My little collection

1987 ITT Polo cassette 340

My first stereo box owned from new, age 9. Not a Japanese brand?  I think my parents bought it on the strength of a good which? review.  The tuner was great, tapes so-so sound quality. Now with my mother.  Tape works fine, but all switches really crackly so she can't use.  Anyone got a service manual?  She wants to listen to radio 4 on long wave.

1991 Hitachi 3d50e super woofer

This is actually my father's, again owned from new.  But it didn't stop me using it a lot to play and copy rave mixtapes (whistle crew make some noise!!).  The tuner was awesome and I could get a good signals of all the local pirate radio stations.  Now sat on top of a wardrobe, a little dusty.  Needs a good clean and one of the tape deck doors won't stay closed   The aerial has lost it's tip and it's gone all floppy. Anyone got a service manual?

1992 Panasonic RX-DS101

Owned from new, through my teenage years and into adulthood. My dad bought me it as he got fed up of timesharing the hitachi with me. Not as loud as the Hitachi, but I found the bass much tighter. Needs a good clean out inside, but still works well.  Service manual anyone?  Has a mic mix socket, but would be awesome with a line-in mod.

Unisef SZ-302L (unknown age)

A hand me down from an old boss. Quite battered, but has been used in my kitchen for many years without skipping a beat.  Now needs some switches cleaning and I think the power socket has a dry joint, because it sometimes cuts out.  Tape decks work great.  Anyone want this deck off me?

1982 JVC RC-656

My new kitchen radio.  Works great, tapes good.  Just needs a couple of switches cleaning and we're rockin.  It's lovely!  Just needs a line in

1979 Sharp GF-9191

Is going to get serviced by Si (Northerner). So sat at his sister's looking a little silly wrapped in a pink towel. Will be my bedroom box once ready.

Your dad has taste... 3D50 is a good boomer  

He's a bit deaf (too many years on shipyards) so he needed the volume.  It's quite a powerful beast for the money (around £100 in 1991).  I preferred the Panny though as it had a cd player and tighter bass.  But the Hitachi was soo much louder!  He used to drive me nuts with it when I was trying to revise for my A-levels.

Always nice to hear the stories behind the boxes...the 9191 is the best of the bunch by far

Could you make your pictures a bit smaller tho as I'm having problems seeing the whole thing in my microscope

Ahhh...oops!  I've made the piccys big size now.  When you've had a box for over 20 years it is like an old friend.  I still have memories of getting the aerial on the hitachi in the right place to get Fantasy FM from Sheffield.

The ITT and the Hitachi are a bit unloved at the moment.  They both need their switches cleaning, poor things!  Something I will get sorted soon

Nice collection Scneil!

That 9191 looks gooooood!

Hopefully will sound as good soon. I've just bought it off a chap local to me.  He said it had been in his wardrobe for 25 years.  It's going to get refurbed by Northerner (Si) as the tape belts have gone and it's got some crackly switches.  Then we'll be rockin like it's 1979.  Here's it in action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GrLvQyIPk4

9191

Like the 9191 too! Hope to get one myself sometime 

Yeah seems to be a bit of a legend of a box!  It's very loud for it's size and looks great.  Proper ghettoBLASTER!  I think it's as loud as my dad's superwoofer and that was 80Watts PMPO  (so 20 RMS?).  Just not as bassy, but looks way cooler

nice few boxes there buddy,the itt looks cool in its red colour-got a bright red mini sanyo myself

really nice of si to help you out with your 9191-hes a top bloke

but i warn you,collecting these is a dangerous hobby,as peeps like me,azz,and si will tell you so be warned schneil lol

Yeah I really liked the red on the ITT as well, I think they also came in white or black.  (like a mk1 Golf GTI?) It's the cheapest of all the boxes, but is quite a nicely made little thing. 

I'm going to resist temptation and not get any more boxes for now, or I'll run out of room.  I was in 2 minds whether or not to get the Sharp, but as one of my friends said, it looks great just sat there. I'm trying to think what to do with the Unisef as the JVC has replaced it, I might sell or give away. 

With Si's help, I've just cleaned the switches on the JVC, it sounds awesome now.  Really chuffed

don't fool yourself schneil, you'le be buying boxes for fun now lol.

as much as you try to not let it happen the temptation will be too strong

Truer words...have never been spoken. Heed Aaron's sage advice! Give them to me and we can cure you before it's too late!

yeah give em to Brutus he's a nice chap

Well if you do stick to what you've newly purchased then with the JVC and the 9191 you've got two really nice boxes worthy of keeping...though of course you've got to get the 9191 back off me first and I might want to keep it

he can't coz he's already 'given' the 9191 to me coz I'm a nicer chap lol

yes you too are a nice chappy Si

Well as it's surplus to requirements, the Unisef is free to a good home if anyone's interested?

You've got some special ones in there.  Especially the family boxes with the stories behind them.  I like the term "Timesharing with father..."  I bet that drove him nuts.

Oh yeah, our musical tastes were (and still are) fairly mutually exclusive.

My dad would play queen, I'd play hardcore and techno

The Superwoofer was more in my possession than my dads, so he got me the panny to drop a hint.  That and up until that point we had no cd player, so decided to move with the times.

I thought I'd update the thread with some better pictures of the ITT.  Looking pretty sweet for 26 years old.  The two speakers in the top grilles are dummys, one is a mic.  So a beast this box is not.

hey neil,where have you gone,buddy????

Great collection, I must say I'm loving the Unisef slimline box.