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Who else actually like (or dislike) these retro All-In-One systems?

KentTeffeteller said:
There was a problem. They were priced close enough in the USA, to what a basic good 20 watt/channel Sony receiver, an economy Sony basic belt drive single play turntable, and a pair of Sony loudspeakers. A hard sell to sell a Compact system in the USA, which was priced much over $259 in that era, And this Sony would have been close to $600-$700. The budget buyer, the non critical listener, and the less educated or the youth market at that time mainly bought compact all in one type systems in the USA.

By comparison then, I could buy a Pioneer SX 550 receiver, a Pioneer PL-512 turntable with a Shure M 75 EJ cartridge , and a pair of basic two way good speakers for around $675. This was average street price. And maybe better those items or go one notch nicer by buying last year's models.
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Per the article at zstereo, this cost 445 pounds back in 78. That translates to approximately 2250 pounds, in today’s money. In 1978 the pound was worth ~$2. So , $890USD (if global pricing was equivalent at that time) in 1978 and that translates to $3,640 in today’s dollars. (409% inflation to date) + import duties, since it wasn’t sold in the US.

35wpc rms, direct drive and a fairly capable tape deck. Excerpt below.


———

“The HMK-80 was top of the company’s range of music centres, costing a massive £445 in 1978. To give you some perspective, that was twice as much as a Linn LP12 turntable, and half the price of a brand new base-model British Leyland Mini 850. Not inexpensive, then. Oh, and by way of recompense, Sony threw the kitchen sink at it. Better still, this didn’t mean it was a cheap design gilded by spurious features and fripperies – rather, the company engineered it very well and built it (in Japan) beautifully.

What sets the HMK-80 apart from almost every other music centre ever made, and certainly all other lesser Sonys, is that has a direct drive turntable. Powered by a huge brushless, slotless motor of Sony’s own design, it offers adjustable speed by way of fine speed controls and an illuminated stroboscope. Seeing this light up, and the chunky strobe marks cut into the aluminium platter, was visual confirmation of the fact that the Sony was music centre royalty. It gave highly stable speed thanks to servo control hooked up to a magnetic pickup just behind the rim of the platter. The main chassis of the deck is pressed steel, to which a very period S-shaped tonearm is fitted, complete with removable magnesium headshell and Sony VL-34G moving magnet cartridge – which was a step up from the basic Shures of the day but nothing fancy.”
 
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Sam08861 said:
Per the article at zstereo, this cost 445 pounds back in 78. That translates to approximately 2250 pounds, in today’s money. In 1978 the pound was worth ~$2. So , $890USD (if global pricing was equivalent at that time) in 1978 and that translates to $3,640 in today’s dollars. (409% inflation to date) + import duties, since it wasn’t sold in the US.

35wpc rms, direct drive and a fairly capable tape deck. Excerpt below.


———

“The HMK-80 was top of the company’s range of music centres, costing a massive £445 in 1978. To give you some perspective, that was twice as much as a Linn LP12 turntable, and half the price of a brand new base-model British Leyland Mini 850. Not inexpensive, then. Oh, and by way of recompense, Sony threw the kitchen sink at it. Better still, this didn’t mean it was a cheap design gilded by spurious features and fripperies – rather, the company engineered it very well and built it (in Japan) beautifully.

What sets the HMK-80 apart from almost every other music centre ever made, and certainly all other lesser Sonys, is that has a direct drive turntable. Powered by a huge brushless, slotless motor of Sony’s own design, it offers adjustable speed by way of fine speed controls and an illuminated stroboscope. Seeing this light up, and the chunky strobe marks cut into the aluminium platter, was visual confirmation of the fact that the Sony was music centre royalty. It gave highly stable speed thanks to servo control hooked up to a magnetic pickup just behind the rim of the platter. The main chassis of the deck is pressed steel, to which a very period S-shaped tonearm is fitted, complete with removable magnesium headshell and Sony VL-34G moving magnet cartridge – which was a step up from the basic Shures of the day but nothing fancy.”
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Actually, I see a market for those back then at that price. I see high wife acceptance factor and quality enough for the guy who'd rather have some lesser but dedicated components... receiver, deck, table. Upgrade the speakers if one desires, pair of walnut Advents, OLA... what would a comparable console have cost... that Sony seems like a performance bargain all things considered. I'd play my records on it.
 
spicer said:
Actually, I see a market for those back then at that price. I see high wife acceptance factor and quality enough for the guy who'd rather have some lesser but dedicated components... receiver, deck, table. Upgrade the speakers if one desires, pair of walnut Advents, OLA... what would a comparable console have cost... that Sony seems like a performance bargain all things considered. I'd play my records on it.
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Not in the USA, compacts by then in the USA, were practically unsalable past around $279. This would have sold in small but steady numbers in say, 1964-1970.
 
