The Magic Message AV Repeater

Hahaha, I had one of these! Well I never even thought I'd see one again. bought cheap $20NZD from a local surplus place in 2002 ish. Horrid sound quality but a neat concept. Everywhere I saw them installed, the suction cups gave up in the sun and the heavy transducer fell down.

I've seen those car power sockets used with batteries. Basically, the female version of that power socket on one end and alligator clips on the other end. I'm thinking maybe for an outdoor kiosk without power. Still, straight up 12V DC anything gives you a ton of options.

Such an odd device....but interesting as well

Yet Another Fascinating video, sir. Early QR code, indeed.

So clever and hi-tech to have ALS instead of a mark tone, right up until you have that manual timing adjustment because it can't seek forward automatically to the start of the next loop. :)

I loved that thing. As you talked about the speaker, I was thinking whether it would not be cool if they used the window as a speaker. Someone in the 80s had some fun putting it together. Thank you for bringing it back. The point of the instructions is true. Its odd how important is a design language that anyone can understand but it is not a human y thing but an educational one ainnit? You see kids nowadaess swiping at any flat piece of glass they see

Am I the only one who would record “Stop tapping on the f*****g window!!” :)

Ugh. I watched the video just after I woke up, and I’ve had “This Magic Moment” stuck in my head all day. I have to assume I somehow associated Magic Message with Magic Moment. Is tapping on glass and getting a sales pitch a magic moment? I doubt it.

I would have loved having a look inside the cassette.

I have seen quite a few similar things in museums, press a button and hear stuff about whatever is in front of you

Ah, my favourite old girlfriend, Anna. Anna Log.

Off-topic, but I've been reading the Grundig video comments sorted by newest (as that's the quickest way to get to the silliest comments and I needed the laugh). I can't get over how many people are saying "bring back the puppets". I might be misremembering, but wasn't there a video where you explained why the Moans were retired? Something about YouTube's interpretation of COPPA making it too onerous to feature the Moans on a regular basis.

Like this post if you scanned the QR code...

This device is definitely in the category of unusual but useful and amusing at the same time. Was this device created to give users the ability to have a touch activated "button" from the other side of the glass, like without drilling holes?

The next step would have been to have an output for a slide projector changer. Museums used to think they were really up to date by having AV displays wittering on about the discovery of some Egyptian Mummy or similar, while showing some out of focus 35mm slides using a back projector.

Nice little thing! too bad you can't use it for postal workers. BTW I like how you've added W&F to your repertoire of tests. Have you thought about adding azimuth alignment as well? If you used that audio oscilloscope you have I think it could be a nice visual segment to your video. I assume most of these crap cassette decks have poorly aligned azimuths, along with being able to align the azimuth of retro tech.

Looks like the patent was awarded in 1988 to REI founder. https://tinyurl.com/36dvf3v2 so prob late 80s early 90s tech?

I appreciated the QR code rickroll lol

You know it’s going to be good when Matt starts off a video with “here’s something unusual”. The only thing it needed was a bad belt and a tear down repair for it to be a classic. Great find!

Hmm, I think this falls into the category of a poorly thought through idea that's been very well implemented! In the 1980s, I had a Braun bedside alarm clock which you turned the alarm sounder off by loudly shouting the word 'Stop' at it. It worked fine, but it was easier just to tap the top of the clock, which was the other method of turning it off. When you shouted at it, it actually went into a snooze mode. I expect the neighbours of our semi-detached home wondered why my then girl-friend needed to shout 'Stop' every few minutes every morning. Great video, as always, Mat - thank you!

How many tried the QR code?

You forgot the wow and flutter meter! 🤓 Seriously though, it does seem to run a bit fast. Could this be intentional, in order to have an even more effective (shorter) message while still providing 30 seconds of recording time? But more likely it just isn't a precision mechanism. 🙄

That QR code 🙃

I think there is a small "narrative gap" in the video. You keep talking about the "thing" and that you can tap it. Then you show the manual, where it is called "transducer", where you can get a hint of it's second purpose, and then after the recording we suddenly see/hear the audio playing out of it, without you fully "introducing" it's audio-playing capabilities. Up to that point I still thought it was just a really big and clunky button and was wondering, how the audio was played, but it being a transducer is like the second key-feature of the whole system, and I think you glossed a bit over it. Sure it becomes apparent later in the video, but it's still weird that you explain every other feature in quite some detail, but not the transducer functionality.

This is a great little gadget - useful today as when it was conceived. Thanks for this video.. video.. video.. video. 😃 I do hope your neighbors didn't see or question you for banging on your conservatory window, though. 😅 Just tell them you were acting out a Ripley against a facehugger. Edit: I do believe that mech is running a bit fast. Edit II: I do believe I had too much caffeine when I wrote the above comment 🤪

Maybe I missed it, but I was wondering if the take-up spool really is doing something, since usually endless cassettes don't even have a hub there...

Lots of salesman like to hear their own voice, so I can see the market for this. Well except for that the design lacks style and flash. I can also see an alternative use to play barking dog sounds when someone knocks at a door.

Looks like REI is still in business but in the wiretap/law enforcement role. https://reiusa.net/

Research Electronics Inc.... Samsung?

Oh yeah, because clearly the future was tapping a piece of glass all day. THANK GOD THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN. Sent via iPhone