Sony Retro Hi-Fi Music Systems

[Hiten]

Sony as with all companies made some good and some ordinary stuff. This relates to boomboxes too. Can not comment on model mentioned but during my college years my friend got his sony boombox from US. It had all modern bells and whistles. The playing control pad was below cassette mechanism and when pressed came out like keyboard. Sound was good (He used to listen to JJ Fad "Supersonic" and it rocked the house. )
Sony came to India with Sony Orson name. I had heard Sony Orson separates (forgot the model no.) it also was quite good with moderately large speakers.
Ontopic : if for sentimental value or reliving old times the sound quality does not matter as it is not the goal. I have restored (partly) my valve radio, two in one for same reason. Unfortunately a Philips suitcase player which was in the family , My walkman (cheap Unisef brand), Pioneer amplifier & lots of cassettes were discarded long back.

Regards

 

[BharadwajD9]

I know this thread is an old one. I just went through it and felt like posting. I have retro Sony HiFi music systems MHC VX 555J (Malaysian Model) and MHC DX 101 (Indian Model). I have attached the images below. Both of them working perfectly. No issues of any sort. Both having fully functional remote controls. I have opted for a Bluetooth connector (Not integrated Bluetooth) for VX 555J to make it easy to use. I have also connected additional speakers SS RV999 (Indonesia) to VX 555J

I still don't get it why Sony had stopped the production of these music systems. The were the best sounding audio systems once upon a time. The current party music systems and All-in-one home theater systems (BDV, DAV series etc...) stand no chance in front of these HiFi systems when it comes to amazing sound effects and bass delivery. The skinny speakers of the current range of Sony (or any other manufacturer) sound like crap. The latest Sony models may have higher RMS and power output but cannot match these old systems when it comes to overall performance. These audio systems had the unique features to switch equalizer as per the users preferences, predefined EQ's, surround effects (Cinema Space), Bass Enhancements (Groove/V-Groove) and much more. One cant find any such things in the 2.1 and 5.1 nonsense systems of now a days. One has to hear a full blown performance of these old HiFi systems to experience them. Many used Retro HiFi's from Sony are in high demand like the MHC VX 8 and MHC GN series etc., although their production had stopped long time back. A 50% volume on my VX 555J in groove mode is more than enough to send the doors, windows and walls vibrating like crazy

I am no fanboy of old retro systems but these ones are indeed awesome. Those who think these retro systems are junk are either retarded or haven't heard them properly anytime

 

[sandeepmohan]

I still don't get it why Sony had stopped the production of these music systems.

Wow. Thats a well looked after system. You do take care of your Hi Fi gear.

I am not a big fan of this particular generation, having heard and used some prior to these such as the FH-B500 from 1993. This was a smaller and simpler system than the above. Off course, no CD changers back then, however, quality was better.

The mini Hi Fi market or any audio like this for that matter started to fade after the introduction of the ipod and similar devices. We just stopped listening to music like we used to. People would rather plug in and have their own custom playlist playing while not having to force others to listen to it. The arrival of the Internet and Napster made it even easier. Free music! Why buy a cassette or cd. At the most, such gear was relegated to being a radio. Even today, if you do a poll of folks who actually sit and listen to their gear versus music played as background music, you'll likely find the latter to be the prime purpose. In this scenario, I am more pleased with a set of cans on my head. Sounds way better too.

 

[General_sound]

I agree that these older Sony systems were very powerful and did sound good. A friend has Sony MHC- V777 mini compo ,made in Japan. The speakers are 17 cm woofer and two cone tweeters with another Dome tweeter+ a peizo tweeter(four tweeters!). The amp is an STK based design with 90 watt RMS at 8 ohms, though quoted distortion is quite high. Only the amp works and has a room rattling sound. Literally a wall of sound! May not be high fidelity but very pleasant. Just my thoughts.

 

[VRavichandar]

Sony - Once started, I cant stop singing praises of my Sony LBT-D905 of 1991 vintage! Made in Japan - awesome sound quality even today in spite of all the battering - 23 (+1 now) years of 5+ hours of music daily and then kept aside for nearly 8 years chasing that elusive home theatre mirage!

This amp came with a twin cassette deck, tuner, a cd player, a DSP with 23 band parametric equalizer, a lovely spectrum analyser display, a remote for all components etc! All except the amp and the speakers it came with have been discarded over the last 7 years.

Son and wife constantly complained about poor performance of the panasonic htib, denon 1200 and 2400. Tried multiple audyssey corrections, contemplated room treatment, but did not get around to that. Denon 2400 died last year just in time for lock-down for the second wave of covid.

Got the sony's faulty selector switch bypassed, amp cleaned and brought it back to life. Dialogues are crisper, music is divine and no fatigue even after hours of listening - just the way we want it. Don't want atmos, dts, hdmi and all those bells and whistles and the associated pain anymore.