Iconic Boomboxes

[daftcombo]

Hi,

Discogs put out an article about famous Boomboxes:

10 Most Iconic Old-School Boomboxes of All Time | Discogs Digs

There are few things more iconic than the old school boombox, and this list features some of the best portable stereos ever made.

blog.discogs.com

I wonder if it would be possible to measure some of them, especially FR and distortion.

 

[tomtoo]

Hi,

Discogs put out an article about famous Boomboxes:

10 Most Iconic Old-School Boomboxes of All Time | Discogs Digs

There are few things more iconic than the old school boombox, and this list features some of the best portable stereos ever made.

blog.discogs.com

View attachment 160704

I wonder if it would be possible to measure some of them, especially FR and distortion.

That would be fun.

 

[Spkrdctr]

I had a Panasonic that lasted forever and sounded very good. I used it when I was doing electronic repair way back when I was a younger pup.

 

[tomtoo]

We should do a ASR, DIY boombox project.

Headline " Against all unfunny odds".

 

[theyellowspecial]

 

[NTomokawa]

Good stuff. I should scour the local thrift stores for these things. I want a big quad speaker unit to complete my little "RF bench".

 

[GXAlan]

I wonder if it would be possible to measure some of them, especially FR and distortion.

I previous suggested that Amir test a Sony CFD-444. Made in Japan. 90s vintage. But he declined — not worth the time/effort given the backlog of other stuff.

Cool features
1) speakers can be detached to be tested on a Klippel.
2) has a CD player and line out for 16/44.1 DAC test
3) has RCA line in and headphone jack
4) Has RCA line in and amp output

 

[restorer-john]

I have several large ghetto blasters fully restored in my storeroom, including a nice big Sharp with programmable track searching, phono inputs, line inputs etc.

They are a whole lot of fun, but the old cassette mechs are pretty much unrepairable (even for me) now, due to the nylon parts cracking, rubber parts disintegrating and gears simply failing.

Look at a Sony FH-7 for a miniature very high performance portable (it had a battery box option or 240V).

Full logic auto-reverse, dolby B, Type I/II/IV tape, phono input, 4 band Quartz PLL tuner, APM flat cone proper speakers etc. Separate components, joined by a dedicated ribbon cable and screwed to steel side brackets which the incredibly strong handle locked the speakers and the unit into a portable. Weighed about 15kg all up IIRC.

 

[thewas]

Germany used to have also few very high quality ones in the early 80s, for example

Ghettoblaster Telefunken Hifi Studio 1

 

[Chr1]

Picked up one of these for the princely sum of £10 a few years back...
Pretty decent sound actually.Yamaha YST-C11

 

[Vuki]

I have several large ghetto blasters fully restored in my storeroom, including a nice big Sharp with programmable track searching, phono inputs, line inputs etc.

They are a whole lot of fun, but the old cassette mechs are pretty much unrepairable (even for me) now, due to the nylon parts cracking, rubber parts disintegrating and gears simply failing.

Look at a Sony FH-7 for a miniature very high performance portable (it had a battery box option or 240V).

View attachment 160815

Full logic auto-reverse, dolby B, Type I/II/IV tape, phono input, 4 band Quartz PLL tuner, APM flat cone proper speakers etc. Separate components, joined by a dedicated ribbon cable and screwed to steel side brackets which the incredibly strong handle locked the speakers and the unit into a portable. Weighed about 15kg all up IIRC.

I still have tuner, preamp and power supply (with amp inside) components- discarded not working cassette player. Mine is silver and had 3way speakers.

 

[frogmeat69]

I still have one of these Panasonic RX-DT75 boom boxes, haven't taken it out in over 15 years. Both tape decks quit working, and the CD was getting wonky, might fire it up and see what happens. Always thought it looked like the front end of an old Pontiac Sunbird, lol.

 

[london_r]

I still have one of these Panasonic RX-DT75 boom boxes, haven't taken it out in over 15 years. Both tape decks quit working, and the CD was getting wonky, might fire it up and see what happens. Always thought it looked like the front end of an old Pontiac Sunbird, lol.

Many, many years ago, I used to work in a large branch of Dixons (consumer electronics store in the UK) as a student at the weekend. This was the top of the range at the time… think about £220 if I remember rightly. Loved the motorised top…. (Alas this was way beyond my budget, but eventually owned its much smaller sibling…. ). Definitely the best of any of the decks in the mid-late 90’s.

 

[frogmeat69]

So, I fired it up. Don't have a cassette tape to try, but one of the decks will not open, the other does. From memory I am sure neither would play.

CD tray pops out, put a disc in, and it played with some skipping. I grabbed an old cleaner disc and that seemed to help. CD was playing fine unless I used any of the buttons or opened or closed the top, it would start skipping, then settle down again. AUX input works great. Screen still works fine.

Remote still works fine and it can still get pretty loud without distortion, so I think the speakers are ok, they look alright from what I can tell, no splits in the surrounds or holes or anything, but the poor thing needs a good cleaning and some care I neglected to give it for so long.

 

[frogmeat69]

I have several large ghetto blasters fully restored in my storeroom, including a nice big Sharp with programmable track searching, phono inputs, line inputs etc.

They are a whole lot of fun, but the old cassette mechs are pretty much unrepairable (even for me) now, due to the nylon parts cracking, rubber parts disintegrating and gears simply failing.

Look at a Sony FH-7 for a miniature very high performance portable (it had a battery box option or 240V).

View attachment 160815

Full logic auto-reverse, dolby B, Type I/II/IV tape, phono input, 4 band Quartz PLL tuner, APM flat cone proper speakers etc. Separate components, joined by a dedicated ribbon cable and screwed to steel side brackets which the incredibly strong handle locked the speakers and the unit into a portable. Weighed about 15kg all up IIRC.

I remember being in high school in the 80's, and seeing one of those at some store and just drooling over it, thought the idea of a portable with separate components you could break down into a nice system or vice versa was just so cool.

 

[Somafunk]

Had a sharp WQ-T282 (found model # online) back to back twin cassette boom box in the mid/late 80’s, was very well built and surprisingly heavy while sounding pretty good with thumping bass (thought so at the time anyway) compared to my mates tinny sounding boom boxes.

 

[restorer-john]

The range of Aiwa true separates could also be joined together

Here's a few of mine with an apple for size comparison:

In Europe, they had a range of miniature racks/cabinets for them too!

 

[JeremyFife]

The range of Aiwa true separates could also be joined together

Here's a few of mine with an apple for size comparison:
View attachment 161260View attachment 161261View attachment 161262View attachment 161263


In Europe, they had a range of miniature racks/cabinets for them too!

View attachment 161264

Cute ... that cabinet (RK-G3) ... is that a turntable? How the fudge do you use it (front-loader?)?

 

[pavuol]

Sharp VZ-V3 with motorized vertical vinyl tray.. yess

 

[pavuol]

smaller brother or something.. Sharp VZ-V2