Retro Thing

Sony Walkman Turns 30, Feels A Bit Overweight

The original Walkman was released on July 1, 1979. But let's get couple of things straight: Sony didn't come up with the idea, and its success was due to revolutionary lightweight headphones, not the lowly Philips Compact Cassette.

I labored for years under the mistaken belief that Sony invented the portable personal stereo, culminating in the release of the Walkman in mid-1979 (it sold only 3,000 units in the first month). It turns out I was wrong. The real credit for such devices goes to Brazilian intellectual Andreas Pavel, who created the first portable personal stereo players in the late 1960s.

He was unable to get people to see the magic of the device -- no great surprise, given the massive earmuff headphones that were the state-of-the-art in the sixties and seventies. He recounts that, while he lived in Milan in 1976, "people would look at me sometimes on a bus, and you could see they were asking themselves, 'Why is this crazy man running around with headphones?"'

Pavel filed patents in five countries, and Sony agreed to license his technology in 1986 -- although they refused to acknowledge him as the technology's inventor. He fought long and hard, and it wasn't until 2003 that he reached an agreement with Sony that saw him credited for his idea, along with a sizable cash settlement rumored to be over $10 million. To his credit, he never let his legal battle consume him or define his life, even when faced with financial ruin.

While many people assume that the Compact Cassette tape was the secret behind the Walkman's runaway success, it would have been a dismal flop without the introduction of featherweight headphones with samarium-cobalt magnets.

The original headphones weighed a mere 45 grams. Prior to that, hi-fi headphones were bulky, heavy devices ill suited to jogging or riding the train. Their arrival was a critical and frequently overlooked part of the Walkman's immense success throughout the early 1980s, especially when you realize that the Compact Cassette had been on the market for 15 years before the Walkman set sales on fire.

Walkman 20th Anniversary Press Release from 1999 (oh, how far we've come...)
Giving up my iPod for a Walkman  [thanks, Gio and Retroandy!]

Mitsubishi DT-76 Cassette Deck With A Difference

Are cassettes gone yet? I hate thinking that they are, but I guess it's hard to keep the market going for the format, when you can fit many thousands of better sounding song into a device that's way smaller. Still, whenever I put together a stereo set up, I always include a cassette deck. I use cassettes less and less, which makes me rue the amount of space the deck takes up in my stereo cabinet. Did anyone every try to make a smaller tape system?

Turns out that Mitsubishi tried in the mid 80's. You may recall our post about Mitsubishi turning record players on their ear by introducing a vertical turntable back then too. So the DT-76 is an example of outside the box thinking being applied to making the inside of the box smaller.

From the outside, the dual tape deck is pretty typical of mid to late 80's electronics until you notice it's a bit squatter. Hitting the 'open" button reveals the secret - a drawer trundles out, and the tapes are in there lying on their backs. Before you start trawling Ebay to get your own, the DT-76 will only save you about an inch in height - though that can be gold when you're trying to cram one component too many into a hi-fi stack. I also wish I could tell you what it sounds like, but it's not working. I would expect to be a pretty conventional sounding mid-grade unit, which would probably be fine for my third generation Heaven 17 tapes.

I wonder why this form factor never caught on? I can't think of any technical or audio drawbacks to playing tapes this way. I guess that like many other things, it's just so much easier sticking to the old way of doing things. I wonder what other oddball Mitsubishi form factors are out there?

related:

Upright turntable - Mitsubishi LT-640
Sony PS-FL1 drawer turntable
Stylish Ampex Micro 24 cassette recorder

Build a Hobgob Tube Amplifier

Tom Hobson writes, "I recently finished putting together a stereo tube amp kit based on an amp I built and wrote an instructable on. I thought you might like to check it out! It's a 10W stereo hi-fi with 6V6 power tubes, and it's one of the simplest tube amp circuits out there. I've put it up for sale on my site and all the documentation (parts list, schematics, diagrams) is available for free. That way, anyone can build it with or without the kit." 

