Amstrad 7070. Value? - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

tonyr1977 · 29th Oct 2014, 10:28 pm

I have a fully working Amstrad 7070 tape deck, does anybody know what this is currently worth?

paulsherwin · 29th Oct 2014, 10:37 pm

Not a lot I'm afraid.

http://www.vintagecassette.com/amstrad/7070

mole42uk · 30th Oct 2014, 8:19 am

Amstrad? It will be worth more as scrap metal. Just as they were when new!

Nickthedentist · 30th Oct 2014, 8:34 am

Sorry to say that the others are right.

At the moment, even really nice cassette decks often fail to sell at all, and this was probably the worst cassette deck I've ever owned (honestly!). Amstrad stuff was cheap and cheerful to put it politely.

However, someone might want it to digitize their cassette collection. Charity shop maybe?

Nick.

Tyso_Bl · 30th Oct 2014, 12:17 pm

These are becoming quite rare now as they were never high end enough to become of any interest to collectors, most seem to have gone to resyk by now, with just a few stragglers in hiding. Might be worth keeping if you got the space, just as a historical curiosity.

Radio Wrangler · 30th Oct 2014, 12:44 pm

Very very few people valued these enough to keep them, so they are going to be very rare. Rather like everyone threw away soap powder boxes and so preserved packages of DAZ and OMO from the sixties are very rare. Sentimental value only.

David

Dave Anderson · 3rd Nov 2014, 1:12 pm

I agree with previous posters, it is rare to find old Amstrad cassette decks. What is even more surprising is that your machine is fully working. However, this does not really increase the value. Amstrad hi-fi equipment was strictly 'entry-level' and didn't sound all that good. I think the company tempted many first-time buyers on a limited income who couldn't afford budget Japanese brands. Amstrad used the same philosophy when home computers were introduced to the market. Sure enough the company made money but their hi-fi systems left a lot to be desired, in my view.

Dave.

paulsherwin · 3rd Nov 2014, 2:15 pm

Amstrad never understood the hifi market. Reputation is everything there, even for entry level stuff, and Amstrad audio products had a terrible reputation which was partly deserved. They didn't sell well and I don't believe Amstrad ever made much money from them.

The computer market is completely different and Amstrad computers were very successful for a time, despite the cost cutting and limited specs.

Dave Anderson · 3rd Nov 2014, 3:20 pm

Hi Paul,
Amstrad regularly carried full two-page spread advertisements in nearly all of the popular hi-fi magazines. They were stocked in typically high turnover retail outlets such as Comet and Laskey's to name only two. I am convinced they sold hi-fi in sufficient quantities to make some money. Having seen the ruthless side of Alan Sugar in BBC TV's 'The Apprentice' I don't think he would have lost money in that side of his business. The Amstrad range was fairly comprehensive; music centres, turntables, amplifiers, tuners, receivers, cassette decks and loudspeakers of varying specs. True enough his presence in the hi-fi world was relatively short-lived but I think this was because he saw greater potential in the home and business PC market.

Dave.

electronicskip · 3rd Nov 2014, 4:34 pm

I actually collect Amstrad electronics a little for my sins, having sold it extensivly over the 70s and 80s i have an affinity with it,
My Jewels in the crown are the 8000 mk1 and 2 amps he built,but even these are not worth more than £10 or £15 at most.

sp10mk11 · 3rd Nov 2014, 7:38 pm

I think the only Amstrad hi-fi equipment that was some thing, was TP-12D turntable, impressive looking with an ok performance bar one design error. The arm was not mounted the correct distance from the spindle so according to the review I read many years ago you had to skew the cartridge in the headshell to get proper tracking error.

When I was a lad at school and on very limited budget I would have happily bought Amstrad, I always liked the look of the 4000 amplifier, but that all changed when a friend showed me his father system which comprised of a Amstrad 4000 Garrard Sp25/g800 and a pair of Wharefdale lintons (mega popular budget setup), worse was to come when I touched the amplifier and felt how rough the controls were and then he switched it all on, oh painful treble, course blah blah, but never mind I still have fond memories, and still look at there multipage adverts in old hi-fi mags wishing I could be there again.

