The Victrola Empire 6 in 1 comes quite close to this. It's rather impressive sans the tape deck. the built in speakers aren't bad but not as good as this unit .
The cassette recording sounds surprisingly decent. And this shows us again how much more we could get out of those cheap tanashin style cassette mechanisms.
Dc bias = dc bias=Not suitable for recording music. My cassettedeck, a Yamaha KX580 Special Edition with Dolby S has AC bias with a higher frequency of 160khz. Sony also has this on some top models and calls it super bias, but it is exactly the same. Thanks to this system you have no noise at all with both Dolby C or Dolby S, not even between tracks. This 160khz high frequency AC bias system is the opposite of DC bias, the other extreme 😎
I serviced one for my niece. I cleaned the tape mechanism, and put a new stylus and I set the speed. The CD drive was irreparable but I was able to find the CD audio signals, So I installed a Cheap Car Bluetooth adapter inside connected to the Power with a 7805 5V regulator and now the CD audio is a BT receptor. My niece only wanted for LPs player and now is decent BT speaker.
If there's any manufacturers out there looking at producing quality products aimed at us old uns reminiscing about the past, this is what we old folks want; 430 to 440 mm width separates available in black or silver, huge speakers, CD, tuner, graphic equaliser, direct drive turntable (linear tracking etc.), loads of flashing lights, VUs, cassette with all the Dolbys, and metal/chrome with full logic buttons for our arthritic fingers, oh and loads of knobs. Also, it must sound what I believe the youngsters call 'bangin'.
Totally agree. As an old gent , that is practically what I've got. All vintage separate components and massive 57 year old speakers. It's ''bangin'' and so much more.
The biggest issue with a new (or old) manufacturer making a new quality all-in-one stereo system or even just a new cassette deck or boombox is that there is no company making quality cassette deck mechanisms these days. Even if you wanted to design your own, getting it manufactured would by expensive. Yes, you could make a decent all-in-one/shelf stereo or boombox these days with just record player, radio, and CD player or Radio/CD only boombox but who really wants that. Retro audio enthusiasts want a good record player and tape deck first and foremost in their retro all-in-ones and a good tape deck (or two) in their retro boombox. Maybe if some company designed and produced a good quality tape deck mechanism and sold it to other brands to produce higher end retro all-in-one’s and boombox’s the R&D costs could be spread out among all the brands. So long as their is enough demand for such a product to that one needn’t charge luxury prices for such a device in order to break even. Maybe a kickstarter campaign might be the way to go.
I'm not a tech guy -- new or old -- but I enjoy this channel so much. I'm 62, Cuban kid growing up in Miami 60s-70s (I'm in western New York now) and loved all my 1970s/80s transistor radios, turn tables, all-in-one systems, etc (a lot of Panasonic). Thank you for the information, nostalgia, and laid-back "reviews."
My mom had this exact stereo system growing up. I used to use it sometimes, in fact it was my only option for playing records when I first got into the hobby.
You know, as life goes on and my business progresses, I just wish I had more free time to mess around with these old systems and chill to some music playing through them. I feel my interest fading, and it saddens me. Thank you for your videos, they give me a slice of what I desire.
Great subs on this one. Sometimes in the past you've just burned-in the automatic ones, but these are fantastically done! Especially around the quotes, when reading labels or playing example media. Thank you.
I used to work at a music based radio station that still broadcasted on AM, as well as their main FM frequency. Anytime someone insulted the sound quality of AM, my boss would always go get one of his classic D-cell + AC outlet type portable radios, and demonstrate how it had a switch so you could choose between narrow and wide band AM. Swapping to wide band AM, the music sounded just as good as the FM frequency. Of course we were quite close to the transmitter, and the speaker on the radio wasn't the best quality, but, it did demonstrate that the way your radio interprets AM makes a difference.
We bought a TEAC LP-R550USB per your videos recommendation & are very pleased with it. The only issue I have with it so far is that sometimes the auto return for the record arm malfunctions & will instead return to park when attempting to lower the needle head to the record. Not all the time, something to do with clocking/timing the end of record play switch mechanism jumping cadence & is out of time sometimes✌👍
An all in one system that’s made with cheaper components, yet it still works well? Now that’s something you just don’t see nowadays, I wasn’t expecting it to be that good! Obviously it’s nothing high end, but it’s still a decent HiFi. Great video!
I am surprised at just how good this system sounded. Thank you showing us that you can still buy something today that isn’t super expensive and works well.
It does sound very good. Thank you for sharing this one. It looks like the boards are well made, too. The tuning capacitor is an added plus. The whole thing is very impressive. Thank you for sharing.
I have a similar-styled Teac from 2003 that's a radio/record player combination, and it contains a Matsushita record changer, with an AC motor, from 1982. It's a few steps above the average Crosley or Victrola, but it's obvious that they bought a load of leftover changers for these models. I'll do a video on it one day.
