Funky MD Units From Japan

[JMay]

As many of you know already, MiniDisc was at its most popular in Japan, in fact music in that format (Pre-recorded MDs) have been released and sold there as recent as 2010 (!) So not surprisingly, Japan has PLENTY of nice units that play and record MDs. I've been a regular user of an auction deputy service that allows you to bid on Japanese auction sites (most commonly Yahoo!). Recently I have won a bookshelf MD Unit made by Aiwa in 2003 - and I am in LOVE with it! Take a look:

Here are some of its awesome features:

• the display changes colors (511 according to its manual!)
• Its FM covers the world spectrum (76-108), though the AM tuning is in japanese steps (9 khz starting from 531 - I don't use AM)
• You can record in different ways - from Radio to MD,CD, or Cassette, from AUX to MD,CD, or cassette, From CD to MD or Cassette, From Cassette to MD or CD
• The bass on this (called i-bass) is UNBELIEVABLE and comes in two modes, iBass1 or iBass2.
• The Cassette deck is right on the top of the unit (that little slot at the top)
• This thing also has a mode where it will tell you what day it is when you turn it on - it notes important birthdays as well as Japanese holidays. On a humorous note, yesterday, it mentioned that it was Greenery Day, though that was actually changed to Showa Day in 2007 (this thing was made in 2003).

More about Greenery Day in Japan (it's like our Earth Day): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenery_Day

Minidisc.org has a little section on this unit here:

http://www.minidisc.org/part_Aiwa_XR-MJ1.html

So this is a pretty sweet unit, and the sound is just awesome. It was also cheaper than I thought. When I won it at an auction, it was about 6000 Yen (around 60 bucks or so), though the shipping (from Japan, remember)...yikes. So, have any of you thought about getting any MD units from Japan? Have there been a few you've been drooling over, like I did over this one? If you did manage to get one, please show it off here!

[Kain_]

It would be cool to have some pictures of your unit.

For my concern, I bought some stuff from Japan : blanks, two silver RH1, a silver Onkyo MD-133 Hi-MD deck and a silver Onkyo ND-S1000 Ipod dock. Fortunatly, I never paid any boarder taxes

I posted a pictorial review of the MD-133 several years ago

A pictorial revew of the Onkyo ND-S1000 is also available the unit 3 weeks ago).

Regards.

[culp4684]

I'm a firm believer that with all of the MD equipment manufactured over the past twenty years we are seeing a very small percentage being offered for sale on any of these sites. In other words, there has to be a lot still out there...

[JMay]

It would be cool to have some pictures of your unit.

For my concern, I bought some stuff from Japan : blanks, two silver RH1, a silver Onkyo MD-133 Hi-MD deck and a silver Onkyo ND-S1000 Ipod dock. Fortunatly, I never paid any boarder taxes

I posted a pictorial review of the MD-133 several years ago

A pictorial revew of the Onkyo ND-S1000 is also available the unit 3 weeks ago).

Regards.

I'm a firm believer that with all of the MD equipment manufactured over the past twenty years we are seeing a very small percentage being offered for sale on any of these sites. In other words, there has to be a lot still out there...

There's a lot more out there, that's for sure - Kain_ I'll have some pics of my unit asap - I've been busy lately.

[bluecrab]

I have both the US and JPN versions of the MXD-D400. The JPN one I got directly from Japan. Differences between the two that I can see are the JPN's gold color - called "champaigne" - its use of 100v current, and the Japanese chars on the back of the unit (front panel and display are in English, manual is in Japanese). I tried very hard to get an MDS-W1 from Japan, but one in excellent condition could not be found. My JPN MXD-D400 looks exactly like this generic image of one (from minidisc.org);

I don't suppose I'll ever find an MDS-W1, sorry to say.

[PsychoPimpKiller]

I'm a firm believer that with all of the MD equipment manufactured over the past twenty years we are seeing a very small percentage being offered for sale on any of these sites. In other words, there has to be a lot still out there...

I agree and if only I could find some of it at a nice price too. That would be great!!!

[JMay]

From what I could find, if you're looking for MD equipment that is PACKED with features (such as my hi-fi), the best bet is the japanese auctions (by using the auction deputy services). If you do try that, be mindful of the shipping cost because that can be quite high at times.