What in the world IS this?

[11somekid]

Found this on CL and it caught my eye. Did some research and it appears to be a touted up cassette player; 1/8" and 1 7/8 inches per second. I won't buy it, but very bizarre, nevertheless. Why the heck did they make this? It doesn't even use any normal reel size.

 

[Numone]

Looks like a novelty of some sort which I doubt is functioning, given RCA haven't been around for 50 or 60 years. I also note the compact disc "tray" (?) in the bottom right too! I'd have to have it though! How much is/was it?

 

[mhardy6647]

Not 100% sure this kind of link is kosher outside of D&S but these goofy things were a thing, briefly, maybe 15 years ago.

https://www.shopperschoice.com/item_item_1697858.html

 

[rojoknox]

Greetings from RojoLand!

The *only* thing this beastie has to do with RCA is use of the pre-1968 "meatball" logo. The real RCA went away in 1986 (32 years ago).

Take care,
—
J. E. Knox "The Victor Freak"

 

[11somekid]

Looks like a novelty of some sort which I doubt is functioning, given RCA haven't been around for 50 or 60 years. I also note the compact disc "tray" (?) in the bottom right too! I'd have to have it though! How much is/was it?

It was $150 and came with like 10 reels, but I just checked today, and it wasn't there. Certainly a curiosity, but I need curiosities like I need a lobotomy...

...guess I need a lobotomy.

 

[Awesomeaudio]

Looks like one of those retro knock offs out of China. There's alot of that kind of garbage around, like those usb turntables and cassette players. They forgot to put LED lights on it.

 

[djnagle]

Akai sold a r2r with a cassette deck built in and one with an 8track built in.

 

[11somekid]

Akai sold a r2r with a cassette deck built in and one with an 8track built in.

They also had all three!

 

[djnagle]

I'd like to have one just for fun

 

[danj]

They also had all three!

A close friend of mine had one of those branded AKAI that he bought in the Navy Exchange at Subic Bay. It worked and sounded quite good but was a big heavy unit.

 

[maxhifi]

Looks like a novelty of some sort which I doubt is functioning, given RCA haven't been around for 50 or 60 years. I also note the compact disc "tray" (?) in the bottom right too! I'd have to have it though! How much is/was it?

RCA hasn't been around since 1986, when they got bought out by GE. In 1988, GE spun off all the RCA assets.

 

[vwestlife]

Note that these oddities will not play standard 1/4" reel to reel tapes. They were designed to use custom-made 1/8" reels. You can find boxes of them on eBay.

NOS reel of tape for the RCA Media Center and the Spirit of St Louis Reel to Reel tape decks.

These are extremely RARE and hard to find tapes as they only made them for 1 year before discontinuing the product altogether.

Each tape is 1/8" inch wide and will only work on the RCA Media Center and the Spirit of St Louis Reel to Reel tape decks.

Some NAGRA decks used this width tape but the reel will NOT work on Nagra recorders, so you will need to spool it off onto a compatible reel.

 

[HeadAlign]

Looks like Techmoan on Youtube has to make a new video,unless it's been covered already...

 

[Awesomeaudio]

Looks like Techmoan on Youtube has to make a new video,unless it's been covered already...

I seriously doubt he'd waste his time.
I like his videos by the way.

 

[Dwartz]

It used cassette tape, so if you could fashion the reels you could use it. I remember how awful the reviews were when it came out.