Looking To I.D. Old Stereo

T

Telo

New Member
New to the board, mainly a 70s Sansui buff, but to start off I'm looking for something slightly different.

When I was young, an uncle of mine had to date the most colorful stereo system I'd ever seen. I remember seeing it in the early 1980s. When turned on it was fairly amazing to a 6 year old kid.

It had a white face (white as in literal white, not brushed metal), the tuner had a black background with two 'stripes', one red, one blue, going across the tuner display, one stripe for a.m., the other for f.m....don't remember which color corresponded to which.

The red and blue tuner 'stripes' only appeared when illuminated by the backlight when the unit was powered on.

My uncle hasn't had the unit for several decades, and all I have is my memory. I've to the best of my limited ability drawn up a cruddy picture of its basic appearance in paintbrush.

Can anyone i.d. this unit? It may or may not have been a record player combo, I can't remember for sure. It's very possible the unit was a cheapie.

Regards, and great to be part of this new community,

Attachment below.

Telo
 

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Hmmmm...was good as any brand name I hadn't tried yet. Sadly didn't find anything under that brand name. It's really hard to google stuff like this. ;)
"stereo receiver blue red tuner display" just doesn't turn up much.
 
The only white components that spring to mind were Sherwoods (from the late 1950s up into the late 1960s. for some models -- but I don't remember any colorful AM/FM bands -- and we're talkin' much older than 1980s).

Sherwood S8000IV by mhardy6647, on Flickr

I do remember that Adcom made black components, and white components, in the late-1970s/early 1980s timeframe - but no receiver, and no analog tuner from them.

Maybe something European? Braun, Philips, Siemens, etc., etc., etc.?

I guess I just felt like postin' -- I got nothin' :-(

EDIT: ooh, ooh - I really should read a post before I reply! :p "It's very possible the unit was a cheapie" -- you know what, you might want to peruse the modular stereos in some catalog scans at www.radioshackcatalogs.com ! :)

There are probably lots of possibilities - Panasonic, Hitachi, Meriton, Centrex (Pioneer), etc., etc. for compact/modular/"all in one" hifis... maybe perusal of good ol' eBAY would be worthwhile?
 
I'm gonna guess something Euro as Mhardy is suggesting. Braun, ADS, Goodmans, Telefunken, Grundig, SABA, Radford, Armstrong, Quad. I'll keep looking.
 
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Memory can be a funny thing. While it can paint a crystal clear image in your head, i have often been amazed at how much my crystal clear recollect can differ from that actual item from decades ago when it is once again in front of me in the flesh.
 
I don't know of any "white" face with red and blue stripes.

How old is your uncle?
When where you 6 years old?
Did you uncle ever travel the world? Military folks brought stuff back from Europe and Asia.

Where were you when you saw it? There were "house" brands from some local companies.
 
mhardy6647 said:
(from the late 1950s up into the late 1960s. for some models -- but I don't remember any colorful AM/FM bands -- and we're talkin' much older than 1980s).
Click to expand...

He said he saw it in the 80s, so it certainly could have been older. Braun rings a bell too.
 
designlegende-braun-regie-foto-bild-82946385.jpg


Braun Regie 500 (Some of the numbers are red)
 
blhagstrom said:
I don't know of any "white" face with red and blue stripes.

How old is your uncle?
When where you 6 years old?
Did you uncle ever travel the world? Military folks brought stuff back from Europe and Asia.

Where were you when you saw it? There were "house" brands from some local companies.
Click to expand...

My uncle is 60. No, he didn't travel. Upon seeing my Dad (62) return from the service with a Sansui 5500, he bought himself a Pioneer SX-780 and rid himself of the unit I'm looking for now.

Wow, woke up to so many replies and guesses! Thanks!

I'm going to check out all the brands that were suggested. These units are much nicer than the unit he had. As I stated, I think it might have had a record player on top of it, making it a (possibly) cheaper combo unit. Feasibly it could have been purchased in the early 80s, but I'm going to guess mid-to-late 70s somewhere.

And my memory could be faulty. I only remember three very specific things about it...the lit two-tone tuner band against the black background, the white face, and the white knobs.
 
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Could have been something from 75/76 as everyone was pumping out red whit blue stuff for the bicentennial.
 

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Yeah, I asked, he doesn't remember that receiver specifically. He lost it in the early 80s in a divorce.
 
Interesting looking, but nope, that's not it.

Something specific about my image I wish to clarify (and I fixed it in my original post):

If you go back to the first image I posted...aside from the white face... when turned off, the tuner indicator area was black. Those red/blue tuner stripes only appeared when the unit was powered on, and illuminated from the backlight (which was one of the reasons I thought it looked so neat).

It looked even more interesting turned on in the dark.
 
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Telo said:
I'm going to check out all the brands that were suggested. These units are much nicer than the unit he had. As I stated, I think it might have had a record player on top of it, making it a (possibly) cheaper combo unit. Feasibly it could have been purchased in the early 80s, but I'm going to guess mid-to-late 70s somewhere.

And my memory could be faulty. I only remember three very specific things about it...the lit two-tone tuner band against the black background, the white face, and the white knobs.
Click to expand...

I was going with VVega of some sort, but not now! Akai, maybe?
 
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Revisiting this post from 2014. A family member unearthed a picture from 1978 with half the stereo in the frame.

My memory looks pretty solid, except for a possible 8 track in the background. The tuner display stripes I talk about in the original post are not visible because it's turned off. But it definitely has a white face.

I keep googling "combo vintage stereo 8 track white face" and just am not turning up anything. Any suggestions that anyone might have that resolve this mystery will be appreciated. At this point I'm just obsessed because I haven't found it, and I'm grateful to know it really did exist. Also grateful for anyone in the past that tried to help out with this. Thanks.
 

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