Master and the Clones (1987)

This was not the first time in the history of High-Fidelity when a component was rebadged under several other brand names. This pre-amplifier / power amplifier combo from 1989 is perhaps the one that saw the most versions, most notably in Germany. The original was made by LOTTE of Korea and you can see below the "clones". Most of them had the same lettering and some even kept the model number as well. There were two versions made, one was 200 W/ch while the other one was 150 W/ch.

LOTTE LA-1200 (150 W/ch) and the clones

LOTTE LA-1200

LIFE LA-1200

LENCO AF 3302

PALLADIUM LA-1200

PHILIPS PA-1200B

UHER Reference 1

LOTTE LA-2500 (200 W/ch) and the clones

LOTTE LA-2500

LENCO set

UHER Royal UMA-400

HANTOR LA-1500M

TENSAI PTM 3000

3 HEAD cassette deck rarities

In this article we take a closer look to some of the rarest 3 head cassette recorders. They were either market specific models or were only made in low numbers so they hardly ever show up for sale on the second hand market.

First in this line-up is the OPTONICA RT-9100H. Optonica was a brand name used by SHARP for their high-end audio gear. This model is not necessarily rare but is definitely one of the less known 3 head recorders....with 4 head. Yes it is a genuine 3 head recorder with monitor function however there was a 4th head that recorded signals to the tape for a sophisticated music search system. It was available as OPTONICA RT-9 in Japan, OPTONICA RT-9100 the rest of the world, while the black version was OPTONICA RT-6905 that came with an additional programable timer unit.

OPTONICA RT-9100H

OPTONICA RT-6905

OPTONICA RT-9

The next model is from Austria and it was made by eumig (Elektrizitats Und Metallwaren Industrie Gesellschaft mbH. in Wien). Before eumig became known with their version of a rebadged Alpine, the eumig FL-900 or the famous eumig FL-1000 they made this 3 head model called the eumig Metropolitan CCD. Released in 1977 this cassette deck uses heads from WOELKE (Germany) mounted on a full die-cast chasis. Instead of the usual rec/playback sandwich head this model uses an independent playback head while the recording head is sandwitched together with the erase head and there is azimuth control for the recording head.

eumig METROPOLITAN CCD

Moving to the next model there's a 3 head cassette deck from a turntable specialist. This is the Lenco C 2003 Direct Drive dual capstan 3 independent head cassette deck from Switzerland. (699 USD 1977)

Lenco C 2003

Talking about turntable specialist, here's the one and only Thorens PC-650 3 head cassette recorder from 1979.

Thorens PC 650

Part of the slimline 777 system from SIEMENS this is the SIEMENS RC 777, a 3 head cassette deck with Sendust heads. This deck could be sourced from SANYO as the smaller SIEMENS 666 system uses rebadged SANYO units. 

SIEMENS RC 777

Another 3 head cassette deck is the ITT HiFi 8025 from 1979 (more detail here)

ITT HiFi 8025

Last but not least here's a 3 head cassette deck from the former communist block. This is the UNITRA MDS 625 from Poland, a deck with dual capstan mechanism, 3 ferrite heads and dual speed (4,75 and 9,5 cm/s)

UNITRA MDS 625

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SAMSUNG High End Audio...1996

Did you know that the world leader in electronic industry Samsung began their operations by producing noodles first? Then how about some High End audio products made in 1996?

Samsung made two sets of High End audio components in 1996. Each set included a preamplifier, power amplifier and loudspeakers. The Samsung C-01 preamplifier and the 300W/ch Samsung M-30S power amplifier were the bigger set and they were partnered by the Samsung SP-01 loudspeaker. There is no official reference but it seems that the amplifiers were designed by Mark Levinson and built by Samsung in Korea. They were intended to be sold as SAMSUNG products worldwide while on their domestic market they were branded as Emperor. There were two versions of the Samsung SP-01 loudspeaker. One model had the tweeter on the top and two midrange cones below, while the other one (final version ?) had the tweeter between two dome midranges. Unlike the electronics the loudspeakers were built in the U.S.A. by HALES (a now defunct loudspeaker manufacturer). 

The second, smaller system, consisted of the Samsung C-03 preamplifier, Samsung M-15S power amplifier and the Samsung SP-03 loudspeaker. 

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