An analog tuner with a digital display is pretty damn cool. And I suspect that tuner is a tuning capacitor and not a potentiometer which would make it even better.
Looks like Soundesign was ahead of the Weasel! See in college, we had to build a clock in one of my electronics classes, one of the assignments (or maybe it was extra credit) with that clock was to add to the functionality. I decided to do an AM/PM indicator as that seemed the simplest to implement. I quickly figured out that I only needed to turn on/off one segment of a seven segment display to go between A and P. So that a 7404 and a some other circuitry I cannot remember had my clock showing if it was A(m) or P(m). Lastly, is it me, or has "Magic 98.3" brickwalled the heck out of their levels?
@@vwestlife thanks for info. Now and then hearing WPTX 1690 and others during the winter but mostly Dutch and Greek pirates use the frequencies here...
I have one of these units purchased new in 1981 by my mother at Kmart for $259. came with a Magnetic BSR turntable and 4 3way speakers. used as the basement systen for 8 years used almost every day. Has been in my garage since 1989 still used every day still works good and everything still works except dial light amd VU meter lights
With this you can now more than ever look smart in front of your friends and family when you know what (most of) the switches, knobs, buttons and indicators do! Its like flying a plane, in your house!
Hey, menu-"jungles" are even worse, imho. Doesn't need power to adjust something. Visible from the sofa because the knob-profile is designed very nice. :D
The more numerous are the manual controls and switches, the simpler the operation. Very few things need understanding, and they were usually learned with the first use in childhood, usually before school. This is a home entertainment unit where there's no need for "muscle memory", but in a car on european roads the days of Tesla's tablet cars with countless nested menus are numbered - the law for safety sake has already passed that large number of regularly used functions, such as AC, or simple ventilation and heating adjustments, sound system volume, radio or other source switches and number of other functions must have fixed ergonomically placed mechanical switches at least for the driver.
@@markanderson350 I think this fits comfortably in the midrange category. It's obviously intended for a budget, but not necessarily a 'tight' budget. I've had actual 'cheap' from this era, like my GE AM/FM/8-Track 'receiver' (c1978), and this is much better. Even that GE is better than a lot of modern stuff, tho....
@@JohnZombi88 At only 10 watts per channel, very bad S/N on the tuner and tape section, bad frequency response in the bass region, and most likely horrible high frequency response in the tape section, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that ANYBODY can hear the difference in a side by side comparison with anything 10x the price as this one. Lots of people won't care though. Soundesign was one of the worst brands in the 70's. Sure, this thing is eye candy and has lots of good features. But everything on it is poor quality, poorly designed, and inferior sounding.
The late 70s and early 80s were the peak for these huge hi fi stereo systems! They had lots of features for their audio systems, now we have bare bones audio systems that can’t even play audio internally, no radio, no tape, no CD player!
"Made in Japan" usually meant at least some semblance of decent quality. Even though this is pretty clearly a "low end" piece by component audio standards of the day, it still had some of the hallmarks of Japanese craftsmanship. Analyzing the schematic, I see that the overall design is pretty decent. The tuner wasn't terrible...it used an FET RF amp, ceramic filters, and chips that would be found in some of the better receivers. The audio amp is fully discrete, not those terrible power IC's. The power supply is "single ended", meaning there's large coupling caps between those output transistors and the speakers. And my guess is that the output wattage isn't very much. But, given the brand's overall reputation, this unit indeed seems to be one of their better efforts.
Had a zenith floor console unit when I was a kid. 10 watts per channel. sucker thumped and was loud enough for the neighbors to complain. But then again with 2 12 inch drivers 2 5 inch mid range and 2 tweeters in a rather large and heavy wooden cabenet yeah it got loud.
@@CotyRiddle Actually, not so surprised. I play with chipamps a lot, like the ones you find in computer speakers and those little Crosley record players. Typically 1W/ch or less. Give 'em some reasonably efficient speakers, and even they can get fairly loud. Pretty damned decent sound quality, too, especially for the cost. Not gonna call it 'hi-fi', but it's seriously better than a lot of people think.
I had one of these back in the early '80s! Unfortunately, my apartment was burgled and ... I replaced it with a rather nice Fisher 30 watt rack system which I still use to this day. At that time, I was guy with the really cool stereo.
