My father's tape recorder when I was a kid. Unfortunately as a child and after 10 years of use I had completely destroyed it. Indeed ultra rare model. I was incredibly lucky though and found one in 2021 in brand new condition! Unbelievable! I just had to replace only the 2 belts on it and now it works perfectly. At the end of it I also replaced all the electrolytic capacitors to restore factory performance. 70% of them was found with 50% lower capacity. The original capacitors brand is Rubycon. Made in Japan with extremely good quality. The recap process was particularly difficult in this tape recorder. After 4 years I found a second one in excellent condition as well. In the second one I only replaced belts. I did not replace capacitors. And so now i have two. It is a very rare and nice piece. Manufactured by Orion Japan in 1976. As far as I know it was Orion's first or second released stereo radio cassette player. In the German market it was released by Intel/interlectic as the P-st 3400, but manufactured by Orion Japan. Average radio tuner ( FM-SW-AM ) with little interference when FM stereo button is on. The sound of the tape is decent. His recordings are excellent. Record function internally from the radio to tape, externally via RCA stereo cables, 2 external wired microphones with mixing capability or simply using the 2 built-in microphones on the front. Sound Output: 2.4 Watts to each speaker, 4,8 watts RMS total via Sanyo A4102 sound amplifier. Average sound due to its hard and rigid oval speakers with some lack of bass, Classic 70's sound.. Audio RCA line in and line out at the back. Works at 220/110 Volt or with 6 batteries size "D" . Also can be connected to a 12 Volt car power supply through 12V DC input at the back. Good and heavy build inside but really complex and difficult to service its mechanical parts. Even changing the belts is a difficult process due to its construction. It's still my favorite because of my childhood memories... Now that I've had the second one serviced, I use them both almost daily. If everyone is interested i can upload as many pictures or videos you want
Nickeccles might know more, he seems to have insight into Orion but they are non-existant over here. One of my thread ideas was the best looking boxes for the 70's, I'm sure this would make the 1976 cut.
Some more information for Orion. Was really famous for her video / TV models. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Electric As i read in Wikipedia was world's largest OEM television and video equipment manufacturers, primarily supplying major-brand OEM customers, with Toshiba being its major customer in the 2000s. Orion produced around six million televisions and twelve million DVD player and TV combo units each year until 2019. But he didn't realise many boomboxes. That's why her boomboxes are really rare to find. Biside the two Orion p-st i have in my collection the extremely rare Orion 805. A huge boombox, with rechargeable batteries function and really loud and amazing sound.
It was a store that sold electrical appliances in Athens. He bought it in 1977. The store was well-known in the 1970s. It is now closed.
Yeah from what I've seen, most Orions (despite having German labels), seem to be found on auction sites in Eastern or Southern Europe, like Greece, Hungary, Poland, Czechia.......More than in Germany itself.
In Germany Orion P-st was rebranded through Intel/ interlectic as P-st3400 . But still made by Orion. The same thing happened with the Orion 805 model which was rebranded by ISP as Monster box ISP SC-800 . In general, it seems that Orion made several boomboxes that were released and sold under other brands. Another example is the Orion PST-1 which in Europe (Greece , France, Italy, England, Germany e.t.c ) was also sold as the Amstrad 8090 or as the Sencor S-5600 http://www.wikiboombox.com/tiki-index.php?page=Orion+PST-1 ***The Intel/Interlectic P-st 3400 and the Orion Pst-1 pictures are from internet. Is not mine.
Yea baby! You should add that boombox/walkman to this thread! https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/boomboxes-with-detachable-walkmans.1859/ I don't know the exact details but I think Orion private-labled a ton of TVs, especially the small ones, so they had experience dealing with and relabeling the distribution chain for many different brands. I wonder if they kept a low profile with boomboxes so they wouldn't make other manufacturers (that they were selling TVs to) mad.
I just add the Orion Pst-1 model in the correct forum. As i read it was mentioned already in the page 2 as Amstrad 8090.
You can never have to many boomboxes or Walkmans in a thread. I'm starting to forget a lot of the stuff I've posted, don't worry about duplicates, we all do it.
Orion was more associated with cheap VCRs. However, they made ones like this which no major manufacturer would dare to, although Amstrad sold a twin deck as well. I guess VCRs were a sweet spot for Japanese manufacturers being high value but much easier to ship than large CRT TVs. I have read that in the mid 1980s over 70% of Japan's electronic exports were VCRS. Since Amstrad and Badge Engineering have been mentioned, founder Alan Sugar said in his Autobiography that if you could get your own brand onto equipment it gave you far more control over pricing. I wonder if companies like Interlectic had an arrangement that a particular model would only be sold under that brand in a particular country.
Orion had a arrangement for her boombox p-st with interlectic because the interlectic/Intel P-st 3400 was sold only in Germany and labelled in German language too. Also the Orion p-st was never imported in Germany, as i know. Personally i believe it's one amazing boombox. ** Your VCR looks really amazing.
