Soundesign TX 4372 Receiver

"What kind of defects / products? Looking for specifics / relevance. Assuming this receiver was Made In Japan by a typical manufacturer it seems strange that there would be significant defect rates related to quality control. Are you talking about marginal design in mechanical things like cassette or eight-track stuff?"

I worked at a large retailer in RI. Soundesign had a product line which had small stereo systems which were in a low cost range. I can't categorize every product description, but of all the lines, including Yorx, Juliette & maybe one other, Soundesign was the absolute worst. We also had second tier merchandise the better brand compact systems and a first tier with Pioneer, Marantz, Scott and one or two others for electronics.
 
George W said:
The layout of the controls remind me of the MCS series from JC Penny (except that the face plate would have been satin black).
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Which MCS model are you thinking of? No MCS receivers were satin black from this era, and while the JC Penney brand of low end stereos (all in ones and the like) could have come from the same factory as a Soundesign, nothing wearing the MCS brand had anything to do with Soundesign products. Two totally different animals.
 
Pics

I have been using my Iphone for the pics, I don't know why they are upside down, but when I click on them they are right side up..... Go figure...
 
g..v said:
I worked at a large retailer in RI. Soundesign had a product line which had small stereo systems which were in a low cost range. I can't categorize every product description, but of all the lines, including Yorx, Juliette & maybe one other, Soundesign was the absolute worst. We also had second tier merchandise the better brand compact systems and a first tier with Pioneer, Marantz, Scott and one or two others for electronics.
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OK cool. I was looking for something like repair / warranty analysis kind of stuff. Something that might relate to this model or similar which has no tape players, few moving parts, and may be full of generic circuit boards stuffed by a generic Japanese circuit board stuffer.
 
Rovingnome said:
I have been using my Iphone for the pics, I don't know why they are upside down, but when I click on them they are right side up..... Go figure...
Click to expand...

It may be because your phone knows which way you are holding it and rotates it for you. But there is a permanent actual 'up' to each image...
 
I don't know a darn thing about smart phones, just trying to be helpful. I suspect there is only one way to hold it where the image you take is right side up after uploading it. You might want to search the web on that. Normally I use a photo editor (such as MS Office Picture Manager, for example) to rotate and otherwise edit, resize, etc. Not sure how you'd do that on a phone but there should be an app for that. :D
 
Hifirob2 said:
Which MCS model are you thinking of? No MCS receivers were satin black from this era, and while the JC Penney brand of low end stereos (all in ones and the like) could have come from the same factory as a Soundesign, nothing wearing the MCS brand had anything to do with Soundesign products. Two totally different animals.
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My MCS receiver(and 5 band eualizer) were from the mid 1970s. Both products had satin black finish. I do not remember the specific model, it's been almost 40 years. I had them connected to a pair of 5 inch Panasonic "thrusters", and had surprisingly good sound.
 
Thread crap apology....

Hops up on high horse (but not in a mean way)....


George W said:
My MCS receiver(and 5 band eualizer) were from the mid 1970s. Both products had satin black finish. I do not remember the specific model, it's been almost 40 years. I had them connected to a pair of 5 inch Panasonic "thrusters", and had surprisingly good sound.
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You had a black faced receiver, and a black faced 5 band equalizer from the mid 70s? If so, then it was not from MCS. Aside from their NEC built separates from the late 70s, MCS sold nothing with a black face in that decade (speakers and TTs exempt). I know my MCS history front and back, and have owned (or researched in depth) most every model they produced from late 1977 (their beginnings) to 1988 - even into the early 90s. Maybe you bought it at JC Penney, but it wasn't the MCS brand. It could very well have been a simple JC Penney branded stereo, that was designed similar to this Soundesign receiver. A Soundesign knockoff, only in black. That would look cool.

Or maybe if was from the mid 80s, instead. By the mid 80s, some MCS receivers had parts of the face that were black (silver aluminum surrounded by black plastic front bezels). But no black EQs - until 1986.

MCS did have a black aluminum faced integrated amp (and matching 7 or 10 band EQ) in 1986, but it looked completely different from this Soundesign receiver. Very 80s looking - back lit flow charts, and all that - lots of LEDs, and LOTS of power.

I'd like to know the model numbers. Memories fade, but I have nothing in my files of catalogs, brochures, pictures, ads, and test reports to to corroborate what you describe.:yes:
 
Hifirob2 said:
Thread crap apology....