I think collecting these is a good idea, we will never see this type of gear again from this country, plenty of it lurking on the shelves in stores today made in china etc .

Hi-fi had a fun element in those days, I am getting too old now

Enjoy chaps
Gary

Heatercathodeshort · 3rd Nov 2014, 7:57 pm

Don't knock Amstrad! They were cheap and cheerful products that could be afforded by the teenage market. There must have been many young kids that were lucky enough to receive their own 'Hi-Fi' for a birthday or Christmas present and would have been over the moon with it. Their 'professional' looking sliders and control panels appealed to this market and were of course entry models for more elaborate products that could be afforded with their first wage packets.
Ok, it may have been over advertised but that is big business and certainly not confined to Amstad. You don't get anything for nothing but we will always think that we will..John.

tony brady · 3rd Nov 2014, 8:10 pm

when I was at school I had the Amstrad AM/FM tuner ( 4000 series) for which I paid the princely sum of £42 as I remember. It worked well and only had two problems - the plastic buttons used to fly off and it drifted quite badly on FM.

I also had the cheaper of the amplifiers they made at the time. The output used to cut out on one channel but it worked ok the rest of the time.

With a bit more engineering they could have been quite good products. The turntable I always liked the look of - the problem was the tripod platter only held the record in three places but it was also the most interesting feature for me at the time

Tony

Nickthedentist · 3rd Nov 2014, 8:41 pm

I had the top-loading 7050, bought at a jumble sale in the late 1980s for £2.

It worked, and was fair-middling for playback, although sounded too muddy with the Dolby in. Recording was poor though, everything sounding confused. It had big VU meters but they were very slow to respond so you had to be cautious with record levels. The power switch latch had failed when I got it, but cunning use of an elastic band inside restored it to normal push-on, push-off operation.

On the plus side, it was reliable and the speed stability was good.

http://audiogold.co.uk/wp-content/up...rtrad-7050.jpg

N.

mark pirate · 3rd Nov 2014, 9:38 pm

I too had an Amstrad top loading cassette deck, it was actually made in japan and worked quite well.
The real rubbish were those awful Amstrad 'Tower' systems sold mainly in Woolworths. I doubt many of them survive!

Mark

electronicskip · 3rd Nov 2014, 10:16 pm

When I worked at Rumbelows we used to sell the Tower systems like hot cakes, especially the TS33 and the TS55 models which had the twin cassette system if memory serves.
I do remember the speakers used to blow quite a lot, but don't really recall any other major problems .

bikerhifinut · 3rd Nov 2014, 10:45 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by sp10mk11

I think the only Amstrad hi-fi equipment that was some thing, was TP-12D turntable, impressive looking with an ok performance bar one design error. The arm was not mounted the correct distance from the spindle so according to the review I read many years ago you had to skew the cartridge in the headshell to get proper tracking error.

I don't know if you owned one, but I did back in the 80's.
It was a poor copy of the Rega Planet and to be frank it was ****** awful. The speed stability was appalling and it would resonate with any hard surface it was placed on, which amplified the not inconsiderable bearing and motor noises. Exceedingly microphonic. The arm was ok though and had a decent SME style detachable headshell.
I noticed there were a couple on sale at Tonbridge in October.

Just my experience with it.

Andy.

unitaudio · 4th Nov 2014, 1:05 am

If memory serves, wasn't the arm on the TP-12D an Acos Lustre or a copy of one? I'm given to understand it was quite a good arm. Pity they didn't see fit to mount it properly and there's no excuse for that, it would've cost nothing to do it properly. Still, I suppose it's academic really, in view of the deck's other issues...