This is the greatest thing I have ever seen. It's got an 8-track player!! The only thing it doesn't have (and should) is a built in sphygmomanometer, to check your blood pressure while cranking Van Halen on 8-track!!
did they use 8 track in Japan or did they just make it for the US market? Here in Europe it was completely unknown by the general public . We only had records, compact cassettes and later on CDs.
Amazing that a low-fi system like this have a better transport system and sound than any of the brand new released portable cassette systems like "We are Rewind" and the FiiO.
@@KneppaH Yep. Everyone buys their motors, heads and mechs from the same Chinesium companies. Plastic flywheels, and pinch rollers recycled from used tires.
@@01chippe I live in Minneapolis now and listened to the last hour while on the light rail. People looked at me funny when I sang along with the final top of the hour jingle.
Way better than those mid-late 80s cabinets that are designed to look like separate audio components when they're all one plastic front panel covering up a few small circuit boards in a big box.
Those stereos continued to be made in the 1990s and into the early 2000s, but the “component” look slowly went away and turned into a cheap silver plastic mess. Some of the higher end ones from companies like JVC and Aiwa were not actually too bad, though none were truly “high end” equipment.
That "Blue Book of Quality Merchandise" looks like something out of a Simpsons gag, love how their idea of conveying "quality" visually is "an enormous diamond and text in the Disney font".
😮😮😮😮😮😮 Certainly an Awesome Blast from the Past! My parents used to own a separate system version of this, the amplifier's model number 5171 with the matching single tape deck and fully auto record player with speakers. They bought it from a neighbor in the summer of 1988 and had it until early 1999 when it finally gave out. The one you are showing here has all of the features like my parent's the only difference here is the built-in tape and 8 track decks and the redundant VU meters. The system my parents owned only had the red LED VU meter just like this one. It's nice to see one of these in the digital age of 2024 in fully working condition! 👍👍👍👍👍
I think a lot of the bad reputation of these cheap and "nasty" systems comes from the original crappy speakers. I've found that if you connect something like this Soundesign to a good pair of speakers, there's a very high chance it will surprise you.
You said, "...but that's not all you get...", and my brain automatically said, "wait, there's more!" BTW, the snippet of Techmoan was perfect and well-timed. Oh, yeah, pretty sure the Balance and Right Record Level knobs were swapped. Look at the line on the one on the Rt. Rec versus the knob on the Balance, which matches the one on the Left Rec.
Or the Morse Electrophonic stuff that I believe was popular in Canada. Pity it was crap, I liked the console form factor, especially the 'jukeboxes' with built in colour organ!
Mother and Child Reunion reminds me of being a kid hearing it on AM radio while driving out to our camp on Lake Superior in the early to mid 70s...great times. Great video too by the way.
How could any vintage electronics collector not love a gorgeous audio battleship like that Soundesign 5988 unit? Amazing! Thanks for another excellent, very in-depth video, VWestlife. :)
JB Weld helps bonding plastic head housing for 8-track players and recorders which used in later models in the late 1970’s and 1980’s where the head became too loose due to loss of playback and cross talk in alignment. I’ve seen these on later brands like Lloyd’s, Zenith, Emerson, GE, Craig, Realistic and others.
I love it! I'm a sucker for chrome, vumeters and big round knobs, so it's not strange 😂, but also I find it a bit confusing, for a 82-83 machine the analog-digital radio is a really nice feature, but the amp section seems lifted straight from an older design, the screw terminals and the ceramic cartridge input point to the early 70s.
I have said this before. It always amazes me when the junk or low quality stereos work while higher end stuff that cost way more usually needs some kind of repairs before use.
A MARVELLOUS video showcasing an AMAZING machine. Woodgrain, aaahhhh, chrome, drool. What a delight that is and would have been even more so back in 1981. Thank you. You even managed to include a joke at no extra cost. Lol. Brilliant videos. Keep 'em coming.
I teally appreciate how it seems like the designers thought of *EVERYTHING* with this unit. Even the smallest little features have a dedicated button, which ends up giving this unit a highly customizable feel. I finally have my sights set on an ultimate vintage hi-fi system, and I hope I run into one of these one day. I especially love that it held up so well even after 40 years.
@@markanderson350 Yes but this only occurs on a few receivers. I have a Sony STR-DH190 receiver and it also doesn't have this option. Sony of all makes! It's a great receiver 100w/channel but it lacks this option and I am so disappointed. Ended up buying a Tandberg TR 2060 which does this. In fact this sound design is only the second receiver I have come across that lacks this option. So I don't consider the sound design the ultimate system by far.