Yet still pronounce the letter z as zed. Case in point being a radio station identifier in this guy's own videos doing just that (heard the same one on my own radio way on the other side the Great Lakes, late at night during the winter for great reception all the way out to Montreal and Philadelphia)
A good honest product that after your restoration did what it should - play music to a decent standard that you can listen to in less critical situations. Thanks for the video.
This is indeed a surprisingly good stereo system! I was not expecting much seeing that the decorative covers in front of the speakers are plastic, but of course that does not matter as the speakers are mounted in their own little boxes. The cassette recording sounds surprisingly good, usually the permanent magnet erase heads cause a lot of background noise.
Another hidden cheap gem unearthed! Shocking how good this one sounds. It also LOOKS much better than the Crosley and Victrola all-in-ones. A lot of people turn up their noses at any 'nostalgia music center' and I used to be one, but Teac has if anything proven us wrong. They're certainly consistent how much thought and consideration they put into designing these things. Only Denon/Columbia made cheap all-in-ones similar in quality and good looks, and even those were only available in the Japanese market. 15:28 "I think the knockoffs were actually better 20 years ago than today." I'd say this cartridge rivals and even betters most (if not all) of the genuine CZ-800s I've heard and used, INCLUDING on an LP-R550USB I've enjoyed in person. This humble Chinese ceramic cartridge has a better, crisper top end you don't get with the Japanese cartridges, oddly enough. Guess it comes down to how the piezoelectric elements were made. Back off the tracking force a few grams and you might get fantastic results with the Cerapreme Blue elliptical stylus. That's a strange variant of the BSR knockoff mechanism, no auto-stop. Even Hanpin's BSR knockoffs (of which this is an almost exact copy) would have at least some kind of mechanical auto-stop, and Crosley & Thomas Pacconi were both using genuine Hanpin mechanisms at the time. Then again, maybe it's a case of Teac cutting costs in one area to allow the rest of the system to be better. Starting with the GF-350, Teac also switched to genuine Hanpin turntables. These are clearly labelled "HP-H10" on the underside.
Someday... and you read it here, first..... there will be "Nostalgia 1970s " stereo equipment and other products as that decade was "the happiest" for those of us now in our late 50s and older. I don't find or equate 1920s or 1930s styles as being "quality". But the 1970s had some really great stereo equipment primarily due to the intense competition and innovation from Japanese, American and European firms. Quality was Job #1, unlike nowadays where only the cheapest of the cheap and what they can get away with is what sells.
Actually such "Nostalgia 1970s" stereo equipment already exists, for example the "Oxford" or "Birmingham" systems made by Auna. Depending on the colour combination you choose, those do look surprisingly real - at least from a distance.
You are one of my "favourite" YT channels. Funnily enough I heard that "Wicked" cockup on the US version of Have I Got News For You on the BBC last night. Greetings from Airstrip One.
11:15 - Wow, that really DOES sound good. 16:26 - "FULL-BRIDGE RECTIFIER!" 18:52 - 🎵 "Oooh, Jackie Blue... Lives her life from inside of her room..." 🎶 The "modifications" you made were definitely improvements! The dial light fits the aesthetic, and that "trim ring" on the platter is a nice touch. It's a rather attractive set to begin with, and while I wouldn't ever personally consider it a "stereo," I wouldn't be embarrassed to have it as a tabletop radio in a smaller room either. Call Bob Barker on the ouija board, because the price was DEFINITELY right for this Teac!
@@JustPeasant I forgot all about that, they certainly did! They were also one of a tiny handful of companies making 50-pin SCSI CD burners and about the only one that ever worked without buffer overflow issues in the early days
Looks very much like a basic mini/midi system with an added turntable (which would explain why the input buttons are off-centre, as they added the "phono" button), and "vintage" labels, speaker grills and cabinet. Nice to see the cassette works so well.
I got one of those units for free and had to replace the belts too and ended up giving it to a friend . I own and sold and repaired a lot Teac gear and they really did make some nice stuff .
Teac of the 80s into the 90s usually made pretty good gear. Unfortunately in the 2000s their name ended up getting put onto cheaper and cheaper gear which IMO tarnished their reputation a fair amount. It's nice to see this unit was solidly made and even at 22 years old was still working great aside from the belts on the cassette deck!
my first receiver was a TEAC that I got from Price Club (pre Costco buyout) as a christmas present. that was an amazing piece of equipment with great specs for it's price, and it served me very well for about 10 years until i passed it on to a friend and bought a Sony ES model I had been wanting. TEAC is a fantastic company in terms of their ethos; all about high quality and value. also some high end stuff as well, but never as outrageous as regular audiophile stuff
They'd call you a witch and burn you at the stake. jk I sometimes wonder about time travel and showing modern wonders to people, even something as mundane as a cordless drill would be magic, let alone a cell phone. Hell, even going back 50 years and those things would blow their minds.
