Sharp RT-100 + SA-11

In the early part of the new millennium I set out to digitise my old tape collection. The project would demand a dedicated tape deck.

In December 2003 a colleague put this old bookshelf system up for sale, and I nabbed it for all of 30€ (without the fluffy gorilla).

It consisted of a Sharp RT-100 (RT-100HB) cassette deck, a Sharp SA-11 (SA-11HB) tuner/amplifier, and a pair of Sharp CP-155DB two-way speakers.

The most interesting thing to mention about the set was its colour: Not black, not silver, and certainly not Marantz-style champagne/golden -- but a dated, wooden bookshelf kind of brown.

I remember hooking it up in the office to test it later that same evening. It played loud and fine.

There's little to be said about the cassette recorder: It was a simple mechanical deck with Dolby B, and it supported metal tapes. The DIN-socket for the line-out signal would require an adapter. The deck did what it was supposed to, and did so surprisingly well. Basic and functional. I certainly got my mileage out of it.

User Manual (German) | Large views: back | inside

The receiver/amplifier was even less remarkable: It had an FM/AM/MW radio, and the amplifier pumped out sound in a manner to be expected of a unit of its class and vintage. I had no immediate plans for it and ended up not using it for anything.

User Manual (German) | Large views: back | top

And so the set was stashed away in the attic until the great tape digitisation project that lasted from December 2007 to April 2009.

Once the project was completed, the set went back into storage in the attic.

In June 2013 it got hauled out again, only to be discarded along with a load of other gadgetry. The loudspeakers found a new home with another colleague.

Thank you for your services.