The Personal Hi-Fi Blog: SHARP

From sharp minds comes sharp products

Sharp's fabulous audio line-up leads the way to a leisure world of sound enjoyment. Sporting a variety of sophisticated features, smart styles, and fashionable colors, Sharp audio products are designed for any occasion. Whether it be jogging with the JC-Series, break dancing outdoors in the afternoon, or a country drive. Any way you like it, Sharp Audio has it. Sharp combines the latest in fashion, from pastel-pleasing ’hues to dramatic colors like black and red. Fashion and design to fit any lifestyle. All packed with convenience features, including graphic equalizers, auto reverse, and high-speed dubbing—just to name a few.

Sharp is a pioneer brand in many innovations and features throughout their years, especially in the field of personal stereo. For instance, Sharp's motto is to be one of the finest in hi-fidelity sound on the go; therefore, Sharp made the graphic equalizer a must-have feature in almost all their players/recorders since day one, starting with the JC-7. They were the first brand to do so, even before Sony or Aiwa did. Sharp was also the first to introduce a headphone stereo with a radio and LCD TV all combined in one small unit, the JC-TV10. Sharp was also a dominant pioneer in the MiniDisc field; they were the first brand to introduce the Digital Amp and the 1-Bit Amp, and of course the first Dolby Digital MiniDisc player.

Sharp's headphone stereo line is named JC, which stands for Joy Cassette. In Japan, it was simply referred to as "JoyCasse." Sharp marketed them under the name "OH!" like the majority of other headphone stereo brands, such as SONY's Walkman, AIWA's CassetteBoy, TOSHIBA's Walky, and others. Because it provides durability and a longer lifespan, Sharp decided to use the Toshiba-style built concept for their high-end Oh! line of players. Since the Joy Cassette's infancy, this design has been in use until 1987, when the more sophisticated touch concept finally took its place. High-quality and technically sophisticated components made up the JC series. Therefore, the model number and the cosmetic design were the only changes that took place during these years. In contrast to other brand names that, as a result of technological advancements, change their build type approximately every two years, the build internally stayed consistent year after year, proving its dependability.

Upon their initial release in 1987, the Feather Touch player series was marketed under the new name "Being" as a sequel to the "Oh!" moniker. Technology was developing quickly at the time, and new and better materials were being found. Sharp was working on applying the newly found materials, and the moniker term "being" was a future name for a new line of players. Although the majority of consumers thought it meant "being alive," it actually meant "being discovered, being lightweight." Sharp consequently unveiled their new player line at the beginning of 1990. The flagship model, the JC-K99 (later joined by the JC-N100 and JC-K110), was made of carbon fiber with a chassis made of formable aluminum alloy, whereas the JC-S100 and JC-T100 were made of aluminum. "Our unique new technology makes it lightweight," Sharp said in their promotion. They gave them the name "P i ù," which is a musical term that means "more" in Italian. This phrase is commonly used in conjunction with other musical instructions to instruct the performer to intensify certain aspects of the music, such as speed, emotion, or volume. Despite being Sharp's best headphone stereo technology, the "P i ù" line didn't last long because the MiniDisc's debut transformed the headphone stereo industry and set the stage for Sharp's success in the ensuing decade.

~~~ 1983 ~~~

JC-N6