Toshiba SM3750 Music Centre.

[Ryan_1993]

Hello

Back last summer I really wanted a record player for my room, well it is 1970's themed. Last June I purchased an almost mint, Flagship 1978 Toshiba SM3750 off ebay for £6.50. collection only. The unit came complete with everything service manuals, instructions, matching Toshiba speakers etc.

According the last owner it had a relatively small amount of use before being put away in storage some 20 years back, as his wife bought him I think a smaller stacked unit.

When I brought it home over the next few days I gave it a major clean totally dismantling the platter, fitting a new drive belt and stylus. At the end of last year I also fitted modern speakers into the old wood effect 70s carcasses, to keep with the vintage theme, as the other ones has pretty much rotted away.

Overall, it looks in pretty awesome shape. There are now only now two issues needing to be fixed, which are pretty minor. Firstly, the cassette decks belt is worn away/snapped, I haven't got round to it yet. Secondly, several of the lighting bulbs have burnt out. It is my intention someday though to give it the restoration this unit deserves.

More recently I bought a Decca CD1000 8-track unit to go along with this machine and it works awesomely. This too needed a bit of work to get it going in terms of a new drive belt and a major internal clean.

Pictures
First shot is from last summer on the day I bought it and set it up.

Second is one more recently from January of this year, just before my room was decorated.

The Latest shot was just taken and shows the record player on its £13.99 "Ikea special" coffee table, with 8-track player and Rotel Amp underneith.


I'd say it was the best £6.50 I've ever spent.

[Nickthedentist]

That's a wonderful thing, Ryan. It would have been seriously expensive when new, as you know, probably in the region of £500, which was a great deal of money in the late 1970s.

Well done for saving it!

N.

[Ryan_1993]

thanks.

Yeah well the guy was going to throw it in the tip if no one bought it. He did say that it took him many, many months to save up for it though. I did read online someone telling me price wise about 500-800 quid. Although I don't have much of an idea of its actual retail price just speculation. It did come with a Toshiba catalogue though and was like the Flagship one on the front cover and with it having all the quirky timer settings and self recording features what the other Toshiba units lacked.

[slidertogrid]

Hi Ryan I have exactly the same model, it was bought new by my cousin in the late 1970's. It was the hi fi that introduced me to Pink Floyd.
It too ended up in his loft when replaced with a newer unit with a CD player.
He gave it to me about two years ago. It still sounds fantastic.
It certainly was a major purchase. I think he had it on the never - never for a couple of years.
I still have the original speakers but the foam suspension has degraded, so for now it's running on a pair of Hitachi ones.
Nice to see another has survived!

Rich.

[Heatercathodeshort]

I sold the full range of Toshiba music centres and a lot of them. Real Hi-Fi units with a high output amp, magnetic cartridge and a super sensitive FM/AM tuner.
The build quality was more in keeping with electronics you would find in an aircraft. If you want to hear what LP records should really sound like, play them on one of these.
A real pleasure to sell, customers absolutely loved them.
I pulled this October 1978 catalogue from my files as I thought you might like to see it. Very Happy Days! Regards, John.
PS The price of the SM3750 was around £350

[stubbyeddy]

I have not long finished servicing my SM-3750 and I have to say hooked up to some good speakers it sounds astonishing for an all in one system, the tape deck sounds particularly good as does the turntable, mine had very little use so is in great cosmetic condition. I have now taken to using this as my main music system. The only complaint I have about it is the tape deck mech it a bit of a nightmare to sort out but once its serviced has to be heard to be believed. Glad I saved it from the tip... being an all in one I was a bit hesitant!

[Phil G4SPZ]

Well done, what a nice piece of vintage kit.

[mark pirate]

Great to see a music centre being used and enjoyed, I have a high end Aiwa from the same era.
As with yours, it will require new belts to get the cassette deck & record deck working properly again.

Mark

[Nuvistor]

Like John in post 5, I remember these selling very well and sounded good too. In 1978 £350 was probably more than some colour TV's.
Thanks for showing us the unit.
Frank

[Meat Pye]

That looks like it has a pretty decent turntable and arm for a midi. Bet the tuner is a good 'un as well. Congratulations for saving it from the grim reaper (rubbish bin)!

[ianj]

I've got a 1977 National Panasonic music centre upstairs complete with new bulbs and belts. It goes great! I've put a bluetooth adaptor into the aux. Din socket on the back; now I can stream music into it too

[Heatercathodeshort]

A close friend of mine, he was actually the guy that owned 'Central Tubes' the CRT rebuilders. His daughter was getting married and he wanted to give her a music centre as part of her wedding gifts.
He came to the shop and chose a SM3750 from the catalogue without actually having a demonstration. I would add that he was a Hi-Fi nutter filling his living room with the most expensive units that were available back then.
He called in a few days later and said the music centre had caused a lot of upset back home. He was astonished at it's quality and volume adding that the record deck was one of the best performers he had played with.
Now the problem...His wife wanted to know why her living room was taken up with huge speakers, [one set of speakers had cost him the best part of £1000 back in the 70's.] cabinets, reel to reel recorders, wires and complication when the £350 Toshiba appeared to sound as good and on the large part he had to agree with her.
Oh dear, you can't win them all! John.

[Nickthedentist]

Wonderful story, John!

Was the output device just an STK-series slab though?

I had the lesser SM-2950 (£5 from a junk shop in about 1995) which was good without being outstanding. That had an STK-461 I think.

Nick.

[dseymo1]

I suspect that the most significant difference was in the supplied speakers. That always seemed to be where money was saved, and quite a few run-of-the-mill music centres didn't sound bad playing into decent speakers.

[Heatercathodeshort]

The whole set up was truly outstanding with good speakers that could handle the full output from the amp. I can't remember the amplifier set up but an even more elaborate model was the SM4750 that had one of the first digital tuners. [Analogue of course!] The cassette deck and turntable were constructed of real metal and the arm tracked at a very low weight.
Customers had to be instructed on how to use the record deck. The stylus could be easily damaged by children and rough hands unlike the BSR TC8 types employed in the cheap Dansette record players that these units replaced. John.