Goodness, the Babels Tower of music.
As some wise person said, never mind the quality, feel the width.
Here, the quality is top notch.
I grew up with my parents Panasonic SG3100 and spent many evenings recording the Top 40 with it back in the late 70’s to mid 80’s. They still have it.
At the time it was almost Space Age to me with its clean geometric lines.
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To me the best looking single piece of vintage audio has to be the Lecson AC1 pre-amp and AP3 power amp with the SFM2 tuner. I love the whole obsession with perspex that existed in the 1960’s and 1970’s and those gorgeous coloured sliders!!
Reputedly they sounded pretty good but the sliders could be unreliable sadly. I wonder if my design tastes were subtly influenced by my adoration of my favourite TV series of all time Space 1999 and its extraordinary sets. I was aged around 7 when the series started broadcasting in the mid 1970’s and I have carried on loving it just as much right up to the present day! I used to fantasize about decorating my house in a similar style:
I think my Gyrodec/SME IV with its perspex base and dustcover would fit in quite well amidst all this but then I’d need some suitable speakers - there’s not much cooler than the Grundig Audiorama 7000’s of the early 1970’s in my view - especially when hung from the ceiling on chains!!
What’s even more amazing is that Grundig actually brought them back and redesigned them in the 21st century as the Grundig Audiorama 9000
With the advent of Dolby Atmos and the need for loudspeakers higher up above the listeners I just wonder if the Grundig Audiorama could be due for a renaissance? After all nobody really wants to look at rectangular boxes up on the ceiling - but these with a bit of LED lighting added would be the height of design cool…
Jonathan
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It’s funny how much pleasure we derived from these “inferior” systems when we were young - in some aspects, not matched by the far superior rigs we all have now.
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Nice post Jonathan.
I too was tacken with the series Space1999, I wonder who the set designer was…a quick Google will probably resolve that query.
Not to destroy your childhood memories of the series, but one would imagine a reimagined series (not unlike Battlestar Galactica) would work somehow, although I struggle to remember any of the major plot lines.
But it was one of the more stylish Sci-Fi shows at the time.
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Very classy and still looks modern today 
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Keith Wilson was the set designer on Space 1999 (and its forerunner UFO) - there’s actually been quite a big resurgence of interest in the series of late sparked I think by the incredible remastered blu-ray sets and because the series was shot on 35mm film it looks stunning and has even been remixed to DTS HD Mstr Audio in 5.1. Two books have come out this year, one of them called the Vault is a superb glossy hardback full of beautiful insights and photographs. There’s also an online event this weekend called ‘Destination Moonbase Alpha’ streaming on the internet via the Space 1999 VIP facebook group comprising interviews with surviving cast and crew. Apparently that’s only a warm up for a full blown Space 1999 convention event in London in 2024.
There’s also been a lot of activity via the Gerry Anderson podcast hosted by Gerry’s Son Jamie and a whole bunch of new merchandise has arrived from commlock props to uniforms to replica Eagle’s.
So I totally agree actually, a reboot as happened with Galactica could make a huge amount of sense in the case of Space 1999. There’s a whole generation of us who grew up with Thunderbirds, UFO and Space 1999 with a lot of nostalgia for those series but crucially there’s a whole generation of young fans who have never seen the show and would doubtless love it!
Perhaps the resurgence of interest in manned spaceflight will help - we’re in the run up to the moon landings again and there’s plans for a permanent base on the moon and a lunar space station both of which could be staging posts for a future manned mars mission. Maybe Gerry was absolutely spot on about Moonbase Alpha, but just a bit optimistic about the timescales!
Jonathan
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Very interesting Jonathan.
If I remember correctly, much of the general plot arcs were more psychologically intricate than other Sci-Fi series. I am sure there is scope for a decent contemporary Sci Fi series there.
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Vintage for sure.
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Perfect for playing those hidden infernal messages in certain albums…
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The Dragon was a turntable that looked rather more than it actually was. Although it still had a simplified LP entering device, the TX-1000 was the real masterpiece here.
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Which one ? And why ?
I deliberately not posted it, because comments would be certainly like « monstrous, ugly…. ».
From the pic, I was sure it was Irish.
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Unusual design there! Which way does the platter turn?