SPC-088 Stereo Cassette Player

The Mini Friend SPC-088 (also written MiniFriend SPC088) was a Walkman-style stereo cassette player with a label at the back indicating its manufacturing origin to be Japan. It was a basic player with play, fast-forward, and stop, tape transport functions. At the side, it has "Talk" function, one headphone socket, and a volume control slider. This unit is a 4.5 V system and requires three AA size dry cells to operate. There is also a socket at the back for supplying power through a mains adapter.

Review

This is a simple budget-end stereo player of Japanese origins, and at first glance can appear to be the type of budget-end players that Sanyo used to make. It is very similar looking to the Sanyo MGP9 in terms of its basic construction and electronic circuitry, and they share the same audio IC, the LA4520 manufactured by the Sanyo Corporation. This was a popular line of ICs used in many portable stereo cassette players during the 80s and 90s and typically found in Sanyo and Sony cassette players, as well as many others.

In the SPC-088, the motor voltage regulator circuitry is very basic consisting of a pair of transistors D1447, and A999. These regulate the power to the DC motor as the batteries deplete. Transistor voltage regulators usually also employ a Zener diode in the circuitry as well.

The audio IC is an extremely good one and if you ditch the supplied headphones and use something better, such as the Sony MDR-W15, then you will instantly recognise the high sound quality. Although this is a basic unit in design, it has many advantages over other models. It uses standard thickness drive belts, which are readily and cheaply available. The tape transport mechanism is very basic and reliable utilising two drive belts. The main flywheel belt is easily accessible; however, the second belt is below the printed circuit board, and it drives the clutch for the tape-winding spool.

Audiophiles who prefer accurate sound reproduction without any alteration will be glad to know that this unit will do just that. If you have a mix tape with enhanced bass and treble, then this little player will easily reproduce the audio and it does sound very good with a good pair of headphones. Providing you use a good pair of headphones, with the correct impedance, then this player is extremely loud providing 20 mW per channel.

Price/eBay

Since it was a cheap budget end unit, many people would have discarded it after use, and consequently there will not be many around. This is a rare unit that I have not seen many of over the years, and since it has Japanese origins, it has some value. A unit in mint condition together with the original headphones and packaging can make a nice packet on a good day.

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