You had a black faced receiver, and a black faced 5 band equalizer from the mid 70s? ... Maybe you bought it at JC Penney, but it wasn't the MCS brand. It could very well have been a simple JC Penney branded stereo, that was designed similar to this Soundesign receiver. A Soundesign knockoff, only in black. That would look cool. :yes:
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It was a gift from my father, and he did buy it from JCP in the bicentennial year. He owned Hi-Fi(Technics, Sherwood, Akai), and I believe he wanted to give me something that looked real (but really wasn't). He could have bought Yorx or Emerson, but those were too 'toy' looking.

I was in Jr. High, with a fancy Stereo like my Dad! I got the bug, and bought my own Onkyo/Avid core a couple of years later.
 
George W said:
It was a gift from my father, and he did buy it from JCP in the bicentennial year. He owned Hi-Fi(Technics, Sherwood, Akai), and I believe he wanted to give me something that looked real (but really wasn't). He could have bought Yorx or Emerson, but those were too 'toy' looking.

I was in Jr. High, with a fancy Stereo like my Dad! I got the bug, and bought my own Onkyo/Avid core a couple of years later.
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Great story, and great dad. In junior high, I had a simple Montgomery Ward record player. In high school, I graduated up to a Yorx all-in-one POS that I upgraded with (I kid you not) TOTL Soundesign 12" 3 way tower speakers. I thought I was in heaven. I mowed a lot of lawns to pay for those speakers.

My first "real" receiver was a 12wpc MCS 3212. I instantly blew up the Soundesign speakers. Turns out they could only handle 5 watts! Ugh. I then bought some nice big white van-ish type speakers, and I was good to go. That system earned me some much needed respect from my friends.:D Turns out you CAN fool some of the people all of the time...
 
George W said:
Do you remember who made those larger speakers?
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They were a brand called "Acoustic". Not to be confused with Acoustic Research. I believe they were model number 4120. Some random brand that a stereo store had pallets of back in the summer of 1983. They were 12" 4-ways, for $79 each. What kid could pass that up?? :D

I upgraded to some Klipsch Quartets around 1991, and still use those today.

I hung onto the 4120s until 1997 or so, when they were sold at a yard sale. Still had the original boxes, too.
 
Hifirob2 said:
They were a brand called "Acoustic". Not to be confused with Acoustic Research. I believe they were model number 4120. Some random brand that a stereo store had pallets of back in the summer of 1983. They were 12" 4-ways, for $79 each. What kid could pass that up?? :D

I upgraded to some Klipsch Quartets around 1991, and still use those today.

I hung onto the 4120s until 1997 or so, when they were sold at a yard sale. Still had the original boxes, too.
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That's a great story. I joined the military in 83 and got shipped overseas. That's when I bought my Heresy's after auditioning Rush's YYZ! That song and that speaker give new meaning to the word 'bright'. I also bought a JBL subwoofer. Today, the Klipsch still haven't failed, but my JBL has outlived it's foam surround 3 times. I'm not replacing it again, the 15 Cubic ft cabinet has gotten too heavy for me to move. The Heresy's are getting close.
 
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George W said:
That's a great story. I joined the military in 83 and got shipped overseas. That's when I bought my Heresy's after auditioning Rush's YYZ! That song and that speaker give new meaning to the word 'bright'. I also bought a JBL subwoofer. Today, the Klipsch still haven't failed, but my JBL has outlived it's foam surround 3 times. I'm not replacing it again, the 15 Cubic ft cabinet has gotten too heavy for me to move. The Heresy's are getting close.
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That's excellent, George. I fell in love with Klipsch after hearing them at a large club in Dallas in late 1986. I even walked up to them, noted the brand, and went over to the bar and wrote the name down - so I wouldn't forget. They were that impressive (to my ears). Finally found some I could afford when I stumbled upon the Quartets at Good Guys here in Los Angeles. They were demo models, and marked half off. I've never bought anything so fast in my life. They still sing - I've yet to give them the Crites treatment, but I'd like to. No sub to go with them, though. I live in an apartment with thin walls - my neighbors would kill me! :D
 
I've got the same one.

I have the same model. It is NOT what one typically associates with Soundesign. It is a decent unit. I have heard/read that in their earliest years they actually made some good stuff. This must be one of them.

My parents bought this one sometime in the mid-late 70s (use or new I do not know). It have been in use in one form or another almost ever since (over 35 years). Other than needing to occasionally clean the pots it has always worked well. One of the lamps is out on mine.

Because of Soundesign's (largely deserved) reputation as cheap junk, you can get these for like $20-$30, but I think it is comparable to units costing a bit more.

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A Marantz 2245 now sits in it's place, but the Soundesign is going to remain in use in my office hooked up to a pair of Advent/3 bookshelf speakers.
 
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