The kit version of Tom's amp costs $400. The kit uses terminal strips and point-to-point soldering instead of a PC board and comes with various drilling templates to help you line everything up. You might be able to build one for less, especially if you happen to have a few suitable parts lounging around your workbench.

80's Sony Boom Box And Walkman Get Together

We all have those issues that put the fire in our bellies. Me? I believe that all portable audio systems should have an "aux in". There, I said it. It's a less difficult feature to find lately since so many people want to connect their iPods to their boom boxes (though it's often via a galling iPod-only dock). It was a somewhat common feature in early boom boxes too, some even came equipped with phono amps for hooking up a turntable! The input feature all but disappeared through most of the 90's, re-emerging in these iPod years.

Let's look at that other epoch-making personal audio advancement; the cassette Walkman. You'd think that its ubiquity in the 80's would mean that every boom box would have a "Walkman In" port, right? Sony continues to be just as fond of fomenting unrest as Apple by spitting in the face of compatibility. Why did they never release a boom box with some sort of customized Walkman input jack? Oh yeah... part of the point of the boom box was to include a tape player, so a Walkman input would be redundant, right?

 So imagine my mind reeling when I actually found a Sony boom box with a "Walkman In" hookup. It wasn't a budget boom box with no cassette deck (it would have been weird to bring the component buying mentality to portable electronics). So what is it for? A look at the transport controls reveal the answer. The CFS-230 has a record button. This radio is a battery powered portable piracy machine! Next time your shady buddy has some great tunes on his Walkman that you want to rip (to use the 'leet 21st century vocab for "copy"), you can get together with your Sony jam box and have a little dubbing party.

Recent years make it difficult to think of Sony as a company that created a product feature expressly for copying media. Of course 1985's CFS-230 comes some years before Sony had their fingers in music publishing, movies, video games, and every other kind of thing. Remember how innocent we all were when the CFS-230 came out, and Sony was still bleating that Beta was the superior home video format?

Here's a preview of my next rant: all camcorders should have "mic in" jacks. Yep, the gloves are off!

related:
Sharp boom box + mini organ so you can sing along
Curvy looking boom box from Pioneer
Radio Shack boom box with built in TV

Woot: $49 USB Turntable

Today's Woot is an ION Audio USB turntable. It's not high-end by any stretch of the imagination, but the $49 price is excellent.

The ION ttUSB turntable was the first turntable to feature a USB connection that digitizes and transfers audio directly to your computer. The setup includes a copy of the excellent (and free) Audacity audio editing package and includes a line level output so you can connect it directly to your home stereo. It plays 33 and 78 RPM records and includes a varispeed control that can be adjusted +/- 8%.

Ion Audio USB Turntable

The Lego Turntable

The inexorable march of time means that those precious devices that defined our lives become the curious playthings of the next generation. Where you and I might debate the finer points of turntable manufacture, the youths in this video figured out how to build one out of Lego.

Here's a great little project using advanced Technic Lego blocks, a Lego motor, and a few other sundries that might have come from the kitchen drawer. Their unlikely device does work. The spindly fellow plays barely audible music (good music choice, by the way) using the same principles as the earliest limited fidelity platter spinners.

Will the be the future of records? Relegated to science fairs, and celebrated as an arcane oddity on morning chat shows? No matter what the future may hold, the boys should be very proud of keeping vinyl music alive in their own way.  Though I wonder how quickly that pride will transform to abject fear once Dad sees what they've done to his Ozzy records.

related:
Build your own turntable
The DIY Audio projects blog

Retro Thing TV: iJuke Mini iPod Jukebox by Crosley

Welcome to the latest installment of Retro Thing TV. In this episode we review Crosley's iJuke, a cute miniature jukebox powered by your iPod. After you check out the review, you can also check out the deal I found on the iJuke at Amazon.

related:
Classic white iPod now qualifies as retro
Upgrade your iPod Nano's screen the retro way
The $30 iPod Hi-Fi killer

Cheap And Cheery Phono Preamps

I'm on the lookout for an inexpensive phono preamplifier for downstairs. I spotted this homely little Pyle PP-999 box on Amazon for under $22. It's just about as simple as it gets - a set of stereo inputs and outputs on opposite ends of a metal box with a 12 VDC power jack somewhere in the middle.

