seen this analog relic go for over a hundred dollars - which may be just enough to break my irrational emotional bond with this grimacing tape deck.

There Is Such A Thing As Too Many Records

With all the trouble this guy's million strong record collection is causing, it makes me glad that I stopped at just a couple thousand.

Thrift Store Score - 85 CDs For $6.90

It's got to be pretty obvious by now that I'm very fond of going to thrift stores - so much so that it's greatly affected my idea of what stuff is worth. If you're a retro fan, and a cheapskate, the thrifts of this nation are pretty much one stop shopping. But even this deal knocked me on my heels when one of my local haunts decided to ditch CDs.

CDs still hold a futuristic charm for me. Tiny (some might say "compact"), rainbow metallic finish... Drop one into a player, and just stand back as the digital sound roars out of your speakers. I have a large collection of CD's that I've put together since the late 80's, and while my acquisitions have slowed, I figure I'll be buying CD's as long as they're available.

The shift to digital downloads has tilted at an amazing rate. Many of my friends have freed themselves from the pressed aluminum bonds of a CD collection to be completely virtual. Of course I understand the appeal of having all of your music collection on a hard drive the size of a paperback (and of course nothing EVER goes wrong with a hard drive, right?). Still, there's just something in my head that wants to hold CD's and look at the artwork, and all of that.

We've all probably made this point - for or against - at some point in the last few years. My main issue with downloads is the heavy compression. Yeah, yeah, I know... compression schemes have gotten so good that you can hardly hear any difference. I guess it's that "hardly" part that still gets me. CD's are already a lovely uncompressed format that we can translate to our various devices. Why mess with that?

I can't argue with how great downloadble music has been for artists who would never have gotten a recording contract. Now no one has to decide whether you can release your tunes to a large audience or not. You just need a Facebook account. There are several artists I like who have never released a physical container for their music, but I'm still undecided whether the non-physical music world is truly better or not.

One unexpected bonus of the massive change to digital is that used CD's have become darned near worthless. I feel rotten for my friends who own record stores, and I mourn the day when I won't be able to idly troll the aisles discovering new tunes - but right now it seems like if there are any gaps in your music collection you want to fill, the CD format is a really cheap way to do it.

At the thrift, I just bought a binder full of 85 CD's and booklets for $6.90. That's less than 9 cents per album - which last I checked is quite a better price than iTunes. I'm also an album guy whereas the digital world caters to "hit single" listening... so this thrift score is going to be a lot of fun for me. Maybe you should check your local thrift to see if that retro CD technology is going to be on blowout soon. You can pick up a few albums worth of tunes for what you would have paid for a few singles online... and get uncompressed music to boot.

related:
1986 Hitachi portable CD player
Hard Format: The Art Of Physical Music Media
Audiophile Magazine reviews Sony's first CD player
PlayStation 1: An Audiophile Bargain or Fool's Gold?

The Sweet Sounds Of The Classic PEZ MP3 Player

In 2005, MP3 players were still an up and coming thing. 512 Megs didn't seem like a ridiculously small storage space, the iPod wasn't yet the only game in town, and we'd come along far enough to have collectioble MP3 players too. One of the first articles I wrote here on Retro Thing was about an unusual MP3 player - one that fit into a Game Boy Color.... but even that one doesn't approach the kitsch value of the the PEZ MP3 player.

News of this nostalgic MP3 player seemed to hit every gadget "blog" (also a new-ish idea at the time) back then. It wasn't an official product of the candy company - rather it was the dream of online entrepreneur Patrick Misterovich, who licensed the iconic design from PEZ. The player is the same size as a genuine PEZ dispenser, and the plastic boy head on top a duplicate of one of the first collectible PEZ dispensers back in 1955.

When you flip open the head, instead of being greeted by that familiar chalky candy, instead there's a power switch. One side of the player features simple navigation controls (forget any playlists here people - this is just a very basic player), as well as the mini USB player for loading up the built in memory. The headphone jack is in the dispenser's nape, and it's all powered by a single AAA battery.

The player was a limited edition of 1200 (though there are conflicting reports,  there may be more out there), with the promise of more designs to come. As it turned out, the plastic faced boy model was the only style to ever hit the market (which seems odd - all you'd have to do for future models is change heads, right?), so this model became a hot collectible. Even when it was new, the player was on the expensive side at $100 for 512 megs of non-expandable memory. Nevertheless, it apparently made Patrick Misterovich an internet millionaire, at least according to one report. These days, your only hope of finding a player is on Ebay where they are quite scarce, and can command over a hundred bucks.

Sadly with all that MP3 player technology crammed into the dispenser, there is no room left over for any candy. I wish they'd left room for at least one of the candy bricks,,. just for emergency purposes, you understand.

related:
the first mp3 player
mp3 player in the shape of a cassette
Elaborate mp3 system for Game Boy that never got very far

The Wireless Walkman... From 1988

In 1988, Sony unveiled a remarkably small unit, the WM-505 (I can't confirm this was ever released in the USA - mine has Japanese writing on it...). There was no shape-shifting transformation needed to play cassettes, and the unit boasted wireless headphones. That's right, 20 years before Bluetooth you could jam out to your mix tapes without getting tangled up in cords. Sadly, I can't report how well it works as I don't have the wireless earbuds, which also would have been relatively new in 1988.