WTOP on AM sounds fantastic. Also, 106.3 uses a ton of compression. Almost too much. This unit was a snapshot of tech in the early 80s. I’d love to have something like this. Great video as always.
Setting 8 Track audio levels is an issue, with my home made deck I went with S/PDIF digital input where the levels are set to 0 dB and as for the time this done with digital tape counter. When I record to 8 Track it is all set up with correct levels and the remaining time is displayed. The signal to noise is 40 dB and up to 60 dB with noise reduction on, a little bit better then what you have, as there is only so much you can do within limitations of this format. If any interested in the development work I have been doing with 8 Tracks the video is called "New 8 Track Technology", as the area of magnet recording is somewhat new to me, therefore I want do a few experiments.
Perfect for the most discriminating of audiophiles who *absolutely hate* the soundtrack of Dune: Parts One and Two Edit: Also wtf is this song at 6:03-6:12? Sounds like something that someone doing a Group B vidding session would use when he can't get his hands on some Eurobeat
So now I know what the Loudness & Mute buttons do! Cool! The thing I miss about being a child of the 70's & 80's is hanging out at the record store at the mall!
Well it wasn't dear, hardly a Pioneer anything but actual a pretty decent all in one unit that if you added decent speakers and a basic "hifi" turntable to it you'd be happy with. For that you can hardly complain. Love the 8 Track having an Akia CR81 D - and that thing weighs a ton!
OMG! Is it weird that I immediately recognized Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Trumpets playing on FM radio?? That piece... NEVER gets played anywhere, and almost nobody knows it! But wait, it gets even dorkier; That particular recording comes off a very particular Pachelbel's Cannon in D cassette tape, originally released on one of those fly by night record labels that used to release classical on cassette. I don't know who exactly performed the piece, but it's the only recording of Two Trumpets I know of. Honestly this kinda made my day! Anyway, that's the piece that made me a lifelong baroque fan
Interesting device, a definite 1970s/1980s fusion! 1/8" microphone sockets next to an 8 track seem odd! The size is obvious from the cassette door being lost in the corner. And the clock doubling as a frequency meter means it's not as cobbled together as first impressions suggest.
In 1980, our local department store TG&Y had this but it had a turntable built into the top. I would lust over it every weekend. It was $400 and I only made $54 a week so no go.
My 8-track does not have the auto-stop or FF buttons, but it does have a separate NR button, and a "Memory" button that I cannot figure out the function of. Has anyone else come across an 8-track player with a memory button or knows what it is for?
The thing is, there's really no such thing as 70's design, 80's design, or 90's design and etc, but rather a steady evolution of design trends over time. The artificial compartmentalizing of generalized trends by decade is just something we humans do during retrospective analysis so we can more easily make sense of things.
I got a SoundDesign clock radio with the same cassette mechanism and it most feels quite robust for a SoundDesign product. it just so happens to have the same VFD but doesn't have the digital tuner readout. I paid $8 for it at a antique store expecting it to be a pile of junk to find out it's my new favorite cassette player. As for the unit featured in the video, I'd like to see a follow up/repair video of it where you fix the knobs, upgrade the belts and replace the bulb for the tuner needle. I would add some lighting to the open holes in tuner dile. Great video, keep up the good work.
Your is the E940 ?. I have one when tenneager, in black .Then I masnaged to got another in wood with cream front., Yes., VFDs tend to die, At least in both case, dead segments. Deck was a beast just for a lock radio with it own rec-play board and tons of wires going from one part to the other. Dedication to say the least.
I am familiar with that Tanashin tape transport, I think they used that up until 1983. I also have never seen one with a bad belt… but they eventually will need replaced. The main issue is the belt width. I haven’t found a new flat belt yet that will work with it because they are just slightly too wide. It will walk right off the idler pulley. If you happen to find a belt that will work with it let me know. Also funny I was just looking at this model on eBay the other night.
The same exact problem happened when I tried to replace the belt on this one, with a flat belt that's supposed to be the correct size for it. I ended up using a square belt instead, which fits neatly onto one side of the pulley since there's a groove in the middle. I suppose I could double it up with another square belt on the other side, but it runs fine with only one belt.
The biggest sound improvement you can make to one of these is to replace the DC blocking caps used on the audio amp chip (if this model employs one). There should be two, one for each channel at the outputs of the chip. The best you can get (before they are no longer) are Nichicon UKZ (MUSE) series. They are discontinued but digikey still has values up to 1000uf.