There's a similarly austere sub-$20 unit from Behringer which looks to be about half the size. Does anyone have experience with either of these little devices? Any other suggestions for a decent ultra-cheap phono preamp?

Build Your Own Turntable

Charles Altmann is a German DIY fanatic. His creations include a diesel motorcycle, natural sound hi-fi speakers and the Altmann DIY turntable. He says, "After the success I had with my homebrew tonearm, I decided to build a turntable that is able to fathom the sonic delicacies that the tonearm is able to produce.

Those who visit my sites regularly already know that I am a sucker for natural tone. Therefore the turntable is made to large parts out of wood. Wooden base, wooden motor base, wooden turntable-platter, wooden tonearm. Some ideas make this turntable easy and cheap to build. Depending on your local price for wood, and your ability to find some surplus parts, total cost can be as low as $50.

The turntable consists of two separate massive plywood-blocks (glued together from boards). One supports the platter and tonearm (main base), the second supports the motor (motor base). The platter is driven by a simple thread out of mom's sewing box. This way the motor is decoupled from the main base.

Between the main base and the motor base, there's a gap. By moving the motor base away from the main base, you can adjust thread tension."

Visit his site for pictures and a description of how a handful of Harley Davidson components ended up serving as a turntable platter bearing, along with details of his other ambitious projects.

The Altmann DIY Turntable

The Wireless Walkman - Sony WM-505 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 the unit...). 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.

Beautiful 1957 Sony TR-63 Transistor Radio Up For Grabs

I would have been all over the Sony TR-63 in 1957. There's one on eBay for a cool $320:

"Beautiful 1957 Sony Transistor Radio, model TR-63, the first Japanese transistor radio sold in the United States. It was also one of the first to use a 9 volt battery, something that later became standard in small transistor radios. The TR-63 was also hand wired and hand soldered. Labor was very cheap in 1950's Japan.

The radio still works and I was able to pick a number of stations loud and clear (battery not included). There not any chips or cracks in the jadeite green case, and no dents in the perforated metal grill. There are three small indentations in the aluminum trim piece just below the dial knob, but really the only major flaws I see (photo). The reverse painted dial is also in excellent condition. The radio comes with the factory leather case, in good condition but worn of course (the original owner's name and address is written on the inside of the top flap). I do not have the earphone. Size Of the radio: 4 1/4" x 2 3/4" x 1 1/4"."

eBay: 1957 Sony TR-63 Transistor Radio Japan w/ Case Working [thanks, Bruce!]

Cartable 8 Track Tape Player Is Not A Boom Box

Borg Warner is a name better known for car electronics and audio, but here's a product aimed at everyone. Who wouldn't want a portable 8 track tape player that doesn't play anything else? It assembles into this boombox-ish shape making it easy to transport, but it's not exactly an 8 track party on the road. The unit runs only from wall power - there is no battery hookup. That probably means that the Cartable 8 is probably going to call garage or patio home. You're not going to hoist this onto one shoulder, and groove to some hissy analog tunes out at the skate park.

You can play tapes while it's in "looks like a sewing machine mode" (speakers fire out the sides), but you can also detach the speakers for more stereo. Three knobs control stereo balance, track selection (via a trick button that you punch to pick), and also for cranking the volume. The Cartable 8 does get remarkably loud, though it's hard to judge the fidelity of the system. Is it the original carts I have that sound lousy, or the player?

Also unfortunate is the decision to not include a radio, or an audio input (though there's a hidden audio output - you're gonna hook this up to a real stereo?). So in my case that means that I'm stuck listening to 8 tracks of Neil Diamond, 25 Polka Hits (Hits? When?), and a dirty joke cassette marked "XXX".