Key to this model's compactness is the use of a slim ni-cad battery (sometimes called a "gumstick") in both the player and the headphones' wireless receiver. Fortunately an add-on unit lets you plug in a regular AA battery. Also the playback head is tucked into the door like on the WM-10 to save space. All metal construction is thinner and more durable than plastic would have been, and does a superior job of protecting the expensive unit from inevitable knocks. 

Back In 1983, Sony had created the WM-10; a miniaturized Walkman not much larger than the cassette itself, though it was a bit of a cheat. In order to play a cassette, the WM-10 has to expand to actually fit the tape. A new sort of motor, and new ideas about how to drive it with a single AA battery made it possible to create a cassette player about the size of a cassette case. The result was tres chic, and predictably fragile. Sony was justifiably proud of their achievement, and even show off the WM-10's innards in a commercial from the 80s.

These two aren't the only examples of miniaturization of the portable cassette player. Other manufacturers toyed with reducing the size of portable cassette players, but Sony was always at the forefront in the portable cassette player game in those years. Even non-brand players tried to get small. We once featured a cheap knock-off unit that paid tribute to (stole?) many of Sony's space-saving strategies - which would have been great if the darned thing actually worked.

Mega Giveaway: AutoValve Tape & Vinyl Effects For iPod

The isupr8 film emulator guys have a new app that adds the warmth of analog to your iPod Touch or iPhone music library. AutoValve adds real-time vinyl, reel-to-reel tape and even 8-track effects to your music. You can add needle drops, pops and crackle using three different vinyl samples, or select reel-to-reel to add a bit of tape noise. To complete the illusion, you can select a 60s or 70s skin and enjoy bouncing VU meters and vintage knobs and switches.

I know it's not the same as the real thing, but there's something exciting about the silence between the needle hitting the track and the first few seconds of a well-loved song. Besides, dragging a Revox A77 reel-to-reel deck along in the car is dangerously impractical, even for a vintage gear nut like me.

If you'd like to take AutoValve for a spin on your iPod Touch or iPhone, leave a comment on this post. We've got a couple of dozen free copies to give away to randomly selected commenters. The contest closes at midnight GMT on Friday, Sept 30, 2011, winners will be notified by email.

AutoValve: Retro Analog Audio Processor

Charming Canadian Clairtones

Sleek industrial design and cutting-edge electronics have always gone hand in hand. A case in point: Clairtone, founded in 1958 by serial entrepreneur Peter Munk and designer David Gilmour.

From the bachelor pad cool Clairtone Model G to the futuristic colour G-TV, Clairtone put Canadian technology on the world stage for a decade until the company faltered and vanished overnight in the late 1960s.

Here's a look at some outstanding equipment from the Clairtone Facebook group.

Clairtone.ca explains: "In the sixties, Clairtone’s Project G stereo was the epitome of bachelor pad cool. It transformed the traditional console box by cantilevering its speakers outside the Scandinavian-style modern cabinet. It won a silver medal at the 1964 Milan Triennale, the international design industry’s most prestigious exhibition, and was adopted by progressives within the arts and entertainment community.

Frank Sinatra endorsed it, and G series models appeared in films such as The Graduate with Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman and A Fine Madness with Sean Connery. Hugh Hefner bought a unit for the Playboy Mansion and jazz legend Oscar Peterson claimed that his music sounded as good on a Project G as it did live."

Join the Clairtone Facebook group and help build an online Clairtone community!

After Months of Breathless Anticipation, Sony Introduces A New AM/FM Radio

It's like 1991 all over again, except without the cassette tapes. Sony is set to debut the SRF-18 transistor radio in Japan at the end of October. Its cleverest feature: It can output audio to an mp3 player or phone. Its second cleverest feature: You can play audio from your mp3 player through its 80 mW speakers.

In all seriousness, this the perfect radio to have around if a Godzilla were to suddenly plunge your seaside town into a dark and scary radioactive nightmare, since two AA batteries will provide almost 2 days of up-to-the-minute emergency broadcasts.

The price for all this analog awesomeness? About $45.

Sony SRF-18 Portable Radio [translated]

Minimus 7 - Classic Speakers From Radio Shack

 
If you're a lifelong Radio Shack fan like me, this time of year used to mean one thing to you... the "dads and grads" sale at Radio Shack. The main product I was usually looking for was the stalwart Minimus 7 bookshelf speakers - a perennial favorite at Radio Shack for nearly 30 years. In the spring you could get them for 50% off, making your buy-in for a good basic set of mini speakers somewhere in the $30 range - a difficult deal to duplicate today.

The basic model folks remember is probably the steel cased version, though over the years there were wooden cabinets, and even a sheilded "AV" variety when they started to carry the "Optimus" house brand. They are surprisingly good speakers, especially considering the size and price. Sadly Radio Shack doesn't carry them anymore. For a little while, they sold the Minimus 7 under the RCA brand, but they've been gone for some years. They still offer other low-cost bookshelf speakers, but they're not the same. Your best bet to find an authentic pair these days is Ebay.

