what are your industrial design favorites?

[sejarzo]

The only SX-450 I ever had (dump find*) was afflicted with one dead channel.
I hate working on ss equipment -- so I gave it away.
They are cute little blighters.


(visible next to the bottom in this stack of BOTL receivers )

_______________
* imagine that?!

I had a Pioneer TX-7500 in the original box in the basement for decades and finally decided to put it on Facebook marketplace for $75 a few years ago.

It was in near mint cosmetic condition, the only issue being the stereo indicator bulb had burned out.

Within 24 hours a guy who lives 10 minutes away called me--he had restored an SA-7500 and had been searching for a TX-7500 for ages. He was ecstatic over finding one locally and was here within another hour to get it.

IIRC they were one of the first series that went with the all-silver design. Some folks didn't care for that too much but I thought it looked elegant.

 

[Dmitri]

Oh Yeah…

 

[Blumlein 88]

How I remember drooling over Collins gear back in the 1960-70s but never could afford
anything with that nameplate.. It was built to such a high standard of craftsmanship.


That Transoceanic is AWESOME. Not at all a radio guy, my dad for some reason used to talk - dream of
owning one. Their value was just never in the wheelhouse of a poor family like ours.


OH MY, the Countach. Another unfulfilled dream of a young man.
I had a buddy that was selling cars for some high end dealer on the far west side of Chicago.
He promised me a ride in one so I went there like 3 times and he always had some excuse why
he couldn't take one out. BS bar stool talk it turned out.

I was with my Dad at a bank repo lot once. Was in the seedy part of town with a big fence. I noticed a recent 928 Porsche. They let you drive it if you were a someone they dealt with regularly which my Dad was. So I asked, "hey can I test drive that?". They said yes. So I gave it a proper test drive. I had driven cars with more power, but a noticeable thing was in that part of town with very poor roads, it both had a comfortable ride stiffness and yet stuck to the road very well. Plus you could tell the structure of the car was very stiff. It was a very balanced car in all ways unlike those early 911s with the motor in the back.

It was one this color. I suppose those headlights were inspired by the Miura.

 

[mhardy6647]

I had a Pioneer TX-7500 in the original box in the basement for decades and finally decided to put it on Facebook marketplace for $75 a few years ago.

It was in near mint cosmetic condition, the only issue being the stereo indicator bulb had burned out.

Within 24 hours a guy who lives 10 minutes away called me--he had restored an SA-7500 and had been searching for a TX-7500 for ages. He was ecstatic over finding one locally and was here within another hour to get it.

IIRC they were one of the first series that went with the all-silver design. Some folks didn't care for that too much but I thought it looked elegant.

I believe you're right. That line of Pioneer components was the death knell for the previous "blackout dial" phase of Japanese (world) hifi design.

Pioneer, to their credit, pretty much perfected that design trope as well with the SX-*3* series, which culminated in the slightly misnamed SX-1010. The SX-1010 was one of the first of the monster receivers (for better or worse).
No, I don't have one, actually.
I don't have any of that era of Pioneer.

source: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Lafayette-Catalogs/Lafayette-1976-Catalog.pdf

I do have a TX-9500II, given to me by an erstwhile colleague from the biotech world.
Lovely piece of hardware -- and a better than average solid state tuner, too.

 

[sejarzo]

Those prices...$1100 in 1976 is $6100 in current dollars.

I eventually bought an Apt Holman preamp for $75 off MSRP a year after I bought that tuner, all because I knew the manager of a local shop that had loaned it out for a couple days so he could sell it to me as a demo. That shop, across the street and a couple short blocks down from the Purdue electrical engineering building, sold more Apt gear than any other location in the country...so much that Tom Holman came to spend the day and answer questions about why he designed it with different features...the continuously variable stereo/mono control, variable shelving tone controls, etc...than other gear of that era. The stereo/mono thing was designed in because he was a big opera fan and thought the balance between the vocals and orchestra often needed tweaking.

