Ed from Canada Shares His Info of the Panasonic RF-7270 Royal Aire Radio Recorder

(Re-post)

Addressing Dan's restoration of his Panasonic RF-7270 Royal Aire Radio Cassette Recorder, Ed M from Canada writes:

I too have 3 of these RF-7270 radios around all in good working condition. 2 of them which I purchased off of ebay some years ago and one that my dad purchased new in 1969- 1970 for almost $200.00 at Eatons. 

From what my dad told me many years ago is that the RF-7270 is a Phillips/Norelco cassette tape recorder adapted with an fm am radio and this RF-7270 unit was first available in late 1968 which would put it at 42+ years.Really you could say that this radio is the inception of the first real ghetto blaster.It came with a microphone and stand, ear phone and 5 blue Panasonic Hi top batteries and instruction book, warranty card and a demo cassette tape which i still have. This was standard with Panasonic during those days to include batteries, a cassette tape, microphone and earphone. For my dads unit he had also purchased which was an option at the time a multi voltage AC adapter from Panasonic as so the unit could be powered from 120 volts ac outlet to 7.5 dc volts in the house instead of using the batteries.

I recall that this radio was a pig on batteries when using the cassette deck with the volume turned up and the tape speed would change as the batteries went weak.Also available was a car mounting bracket in which you could use the radio in the car and then remove it from the car and use it as a portable. When you would use the radio in the car the round fm/am station numbers would light up blue in color when you turned the radio on in which you could see the station dial in the dark. This also being possibility the first car stereo radio even though this is a mono unit it has superb sound and tone quality and sensitivity. 

I will also mention that the Panasonic RF-3100 cassette player recorder uses the same cassette design as the RF-7270 and the RF-3100 was made in 1967 a year earlier which was Panasonic first small potable cassette player recorder in 1967.

Also in my collection I have an RF-7280 circa 1969 which is the same as the RF-7270 except it has a weather band for listing to weather reports also instead of the one control knob for the cassette player as in the RF-7270 the RF-7280 incorporates the piano key type of operation for the cassette deck also along with this I have 2 RF-7490 stereo cassette radio recorders which are in working order all units use the 4`x6`powerful speaker.I also have service manuals for all 3 models RF-7270,Rf-7280 and the RF-7490.

Also as you mention there is a large, printed copy of the RF-7270's schematic -- carefully folded and tucked between the chassis and the case which is true as is the same for my units.The speaker is a powerful 4`x6`oval speaker
All of these units at the time were top notch in there class and were built very well to be enjoyed in the many years to come.

Best Regards,

Ed M.

Comments

[Alexi]

Very good, but why so many reposts?

[Jeffrey McMahon]

Alexi, you must be a regular reader to notice. For many readers, however, a re-post is often seen for the first time.

[Angelo]

Based on the first run of this post, I bought an old Magnavox that is styled in a similar way, to this Panny. It's a goodie. I'll send a brief report when I can.

[Scooby214]

I like the reposts. Brings things back to mind that I haven't thought about in a while. Plus, many times people comment on the reposts with updates on what had been originally posted.

[Buster]

My Dad brought one of these back to Australia from a visit to the US in 1968. This was the first time I or any of my friends had ever seen a cassette. I was 10 years old and we spent hours recording records off our portable mono record player (via the mic). My first career was in hi-fi sales, then professional audio sales - I blame the 7270!!
I recently inherited the machine and am looking forward to getting it working. Still have the AC adaptor and the mic with stand!

[Ken C]

Ed, I had that very same Panasonic RF-7270 Royal-Aire radio/recorder as a Christmas gift in 1968 or 69. Would love to have one again. Do you know where I might be able to buy one? Many thanks.

[Eddie Ayala]

Hey, Ed, I been looking for the RF-7490/RD-7490 ever since I sold my first one in 1971. I bought it from a store in downtown Manhattan in an electronics store (there were many of them on the street downhill from the Pine ST/Wall St. block which had either elec. stores or food shops exclusively & I worked at Bankers Trust up the block in 1969 when I bought it. However, mine had 3 sets of RCA jacks on the lower back of the head unit, a MM PHONO entry and an auxiliary PLUS a line out, 3 sets, yet the ones I've seen since only have a aux/line input and nothing more. I wonder what version you have, I was very surprised that Matsushita would downgrade a magnificent piece like that by eliminating the accessory connections, and I regret having sold my unit only 2 years after my purchase, and have been looking for the original version with all its connections. I paid 169 plus tax for it back then, I was wondering if it is still available in any part of the world as I know many big firms continue to market cassette units in other parts of the world, hope you can tell me if you know (my name is Ed as well, haha!)

[Eddie Ayala]

...if you ever see these postings and are in the U.S.A., feel free to text me to 407-460-8188 (text only, please), I would really appreciate any info, thanks!!

[Angelo]

Eddie: Have you been checking E-Bay? I see similar radios come up once in a while---not sure about those inputs though.