Sam08861 said:
Per the article at zstereo, this cost 445 pounds back in 78. That translates to approximately 2250 pounds, in today’s money. In 1978 the pound was worth ~$2. So , $890USD (if global pricing was equivalent at that time) in 1978 and that translates to $3,640 in today’s dollars. (409% inflation to date) + import duties, since it wasn’t sold in the US.

35wpc rms, direct drive and a fairly capable tape deck. Excerpt below.


———

“The HMK-80 was top of the company’s range of music centres, costing a massive £445 in 1978. To give you some perspective, that was twice as much as a Linn LP12 turntable, and half the price of a brand new base-model British Leyland Mini 850. Not inexpensive, then. Oh, and by way of recompense, Sony threw the kitchen sink at it. Better still, this didn’t mean it was a cheap design gilded by spurious features and fripperies – rather, the company engineered it very well and built it (in Japan) beautifully.

What sets the HMK-80 apart from almost every other music centre ever made, and certainly all other lesser Sonys, is that has a direct drive turntable. Powered by a huge brushless, slotless motor of Sony’s own design, it offers adjustable speed by way of fine speed controls and an illuminated stroboscope. Seeing this light up, and the chunky strobe marks cut into the aluminium platter, was visual confirmation of the fact that the Sony was music centre royalty. It gave highly stable speed thanks to servo control hooked up to a magnetic pickup just behind the rim of the platter. The main chassis of the deck is pressed steel, to which a very period S-shaped tonearm is fitted, complete with removable magnesium headshell and Sony VL-34G moving magnet cartridge – which was a step up from the basic Shures of the day but nothing fancy.”
Click to expand...

If Sony could have sold this in the USA, they would have. Big issue, that $895 was separate component territory. Which is what the USA upper crust customer who could afford this bought. KLH was barely selling many of their compacts by 1972 or so, and by then most all of the over $400 models sold in the USA, were discontinued. Marketplace reality. B&O's Beomaster was about the only such item selling much in the USA then. In Europe, different story. Smaller residences, and they were willing to go upmarket for this class of Compact.
 
f0427ea said:
Count me in , after a check-out , if all is good , I'll hook a decent set of 2 way speakers up to them. Often times it surprises me how nice these overlooked ,
poo-poo'ed receiver combos can sound , fun to piddle around with and the best part is the price of admission.

Olson's RA-314 one of their first 'casseiver' offerings , 72 vintage , cassette player-recorder still worked after all these years.
View attachment 2315409 View attachment 2315411

Sears AM /FM 8 track , mid 70's vintage , 8 track player worked without a hitch
View attachment 2315420 View attachment 2315421

Fisher 30 music center , 1969 vintage , the old BSR record-wrecker just needed cleaned and lubed , got a new needle but it probably didn't need it .
View attachment 2315423 View attachment 2315425

Impressive after all these years , with just a little cleaning , these work and sound dam nice (for what they are,were) too boot .
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That Fisher 30 is hardly a record wrecker. It's got a 4 pole motor, and appears to have a Pickering V 15 fitted, and can track at 3 grams. No worse on records than a period KLH, and this is actually a better changer in the case of this higher end BSR life form. You can even install a 610 in it, and track that once overhauled at around 2 grams. Hardly junk. And that is a quality compact.
 
tom3 said:
Benjamin compact setup we use in the bedroom. Not sure who made the receiver, maybe USA built. Elac PW 50 turntable. Nice sounding unit with really good response at normal listening levels.

View attachment 2325444
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This in terms of compacts was the Rolls-Royce of that genre in the USA, and it was also offered with EMI DLS loudspeakers, which together was over $800. Few of these sold, because it was severely expensive in that era. Altec-Lansing also had an equally fine compact system which also sold poorly because it was in that price range.
 