 

[mhardy6647]

For completeness -- and, besides, at least arguably on-topic -- the aforementioned SX-1010

source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/166530589815

 

[Doodski]

Geeech! Would you Doods please stop it with the gorgeous old gear images and brochures ffs...LoL... I'm trying to concentrate on some stuff here... gg*

 

[EJ3]

I was with my Dad at a bank repo lot once. Was in the seedy part of town with a big fence. I noticed a recent 928 Porsche. They let you drive it if you were a someone they dealt with regularly which my Dad was. So I asked, "hey can I test drive that?". They said yes. So I gave it a proper test drive. I had driven cars with more power, but a noticeable thing was in that part of town with very poor roads, it both had a comfortable ride stiffness and yet stuck to the road very well. Plus you could tell the structure of the car was very stiff. It was a very balanced car in all ways unlike those early 911s with the motor in the back.

It was one this color. I suppose those headlights were inspired by the Miura.

View attachment 356442

The big complaint in Europe (the Autobahn & the likes in other places "Pop up the headlight at dusk & loose 10 KPH".

 

[Sal1950]

The big complaint in Europe (the Autobahn & the likes in other places "Pop up the headlight at dusk & loose 10 KPH".

I wonder if that wasn't more myth-hype than anything.
From the looks of those headlamp buckets, when retracted they don't look any too aerodynamic to me.
A great story for the sales brochure, for sure.

 

[EJ3]

I worked for the Porsche factory from 1984-1988. My biggest career failure was leaving them to go work for Robert Bosch.
I'll let you folks out there be the judge on what popping the headlights up on a Porsche 928 does to the aerodynamics on these cars:

 

[Blumlein 88]

What I really want to know is if the headlights up appearance of the 928 was inspired by the Bugeye Sprite?

 

[somebodyelse]

Bugeye Sprite

Another one for the list of transatlantic language differences - it's known as the Frogeye here.

 

[EJ3]

What I really want to know is if the headlights up appearance of the 928 was inspired by the Bugeye Sprite?

View attachment 356498

View attachment 356499

I thought that they looked like antique bra cups when I worked at Porsche.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Another one for the list of transatlantic language differences - it's known as the Frogeye here.

Well the one pictured is green like a frog so maybe that is the better term.

 

[Sal1950]

I

View attachment 356442

If your going to make retractables with any thought of aero in mind, they should look like this.

Thankfully today we have projectors that can be done like this.
Now if they'd only make the lens covers easily replaceable and CHEAP!

 

[mhardy6647]

This kind of stuff does work

I've used it with excellent results on several different vehicles with pretty scroungy looking headlight covers.

 

[Sal1950]

I've used it with excellent results on several different vehicles with pretty scroungy looking headlight covers.

Yep, I've used it too a number of times, and it does work.
Main issue is new lights have some type of UV protection coating on them that lasts for a fairly long time.
But after you go in and polish them up with one of those kits, any of the OEM protection coat is completely gone.
Then the plastic fades out twice as fast as it did before.
You just can't win.

 

[mhardy6647]

The kits do come with a topcoat that is supposed to mimic the OEM coating. I suspect some kits' "protectant" gloop(s) are better than others.
It certainly does enhance the survival time of the clear "lenses" (covers) relative to not using it.
I learned that empirically with my old (and much missed) Toyota Tacoma pickup. The kits are limiting only in the amount of the protectant (which is, apparently, quite perishable once opened). I did the Taco's very yellowed headlight covers with 'leftover' cleaner and polish, but couldn't apply the the UV block. They did indeed need to be re-rescued pretty quickly.
But, heck, that particular kit (the Turtle Wax variant shown above) was very easy to use and all in all I certainly felt like I got my money's worth.

I did my son's Honda Fit headlight covers last summer in VA with (if memory serves) a 3M kit. It was a more involved process, but they did really turn out nicely. It'll be interesting to see how they hold up.

Sorry for the digression, all!

I'll rescue this (not uncharacteristically) off-topic post by saying that - from my perspective (and my son's, too), the Fit was a nice bit of practical small car design. He loves his 2013 (IIRC).

 

[Blumlein 88]

This kind of stuff does work

View attachment 356682View attachment 356686

I've used it with excellent results on several different vehicles with pretty scroungy looking headlight covers.

Blue magic and Meguirs mag wheel polish actually works better. You can get 303 uv protection spray afterwards. It will last about a year. So you coat with the spray every 6 to 12 months.

 

[Doodski]

@Sal1950 & @mhardy6647 for sourcing plastics polishing compounds and UV treatment, bonding compounds and plastics fusing solvents refer to a place like IPP or similar. These industrial paint and plastics suppliers of all things paint and plastic have all the stuff you need in large and small quantities.

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