Soundesign 8300 Desktop Electronic Calculator

This compact desktop electronic calculator has a metal and plastic case with seventeen indented keys, most of them square. The 0, addition/total, and subtraction/difference keys are twice the size of the other keys. In addition to the rectangular keys, there are nine other digit keys, a decimal point key, a multiplication key, a division key, a clear entry key, and a clear key. Above the keys is a constant switch, a switch to set the location of the decimal point, an on button, and an off button. Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit blue vacuum fluorescent display with another place for setting the sign. Text behind the display reads: SOUNDESIGN 8300.

The back of the calculator has a compartment at the top for four C (1.5 V) batteries. A sticker inside it reads: 19053-K0202. The “3” is largely effaced and the K is in red.

Below the compartment is a sticker with instructions. It reads at the top: SOUNDESIGN 8300 MACH II. It reads at the bottom: Made in Japan.

A jack for a power adapter is along the back edge, but this example has no adapter.

The calculator has a zippered plastic carrying case with a handle. A mark on the front reads: SOUNDESIGN.

References:

Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 145. They indicate that the calculator was on sale for $99 in 1973.

John R. Free, “PS Buyer’s Guide to Under-$100 Electronic Calculators,” Popular Science, March, 1973, pp. 86–88, 156. Page 156 indicates that the price of the calculator was $99. It was sold by Soundesign Realtone of Jersey City, New Jersey, a company that also sold radios.

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