Minimus speakers were ideal as part of a second stereo system in a bedroom or office, or as part of a surround sound setup. I paired them with a subwoofer I got from a Radio Shack outlet store for $20, and had a very nice satellite system for years. The Minimus 7 became the target of modders trying to coax even better sound out of these bargain speakers. You can find pre-made upgrade kits on Ebay.

It's not that the world is devoid of cheap speakers, the problem is simply that they often don't sound very good. There are all those little devices that people hook iPods up to, but sadly the speakers don't really move much air. Hard to get excited about music that sounds like that. It's always best to shop with your ears when buying speakers, but finding a place that will let you test speakers before you buy is getting more and more rare. I haven't found a common speaker that duplicates the price/performance ratio of the reliable Minimus 7. Despite their mini size, Minimus 7 speakers always packed a surprising punch without being a financial knockout.

link:

Radio Shack Minimus 7 speakers on Ebay
Upgrade kit to maximize your Minimus

related:

The real story of the "new" Radio Shack
Radio Shack's classic Flavoradio
Radio Shack Executive Decision Maker

Oh, How Far We've Come

Gerard recently sent a few photos of this old Sony table radio, asking for more information.

It's a Sony TR-72, released only a few months after the company's legendary TR-55 transistor set. This model was imported into Canada between 1956 and 1960 by Manitoba-based Gendis (General Distributors) -- hence the "Gendis / Sony" branding on the tuning knob. These radios were quite popular in Canada for a year or so before the Sony TR-63 made its way to the USA, and a total of around 40,000 TR-72s were produced. 

The 10 cm speaker puts out 0.2W of sound, and the set is powered by 3 x 1.5V batteries. There was apparently considerable variation in the color of the wooden case, which adds to the unit's charm and collectability.

Above all, the TR-72 is a wonderful reminder of how much technology has changed in only a few decades.

Build Your Own AM/FM Radio

There has been a fantastic resurgence in DIY over the past decade, driven in part by the emergence of thriving online communities and magazines such as Make. The coolest thing about making stuff is that once you've made or restored one thing, you find yourself moving on to bigger, better and cooler projects.

However, you need to find the perfect project to get started. If it's too simple, you'll lose interest. Too difficult and you're likely to fling a wrench into the crooked turbine blades of your half-finished stealth hovercraft.

That's why I love electronic kits like this Elenco AM/FM radio. It's been on the market for over 20 years, but that doesn't make it any less cool. The circuit board is cleverly laid out with the parts installed on top of a silk-screened schematic -- a great way to tie theory and practice together. Even if you don't understand precisely how it all works, you'll learn a far bit about the various stages of a superhet radio receiver.

The Elenco AM/FM radio kit is available from Amazon for $30.57. There's also a simpler AM-only version for $17.69.

Sony Finally Gets Something Right

Sony's new DAB+ radio is exactly the kind of retro-styled receiver I'd like to have kicking around the house. The XDR-S16DBP is encased in an attractive wood cabinet and offers DAB/DAB+/FM reception, 0.8W + 0.8W stereo speakers and a two line LCD display. It weighs 1.7 kg and measures approx. 270 mm × 140 mm × 112 mm. My only gripe is that it offers only 10 DAB and 10 FM presets -- why so stingy, Sony?

DAB+ is an updated version of the DAB digital standard that has been on the air since 1995. The new format makes use of the AAC+ codec, allowing twice as efficient compression as the original. It should alleviate quality complaints and improve reception in fringe areas thanks to more robust Reed-Solomon error correction.

Available in Europe, Australia and other advanced nations with free-to-air DAB service. Here in North America, we'll continue to pluck banjos on the front porch while cleaning our shotguns.

Sony Introduces First DAB+ Radios

The Briefcase Stereo

 

I might be revealing a bit too much about my deranged psyche, but if I owned this portable stereo I'd be inclined to take it along when traveling by air. Yes, I'll be the guy who holds up the security line while attracting the attention of a gaggle of screeners and a couple of nasty looking characters with guns.

And I'll take up three seats in the departure area -- one for me, one for my lunch and one for my "briefcase." Of course, I won't be able to hear your grumbling because I'll be blasting chiptune 45s through my stunningly pea-green Panasonic cans.

Uh. Forget I said all that. Well, except for the bit about chiptune 45s -- they'd be wickedly cool.

This Arc Stereo Sound System is thoroughly awesome. It'll cheerfully spin 33s, 45s and even your great-grandpa's 78s. There's a throroughtly modern AM/FM radio, cassette player, two pull-out speakers and it runs off either AC or batteries -- just like an ipod. Heck -- unlike an iPod -- it has two microphones, just in case you want to record the goings-on in a LaGuardia departure lounge in glorious stereo.

It goes without saying that this much 1970s hipness requires heavy security, provided by a pair of keys and a genuinely lockable lock. For once, I am speechless.

It can be yours on eBay for a mere AUS$349, plus a gazillion eurobucks to ship it from Australia. Unless you're already in Australia, in which case it's an absolute bargain. [thanks, Claymore!]