Boots/WH Smith audio products

[Junk Box Nick]

Prinz was a Dixons brand IIRC.

I still have an Philips EL3302. It was pretty much unique (in the early 70s) in as much as the record level could be adjusted manually by a pot whereas every other consumer cassette machine seemed to boast automatic recording level. Being a control freak I much preferred the former.

[paulsherwin]

Yes, Prinz was the Dixon's brand before Saisho, when they wanted their stuff to seem German rather than Japanese.

[McMurdo]

my sister had a boots radio cassette recorder, probably new in the late 70s or early 80s that was by LG

Probably Goldstar, LG didn't exist until 1994


Suspect Boots, like most rebranders, would have bought from whoever offered the best deal at the time, including the exchange rate and import duties of the day. They certainly weren't the cheapest product they could lay their hands on. As an example they rebranded Cine Cameras by Sankyo and projectors by Bolex, to name but 2

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
I still have a load of those white psychedelic looking cassettes, C60s & C90s which still play reasonably OK.
Back in 1982 we bought a CRTV50 combined 5" B/W TV, AM/FM radio, and cassette recorder in a white case for use on 240VAC, 12VDC or internal 'D' cells from Boots' Chester branch to use in our caravan. Thirty-three years on, it's still working and has only once been opened up ease thickened up grease on the TV tuner drive.
Cheers, Pete.

[ben]

Originally Posted by McMurdo

Probably Goldstar, LG didn't exist until 1994

LG=Lucky Goldstar. Same thing?!

[trsomian]

Ben,
I thought that they were one and the same thing, only then they tended to brand things "Goldstar" rather than LG as now

[Maarten]

Lucky chemicals and Goldstar electronics fused at some point in the 1990's (1994 seems about right). Before that, the company was called Goldstar so it seems logical they didn't use the LG brand name before it existed

Originally Posted by trsomian

I seem to remember that my sister had a boots radio cassette recorder, probably new in the late 70s or early 80s that was by LG

By looking at visible article numbers of the form 000-000A in the pictures in radiomuseum.org, I have in the past identified a few Boots (portable) radio and TV sets as made by Goldstar.

[Hybrid tellies]

Back in the mid 1970,s I seem to remember a version of the ITT Colt being sold in Boots. It had a brighter more colourful case and dial than the original model from ITT.

[glowinganode]

Here's a pair of WHSmith cans which I still use on a daily basis for SW listening.
They have a good tone and are free from resonances. Despite being cheaply made, they're very comfortable to wear and the pvc muffs and cable are surprisingly pliable considering they're getting on for 30 yrs old.

Rob.

['LIVEWIRE?']

Boots sold identical headphones to those WHS ones! I still have a pair in my workshop.