25 April 2020

JVC SD1 Series / Victor HMV (1996) - His Masters Voice

mini hifi


This must be the most sophisticated compact system ever. The Super DIGIFINE SD1 Series was introduced in Europe in 1996. All the components feature a 3.5 mm one piece aluminium front-top panel and a 3.2 mm thick steel bottom plate. The components of this system are:
AX-SD1GD - Stereo Super-A amplifier, 70 W/ch (4 ohm 1 kHz DIN), dual transformer contruction, Compu Link System remote
XL-SD1GD - 1-Bit P.E.M. D-A converter CD player, optical and coaxial output. Dedicated remote
FX-SD1GD - RDS tuner with 40 presets, built in MPX filter
TD-SD1GD - 3 Head (Fine Amorphous) Direct Drive Closed Loop Dual Capstan cassette deck with Dolby B,C and HX Pro, Dedicated remote
SX-SD1WD - Compact 2 way bass reflex loudspeaker, Brass die-cast front panel and solid wood enclosure, Magnetically shielded 13.5 cm bass-mid with Alnico-Magnet designed by loudspeaker expert Dr. Kurt Müller, 2 cm soft dome tweeter, 55-30,000 Hz
All components are 360 mm wide and 129 mm high with depth between 317 and 337 mm. 

The same system was sold in Japan under the Victor brand name and the system was simply called HMV (His Masters Voice). The model names were also different: AX-V1 amplifier, XL-V1-N cd player, TD-V1-N cassette deck and SX-V1A-M compact loudspeaker. Additionally there was available the SX-V7-M floorstander loudspeaker, QL-V1-M Quartz Direct Drive turntable and a later introduced and very rare MD-recorder the XM-V1-N.

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

18 April 2020

UHER HiFi-miniset (1978) - Small Technical Wonder

mini hifi

To celebrate their 25th anniversary UHER introduced the HiFi-miniset in 1978. Most of the times the promotional materials only showed the CR 240 cassette deck, EG 740 digital tuner and the VG 840 pre-amplifier. As you can see this system cannot be used as a home Hi-Fi system without the additional power amplifier, the Z 140. In addition of delivering 65 W/ch (Sinus DIN 4 ohm) power for the loudspeakers (such as the UHER W140 2-way loudspeaker) the Z140 also acted as power supply for the EG 740, VG 840 and CR 240. In case you decided to use active loudspeakers for the HiFi-miniset (CR240, EG740, VG840) you needed the Z141 external power supply. The extremely compact CR 240 cassette deck measuring only 23.5x5.9x18.5 cm could be also used as a battery powered (6 batteries, the Z215 or Z 217 rechargeable battery) portable recorder. The CR 240 can be mains powered too with the help of the Z 131 power source that slides into the battery compartiment. For home use the UHER Z105 MINI INFORM dedicated rack was sold as an accesory.   


mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

mini hifi

11 April 2020

ITT HC-9071 (1979) - Remote Controlled Hi-Fi

music center

The ITT HIFI-Center HC9071 was introduced in 1979 and it was one of the most complex units of this kind on the market. It features a 48 W/ch (Sinus DIN 4 ohm) amplifier, LW, MW and FM Stereo radio section with 11 FM presets, a 3-Motor logic controlled cassette deck with manual level control and Dolby noise reduction and a DUAL 491 A-RC Direct Drive turntable. The highlight of the system is the full control infrared remote called HIFI PROCESSOR. The remote control is situated on the right hand side of the music center in a dedicated place. By gently pressing the top of the remote this will be lifted for easy removal.  Below the remote there are preset controls for volume, balance, bass and treble. When operating the unit, volume, balance, bass and treble are electronically controlled via the infrared remote control. The front panel is dominated by a series of large (visible from distance) fluorescent status displays for volume, balance, bass and treble. The tuner section has also fluorescent displays for frequency and preset. In addition to the full remote controlled cassette section the turntable also has remote controlled start, stop and arm lift functions. This music center can be found under two more ITT owned brands, the GRAETZ HMC 400 and the slightly more rare INGELEN HMC 400 (see the one from the 1001 Hi-Fi Collection here) Size of the unit is 744 x 190 x 380 mm / 20,3 kg.


music center

music center

music center

music center

music center

music center

music center

03 April 2020

GRUNDIG XPC 6500 TP (1979) - HiFi Studio, Electronic Total

music center

Music centers were very popular in Europe with most european manfacturers offering a wide range of all-in-one music centers throughout the 70's. One of the most sophisticated, if not the most sophisticated, was the GRUNDIG XPC 6500 TP introduced in 1979. While most music centers were all in one units, this Grundig had a slightly different approach. Instead of a built-in amplifier section this model only had a pre-amplifier section that could be partnered with a wide variety of Active loudspeakers from Grundig. The pre-amplifier section is a Class-A construction with 1 Volt output (for the active loudspeakers) and all electronic control with LED status display for tone control, balance, volume control and source selector. The radio section can receive FM Stereo, AM and LW radio programs, it has automatic and manual electronic tuning, again with LED and LCD status displays and 10 presets. 

The cassette section is Grundig's own design (the CB 230 A TP module) with one motor, Long-Life recording/playback head and mechanical control. The cassette recorder can handle Normal, Chrome and Ferrochrome tapes (30 Hz to 16 kHz all tapes) and it features Dolby noise reduction circuit. The turntable section is a DUAL 491 ARC (see here) Direct Drive model with Shure DM 95 G cartridge. All the electronically controlled functions can be remote operated with the TP 6500 ultrsound remote control. With the same remote the turntable start/stop and arm lift can be controlled while for the cassette section only the pause function was remote controlled. Dimensions are 690 x 200 x 430 mm


music center

music center

music center

music center

music center