larry@grkermit.UUCP (Larry Kolodney) (08/10/83)
So many people have asked for walkman survey results that I have decided to post them instead. Get ready..... here they are!: >From decvax!wivax!tackett The General Electric Great Escape series is a good value for the money. It is a radio only. Sony make a nice tape/ radio combo that can handle high bias tape for $160. The walkman series seems overpriced. Radio Shack sells a radio or a tape unit (they don't have a combined unit) at what seems to be a reasonable price, BUT the price doesn't include headphones! The earphones included with the Sony are not very comfortable. The earphones with the GE lose the foam around the ear pads in less than a year. Radio Shack has a nice selection of earphones that are more comfortable and durable than the others. Maybe that's why they don't include them. >From eagle!amd70!burl!sb1!sb6!emory!gatech!spaf I have one of the Aiwa units and I love it. I got it cheap through Bryce Audio in NYC (a good place to shop by mail) for about $120 -- most places around here retail it for about $180. It has auto-reverse, separate volume controls for each channel, metal tape capability, record capability (includes a stereo mike), has built-in noise reduction, AM/FM/FM stereo operation, and other nice features. The sound is better than any of the other 8 or 9 I listened to in deciding which one to get. I don't remember the model number right off the top of my head (and the back of the unit), but I can send you a message if you need it. For the quality of sound it really can't be beaten. From: decvax!turtlevax!ken I have a walkman II and find it not to be superior to any of the other portable personal stereos as far as wow and flutter during motion. Ken Turkowski CADLINC, Palo Alto {decwrl,amd70}!turtlevax!ken >From wjh12!ihnp4!ihlpf!tsclark There was just a discussion of such an item in net.audio. Someone was lauding the merits of the KLH Solo, available from DAK, the used car salesmen of audio. Here's a reprint of that article: ***** ihlpf:net.audio / pur-ee!finn / 5:49 pm Jul 13, 1983 I was supposed to summarize what I discovered about KLH, since I was the one who posed the original question about the company, but due to very few responses, I kept putting it off. Now I will do so, hopefully without repeating what everyone already knows. KLH is currently owned by the Kyocera group in Japan. This is the same multi-national corporation that owns Cybernet (another maker of audio equip). It seems that, at the very least, KLH *used* to make good, solid equipment, and I think that they still do. A friend of mine just bought a KLH Solo from DAK (mail order), and it is just fantastic for the price. It cost $71 (inc postage), $85 including a recharger and 4 nicad batteries (it only takes two so keep two charging). It is 4 1/2" x 3 1/2" x 1 1/2" in size. To give an accurate idea of that, put two cassette cases together and add 1/4" to the depth and width. Pretty small!! It has mute and metal switches and an insertable FM stereo cassette that receives very well (I got the local stations from inside a building), plus ultra-light headphones, and rock steady play due to 2 stability flywheels and 2 capstans. The clincher is bi-directional play!! It works and sounds great. Now, to be realistic, there were a few things that bothered me. The volume seemed to be rather low for the setting, and couldn't get too loud even at full. And the fast forward/reverse was rather slow, sort of like in the walkman 2. However, I think that both of those were at least partially due to bad batteries (he said he threw in a pair of batteries that he had lying around), so I wouldn't expect to have bad problems with either of those with new or charged up batteries. In any event, it is a sharp looking, well made piece of equipment. How it will stand up remains to be seen, but the from what I have seen so far, it is by far the best buy in walkman-type cassette decks that I have ever seen. And, if the Solo is any indication, KLH is still turning out good stuff from over in Japan. For any interested parties, the address of DAK is: DAK Industries Inc. 10845 Vanowen St N. Hollywood, Ca 91605 A final note of caution to any who may send for DAK's catalog. They have some VERY good buys, HOWEVER, you will have to steel yourself to read past the high-pitched sales pitch. They have some of the worst sales gimmicks and dialogue that I have ever seen (read 'obnoxious'), but that's life. Keep On Listenin'... David Hesselberth, Purdue University Computer Center {harpo, decvax, ucbvax} !pur-ee!finn (or) !pur-ee:pucc-h:adr ---------- Tom Clark, ihlpf!tsclark, IH 6H-302, x2620 From: