lighted tuner japan-only needle meters rare musicsearch flywheeltuner dual-antenna soft-touch-controls hiquality hifi executive-style toshiba 1-piece 10-d Toshiba RT-S90
Many collectors say the RT-S90 was one of the Top 10 best-sounding boomboxes of the 1980's. It was the top-of-the-line model from Toshiba. They equipped it with their best tape deck and their exclusive Automatic Dynamic Range Expansion System (ADRES), which was better than Dolby C according to many enthusiasts.
It looks fantastic with its aluminum trim, green VU meters, green tuner dial, and green ADRES indicator light.
Its dimensions are 60 x 35 x 16 cm. It has 18 cm woofers and 5 cm tweeters. Wow & flutter is only 0.04%. According to Toshiba literature, its power output is 10 watts per channel according to the EIAJ/DC standard. For perspective, the Toshiba RT-9990SM, which is a nice-sounding box, has only 6 watts per channel by the same standard.
The example below was refurbished and modified by member Superduper. The incandescent dial lamps have been replaced by LED which cut down on energy consumption and heat by quite a bit. To reduce the chances of the micro power switch from wearing out (something that occurs due to arcing of the internal contacts), the power switch functions was offloaded to a relay which is better able to handle the high current switching of the main power switch, and the old power switch now only needs to handle enough current to energize the relay.
In addition to the LED illuminated dial, member Superduper also illuminated the tuner needle with a red LED. The LED travels with the needle and highlights it so the operator can see at a glance where the tuner needle is on the scale.
The owners manual for this model can be purchased by this vendor: