Firstline

FIRSTLINE SPORT STEREO CASSETTE PLAYER

When I first laid eyes on this in a record store, for a second I thought it was a

Sony Sports Walkman. Well it wasn't but it was a Chinese made imitation. It worked fine, it sounded alright too. It cost me €7 and it was a bargain. 

  The 'washing machine' styling is cool!

  The detachable belt clip.

   The controls, Play, FF and Stop. No Rewind!

  The AC in and headphone socket have plugs.

  Opened up you see the rubber lining on the door and the clasp!

  Battery compartment.

  The view through the window.

  The unit plays with the door open so you can watch in

wonder as your favorite tape rolls by!

BUSH

The British innovator from the days of 'the wireless' made tapes too! 

SF 90 (Type I)

Generic cassette with old brand name on it.

We all know the SF was TDKs super fidelity but this SF from Bush

is just a run of the mill budget Type I

Sony Walkman Cassette

It's a Sony Walkman Cassette!

This is a pure novelty if there was ever one. A cassette designed for the Walkman user,

with Quick Access leader tape being 3 seconds, funky J Card, and great graphics.

With super-cool graphics on a screwless shell mould Sony used for a lot

of their tapes back then it was certainly striking to look at.

It even had it's own custom labels in pale green!

The J Card is arty and totally unique!

Well it looks fantastic, but how does it sound? Bloody good, really bloody good.

I recorded Mike Oldfield's Platinum CD to this and it blew me away in the D6C.

This begs the question, what were they loaded with? HF, HF-S or HF-ES?

All boxed up and ready to go!

The super sexy Type II offered 100 minutes!

Sony D6C

SONY WALKMAN PRO D6C

The top of the tree cassette-corder!

The D6C, launched in 1984 was an upgrade of the D6, and it boasted Dolby C, Amorphous Head and some other tweaks such as line in, line out and 20db mic boost. I was given this by a friend that no longer needed it. It came with the faux leather cover case, original power supply, which is good as the battery case is missing and I must try and find one online. So, when I first saw these in Hi-Fi shops back in the 80s they carried a hefty price tag, I really loved the playback only model as it was smaller, but now I realise and appreciate the fact that this records even tough it is pretty bulky compared to a MiniDisc recorder, making it far more useful by any means, but you do need a plug in stereo microphone. I couldn't wait to hear this beast, so I plugged it in and plugged a good set of headphones into it. I popped in Carpenters Gold recorded from CD onto a Pioneer CT-S810 three head machine onto an early 80s TDK AD90. Wow! The sound was amazing. The clarity, punch and depth was astounding. Separation fantastic, bass, tight, warm but never muddy. The soundstage was precise with crisp treble but very little hiss or fizz. My first thoughts were, how could a machine with zero EQ controls sound so good? That's the D6C, a high precision machine made by possible by Sony's relentless pursuit for excellence!