We got my mom one back in 2000, off QVC if not mistaken. Philco was the moniker on it, very nicely built including the wood stand it came with. I almost wanna say it was the product that launched this whole craze. Internals were no better than any of the other CD/LP/Tape combo units. The tape mech failed back in 2016 I believe, we bought her a brand new unit instead of fixing. Shes happy with it but the new ones build quality is downright pitiful compared to the ole philco.
I found an almost identical system, the Japan-only Columbia GP-18. It was also sold in a much larger cabinet as the GP-60. The GP-18 is literally the same as the GF-300/330 in both function AND looks except the turntable, which is 2-speed (33/45), has _auto-return_ & lacks the rubber platter bumps-and the Columbia cabinet LACKS the speaker ports at the rear. Plus, it sports a classy "Columbia Viva-tonal Grafonola" label paying homage to the early electric-recording era. It would appear Teac not only adapted a design already made for the Japanese market, but IMPROVED it for North American consumers!
Al Jolson sounds FANTASTIC on this. Teac has remained a decent 👌 machine throughout the years. Just don't get a copyright tag. Happy Thanksgiving (Gobble Gobble)!! Your friend, Jeff!!
What was significant is on the rear fiberboard cover there is a label stating made in Japan. For something made in 2003 that is a rare occurrence with today's cheap all in one hi fi systems. Full auto stop on the cassette deck and ported speakers for improved bass response. I would not be surprised if there are more than x2 speakers in the console unit.
Speaking of brand names...The Aiwa name is now used for portable heaters and other home devices, no audio equipment that I can find. It was purchased by a company in NJ.
I´ve seen new Aiwa branded portable CD players a few years ago already, but now they´re also abusing the brand name for new cheap crap cassette players. I mean the cd player at least looked fairly decent with lots of features, but the cassette player is just the cheapes trash plastics they could find.
I like TEAC products. I bought a TEAC VCR in the 90s and it lasted a long time with only a head cleaning and a belt replacement. It was cheaper compared to the higher brands like Sony but the quality was up to par in my experience.
god this brings me back, my grandma had one of these specifically for playing back 78's because the main stereo's turntable lacked the speed setting and proper needle for that
Here in Australia, we have a monthly catalogue called Innovations with overpriced junk, aimed mainly at the vulnerable oldies. My grandparents and their siblings used to read this catalogue religiously, and as a kid I would drool over the $300 all in one system with side loading tape deck. As I got older, and with the advent of TH-cam, I realised there were much better options out there 😅
Ive a TEAC Micro Hi-FI system CD.X9 which I have on my desk and its amazing within base unit under my desk and tweeters on my window sill - great sound and great make. Warm regards Richard win the UK
What i like with these "Tanashin" transports is that they are incredible easy to work on. Also nice focus on the cassette deck rather than hidden away somewhere, although i'm not that keen on the console look, but that's me 😀. I assume you got the FFWD running with the new belts?
Amazing machine. Cassette records brilliantly. I've seen some new units coming out there have Bluetooth, dab radio, cassette that records, Bluetooth, SD usb turntable etc here in the UK. Everything all in one!
Sadly HD radio here in the US has been a big failure. I have some analog FM recievers that sound better than the HD radio in a few cars that i've seen, so that could be a reason why.
I have one like this except the front is also made from wood and has gold plastic covering the control centre, it is so heavy i think close to 10KG. I think it has pre-programmed EQs for each format because if you switch between formats the cassette playing can distort like it's too loud and clipping but then if you turn it off while in that cassette mode and then turn it back on and play the cassette it seems to have a different EQ and doesn't clip. I wasn't going to buy one, my plan was to get everything separately (cassette deck, high quality record player) but then i stumbled upon this and it looked so nice so i decided to buy it and hoped it would sound decent. It really does sound decent. Mine won't play CDs but when i bought it i didn't even know it had a CD player, the seller didn't mention it, i already had a CD player so it wasn't an issue but the CD players that have this belt mechanism always fail at least in my experience and it doesn't matter if it's a "cheap" music player or a hi-fi player.
a Vinyl CD Cassette Radio system...what more could you want...we had music centres back in the 70's...vinyl cassette radios...a teen me had a Sony model...CD's were a decade away then...nice upgrading Westlife...
I was getting ready to donate my GF-350 to the local thrift store. This video changed my mind. I think this one's record player has autostop or even auto return. I can't quite remember.
I think that one was called the GF-680. Similar design aesthetic and identical turntable mechanism and speakers, but it was taller unit with legs, designed to be set on the floor. I believe there was also another unit lin the same form factor, but with a single disc.
