The most influential transistor radio design of all time 1958 Sony vintage unboxing
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- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2019
- This book calls this radio, the Sony TR-610, the "quintessential transistor radio" and I would agree--and say it, if I could only pronounce "quintessential."
This was THE most influential transistor radio of all time, in that it was copied by dozens of other radio makers. Scads of similar looking radios appeared in the years after this 1958 model. Typically they had a speaker grille on the lower front with a metal ring around it, an escutcheon where the brand name appears and in which there is an opening--a dial window--revealing the tuning frequency numbers. Tuning and volume knobs were usually on the side, and a string, a literal, actual string drove the tuning number dial as you turned the knob.
Some counter the importance of Sony's design by pointing to an influence of American radio maker Zenith with its Royal 500 radio but all I see in that comparison is a round speaker grille and a wire stand.
The early escutcheons on this model were smooth in texture and gold, some kind of brass, no doubt. This red one shown here is a paticularly early one that doesn't say "six transistor" on the front, it says "all transistor." Plus it has a small white dial pointer that does not appear on later production models. It isn't known whether any of these earliest ones had a clear-coat of something to prevent tarnishing. By the time these are discovered by collectors, those escutcheons are a dark brown. Later escutcheons are a pebbled matte white gold and this is the one usually seen.
This was Sony's first product to achieve truly massive sales success with sales, I am told, of 437,000 units.That is a lot of units. Not many of those were green, but they did make a green. Also this red, this ivory, and the black you saw on the book at the opening of this video. While transistor radio collectors will usually favor the colors, this is one of those radios that arguably looks best in black. I'm guessing that's the reason that book, otherwise full of colorful models, features this radio on its cover in black.
Now if you are lucky enough to find one of these in the wild that hasn't been used much, you might find an original battery inside. Here is the original 9-volt battery for this model.
And inside the back of the later version.
I don't see much difference in these two radio chassis, at least from the circuit board side. Remember as you look at these that, at the time, the "printed circuit board" was a brand new thing to most people. What most knew about electronics involved just a lot of incomprehensible wires running everywhere. Looking in the backs of TVs or older radios, that's what they saw. Opening the back of one of these new transistor radios was the first experience for many of seeing a printed circuit. What on earth is this!?
The "Instruction for Use," a modest little folder that, among other things, lists, quote: "Five big features of TR-610." And here they are:
1. The smallest and the lightest radio in the world with a speaker. So small that your one shirt pocket can carry two of them.
2. It is small, but it provides as excellent and powerful reproduction as home radio.
3. The handle can be used as a leg to support the radio or as a hanger. It can be removed, when it is not used.
4. As the axes of dial and volume are set in line, you can select station and adjust volume with one finger, at the same time holding the radio with the same hand.
5. Printed circuit and SONY transistors guarantee stable and reliable operation.
Well, there you have it. The Sony TR-610--a very pleasing design that well deserved to be as influential as it was. 
Развлечения
I forget how many new customers I had to sign up to win the Sony 610 … but I did for the Toronto Telegram paper route I had !
I was so happy when I got it ‼️‼️🇨🇦
This was one of the more rich videos you've produced- with the kind of back story information and added facts, value added 9-volt battery bonus footage , printed circuit board anecdote.....these are the kind of things that I look for to flesh a video out more than just a tour of the product and its design. This was just an excellent video, and I enjoyed it
Thanks! I do my best. Sometime I have more to work with, as with this video. And sometimes, little is known about the object but it's still, I think, worth looking at. I've got more good, in-depth Sony videos on the way.
Beautiful radio.
thanks
This is by far my favorite radio, I have a red one with a pushed in speaker grill.
Somehow I missed this one.
Cool video.
📻🙂
I have also one of these transistor
You can say "escutcheon". That's harder than "quintessential"
Sony dispensa comentários !
The Zenith 500 came BEFORE the Sony. So who influenced who?
The video acknowledges that the Zenith Royal 500 came first. "Some counter the importance of Sony's design by pointing to an influence of American radio maker Zenith with its Royal 500 radio, but all I see in that comparison is a round speaker grille and a wire stand."
@@collectornet The early versions of the Zenith Royal 500 were point to point wired with transistors in sockets. One version had an inverted cone speaker. The Zenith circuit had an RF amplifier stage, and separate mixer and oscillator transistors for a total of 8 transistors. IIRC some variants had a ninth transistor in the AF amplifier as an extra preamp, or were used as a bias regulator for the output stage. The Zenith used 4 AA batteries, either carbon-zinc or mercury cells. It was a VERY sensitive receiver capable of pulling in some serious DX.
My father had one when I was a kid, I don't know what happened to it, but I later bought a similar model variant (without the inverted cone speaker) off ebay.
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A little trivia.The portable transistor radio became so popular that some unscrupulous manufacturers were actually falsifying how many transistors were in their portable radios.
The transistors were physically in the radio but up to 2 or more were soldered onto the circuit board that can be seen, but contributed absolutely nothing to the performance as far as sensitivity, range or loudness. The Federal Trade Commission had to step in and stop this practice. Wow can you imagine the bragging rights those radios must of been to show off to your jealous friends!
Yes, you might enjoy the video on this channel that talks a bit about these "transistor wars."
Not as influential as the apple logo, and all the iSheep products
What a goofy thing to say! The Apple logo is influential? Do you know what 'influential' means? Did you even watch this video?! And please, if you respond to any more videos, kindly keep juvenile name-calling remarks such as 'iSheep' to yourself.
@@collectornet you don't think the iPhone is influential? I believe it's one of the most influential pieces of electronics in history.
@@Raymund0 Nobody said anything about the iPhone. The claim made by the previous commenter was that the Apple LOGO was more influential than the Sony radio this video discusses. It seems, that like the previous commenter, you are not paying attention either! Of course the iPhone is influential. I even say as much in other videos. As with the previous commenter, I suggest you pay closer attention to what you are criticizing before you gift the world your criticism.
@@collectornet I wasn't trying to be rude, I was just assuming that the first commenter perhaps meant to say that Iphone was more influential and that you disagreed with that statement. However you seem to get really defensive with the few commenters that you have. Don't worry I won't gift my criticism to your channel anymore, I already unsubscribed. There are other far better youtube channels around where I can actually voice my opinion and with a larger following.
@@Raymund0 Thank you. In our present world of magical thinking and "facts optional" discourse, I will always stand against unwarranted assumptions and lazy thinking. Yes and I will even defend against it wherever I recognize it, even in myself. You put words in my mouth and doing that is just wrong. Wouldn't you be "defensive" if someone did that to you? You needn't insult my humble channel and/or my small following but I guess you feel you must. I hope you will spare other recipients of your opinions your unwarranted assumptions and fact-free statements.