The AL-80 was the sound of his time and equipment and a tape deck of the prospective class, but was overtaken later in the eighties of the many Decks of the upper-middle-class high.
The outstanding feature of the device remains the use of rotary mirror galvanometers as display instruments.
Much more eye-friendly than the FL displays used later by default. These are probably also the reason for the lunar prices usually called up in the bay. Alpine has built much better quality before and after the AL-80.
Audio 1982 Comparison test of ten devices (900 - 1,300 DM).