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A few weeks ago I spotted this rather good looking machine on Facebook marketplace - a quick inspection of the control panel showed a "source/monitor" switch, indicating a 3-head deck, and the description listed it as fully working (which is not quite true, as it turns out). Intrigued and finding the machine rather visually appealing, I googled the unit and found... absolutely nothing, completely undocumented online, barring a couple of online auction photos of a similar but differently specced Hanimex model 2000. For any sane person this would make it a poor purchase, as that means there's no information about the unit, but for me this is a problem - I can't just let a machine fade into obscurity! Naturally I bought it with the express purchase of studying and documenting it (this one is unlikely to stay in my collection)
Hanimex, despite the Japanese-sounding name, is an Australian manufacturer - founded by Jack Hannes, the name is short for Hannes Import and Export. The company initially started out as an importer and distributor for Fujifilm products, but with Australian government restrictions on importing Japanese goods the company began producing their own film and photo products locally instead, becoming an internationally successful producer of photo slide and film projectors. Within Australia they also produced a range of magnetic tapes, of which I own a few reels, and later as import restrictions loosened, they also imported and rebadged a number of Japanese-made tape recorders, alarm clocks and other electronic products, of which this machine is one such example. Despite the Australian badge, this unit is not Australian made, and is instead made by a different company in Japan and simply labelled to their preferences.
This particular machine was also sold in similar guises in the USA as the Realistic TR-77, TR-88 and TR-90, with various specifications, and had a sister unit here in Australia of the Hanimex model 2000, which is nigh-identical except with 2 heads instead of two, removing the ability for monitoring your recordings as you make them. I bought this model as it appears to be completely undocumented online at the time of writing - the only results when searching for these Hanimex machines is a single image from a long-finished online auction of the model 2000, and no trace of the 3000 at all. Additionally, I wanted to know who made it - owners of the Radioshack/Realistic variants seem to have put forward various theories as to which Japanese manufacturer built it - Hitachi? Panasonic? Nivico? Sharp? Working out the provenance of these sorts of machines can sometimes be difficult, but thankfully this one had an English label on the motor that answered the question right away on disassembly - and everyone's guesses were wrong.
Stamped on the motor is the logo and name of the Fujiya Electric Co. They seem to have been a producer of primarily vacuum tube-based tape recorders throughout the 50s and 60s, with fairly few known models. Its possible that they were associated with or owned by the larger and still operating Fuji Electric/Fuji Denki Co, and many of their older machines wore a "Fuji-Corder" badge. While this unit is solid state and transistor based, no tubes to be found, very interestingly, it uses 9-pin vacuum tube sockets for the unpluggable wire connectors that connect the mechanism section to the record/play and control panel circuitboards. Unpluggable connectors is a welcome change from the Hitachi TRQ-701s, but this is certainly an interesting choice - and puts the unit firmly in the 60s, as this is a decision that would most likely be made due to vacuum tube sockets being a "readily available off-the-shelf" part, which would not be quite so true come 1970.
Another interesting trait of the unit is that the level meters, rather than using the standardised VU (volume unit) or dB indication of level, as seen on every other machine I own, use a percentage scale - nonstandard, certainly, but does the job of setting levels just fine. The meters do have a nice glowing illumination, but, being the older narrow "vertical" style of meter rather than the more common, later "front-on" style, they're a bit difficult to read from a distance. Very 60s. Handily, it is one of the few machines I have encountered that lets you change the speed while it is in-operation, as most machines lock the speed selector in place when in play mode (or, in the case of my Grundig, when its powered on at all). Handy if you're wanting to make weird speed effects as a musician, I suppose! Typical for the time, it has an onboard power amplifier, so as well as the usual tape in/out jacks it also features speaker out jacks for plugging in a pair of speakers, as well as phono-level jacks - not sure if these are input or output. The AC cable is a proprietary 3-pin type so don't lose the plug, but it does appear to be non-polarised, meaning the centre pin must be ground, so rigging up some alligator clips in a pinch would likely work just fine.
This particular unit was quite dirty when I got it - I've cleaned it up a fair bit, though the speaker grill cloth is still disgusting. More pertinently, its afflicted by a problem that seems to be very common for pressure-pad decks - the spring that applies the pressure pads and holds the tape against the heads isn't doing so with enough enthusiasm, leading to muffled and low volume sound unless you manually add a little pressure yourself. I have a new expansion spring on order. In any case, the Hanimex 3000 is an extremely good-looking example of 1960s brushed-metal tape recorder, with stunningly shiny dials and levers, that deserves to be documented and remembered online instead of disappearing forever.