PLEASE READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING TEXT BEFORE PURCHASING, IF YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL ME AT MY TOLL FREE NUMBER 800-544-3746 9:00AM TO 6:00PM PST MONDAY - FRIDAY AND I WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY OF YOUR QUESTIONS.
YOUR PURCHASE IS FOR A ONE-OF-A-KIND, HAND-BUILT PROTOTYPE AM-FM 12-TRANSISTOR "STEREO" TUNER MADE BY SONY CORPORATION IN 1958 (SEE ALL OF THE PHOTOS FOR DETAILS).
IMPORTANT NOTE: THE PURCHASER OF THIS ULTRA-RARE ITEM WILL RECEIVE A NOTARIZED LETTER OF PROVENANCE DOCUMENTING THE COMPLETE HISTORY AND THE NAMES OF THE INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED WITH THE ORIGIN OF THIS SONY TUNER.
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE PIECE OF VINTAGE AUDIO ELECTRONICS WAS PROVIDED BY A FRIEND AND FORMER EMPLOYEE OF THE "AGROD" COMPANY THAT AT THE TIME WAS THE EXCLUSIVE U.S. IMPORTER OF SONY'S LINE OF TRANSISTOR RADIO PRODUCTS.
THIS "HI-FI" TUNER WAS DESIGNED AND HAND-CRAFTED BY SONY CORPORATION AT THE REQUEST AND SPECIFICATIONS OF THIS U.S. IMPORTER. IT WAS DISPLAYED IN THE IMPORTERS TRADE-SHOW BOOTH AT THE 1958 "MAY PARTS" SHOW IN CHICAGO IL. THIS TRADE-SHOW WAS FOR MANUFACTURES AND DISTRIBUTORS OF ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT AND COMPONENTS.
THIS "12 TRANSISTOR STEREO AM-FM TUNER" WAS TO BE SONY'S FIRST VENTURE INTO HIGH FIDELITY AUDIO COMPONENTS. THE FEATURES INCLUDE DUAL VOLUME CONTROLS, ONE FOR FM, AND ONE FOR AM. THIS WAS THE VERY BEGINNING OF STEREO AND SOME STATIONS THAT HAD FCC LICENSES FOR BOTH AM AND FM WOULD "SIMULCAST' STEREO WITH ONE CHANNEL ON AM AND THE OTHER ON FM!
THE NOMENCLATURE STAMPED INTO THE REAR APRON OF THE CHASSIS BELOW THE THREE RCA AUDIO OUTPUT JACKS SHOWS: "AM", "COM" AND "MPX". THE MPX JACK WAS PROBABLY FOR A "FM STEREO MULTIPLEX" ADAPTER. THE COM JACK DOESN'T MAKE SENSE BUT MAY BE THE FM AUDIO OUT AND THE AM FOR THE SAME PURPOSE.
THE CLOSE-UP PHOTOS CLEARLY SHOW THAT THIS PIECE OF EQUIPMENT WAS HAND-CRAFTED, BUT AT A FAIRLY HIGH LEVEL OF COMPETENCE. IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY AT THE WORD TRANSISTOR, YOU WILL NOTICE THE IRREGULARITY OF THE LETTERING ESPECIALLY THE LETTERS "S". ALSO NOTICE THE "HAND MARKS" CLEARLY SHOWN IN THE VARIOUS PHOTOS.
IN ADDITION; NOWHERE ON THIS UNIT IS THERE ANY NAMEPLATE OR NOMENCLATURE DESIGNATING A MODEL OR SERIAL NUMBER!
AT THIS TIME IN SONY'S HISTORY, THE JAPANESE COMPANY HAD EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENTS WITH TWO U.S. IMPORTERS OF THEIR PRODUCTS. ANYTHING TO DO WITH TRANSISTOR RADIOS, "RF" PRODUCTS, WERE EXCLUSIVE TO THE ABOVE IMPORTER.
ALL OF SONY'S TAPE RECORDERS AND "TAPE-CORDER" PRODUCTS WERE EXCLUSIVELY ASSIGNED IN THE US TO THE "SUPERSCOPE" COMPANY (THE SUPERSCOPE NAME WAS DERIVED FROM THEIR ORIGINAL PRODUCT, AN ADJUSTABLE "ANAMORPHIC" 35MM PROJECTOR LENS ADAPTER THAT ALLOWED THEATER EXHIBITORS A MEANS TO ACCOMMODATE ALL THE DIFFERENT WIDE-SCREEN MOVIE FILM FORMATS THAT CAME OUT IN THE 1950'S).
THIS IS THE PART OF THE STORY THAT EXPLAINS WHY THIS HISTORICAL SONY ITEM WAS IN THE MAN'S CLOSET FOR MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS.
WHEN SUPERSCOPE DISCOVERED THAT THIS TUNER WAS FABRICATED AND EXHIBITED AT THIS TRADE-SHOW, THEY TOOK STEPS TO PROTECT THEIR EXCLUSIVITY IN THE U.S. FOR AUDIO PRODUCTS AND REQUESTED THAT SONY NOT ALLOW THE RADIO IMPORTER RIGHTS TO THIS NEW LINE OF PRODUCTS EVEN THOUGH IT WAS AN RF RADIO ITEM.
IF YOU ARE A SERIOUS SONY COLLECTOR OR A SONY MUSEUM CURATOR, THIS IS A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY TO OWN THE VERY FIRST EXAMPLE OF SONY'S STEREO AUDIO COMPONENT PRODUCTS THAT BEGAN THE HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF SONY'S MASTERFUL GENIUS IN AUDIO!
I AM SELLING THIS SONY PROTOTYPE TUNER GUARANTEED AS SHOWN BUT AS-IS FOR $5,000.00..
SONY PROTOTYPE AM-FM 12-TRANSISTOR STEREO TUNER B15-1217-62
All company and product registered trademarks are acknowledged and are the property of their respective companies.
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