decvax!ucbvax!tekchips!teklabs!lewiss my sanyo wows a whole lot when ever I jiggle it. I bought it to go skiing with, but I found music distracts rather than compliments this particular sport. A friend has a Sanyo he uses on his motorcycle and is very happy with it. I strongly recommend dolby as the boogers are tinny enough as it is. >From eagle!amd70!burl!spanky!hocda!ihnp4!ixn5c!inuxc!pur-ee!Pucc-H.oim I recently purchased an AIWA HS-P02. It does not have AM/FM but it does have metal capability and Dolby compatible noise reduction. I have been very happy with its performance so far. It cost $100. It is my understanding that AIWA makes an HS-J02 model which does have AM/FM. It may be worth your time to look at. Dan Trinkle CS Dept. Purdue >From allegra!ihnp4!uiucdcs!uiuccsb!grunwald re: your note about walkman style boxes I bought a AWAI CS-J1 last year and have been extremely pleased with it. It has FM and tape playback + record. It's very well built. Recently, AWAI had put out a new model which also has AM built in (these don't use the AM/FM "tape cartridge" devices). I've seen them and listened and they are very nice too. Both models have some of the best headphones I've ever seen. Very nice fit and they last too. I paid about $130 for mine from a mail-order place in N.Y. -- check a copy of the N.Y. Times. They always seem to have the lowest prices around (in town, my model was going for $210). From: decvax!sequel!rocks34!dw I recently purchased a Sony FM Walkman. I'm very happy with it, and would recommend it to anyone considering such a purchase. A few notes: o Before I bought the Sony unit I listened to a whole bunch of other models from other manufactures. The Sony always sounded best. I also tried switching headphones among the various models in an attempt to determine if that was the factor which made the difference. I don't remember the details, but in all cases the best sounding combination was the Sony Walkman and the Sony headphones. (Yes, the Sony headphones did make some of the other models sound better). o A new trend that I've been seeing is to purchase a cassette unit, and then buying a seperate FM radio which is the same shape as a cassette tape. The you just plug the radio into the tape player (neat!). I kinda wish I'd gone this route instead of the FM only unit, but I'm still happy. o As my first note indicates, do not be afraid to try different headphones than the ones offered with the unit. While in Toronto last week I saw some "headphones" which were intended to be placed directly in the user's ears (not very far in) and were heald there by the shape of the cup in the ear. There was therefore no need for a "springy" band to hold the speakers to your ears, just wires to make the electrical connection. This would probably reduce some of the listener fatigue which is caused by the pressure on the ears by the headphones. (note: I do not experience much fatigue with the lightweight headphones, so this may not be a factor). Also, some headphones do not stay in position which the wearer is moving around. (again, the Sony headphones seem to do ok. I wear them which I'm mowing the lawn with no problems). I hope that this helps. Don Wegeng rocks34!dw Wegeng.WBST@Parc.Maxc.ARPA >From decvax!pur-ee!finn Larry, I posted a review of the KLH Solo a few weeks ago. I think that it is the best buy on the market right now. It would be hard to beat it, from what I have seen. If you didn't see my article on the KLH, then let me know and I'll mail it to you. That article also had the address of the mail order company that was selling it. Catch you later. The Arch-Druid of H... David Hesselberth, Purdue University Computer Center {harpo, decvax, ucbvax} !pur-ee!finn (or) !pur-ee:pucc-h:adr >From decvax!brl-bmd!hao!pag I checked out a lot of personal stereos, notably Toshiba, Sony Walkman (II and III), Sanyo. The Sanyo had the best sound to my ears, and in fact turned out to be cheaper (I paid $65 for the MG-30, which includes AM/FM). I have been quite pleased with it over the last year. --peter gross >From security!bob I recently bought a KLH Solo, stereo cassette and AM/FM radio. I am very pleased with it (its my second one) and I ordered it from a discount catalog for $68.00. I work in Bedford and live in Stow, so if you wanted more info I could probably give it to you over the phone. My number at work is 271-2644. The unit has auto-reverse, locking fast-forward and rewind, plays metal tapes, has two headphone jacks, and separate volume controls for each channel. The radio is in the shape of a cassette tape that plugs into the cassette mechanism, thereby allowing the unit to be smaller than a deck with the radio included. I