Still nothing like as well-designed and -built as TEAC was up to the 2010s. This is perhaps the equivalent of Sony's cheapest music systems from the 90s , if that.
This one looks very great my boyfriend found me one for my collection because hes knows I love radios and it's a Teac impressed about the sound and the quality
@Ron2600_ Our family Monkey Wards am fm 8 track receiver we had in the 70s played AM music stations through the 70s, probably wasn't until post 1980 my teen self started playing more FM, maybe around 78-79
Some of the older radios had wide bandwith and thus sound good even on AM. Case in point the GE superradio 3 which has an AM narrow/wide setting, that if used in the wide setting sounds fantastic on strong local music AM stations. (Use on narrow for talk and distant stations)
It's good to come here and see a decent thrift store find after another 4 hours of grinding through the charity donation pile of faulty DVD players, busted remotes, failing cassette decks and mystery black boxes with no buttons or manual.
This is what those Crosley units wish they could do: using cheap components but done right!
The Victrola Empire 6 in 1 comes quite close to this. It's rather impressive sans the tape deck. the built in speakers aren't bad but not as good as this unit .
Absolutely love that you added a incandescent lamp to the radio tuning dial. Awesome video!
Yes, that really looks great !
The Top Dog Law ad is no doubt the best ad ever made, somebody call Guinness!
That's what it was? As I don't listen to modern music I thought it was just some modern rap song.
@@CoolDudeClemMe too at first, then I started paying attention to the, er, lyrics.
Somebody missed their calling.
its also a extremely good audio test song for some reason
Best ad ever!
I'm just in awe of the surprisingly good state of the US AM-radio band. The stereo system is also OK!
It was nighttime, so I was picking up a lot of signals via skywave.
Exactly, here in Italy AM radio has almost completely abandoned by stations. We have plenty of radio stations on FM and digital DAB+.
@@BICIeCOMPUTERconGabriele It seems like a perfect opportunity for pirate stations over there
Because of conservative talk show radio which has been slowly ruining this country for decades?
@@TucsonAnalogWorkshop Do you mean over AM?
The cassette recording sounds surprisingly decent.
And this shows us again how much more we could get out of those cheap tanashin style cassette mechanisms.
Well, all it need is just a good quality head and AC bias generator. With this things, even cheap mechanism can sounds good.
Dc bias = dc bias=Not suitable for recording music.
My cassettedeck, a Yamaha KX580 Special Edition with Dolby S has AC bias with a higher frequency of 160khz. Sony also has this on some top models and calls it super bias, but it is exactly the same. Thanks to this system you have no noise at all with both Dolby C or Dolby S, not even between tracks. This 160khz high frequency AC bias system is the opposite of DC bias, the other extreme 😎
@@Bondo9oYou weren't paying attention, it is AC Bias, thus the beat cut switch. 6:28
@@chrisdeboden1977And once more: You weren't paying attention, it is AC Bias, thus the beat cut switch. 6:28
@@mxslick50 yup, only cheapest crap uses DC bias.
That slow scan thru the dial was extremely satisfying.
I'm lookin' for a man.. with a slow scan... lol
@@MiguelisNoisy The AM sounds were especially good...
And occasionally horrifying
I serviced one for my niece. I cleaned the tape mechanism, and put a new stylus and I set the speed. The CD drive was irreparable but I was able to find the CD audio signals, So I installed a Cheap Car Bluetooth adapter inside connected to the Power with a 7805 5V regulator and now the CD audio is a BT receptor. My niece only wanted for LPs player and now is decent BT speaker.
If there's any manufacturers out there looking at producing quality products aimed at us old uns reminiscing about the past, this is what we old folks want; 430 to 440 mm width separates available in black or silver, huge speakers, CD, tuner, graphic equaliser, direct drive turntable (linear tracking etc.), loads of flashing lights, VUs, cassette with all the Dolbys, and metal/chrome with full logic buttons for our arthritic fingers, oh and loads of knobs. Also, it must sound what I believe the youngsters call 'bangin'.
Totally agree. As an old gent , that is practically what I've got. All vintage separate components and massive 57 year old speakers. It's ''bangin'' and so much more.
The biggest issue with a new (or old) manufacturer making a new quality all-in-one stereo system or even just a new cassette deck or boombox is that there is no company making quality cassette deck mechanisms these days. Even if you wanted to design your own, getting it manufactured would by expensive. Yes, you could make a decent all-in-one/shelf stereo or boombox these days with just record player, radio, and CD player or Radio/CD only boombox but who really wants that. Retro audio enthusiasts want a good record player and tape deck first and foremost in their retro all-in-ones and a good tape deck (or two) in their retro boombox. Maybe if some company designed and produced a good quality tape deck mechanism and sold it to other brands to produce higher end retro all-in-one’s and boombox’s the R&D costs could be spread out among all the brands. So long as their is enough demand for such a product to that one needn’t charge luxury prices for such a device in order to break even. Maybe a kickstarter campaign might be the way to go.
