Vintage stereo equipment

VacuumLand – Vintage & Modern Vacuum Enthusiasts

Help Support VacuumLand:

Man, Alex! You really know your stuff! I sure wouldn't mind having a full scale of one cruising the Blvd.!


 
 
I'd spot that Buckskin Beige and gold Sportone anywhere! You and me both, Calem! 
smiley-tongue-out.gif
 
Time to spin some vinyl here, take a break, life has been stressful of late! Does everyone else with their vintage equipment use it as relaxation therapy also? What I love is when younger? 20s friends ask where did you get your records? Oh I got them when they were new!40 years or more ago
 
I do... Some nights I'll sit back with a glass of wine, listen to Floyd, Alan parsons, Eagles or just some smooth jazz and relax. In the mornings sometimes when it's stressful I'll sit back with a cup of coffee to Norah jones, jazz, Michael buble', John Mayer, ya know your usual relaxing coffee shop tunes. Lately though i have been on a disco kick so bee gees, KC and the sunshine band, that sorta thing. Lol
 
Vintage Sony HST-49 all-in-one

I stumbled across this piece of vintage stereo equipment at a thrift store the other day for $8. Just couldn't pass it up. It's a curious configuration for an all-in-one in that it lacks a turntable. The cassette deck is pretty basic--doesn't even have Dolby--but the tuner seems to be pretty good quality. it has an abundance of inputs on the back for phono, a second tape deck, and 'aux'. Everything seems to work, at least as far as I can test it without speakers. The only thing holding me up on that score is the speaker terminals on the back are RCA plugs instead of screw or spring terminals. I ordered some RCA plugs on eBay and they should be here in a few days. I'll be interested to hear what this thing sounds like. I would have been in heaven with this thing when I was a teenager.

It's kind of strange but almost every reference to this unit I find online refers to a European variant, HST-49A (silver) or HST-49AB (black) that included a shortwave receiver and had LED level meters for the tape deck instead of the analog ones that mine has. Also, these later ones don't have the oh-so-'70s simulated woodgrain panels on the sides.

http://https//books.google.com/book...VRjomCh3urg2o#v=onepage&q=Sony HST-49&f=false
human-2015110900352704701_1.jpg
 
"<a name="start_30146.335302"></a>Does everyone else with their vintage equipment use it as relaxation therapy also?"


 


If I had vintage equipment I would!  Well, my Hitachi T-21 is from the mid 1980s so probably classes as vintage, but my main set-up is a 1990s Kenwood M-58 with Aiwa PX-E860 turntable. 



 


Either way, nothing is more stress relieving to me than playing a record.  Normally Roy Orbison (of course!) but it can be anything I enjoy really, it just helps me unwind.
 
Relaxation Therapy

That's my plan once I get some speakers and a CD player for this unit. I most likely won't add a turntable unless I happen to find a really nice one so ridiculously dirt cheap I can't resist it. I'm in the process of cleaning out my back bedroom to make it into a library. My books are already mostly on the shelves in there but I have a bunch of miscellaneous boxes I need to go through and get rid of half of what's in them. I'm looking to create a cozy space where I can sit and read and listen to music. The room will specifically not have a TV set in it. I've already got one in the living room, the kitchen, and my bedroom, so anything more would be redundant.
 
So I found an old set of headphones in a drawer and actually "heard" the HST-49 for the first time a little while ago. For $8, I was far from disappointed. The FM tuner works quite well using the power cord as an antenna and would probably work even better with a proper dipole antenna. It's got a crazy little feature that lets you "program" your favorite radio stations on the dial by setting markers, kind of like setting tabs on a typewriter. The tuner doesn't automatically go to them, but it gives you a visual target to find them more easily. Also, it will automatically switch between FM and AM as you tune past the markers in the program mode. The only part that isn't fully functional is the cassette deck. The mechanism is slightly out of adjustment so that the play button won't lock down unless you hold it for a few seconds. I'm pretty sure that's fixable but if something had to not work right, the cassette deck would be my choice as I haven't played tapes regularly in at least 10 or 15 years. Besides, the tape deck was pretty craptastic to begin with. It doesn't even have a Dolby button. And in a worst-case scenario, I do have a late '70s vintage Pioneer cassette deck that's in good working order and there are ports on the back to support it, as well as an auxiliary input port for a CD player or iPod. All in all, I think I could have done a lot worse on something a lot newer that cost a lot more money.
 
Radio Shack gear

I too worked at Radio Shack part time in the early 90's because l made friends with the manager of the one by my house and used to hang out and help fix things in trade for broken or discoed stuff. He finally just hired me so he could actually pay me to help.
They had many manufacturers making their gear, including Pioneer, and some of it was truly great quality and was great bang per buck.
They also sold some really good raw speakers, cb radios, and lots of electronic parts for folks that didn't want to deal with local electronics supply houses.
Got a lot of cool gear and parts, and still have 20 shares of probably now worthless stock.
When they started selling everybody else's stuff and got rid of most of their parts they quickly died off, plus they treated employees like crap and like that and it got worse after I left.
My manager friend finally quit and retired and we're still friends to this day.
Was fun place to geek out and I was the only stock person they ever hired I know of. I actually had to go through a interview and everything and was told I got the highest score they'd seen on the honesty part, I really didn't care so I just told the truth.
 
I had a Sears in the garage and a Llyod's (any history on that? maybe a department store brand?) in the bedroom. The Sears is hooked up to Fisher speakers! 


There was another pair of Fisher speakers where I bought the Sears pair from, if they're still there I'll have to grab them, the Llyod speakers have been acting up lately. Both are 8-Track/Stereo systems, but only the Llyod's plays tapes. I sabotaged the Sear's player to make the Llyod's work, it was a true redneck engineering marvel!  I have the Llyod's hooked up to my cassette player and a 2nd auxiliary jack for a phone or tablet or whatever. love my set up! 
smiley-laughing.gif



 


Now to find a 45 RPM cabinet player....and a '59 Zenith Space Command TV! 
smiley-tongue-out.gif
 
Lloyd's

Lloyd's was a lower end brand that was sold mainly through drugstores and discount retailers that did not specialize in stereo equipment but were looking to compete with higher end electronics stores mainly on price. I used to see their stuff at places like Eckerd, Woolworth, and G.C. Murphy, among others. It's ironic now that I've typed those three names, I realize none of them are still in business.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top