Sanyo M4440
Sit back and relax and re-live your youth with this genuine early 1980s Sanyo M4440 Stereo Cassette Player. This was Sanyo's improved model over the M3330 that I reviewed earlier.
Apart from some added features such as a counter, talk button, pitch control, and tone switch, the audio electronics of the Sanyo M4440 is identical to that of the M3330. The audio circuit is based around the Sanyo LA4140 power amplifier chips. Each chip capable of delivering up to 500 mW output into an 8 Ω load. It also uses the Sanyo LA3160 stereo pre-amplifier originally intended for car audio applications but does a wonderful job here.
For the tone function they've used a simple one transistor filter circuit consisting of two capacitors in a high-pass configuration, situated between the pre-amplifier and power amplifier stages.
Most people weren't aware at the time this unit had one special component that was ahead of its time. As you will see in the following sections of this article, this unit used a very special design of head that Sanyo introduced. It was made from a much more tougher alloy with a mirror smooth finish and a smaller gap, resulting in a much better frequency response during playback. With a good pair of headphones the sound quality is remarkable and noticeable. In comparison the sound was much better than some of the high-end Sony models of that time that used standard aluminium heads.
The cassette compartment has a brushed aluminium lining stuck to the plastic case. It's manufactured and fitted to a good quality standard. The red plastic case has a mottled finish and built to a reasonably high standard. In comparison I preferred the glossy finish of the M3330.
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Sanyo have always made some of the best consumer electronics products, and almost anything made in the 1970s and 1980s will be manufactured to a very high quality.
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This product was designed to last the test of time, it is well built with a metal alloy chassis and metal push-button mechanical assembly.
This unit has some great feature that would not be found on budget-end Walkmans. You could expect to find a talk-line feature which consists of a very powerful microphone connected to the high gain audio amplifier. This feature allowed you to listen to the outside world without having to take off your headphones. At full volume it is as powerful as a snooper microphone and you can easily hear conversations in the distant background
Another noticeable feature was the pitch control which allowed you to vary the tape speed. This is very useful if you want to write down the lyrics to a song. There is a tone control switch - and the tone level is of a good noticeable quality.
Vintage Walkmans
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