Sounds like one of those boom boxes, not a hi-fi.
I'm not a tech guy -- new or old -- but I enjoy this channel so much. I'm 62, Cuban kid growing up in Miami 60s-70s (I'm in western New York now) and loved all my 1970s/80s transistor radios, turn tables, all-in-one systems, etc (a lot of Panasonic). Thank you for the information, nostalgia, and laid-back "reviews."
My mom had this exact stereo system growing up. I used to use it sometimes, in fact it was my only option for playing records when I first got into the hobby.
I didn't expect to suddenly hear that bass at 10:31
TEAC = Tokyo Electro-Acoustic Company. It ain't bleak !
Geez you can't go wrong for under $18 USD, looks like a nice unit. I liked the addition of the incandescent light bulb for the tuning dial window.
You know, as life goes on and my business progresses, I just wish I had more free time to mess around with these old systems and chill to some music playing through them. I feel my interest fading, and it saddens me.
Thank you for your videos, they give me a slice of what I desire.
Great subs on this one. Sometimes in the past you've just burned-in the automatic ones, but these are fantastically done! Especially around the quotes, when reading labels or playing example media. Thank you.
Thanks for playing that Dale Jacobs & Cobra album - a new funky discovery for me!
I used to work at a music based radio station that still broadcasted on AM, as well as their main FM frequency.
Anytime someone insulted the sound quality of AM, my boss would always go get one of his classic D-cell + AC outlet type portable radios, and demonstrate how it had a switch so you could choose between narrow and wide band AM.
Swapping to wide band AM, the music sounded just as good as the FM frequency.
Of course we were quite close to the transmitter, and the speaker on the radio wasn't the best quality, but, it did demonstrate that the way your radio interprets AM makes a difference.
We bought a TEAC LP-R550USB per your videos recommendation & are very pleased with it. The only issue I have with it so far is that sometimes the auto return for the record arm malfunctions & will instead return to park when attempting to lower the needle head to the record. Not all the time, something to do with clocking/timing the end of record play switch mechanism jumping cadence & is out of time sometimes✌👍
Hearing the AM stations, made me long for living back in South Jersey!
An all in one system that’s made with cheaper components, yet it still works well? Now that’s something you just don’t see nowadays, I wasn’t expecting it to be that good! Obviously it’s nothing high end, but it’s still a decent HiFi. Great video!
Watching you scan through the stations reminds me of the beginning of the movie Duel lol
I remember that movie. I believe it was Dennis Weaver's very first role.
I am surprised at just how good this system sounded. Thank you showing us that you can still buy something today that isn’t super expensive and works well.
It does sound very good. Thank you for sharing this one. It looks like the boards are well made, too. The tuning capacitor is an added plus. The whole thing is very impressive. Thank you for sharing.
I have a similar-styled Teac from 2003 that's a radio/record player combination, and it contains a Matsushita record changer, with an AC motor, from 1982. It's a few steps above the average Crosley or Victrola, but it's obvious that they bought a load of leftover changers for these models. I'll do a video on it one day.
Nice One. Very impressed with the system. And good job with the tweaks / corrections! 😄
That tuner works really well.
At least they spelt “favourite” correctly for the Canadian market!
True. Canada still observes British spelling quirks.
@@ChristopherSobieniak strangely not all of them. We use American spelling for some words like “privatize” instead of the British way “privatise”
Yet still pronounce the letter z as zed. Case in point being a radio station identifier in this guy's own videos doing just that (heard the same one on my own radio way on the other side the Great Lakes, late at night during the winter for great reception all the way out to Montreal and Philadelphia)
The Canadians have no identity
@@ericdunn8718 C H T Zed in Niagara and Hamilton
A good honest product that after your restoration did what it should - play music to a decent standard that you can listen to in less critical situations. Thanks for the video.
This is indeed a surprisingly good stereo system! I was not expecting much seeing that the decorative covers in front of the speakers are plastic, but of course that does not matter as the speakers are mounted in their own little boxes. The cassette recording sounds surprisingly good, usually the permanent magnet erase heads cause a lot of background noise.
Gotta love hearing about the recent Wicked doll website controversy off of a cassette tape!
Yeah can't Mattel tell the difference between a website for the movie and an adult website
Another hidden cheap gem unearthed! Shocking how good this one sounds. It also LOOKS much better than the Crosley and Victrola all-in-ones. A lot of people turn up their noses at any 'nostalgia music center' and I used to be one, but Teac has if anything proven us wrong. They're certainly consistent how much thought and consideration they put into designing these things.
