The Ultimate Marantz, Superscope, UNIX Boombox Thread

Recently inherited this beautiful CRS-2204





Plenty of plugs: i/o + ext antennas + ext speakers:



It has an issue in right channel: no sound from speaker in radio mode ( the Vus both channel working), only loud hum in tape mode.



The mech, curiously to me, is working but I think in need for lubricate.

Next I'll start servicing this beauty reporting my progresses in a new thread as a self-tutorial.

Sorry for bad quality in the above pictures (i know someone somewhere here did post good tips & tricks in taking good pictures of our portables… see https://walkman-archive.com/articles/photographing-gagdets-focus.htm)

 

Indeed MisterX! Four bands


Thanks for the reply and for the link!

I'll start to clean all out/inside. It was sitting in a my father in law kitchen for about 20 maybe 30 years asking for a single cassette, instead tons of dirt, dust, vapours. I think I'll be in need for a lot of oooohhmmmm! to be able to enjoy again cassettes with it!

 

After retiring in 2025, I needed a decent portable cassette player or recorder to digitize my memories from the 1970s through 1990s. So I bought a Sony TC-45 (mono, 4 AA cells, 1972), the largest, heaviest, highest-specced one-handed recorder in Sony's TC (Tape Corder) series. Unfortunately, the belts needed replacing, as I discovered when it started to chew up my tapes. Just as well, because the TC-45 doesn't have a proper Line OUT; just a headphone/speaker jack, which would introduce distortion and noise.

I then bought a Superscope CS-200 (stereo, 4 C cells) because it looked like the Superscope C105 I used through in the 1970s college. The eBay seller had tested it, writing that "everything works." Everything did work for 3 weeks. Then the Superscope, like the Sony, began chewing tapes. Of course, the cassette whose tape I had to cut free was my most precious tape of all, so I've bought a nice repair kit.

After two strikes, I vowed that my next recorder would be one that had been rebuilt, with new belts, new electronics as needed, and an internal cleaning. And so it was! I found a Marantz PMD221 (mono, 3 D cells, about 1980) on eBay whose owner had lovingly restored it, for just $165 shipped! At that bargain price, I didn't dare sleep on it: I clicked Buy It Now.

Here's my Marantz PMD221, shown with all the accessories I've bought to go with it. Every accessory was bought "used" except for the USB digitizer and the RCA splitter cable. Clockwise from 12 o'clock:

• Marantz PMD221 mono cassette recorder ($165 shipped), Marantz PMD vinyl case ($20 shipped), and hard-to-find Marantz PMD shoulder strap ($31 shipped).
• Marantz DA-36 AC adapter ($26 shipped), the hard-to-find Made in Japan original version, not the cheaper Made in Taiwan DA-36 that came later. (You can tell Japan from Taiwan at a glance: If it's made in Japan, the printing is read while the adapter is horizontal, as shown here, not while the adapter is vertical.)
• Behringer UCA222 stereo USB digitizer (about $27 shipped, as I recall), from Sweetwater.
• Videoraser VX-1601 tape eraser (about $30 shipped)---at 12 amps, the company's most powerful handheld eraser. It seems to weight about 4 pounds.
• GC Electronics 40-watt head demagnetizer ($20 shipped), chosen for nostalgia: I bought the same model more than 50 years ago.
• YYTCG 0.5-meter RCA splitter cable ($20 shipped) from Amazon.

Oh: And nickel-metal-hydride D cells. I already had a high-end Miboxer NiMH charger.

The only Marantz accessory I didn't buy was the car charger (CA221PMD). Only one seller in the world seemed had it, and he wants $57 shipped (new old stock). Despite my fear of missing out, I just couldn't justify paying so much money for an accessory I'd never use.

Thanks to all of you who helped me learn about Marantz, Sony, and Superscope portables along the way.

The final piece--the RCA splitter cable--arrived today. I'm finally ready to resume digitizing old voice recordings.

 

Wow: I didn't know about those threads. Thanks!