/r/vintageportableaudio

Photograph via snooOG

A subreddit for vintage portable audio with a focus on the best, most interesting and most beautiful portable cassette players, boomboxes, CD players and Headphones. Or show us your best crystal radio flex. I duno, what ya got?

Posts about other vintage portables, portable reel-to-reel, recommendation advice, repair suggestions, experiments, projects and other related things are welcome!

A subreddit for vintage portable audio with a focus on:

  • Portable cassette players

  • Boomboxes

  • Portable CD Players

  • Portable focused headphones (can be well paired modern ones)

  • Hi-fi is cool but if you have something like a rare tape format, a nifty portable TV or a crackly old transistor radio we want to hear your stories! Please share a lot and often, we aim to be an open, flexible and inclusive community for anything related you want to share.

Rules:

  • Images should be accompanied by a comment containing a review, question or a story about the item

  • If if is not your own image please add a comment about where you found it

  • Be amazing to each other, allow yourself to be open to discovering beauty or function you may not have noticed otherwise, and remember that it is far more satisfying to boost people up than tear them down

Related Subreddits:

Vintage Audio

Cassette Culture

Headphones

Budget Auidophile

Vintage Radios

Audio Repair

Reel To Reel

Tape Swaps

Lo-Fi Hip-Hop

/r/vintageportableaudio

1,021 Subscribers

2

How to use old ipods

Hi I got some old ipods, the square shaped one, not the long, rectangle version. I copy/pasted some mp3s on there via usb cable, but I can't get the music to show up? How do I do it? I only have a PC. Looking for free alternatives to Itunes windows.

1 Comment
2023/08/13
18:47 UTC

2

A Philips Boombox from early 00's

I had a silver/blue Philips boombox with a cassette, cd and radio in the 00's. I want to get one of the same models again but I cannot find the right model. It had a bassboost switch on the top, a blue volume knob and a blue switch for tape/cd/fm. In looks it was quite close to a Philips AZ1575.

8 Comments
2023/06/08
23:29 UTC

2

Ipod classic question ?

I've been looking at getting my girlfriend an 160gb 7th gen ipod classic.

Thing is I don't remember them coming in different colors.

So if it's a colored one does that mean it's been modified already?

Or did apple produce a bunch of different colors later in the run?

0 Comments
2023/06/05
18:08 UTC

0

Looking for an mp3 player

Hi I would like a brand/product recommendation for a simple mp3 player. I know the smartphone has replaced this tech, but I would still like an old fashioned mp3 player (no bluetooth). I want to use wired headphones at the gym. Looking for a good quality sound, good volume, small size. All I could find is Sandisk, but the reviews aren't the best. https://www.amazon.ca/Sandisk-8GB-Clip-Player-Black/dp/B00VXMY262/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

2 Comments
2023/06/03
02:33 UTC

6

Recent find: MSL-400 Stereophonic Cassette Player with equalizer. Looks like it was made in Korea, and rebranded as Saisho PS45EQ in the UK.

2 Comments
2023/01/18
13:40 UTC

3

What's the best way to get decent audio onto cassettes?

Not truly vintage, since I plan on using these in my car. I have an FM transmitter but its utter garbo and relies me to use my phone and honestly I'm more of a physical button than a touchscreen dude.

Anyway, so I'd like to get some of my digital audio onto cassettes. Unfortunately looking into brick and motar stores, they are virtually non-existent now, vinyl shops don't give af about cassettes and online searches results in shitty walkmans and cassette -> MP3 convertors, with very few offering at the very least a 3.5mm input jack, but according to reviews I've looked at they're all utter garbo.

So here I am consulting a random community that I didn't know existed until now.

TL;DR: I want a (not too expensive, but not garbage) method of recording digital audio to cassettes.

3 Comments
2023/01/10
15:28 UTC

8

Upgraded from a Super Midget to a 60th Anniversary Soundburger :)

0 Comments
2022/12/28
22:07 UTC

6

EMI Reel to Reel Recording Equipment. I have recently acquired both parts identical to this reel to reel audio equipment with the wiring. Any ideas if it’s worth much

2 Comments
2022/12/19
16:16 UTC

5

I'm having a CD issue, any help or knowledge is greatly appreciated! There's more information in the image.

2 Comments
2022/11/15
19:49 UTC

3

Here's a slew of pics of this radio to enjoy. I can't find much info about it.

0 Comments
2022/10/04
23:55 UTC

7

Here's a rare find: Triumph 818. I've taken a few pics of this...

0 Comments
2022/10/04
23:51 UTC

4

She's a beauty! Zenith Allegro F586X.

0 Comments
2022/10/04
23:47 UTC

8

Zenith Allegro 586X - Had this baby in 1976, but long lost in time. But 40ish years later - I found this beauty online in a Craigslist post from a small town in Iowa (I was living there then). I think I paid $50. I still have it and it still works great.

1 Comment
2022/10/04
23:46 UTC

6

Sony ICF-2010

0 Comments
2022/10/04
23:39 UTC

6

Hi all - new to the group. I have way too many portable radios - maybe 60? So, I'll try and post a few on here that I have and enjoy. Of course, this one needs no introduction.

1 Comment
2022/10/04
23:37 UTC

2

national panasonic sg-2080l

national panasonic sg-2080l Hi looking for a spare knob for this system please thanks

0 Comments
2022/09/06
23:36 UTC

2

Proton 320

3 Comments
2022/09/06
22:25 UTC

4

The Cortland ct-500 tv is a surprisingly sensitive portable tv.

It was released in 1986 I believe and came with an optional linear power supply.

On uhf a signal with an approximate signal strength of -80 dbm goes colorless but is surprisingly clear. The audio is almost totally quiet.

It isn't until you get a SNR of 15 db on the rsp1a for the video signal (-85 dbm) that the picture get very grainy and the audio is very staticy.

like most 80s tvs it does emit radio energy. A GE superradio of any kind of moderate signal will suffer buzz on am when this radio is in the room. It also seems to conduct rf energy via the wiring on 550 khz when on. As soon as the tv is turned off no rf is given off.

The power supply still gets a little warm as linear power supplies are wont to do.

In the 80s this might have prompted people to turn off the tv when listening to am radio.

2 Comments
2022/04/17
09:20 UTC

5

New Sunday Hi-Fi illustration day, since I became more interested in audio components, headphones got to me and I started to know more about them, so I bring on a piece that was the first stereo pair of cans ever: the Koss SP/3, the brand that until this day makes good quality audio gear!

0 Comments
2022/01/16
19:19 UTC

7

This thing pays 8 rmp. 8! I haven't even found a 16 rpm record yet!

2 Comments
2022/01/13
14:45 UTC

1

Someone who repairs Sony WM D6..?

I have a local guy who's been doing this work since 79', but he's having a tricky time apparently with the auto stop for playback on my unit. It's been very difficult finding anyone that works on these units. I live in Massachusetts, but I'm certainly willing to ship. Is there anyone out there that works on these?

Thanks in advance.

1 Comment
2022/01/07
18:49 UTC

7

AI (?) Rhapsody 10-band radio

3 Comments
2021/12/29
19:45 UTC

8

I got this small Carlton radio recently and haven’t found out much about it online.

2 Comments
2021/12/22
03:52 UTC

3

Some Westminister transistor radios...

1 Comment
2021/12/21
16:55 UTC

9

National Panasonic Doppel PS radio

1 Comment
2021/12/21
16:39 UTC

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