Only Denon/Columbia made cheap all-in-ones similar in quality and good looks, and even those were only available in the Japanese market.
15:28 "I think the knockoffs were actually better 20 years ago than today." I'd say this cartridge rivals and even betters most (if not all) of the genuine CZ-800s I've heard and used, INCLUDING on an LP-R550USB I've enjoyed in person. This humble Chinese ceramic cartridge has a better, crisper top end you don't get with the Japanese cartridges, oddly enough. Guess it comes down to how the piezoelectric elements were made. Back off the tracking force a few grams and you might get fantastic results with the Cerapreme Blue elliptical stylus.
That's a strange variant of the BSR knockoff mechanism, no auto-stop. Even Hanpin's BSR knockoffs (of which this is an almost exact copy) would have at least some kind of mechanical auto-stop, and Crosley & Thomas Pacconi were both using genuine Hanpin mechanisms at the time. Then again, maybe it's a case of Teac cutting costs in one area to allow the rest of the system to be better. Starting with the GF-350, Teac also switched to genuine Hanpin turntables. These are clearly labelled "HP-H10" on the underside.
Someday... and you read it here, first..... there will be "Nostalgia 1970s " stereo equipment and other products as that decade was "the happiest" for those of us now in our late 50s and older. I don't find or equate 1920s or 1930s styles as being "quality". But the 1970s had some really great stereo equipment primarily due to the intense competition and innovation from Japanese, American and European firms. Quality was Job #1, unlike nowadays where only the cheapest of the cheap and what they can get away with is what sells.
Imitation brushed aluminium front plates - now that's a whole new level of cheap looking "retro" gear made possible.
Actually such "Nostalgia 1970s" stereo equipment already exists, for example the "Oxford" or "Birmingham" systems made by Auna. Depending on the colour combination you choose, those do look surprisingly real - at least from a distance.
You are one of my "favourite" YT channels. Funnily enough I heard that "Wicked" cockup on the US version of Have I Got News For You on the BBC last night. Greetings from Airstrip One.
that lonesome and sorry record you played is tom and jerry background music
Tom is happy and carelessly walking in corridor when he encounters the black maid :"Thomas!"
Woah, it really _is._
11:15 - Wow, that really DOES sound good.
16:26 - "FULL-BRIDGE RECTIFIER!"
18:52 - 🎵 "Oooh, Jackie Blue... Lives her life from inside of her room..." 🎶
The "modifications" you made were definitely improvements! The dial light fits the aesthetic, and that "trim ring" on the platter is a nice touch. It's a rather attractive set to begin with, and while I wouldn't ever personally consider it a "stereo," I wouldn't be embarrassed to have it as a tabletop radio in a smaller room either.
Call Bob Barker on the ouija board, because the price was DEFINITELY right for this Teac!
I absolutely love your channel I find your videos therapeutic keep up the good work amazing
Sending you the love all the way from UK London
loved the warm light added to the dial 👍👍
15:00 Mario and Wario, Mabuchi and Wabuchi. To each their own.
Nice device for a study or workshop. Great video again, Kevin 👌😀
TEAC. They used to sell a killer CD-ROM and writers. Only behind Plextor.
@@JustPeasant I forgot all about that, they certainly did! They were also one of a tiny handful of companies making 50-pin SCSI CD burners and about the only one that ever worked without buffer overflow issues in the early days
Looks very much like a basic mini/midi system with an added turntable (which would explain why the input buttons are off-centre, as they added the "phono" button), and "vintage" labels, speaker grills and cabinet.
Nice to see the cassette works so well.
I got one of those units for free and had to replace the belts too and ended up giving it to a friend .
I own and sold and repaired a lot Teac gear and they really did make some nice stuff .
I think the sound probably benefits from that big wooden cabinet. Whats not to like for 17 USD. You can always put a plant on it 😁👍🏻❤
So this actually is a decent piece of equipment, it is possible to build something good with simple parts after all. Love this video.
Teac of the 80s into the 90s usually made pretty good gear. Unfortunately in the 2000s their name ended up getting put onto cheaper and cheaper gear which IMO tarnished their reputation a fair amount. It's nice to see this unit was solidly made and even at 22 years old was still working great aside from the belts on the cassette deck!
my first receiver was a TEAC that I got from Price Club (pre Costco buyout) as a christmas present. that was an amazing piece of equipment with great specs for it's price, and it served me very well for about 10 years until i passed it on to a friend and bought a Sony ES model I had been wanting. TEAC is a fantastic company in terms of their ethos; all about high quality and value. also some high end stuff as well, but never as outrageous as regular audiophile stuff
7:21 i love those top dog commercial, my wife thought it was a song when i started saying it in the car the other day. lol
Another great VWestlife production! That looks like a nice little system.
How fortunate it is to have a fancy gold trim ring handy, see folks never throw anything away !
