1959 Crown TR-7S (TR-777)
Shirt pocket radio, thermoplastic cabinet
4 3/8 x 2 13/16 x 1 3/8 inches / 110 x 71 x 35 mm
Seven transistors (Hitachi, 3x HJ62, 2x 2N217, 2N218, 2N219, + 1N34A diode and TEN KV-1 varistor)
Superheterodyne circuit
One standard 9-volt battery
Manufactured by Asahi Radio Mfg. Co., Ltd., Tokyo
Distributed by Western Electrical, Europe
One of Crown's most stunning pocket radio cabinet designs. I bought this example from a seller in Italy — as you can see from the badge on the speaker grille and the tag on the inside back cover, this model was distributed by a company named "Western Electrical". I recently saw another example on eBay-Italy identical to this one, sharing both the "Western Electrical" distributor name and the TR-7S model number — whether "Western Electrical" was a distributor only in Italy or elsewhere in Europe as well isn't clear.
The version of this model that sold in the US was of course known as the TR-777 — versions found in Japan were given the model number TR-7S, and this example shows that the TR-7S model number was also used for models sold in Europe (or at least in Italy).
This unit was assembled on November 20, 1959, as indicated by Asahi Radio's dd/mm/yy production date stamp, 201159 — see my Crown production date codes page.
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