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Akai GX-77 No need to present one of the most enduring "cutie" designs ! The GX-77 sold very very well in its original silver guise, much less in its later semi-black fashion - it is better in silver anyway. A very mysterious engine when shown with its nearly completely opaque dustcover ! It isn't however a particularily good recorder nor a distinguished mechanical design, even if its loading system resembles (visually) that of the Technics RS-1500 series : open-reel decks were on their way out and Akai was already in trouble, partly operated by Mitsubishi / Diatone as it was since 1979. Even the finish itself really borders on the cheap as their is too much plastic to sustain the good design itself. And the same is true of all the other Akai cuties of that vintage : AM-U61, GX-F71, ST-S61 etc. It was cleary time to make cheaper for a brand couldn't be sustained by products such as the Pro 1000 or even its reputation alone anymore. Akai's last full novelty development was the GX-625 which was presented in Japan in a one-off bright red finish ! That puts us to 1978/1979 nevertheless. The rest, however well remembered, like the GX-747, represents more the diminishing trail of the comet than the fast and bright comet itself. A nice, very nice, goodbye to the 1970s just the same. I want one.
All about the GX-77 at Frank Oomen's. |
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