In the early 80's I bought an IC8000 mk2 amp for £8. Now considering it was less than 10 years old at the time this represented something of a bargain, even though it had various faults. These turned out to be easy fixes and while it was hardly the best amp I'd heard it was decent enough to my ears back then.

The point is that some of the earlier Amstrad gear was ok but as time went on they became more and more cheap until they reached the stage where a medium priced portable sounded better.

If you mooch about online for long enough there are loads of TS-series rack systems for sale dirt cheap. It says everything that many don't seem to sell.

Regards,
Paul

Radio Wrangler · 4th Nov 2014, 2:44 am

It was a copy of the Acos Lustre

I bought an Acos Rega turntable (before Rega split off) with a Lustre arm and all I can say was that it was excellent.

I've met a few of the Amstrad turntables and they were pretty poor in comparison. A lot of kids at school had problems with amstrad amps and speakers, and I kept getting asked to sort them out. I certainly didn't want one, but then I could build better for myself.

I think Amstrad stuff wasn't good enough to be looked after. Anything in working order will be rather rare today.

David

Heatercathodeshort · 4th Nov 2014, 9:16 am

As I mentioned earlier it was the young teenage market that Amstrad products were aimed at! The more noise and wobble the better and to be honest they were not THAT bad!
I'll relate a typical incident in my shop. A guy wanted a transistor radio for his son's 16th birthday. Money was not so much a problem and he knew the quality of Roberts and Toshiba portables were good. After looking at the receivers and admiring their sound quality he asked if I had anything with 'fancy aerials and knobs'. We laughed and understood it was a 16 year old young man he was buying it for and wanted something to impress his mates.
Unfortunately I could not help him but I understood his situation perfectly. Some dads would not have done...Parents can ruin your childhood

.
Amstrad hit the market right and let's be honest, he was not aiming his products at the audiofool market or maybe he was... Regards, John.

29th Oct 2014, 10:28 pm	#1
tonyr1977 Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Liverpool, Merseyside, UK. Posts: 1	Amstrad 7070. Value? I have a fully working Amstrad 7070 tape deck, does anybody know what this is currently worth?

29th Oct 2014, 10:37 pm	#2
paulsherwin Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 27,970	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? Not a lot I'm afraid. http://www.vintagecassette.com/amstrad/7070

30th Oct 2014, 8:19 am	#3
mole42uk Nonode Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Resolven, Wales; and Bristol, England Posts: 2,614	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? Amstrad? It will be worth more as scrap metal. Just as they were when new! __________________ Richard Index: recursive loop: see recursive loop

30th Oct 2014, 8:34 am	#4
Nickthedentist Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Oxford, UK. Posts: 17,864	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? Sorry to say that the others are right. At the moment, even really nice cassette decks often fail to sell at all, and this was probably the worst cassette deck I've ever owned (honestly!). Amstrad stuff was cheap and cheerful to put it politely. However, someone might want it to digitize their cassette collection. Charity shop maybe? Nick.

30th Oct 2014, 12:17 pm	#5
Tyso_Bl Hexode Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Magor, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK. Posts: 436	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? These are becoming quite rare now as they were never high end enough to become of any interest to collectors, most seem to have gone to resyk by now, with just a few stragglers in hiding. Might be worth keeping if you got the space, just as a historical curiosity. __________________ Adapt, Improvise, Oh Bother.....

30th Oct 2014, 12:44 pm	#6
Radio Wrangler Moderator Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Fife, Scotland, UK. Posts: 22,902	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? Very very few people valued these enough to keep them, so they are going to be very rare. Rather like everyone threw away soap powder boxes and so preserved packages of DAZ and OMO from the sixties are very rare. Sentimental value only. David __________________ Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done

3rd Nov 2014, 1:12 pm	#7
Dave Anderson Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Slough, Berkshire, UK. Posts: 113	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? I agree with previous posters, it is rare to find old Amstrad cassette decks. What is even more surprising is that your machine is fully working. However, this does not really increase the value. Amstrad hi-fi equipment was strictly 'entry-level' and didn't sound all that good. I think the company tempted many first-time buyers on a limited income who couldn't afford budget Japanese brands. Amstrad used the same philosophy when home computers were introduced to the market. Sure enough the company made money but their hi-fi systems left a lot to be desired, in my view. Dave.