listened to it at Tweeter before buying it, and they were selling it for $129.00, so I feel that for the money it is a very good buy. Bob security!bob From: seismo!nbires!nbires!ferg (David Ferguson (who else?)) Hi Larry, I have just gone thru the same process. I finally selected a JVC CQ-F2 because of the following features: - comes with FM mono/stereo adapter (No AM, but I don't miss it) - Dolby B noise reduction (switchable on/off) - Accepts metal tapes and has a Normal/Metal(Chrome also) switch - Has a jack for an ac adapter (I paid $5 for one at Radio Shack) - Sounds great! I have pretty good taste in audio components (Alpine, Infinity, Luxman, Nakamichi), and this is a good sounding unit. I paid $135 for mine, the retail price is $170. I use mine at the office with the AC adapter most of the time, and I get good reception even with it sitting next to my terminal. Well, good luck in your search. David Ferguson NBI, Inc. Boulder, Colorado >From eagle!ut-ngp!spaf@gatech.UUCP The model number for my unit is the HS-J02.(AIWA) >From decvax!linus!philabs!micomvax!softech I own an AIWA CS-J1 FM stereo cassette player/recorder that I bought over a year ago. I chose it because the sound quality and the FM sensitivity were the best of all the units I compared it to (this includes the original Sony Walkman, and some top-of-the-line models from Panasonic and other famous brands). I have no complaints whatsoever, and beleive me, I have put thousands of walking and jogging miles on this unit, in rain, snow and hot sun. >From wjh12!ihnp4!kpno!jacoby I purchased a Sony Walkman FM2 about 6 months ago, and have been very happy with it. The FM2 features FM stereo, cassette playback and record. With a well recorded casstte, the sound quality is excellent and can be played back thru your receiver/spkrs to provide a backup cassette deck. My major criticism is a lack of Dolby playback equalization. Otherwise I have the following good things to say about it. 1. The FM radio provides superb quality and sensitivity. The battery life (2 AA cells) is about 35 hours using alkaline cells. This is a key point for portables. 2. The cassette operation is fairly smooth, tho FF and REW are somewhat slow, probably to conserve battery life. With cassette usage, battery life is about 5-6 hrs, and the AC adapter is recommended for extended usage. 3. The recorder aspect is adequate for playback on the FM2, but you will be disappointed if you expect hiss-free, smooth response when played back on a quality deck. Nevertheless it does provide a means of making satisfactory tapes (I use TDK SA-C90). 4. The Sony machines seem to be sturdily built and I felt worth the extra cost for the better quality. The FM2 can be had for under $150, probably near $130. If you don't need the record capability, there is a less expensive model, but I am not familiar with it. george jacoby, kitt peak national observatory, 950 n. cherry ave, tucson, az (602) 325-9292 {{{ucbvax|utah-cs|purdue|mcnc}!arizona}|unc|hao}!kpno!jacoby From: decvax!mcnc!rlgvax!cvl!dno I have a Toshiba equivalent of a Sony Walkman and I've been generally pleased with it. My original reason for buying one was that it sounded better than the Walkman they had on display, and it only ran about $75 as opposed to whatever they were trying to charge for Sony's at the time (more than $75 at any rate). The only difficulty I had was getting the FM receiver to work. Apparently the contacts on the receiver were not aligned exactly right, but then it decided to start working. Another shortcoming which I think is probably pretty common, is that the balance between speakers gets screwed up when playing at low levels. The best advice is to bring along a well-recorded tape to compare different models. GOOD LUCK dno.cvl.umcp-cs@UDEL-RELAY David Oskard--Center For Automation Research U of Md. College Park >From linus!allegra!garfield!andrew I got a JVC CQ-F2, (or something like that - they only put out one so far.) It's got ANRS( which is JVCs Dolby-B compatable NR system), metal capacity, and an FM cassette cartridge. The clincher is that it's really cheap as such things go, but the quality is very high. I've had it for five months now, and have not had any problems. (although the carrying case could be a bit better.) Everyone who's wanted to by a Walkman (and some who hadn't wanted to!) have run out and bought one of these after seeing mine. I'd be interested in knowing in which one you buy after hearing from all the net.users. If you get a lot of responses, perhaps you could sumarize and post to the net. Andrew Draskoy garfield!andrew -- Larry Kolodney {linus decvax}!genrad!grkermit!larry (ARPA) rms.g.lkk@mit-ai