About the Company
Miranda was a Japanese camera maker that briefly produced small consumer reel‑to‑reel recorders in the 1960s under the Miranda name, notably the Mirandette 102 and the Nocturne stereo decks, aimed at the home and portable market.
Brand origin and shift into audio
Miranda was founded in Japan in the 1940s by Ogihara Akira and Ōtsuka Shintarō and became known through the 1950s–70s as a manufacturer of 35 mm SLR cameras.
In the 1960s the company extended the Miranda brand to home reel‑to‑reel recorders, adding a small line of tape machines alongside its camera business.
Main reel-to-reel products
A brand directory notes that “Miranda made several reel to reel recorders for home use including the Miranda Mirandette 102 Deluxe,” a 3‑inch‑reel portable tape recorder.
The Mirandette 102/102 Deluxe was a compact transistorized portable from the mid‑1960s, praised in a detailed restoration report for unusually high build quality, including 16 ball bearings, AC‑bias electronics, and strong output for its size.
Nocturne stereo deck
Another documented product is the Miranda “Nocturne” stereo reel‑to‑reel, a larger home unit with built‑in stereo valve (tube) amplifier and speakers housed in a teak case, clearly positioned as a stylish living‑room recorder rather than a portable.
These Nocturne machines were made in Japan and marketed by Allied Impex Corp., which also handled Miranda cameras, tying the tape products directly into the same distribution network.
Market position and era
Contemporary and collector descriptions consistently treat Miranda recorders as consumer‑level machines—used for voice, family recordings, and casual music copying—competing with small Sony, Aiwa, and Panasonic portables rather than with professional decks.
The Mirandette 102 is explicitly dated to the mid‑1960s, and the styling and tube electronics of the Nocturne also point to a 1960s timeframe, aligning Miranda’s RTR phase with the broader boom in Japanese consumer tape gear.
Later fate and historical significance
The brand directory’s timeline jumps from 1960s reel‑to‑reel products to the Miranda name being reused in the 1980s on low‑cost SLRs made by Cosina, with no mention of further tape recorders, indicating that the RTR line was short‑lived.
In reel‑to‑reel history, Miranda is thus a minor player: a camera company that briefly produced well‑engineered but small‑format home recorders, now of interest mainly to collectors for their design, Miranda branding, and unusual construction rather than for any major technical innovation.