3rd Nov 2014, 2:15 pm	#8
paulsherwin Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 27,970	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? Amstrad never understood the hifi market. Reputation is everything there, even for entry level stuff, and Amstrad audio products had a terrible reputation which was partly deserved. They didn't sell well and I don't believe Amstrad ever made much money from them. The computer market is completely different and Amstrad computers were very successful for a time, despite the cost cutting and limited specs.

3rd Nov 2014, 3:20 pm	#9
Dave Anderson Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Slough, Berkshire, UK. Posts: 113	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? Hi Paul, Amstrad regularly carried full two-page spread advertisements in nearly all of the popular hi-fi magazines. They were stocked in typically high turnover retail outlets such as Comet and Laskey's to name only two. I am convinced they sold hi-fi in sufficient quantities to make some money. Having seen the ruthless side of Alan Sugar in BBC TV's 'The Apprentice' I don't think he would have lost money in that side of his business. The Amstrad range was fairly comprehensive; music centres, turntables, amplifiers, tuners, receivers, cassette decks and loudspeakers of varying specs. True enough his presence in the hi-fi world was relatively short-lived but I think this was because he saw greater potential in the home and business PC market. Dave.

3rd Nov 2014, 4:34 pm	#10
electronicskip Nonode Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK. Posts: 2,150	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? I actually collect Amstrad electronics a little for my sins, having sold it extensivly over the 70s and 80s i have an affinity with it, My Jewels in the crown are the 8000 mk1 and 2 amps he built,but even these are not worth more than £10 or £15 at most.

3rd Nov 2014, 7:38 pm	#11
sp10mk11 Octode Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Cornwall, UK. Posts: 1,275	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? I think the only Amstrad hi-fi equipment that was some thing, was TP-12D turntable, impressive looking with an ok performance bar one design error. The arm was not mounted the correct distance from the spindle so according to the review I read many years ago you had to skew the cartridge in the headshell to get proper tracking error. When I was a lad at school and on very limited budget I would have happily bought Amstrad, I always liked the look of the 4000 amplifier, but that all changed when a friend showed me his father system which comprised of a Amstrad 4000 Garrard Sp25/g800 and a pair of Wharefdale lintons (mega popular budget setup), worse was to come when I touched the amplifier and felt how rough the controls were and then he switched it all on, oh painful treble, course blah blah, but never mind I still have fond memories, and still look at there multipage adverts in old hi-fi mags wishing I could be there again. I think collecting these is a good idea, we will never see this type of gear again from this country, plenty of it lurking on the shelves in stores today made in china etc . Hi-fi had a fun element in those days, I am getting too old now Enjoy chaps Gary

3rd Nov 2014, 7:57 pm	#12
Heatercathodeshort Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING. Posts: 9,147	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? Don't knock Amstrad! They were cheap and cheerful products that could be afforded by the teenage market. There must have been many young kids that were lucky enough to receive their own 'Hi-Fi' for a birthday or Christmas present and would have been over the moon with it. Their 'professional' looking sliders and control panels appealed to this market and were of course entry models for more elaborate products that could be afforded with their first wage packets. Ok, it may have been over advertised but that is big business and certainly not confined to Amstad. You don't get anything for nothing but we will always think that we will..John.