I can't find any record of the "Cartable 8 model 5000" online anywhere. I'm guessing that it's from the 70's - not only because of it's dingy hospital plastic livery, but the 70's are when 8 tracks really thrived. Making it portable enough to lug around, and durable enough to use outside are all fine features. I only wish that there were a built-in radio for when everyone gets sick of those same half dozen "explosive hits" 8 tracks you brought to the picnic.

related:

Turn an 8-Track player into an equally useful CB radio
Lloyd's V128 8-track player - iPod version .1?
Surprisingly modern 8-Track tapes

New Denon Turntable Rips Vinyl To USB Flash Drives

The $250 Denon DP-200USB is a fully automatic belt-drive turntable that painlessly converts your records into digital mp3 files and writes them to a USB memory stick. It's a great solution for those who don't have a PC within easy reach of their hi-fi system.

The DP-200USB creates 192 kbps files only, which is a bit of a bummer for those who prefer their rips at slightly higher quality. The unit captures each side of your disc as a single long file, which can then be split and trimmed automagically using the included Trans Music Manager software (Windows Vista, XP, 2000 only). The software also retrieves artist and track information from the online Gracenote database.

As an added bonus, the DP-200USB features a built-in phono equalizer so you can connect it to an amp or mini audio system that doesn't have a phono input. It's available in snazzy silver or blasphemous black from the usual online megastores.

DP-200USB: Fully Automatic Turntable with MP3 Encoder [Denon USA via OhGizmo]

Return Of An Affordable Digital Amplifier

The $39 Dayton Audio DTA-1 is an updated version of the Sonic Impact T-Amp we first mentioned three years ago. This tiny stereo amplifier is built around the surprisingly impressive Tripath TA2024B digital chip amp. It earned immediate attention from budget audiophiles because of its pristine audio quality and unbelievably low price. Sadly, Tripath went belly-up last year, but there are still quite a few of Tripath chips stockpiled.

The DTA-1 shares the same curved plastic case as its predecessor, with an updated color scheme and blue LED power light. It's rated at 2 x 10 Watts RMS into 4 ohms at 0.1% THD, making it well suited to extremely efficient speakers played at modest volumes. You can push it all the way to 15 Watts per channel, although distortion goes through the roof at high volumes.
 
A 3.5mm (1/8-inch) audio input allows you to connect your PC, mp3 player or portable CD/DVD with minimal effort, and the back panel includes spring-loaded push terminal speaker connections. While the DTA-1 sounds good right out of the box, you'll have to put in a bit of DIY effort to make the T-Amp really sing. I suggest attaching a good stabilized power supply, perhaps installing an ALPS volume knob, and upgrading the input and speaker posts. Make these changes and you'll be impressed as long as you keep the volume to moderate levels and use high-efficiency speakers.

You could do much worse if you're looking for an affordable amplifier for your home office or basement lair. The DTA-1 is the essence of simplicity, with only a single input and an absence of tone controls and remote, however it redeems itself by offering respectable audio at an unbeatable price.

The DTA-1 is available direct from Parts Express with free shipping on orders over $98, or from Amazon with a modest $5.32 shipping charge.

Retro Thing TV: Nitty Gritty Record Cleaning System

If you're a vinyl fan, no amount of sophisticated electronic equipment will improve the sound of your records more than a good cleaning. There are a lot of cleaning methods out there with varying results. In the newest episode of Retro Thing TV we look at (and listen to!) the Nitty Gritty 1.5 record cleaning system. In the video we demonstrate the machine as well as audition examples of records before & after a Nitty Gritty treatment.

The list price on the Nitty Gritty is over $600, but I found a number of deals on Ebay that even include shipping.  Click the link to check them out!

Nitty Gritty catalog page

Get a deal on Ebay on a Nitty Gritty record cleaning system of your own