Nice! Well done analysis as always! 📻
Well. That beats the heck out of so many, many fine combi stereo systems of the couple recent decades.
I love this thing! Including the plastic-ness, which really reminds me of the cheap stereo system I had when I was a kid.
Pretty nice all around.
i need one of these for my al jolson records! seriously, i think it's amazing how good the 78s sound on it. 😀
Impressive. Tripple combo (Cd+Cassette+Vinyls player) table top music player. Thanks for showing it..
Imagine bringing this stereo system back in 1934 and show it to some random audiophiles from that era. I wonder how would they react to it.
They'd call you a witch and burn you at the stake. jk
I sometimes wonder about time travel and showing modern wonders to people, even something as mundane as a cordless drill would be magic, let alone a cell phone. Hell, even going back 50 years and those things would blow their minds.
*taking
The only contemporary media this would play in 1934 is AM radio. So better bring along your CD collection of classical and jazz music.
@@andreasu.3546 Just play the Top Dog ad and change their taste of music xD "I guess you're not ready yet but your kids will love it"
@@macdaniel6029 Time travelers love that line.
We got my mom one back in 2000, off QVC if not mistaken. Philco was the moniker on it, very nicely built including the wood stand it came with. I almost wanna say it was the product that launched this whole craze. Internals were no better than any of the other CD/LP/Tape combo units. The tape mech failed back in 2016 I believe, we bought her a brand new unit instead of fixing. Shes happy with it but the new ones build quality is downright pitiful compared to the ole philco.
Many thanks VWestlife✌️🤘
I found an almost identical system, the Japan-only Columbia GP-18. It was also sold in a much larger cabinet as the GP-60.
The GP-18 is literally the same as the GF-300/330 in both function AND looks except the turntable, which is 2-speed (33/45), has _auto-return_ & lacks the rubber platter bumps-and the Columbia cabinet LACKS the speaker ports at the rear. Plus, it sports a classy "Columbia Viva-tonal Grafonola" label paying homage to the early electric-recording era.
It would appear Teac not only adapted a design already made for the Japanese market, but IMPROVED it for North American consumers!
the late 90s and early 2000's were really a great time for this type of electronics.
Al Jolson sounds FANTASTIC on this. Teac has remained a decent 👌 machine throughout the years. Just don't get a copyright tag. Happy Thanksgiving (Gobble Gobble)!! Your friend, Jeff!!
What was significant is on the rear fiberboard cover there is a label stating made in Japan. For something made in 2003 that is a rare occurrence with today's cheap all in one hi fi systems. Full auto stop on the cassette deck and ported speakers for improved bass response. I would not be surprised if there are more than x2 speakers in the console unit.
If you look closer, it actually says made in China on the right hand side!
I had exact same one a few years back. I now have the newer model Teac with CD player, recorder and cassette on top by the turntable.
I think that the Brit spelling of "favourite" was to give it an old-timey feel.
Why? We talk like that all the time it's the correct spelling, we Brits gave you the English language you're welcome
@@SharreIWrightffs 🤦🏻♂️
I have a Tascam CD recorder (mentioned it because it's TEAC's pro division).....
Speaking of brand names...The Aiwa name is now used for portable heaters and other home devices, no audio equipment that I can find. It was purchased by a company in NJ.
I´ve seen new Aiwa branded portable CD players a few years ago already, but now they´re also abusing the brand name for new cheap crap cassette players.
I mean the cd player at least looked fairly decent with lots of features, but the cassette player is just the cheapes trash plastics they could find.
wow i remember having some of their cassette players in the 90s
A shame as it was a well-respected brand for portable stereos and hi-fi seperates.
@@ILIVEPLAYSTATION damn, that makes me sad. My Nan had a Aiwa branded radio cassette player, the name 'Aiwa' reminds me of the good old times
Find in internet history of Aiwa. There is new Aiwa now. In Europe you can buy also recivers ( amplituners ) but opinions are diferrent.
I like TEAC products. I bought a TEAC VCR in the 90s and it lasted a long time with only a head cleaning and a belt replacement. It was cheaper compared to the higher brands like Sony but the quality was up to par in my experience.
god this brings me back, my grandma had one of these specifically for playing back 78's because the main stereo's turntable lacked the speed setting and proper needle for that
I got me one and it sounds great thanks for this video
Another outstanding video. Thank you.
Here in Australia, we have a monthly catalogue called Innovations with overpriced junk, aimed mainly at the vulnerable oldies. My grandparents and their siblings used to read this catalogue religiously, and as a kid I would drool over the $300 all in one system with side loading tape deck. As I got older, and with the advent of TH-cam, I realised there were much better options out there 😅
Ive a TEAC Micro Hi-FI system CD.X9 which I have on my desk and its amazing within base unit under my desk and tweeters on my window sill - great sound and great make.