No output chips. Freeze the video at 2:10 and you can see on the schematic it's a simple class AB discrete output amplifier...no more than 5W/Ch and no output coupling caps like those needed on those STK chip amplifiers.
I got this at the GW in the 90’s, I was 10 and felt like a serious upgrade from my other crap, I thought “wow, real speaker terminals!” from the RCA’s commonly found lol great video as always! I could only imagine what your storage situation is like, thank you for your sacrifice!
I remember there was one of these high up on a shelf at a small general store in a town near me. It had these massive looking speakers paired with it, and I remember it sounding decent enough tuned to a fringe FM station, and looking just killer with all the lights and meters and buttons. Also I guess they combined AM and PM on the VFD - to make room for FM while you're showing the tuner frequency!
Mother and Child Reunion has a very special place in my heart. Another great video, featuring a Brave Little Toaster-worthy device. Edit: the Pontiac Transport tape is fantastic. It's a shame they're now a dead brand - they were the US's most fun and least serious car company.
This video would have to be out for at least two years before I would seriously even look for one of these. Not even going to bother. Those prices are going to come down after 2 or 3 years.... When less people are looking for it and more become available.
The wood grain and silver reminds me of my far less grand Soundesign stereo from 82-83, it had an integral cassette and similar clock functions with big blue digits (no frequency display though 😢) Sounded good to me, used it up until the late 90s. I know you’ll get a load of “Soundesign is crap” negative comments but count me in on the plus side, mine lasted for years with zero problems.
Never thought I'd see a decent stereo by Soundesign...made in Japan too! But I do have some concerns on the ratings of the amp...10 watts from 80Hz - 20kHz, I guess Soundesign didn't design low frequencies into this setup? Most likely due to the fact the speakers it came with couldn't reproduce all that low frequency mumbo jumbo
By 1980, better quality units had Dolby B, so that's a serious omission. The amplifier probably could have used a little more power too. But it's not dreadful.
Granted, SounDesign was a 'budget' audio brand, and some of their less expensive offerings were kinda sketchy, but obviously they knew how to build decent stuff, too. For $350 back in the day, you got quite a lot - especially if it included decent 2-way speakers. I'm honestly astonished that it is rated only at ten watts per channel. I mean, it's certainly enough to fill a room without too much trouble, but the fact that they even published specs - HONEST specs - speaks well of them. Excellent find!
The two record level potentiometers should be identical parts, but they are not. So one of them has been replaced, I would assume with a mechanically incompatible type that did not have the right design to fit the original knob on it, so that's how that one replacement knob came about. I guess you will get to find out when you remove the knobs and the face plate to tighten down these loose potentiometers...
I like those cheaper stereo systems like that, not bottom of the barrel but still affordable. And it shows considering how well it works this many tears later.
Looks like you lucked into a lightly-used and well-stored unit. I lived through an era in which Soundesign was one of the three or four brands broke or uninformed or grandma people bought (Emerson was one of the others). However, many people who never played music at high volumes and didn't use the stereo much were happy with these systems.
(Doug Demuro voice) "Wow, this is a really cool stereo with lots of interesting neat details".... but seriously... yeah, it is cool. But you never really touched on the chassis size logic. Was this some sort of oddball Japanese thing? The general width and depth of consumer stereo components was already well established by 1980. I guess they thought it was a way more interactive system for recordings.. so you would put it on a table or desk? But the weight and girth and lack of handles suggests it's not meant to be portable at all- you place it somewhere and leave it. Was it supposed to be like pro-sumer stuff for schools and business, sitting on one of those sturdy A/V metal stands with wheels to be moved around? Just trying to understand why the extra wide width was chosen when people already had stereo cabinetry for the narrow components. I also wonder how successful it was when sold in the early 80s at that price... Japanese made electronics in the US were not yet revered for quality then (save for maybe Yamaha?), so a premium priced product like this may have been a hard sell. Looking at ebay sales of soundesign systems from the 80s and most are black and cheap looking... maybe they changed market focus after this.
Nice of TechMoan to drop by the VWestlive studio! Is the digital display actually a frequency counter (on the local oscillator offset by the IF) or is there just a digital encoder on the tuning knob?
my sister and I both had several Soundesign stereos over the years. I even ha the SoundDesign entertainment center with the Sound Design 20" TV, dual tape deck, record player, and the like. Thought I was hot stuff. That TV turned out to be decent.