Sam08861 said:
Per the article at zstereo, this cost 445 pounds back in 78. That translates to approximately 2250 pounds, in today’s money. In 1978 the pound was worth ~$2. So , $890USD (if global pricing was equivalent at that time) in 1978 and that translates to $3,640 in today’s dollars. (409% inflation to date) + import duties, since it wasn’t sold in the US.

35wpc rms, direct drive and a fairly capable tape deck. Excerpt below.


———

“The HMK-80 was top of the company’s range of music centres, costing a massive £445 in 1978. To give you some perspective, that was twice as much as a Linn LP12 turntable, and half the price of a brand new base-model British Leyland Mini 850. Not inexpensive, then. Oh, and by way of recompense, Sony threw the kitchen sink at it. Better still, this didn’t mean it was a cheap design gilded by spurious features and fripperies – rather, the company engineered it very well and built it (in Japan) beautifully.

What sets the HMK-80 apart from almost every other music centre ever made, and certainly all other lesser Sonys, is that has a direct drive turntable. Powered by a huge brushless, slotless motor of Sony’s own design, it offers adjustable speed by way of fine speed controls and an illuminated stroboscope. Seeing this light up, and the chunky strobe marks cut into the aluminium platter, was visual confirmation of the fact that the Sony was music centre royalty. It gave highly stable speed thanks to servo control hooked up to a magnetic pickup just behind the rim of the platter. The main chassis of the deck is pressed steel, to which a very period S-shaped tonearm is fitted, complete with removable magnesium headshell and Sony VL-34G moving magnet cartridge – which was a step up from the basic Shures of the day but nothing fancy.”
Click to expand...

Sony didn't sell huge amounts of the HMK-419 with the Dual changer in the USA, but that was Sony's top compact in the USA in the 1970's which sold in much numbers. Again, this one was like under half the price of the HMK-80. The BSR equipped Sony models were Sony's biggest compact system sellers in the USA by many times over. And priced at the price point USA compact buyers would accept.
 
Beatnik said:
Saw a beat up The Fisher in a dark corner of an unlit garage at an estate sale Saturday marked 75.00 (half off day 37.50)

View attachment 2329267

View attachment 2329269
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That, actually, is the model my family had. I remember "The Fisher" badge, but nothing like a "30" or any model number. Seems otherwise identical to the pics of the 30 posted above.

sad to see it like that.

Thanks though,
YoG
 
Oh man. I found this thread after my posting of my Clariton compact "all in one" find to a new post :IMG_3564.jpg IMG_3578.jpg IMG_3554.jpg IMG_3561.jpg IMG_3559.jpg . I don't know who made it for Claricon since I doubt they had facilities in Japan. I am guessing Hitachi, Nikko, Foster or Kenwood. Pretty decent build quality and tone. Anyone see anything indicative of the manufacturer??? FYI it has a magnetic phono preamp and had an original (dried out) Pickering V-15 cartridge on the SL 55 TT and date codes of late 1969.
 
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..... I don't know who made it for Claricon since I doubt they had facilities in Japan. I am guessing Hitachi, Nikko, Foster or Kenwood. Pretty decent build quality and tone. Anyone see anything indicative of the manufacturer??? FYI it has a magnetic phono preamp and had an original (dried out) Pickering V-15 cartridge on the SL 55 TT and date codes of late 1969.[/QUOTE]
Based on nothing, I think Rotel made this for Claricon AMD
 
Some of this equipment was amazingly expensive back then, too bad none of it trickled over to the US, although B&O did have a little foothold. I think the USA Market wanted the large stuff, just like cars, everything had to be bigger.

Neat Weltron 63pontiacgp, check out this thread over on Stereo2go.com this guy has a few of those amazing units and tons of other 8-track players and boomboxes. He also has some photos of the coolest all-in-one ever made, the Braun Audio 310, which goes for silly money now.
https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/690/
 
I've never had one an all-in-one system and have no real desire to own one. But, dammit, this Yorx for sale close to me actually looks kind of cool. So many knobs and switches and buttons to play with. I might consider it if they would throw in the Pioneer turntable underneath.

240999009_4515786891806273_6574832479753426465_n.jpg


241162697_3643203635782783_8803179638104472079_n.jpg
 
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