Fisher MT-6360

Ah - automation !

The Fisher MT-6360 (TP-L100D in Japan, under the Sanyo brand) is a short-lived programmable turntable with a little white lie : it isn't programmable.
Programmable, as here outlined, meant one could choose a program, one program, or one track - not that one could program in shuffle mode all the tracks of an LP. The Sanyo marketing department pushed a little but, but it probably worked, as usual.

The IR remote control part of the MT-6360 wasn't a lie at all : three buttons to cue, stop and start LP replay at the maximum distance of seven meters. The selected track is displayed on the front LED panel. But although the MT-6360 can keep sweet little sixteen tracks in RAM, only nine can be displayed, as said display only had one 7-segment digit :)

The MT-6360 seems to have been named MT-9000 in some markets, without the remote control and front receiver ; this version was named TP-F100S in Japan.

Fisher, since 1975, was fully Sanyo and this allowed cross-braced versions and variants : the Sanyo TP-L100D omitted the front stroboscope enclosed in the large export black strip.

However, Sanyo didn't built any of those : CEC did (MT-6360 / TP-L100D) and TSE did (MT-9000 / TP-F100S). I don't know who TSE is.


Still -
The MT-6360 was a big step forward in size when compared to the 1976 Accutrac 4000. Yet to come were such contraptions as voice-operated-remote-controlled-automatic-programmable-disc-changer, from Sharp for instance.
Still too bulky, uh ? Enter Compact Disc - problem solved. Still bulky you say, eh ? Enter iPod - problem atomized, for sure. But I'd still prefer that Sharp RP-X2, even if to not use its programmable and changer functions.

Well, if the tonearm comes back all by itself at the end of the record, one still has to put an LP on the platter to begin with, and the repeat function wasn't repeated on the MICOM remote control - automation has its limits.

Just to remind us we're only humans after all.