3rd Nov 2014, 8:10 pm	#13
tony brady Hexode Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Peacehaven, East Sussex, UK. Posts: 278	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? when I was at school I had the Amstrad AM/FM tuner ( 4000 series) for which I paid the princely sum of £42 as I remember. It worked well and only had two problems - the plastic buttons used to fly off and it drifted quite badly on FM. I also had the cheaper of the amplifiers they made at the time. The output used to cut out on one channel but it worked ok the rest of the time. With a bit more engineering they could have been quite good products. The turntable I always liked the look of - the problem was the tripod platter only held the record in three places but it was also the most interesting feature for me at the time Tony

3rd Nov 2014, 8:41 pm	#14
Nickthedentist Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Oxford, UK. Posts: 17,864	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? I had the top-loading 7050, bought at a jumble sale in the late 1980s for £2. It worked, and was fair-middling for playback, although sounded too muddy with the Dolby in. Recording was poor though, everything sounding confused. It had big VU meters but they were very slow to respond so you had to be cautious with record levels. The power switch latch had failed when I got it, but cunning use of an elastic band inside restored it to normal push-on, push-off operation. On the plus side, it was reliable and the speed stability was good. http://audiogold.co.uk/wp-content/up...rtrad-7050.jpg N.

3rd Nov 2014, 9:38 pm	#15
mark pirate Dekatron Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Worthing, West Sussex, UK Posts: 5,185	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? I too had an Amstrad top loading cassette deck, it was actually made in japan and worked quite well. The real rubbish were those awful Amstrad 'Tower' systems sold mainly in Woolworths. I doubt many of them survive! Mark

3rd Nov 2014, 10:16 pm	#16
electronicskip Nonode Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK. Posts: 2,150	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? When I worked at Rumbelows we used to sell the Tower systems like hot cakes, especially the TS33 and the TS55 models which had the twin cassette system if memory serves. I do remember the speakers used to blow quite a lot, but don't really recall any other major problems .

4th Nov 2014, 1:05 am	#18
unitaudio Heptode Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Manchester, UK. Posts: 862	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? If memory serves, wasn't the arm on the TP-12D an Acos Lustre or a copy of one? I'm given to understand it was quite a good arm. Pity they didn't see fit to mount it properly and there's no excuse for that, it would've cost nothing to do it properly. Still, I suppose it's academic really, in view of the deck's other issues... In the early 80's I bought an IC8000 mk2 amp for £8. Now considering it was less than 10 years old at the time this represented something of a bargain, even though it had various faults. These turned out to be easy fixes and while it was hardly the best amp I'd heard it was decent enough to my ears back then. The point is that some of the earlier Amstrad gear was ok but as time went on they became more and more cheap until they reached the stage where a medium priced portable sounded better. If you mooch about online for long enough there are loads of TS-series rack systems for sale dirt cheap. It says everything that many don't seem to sell. Regards, Paul __________________ ...No, it's not supposed to pick up the World Service, it's not a radio!

4th Nov 2014, 2:44 am	#19
Radio Wrangler Moderator Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Fife, Scotland, UK. Posts: 22,902	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? It was a copy of the Acos Lustre I bought an Acos Rega turntable (before Rega split off) with a Lustre arm and all I can say was that it was excellent. I've met a few of the Amstrad turntables and they were pretty poor in comparison. A lot of kids at school had problems with amstrad amps and speakers, and I kept getting asked to sort them out. I certainly didn't want one, but then I could build better for myself. I think Amstrad stuff wasn't good enough to be looked after. Anything in working order will be rather rare today. David __________________ Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done

4th Nov 2014, 9:16 am	#20
Heatercathodeshort Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING. Posts: 9,147	Re: Amstrad 7070. Value? As I mentioned earlier it was the young teenage market that Amstrad products were aimed at! The more noise and wobble the better and to be honest they were not THAT bad! I'll relate a typical incident in my shop. A guy wanted a transistor radio for his son's 16th birthday. Money was not so much a problem and he knew the quality of Roberts and Toshiba portables were good. After looking at the receivers and admiring their sound quality he asked if I had anything with 'fancy aerials and knobs'. We laughed and understood it was a 16 year old young man he was buying it for and wanted something to impress his mates. Unfortunately I could not help him but I understood his situation perfectly. Some dads would not have done...Parents can ruin your childhood . Amstrad hit the market right and let's be honest, he was not aiming his products at the audiofool market or maybe he was... Regards, John.