Warm regards
Richard win the UK
👍 You should do one of those TH-cam short videos on how you wired up the backlight on the dial.
The kind of thing you wouldn't feel at all bad about giving Meemaw for Christmas or her birthday. Randy Travis CD's would sound just fine :)
“And you can still play your cassettes” spot on
Meemaw meemaw weemaw!
Be good to your Meemaw's and Nana's!
What i like with these "Tanashin" transports is that they are incredible easy to work on. Also nice focus on the cassette deck rather than hidden away somewhere, although i'm not that keen on the console look, but that's me 😀. I assume you got the FFWD running with the new belts?
That's a really nice looking system.
Amazing machine. Cassette records brilliantly. I've seen some new units coming out there have Bluetooth, dab radio, cassette that records, Bluetooth, SD usb turntable etc here in the UK. Everything all in one!
Sadly HD radio here in the US has been a big failure. I have some analog FM recievers that sound better than the HD radio in a few cars that i've seen, so that could be a reason why.
@Warp2090 definitely I agree. The sound FM is fantastic. The dugital radio we have here the bit rate is so low, it is like a really bad MP3 file
@@matthewrichards88 Yeah it's very similar to that here in the US aswell.
I have one like this except the front is also made from wood and has gold plastic covering the control centre, it is so heavy i think close to 10KG. I think it has pre-programmed EQs for each format because if you switch between formats the cassette playing can distort like it's too loud and clipping but then if you turn it off while in that cassette mode and then turn it back on and play the cassette it seems to have a different EQ and doesn't clip. I wasn't going to buy one, my plan was to get everything separately (cassette deck, high quality record player) but then i stumbled upon this and it looked so nice so i decided to buy it and hoped it would sound decent. It really does sound decent. Mine won't play CDs but when i bought it i didn't even know it had a CD player, the seller didn't mention it, i already had a CD player so it wasn't an issue but the CD players that have this belt mechanism always fail at least in my experience and it doesn't matter if it's a "cheap" music player or a hi-fi player.
Nuce TEAC are well respected unlike brands like Crossley.
Another vwestlife upload lessgo, hopefully this one has more dot matrix printed out product manuals
You got another great bargain there. 👍
I love the turntable. Much better than Crosley and Victrola record players built today.
a Vinyl CD Cassette Radio system...what more could you want...we had music centres back in the 70's...vinyl cassette radios...a teen me had a Sony model...CD's were a decade away then...nice upgrading Westlife...
I was getting ready to donate my GF-350 to the local thrift store. This video changed my mind. I think this one's record player has autostop or even auto return. I can't quite remember.
I remember seeing a higher end teac in same style with a three disk changer.
I think that one was called the GF-680. Similar design aesthetic and identical turntable mechanism and speakers, but it was taller unit with legs, designed to be set on the floor. I believe there was also another unit lin the same form factor, but with a single disc.
They sold them at Costco during the holidays
Hope I can find that Dale Jacobs album now. Sounds pretty funky.
Good to know the belts are an easy fix.
Still nothing like as well-designed and -built as TEAC was up to the 2010s. This is perhaps the equivalent of Sony's cheapest music systems from the 90s , if that.
K7 is one of my favorite abbreviations ever. I found out about it from the bicycle context, from the late great Sheldon Brown, and it's stuck with me.
This one looks very great my boyfriend found me one for my collection because hes knows I love radios and it's a Teac impressed about the sound and the quality
I love your channel! :)
I grew up in 3 in 1 times
B&W TV with Radio and Turntable, in a huge cabinet
Good find for 18 bucks.
Hate to break it to you but while Teac made some very good products they also made cheap garbage especially from the mid 89's on
This is not cheap garbage.
Crazy they still play music on AM stations, given the narrow frequency response of am
I live close to AM 1220 WATX, and that's mostly what they play. And they are one of the few AM stereo stations that still exist.
@Ron2600_ Our family Monkey Wards am fm 8 track receiver we had in the 70s played AM music stations through the 70s, probably wasn't until post 1980 my teen self started playing more FM, maybe around 78-79
The audio bandwidth on AM stations in North America is 10 kHz, over double what it is in Europe.
Some of the older radios had wide bandwith and thus sound good even on AM. Case in point the GE superradio 3 which has an AM narrow/wide setting, that if used in the wide setting sounds fantastic on strong local music AM stations. (Use on narrow for talk and distant stations)
It's good to come here and see a decent thrift store find after another 4 hours of grinding through the charity donation pile of faulty DVD players, busted remotes, failing cassette decks and mystery black boxes with no buttons or manual.
Great video!
Very cool, well done!
you turned $17 into $200! great video!
"Cheap 'n' cheerful" as Bill would probably say!
That looks like a decent system