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Originally Posted by dr.ido
I think the Lasonics and simliar fake chrome covered beasts attract those kind of prices because some of those monstrous piles of crap (in my opinion) are featured in some music videos and movies. I guess people want the same boxes they see famous people breakdancing to on TV.
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I saw a Marantz once that had the same champange gold with wood panel sides color scheme as their full sized components. No idea how it sounded though.
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You are right that being featured in music videos and such adds to the price/"value" of a boombox. It's not the only factor, though. Size, looks (there are different schools of thought on what "looks good" in a boombox), sound quality (yeah, I know, almost an oxymoron, but it is there comparatively), build quality (again,...), etc... also play a role, plus simply whether it is recognized; whether it is "trendy" among collectors.
Those Marantz models you speak of sound better than most boomboxes. They almost sound like "real" Marantz. I know, because I have more of them than any collector I've ever found or heard of, including guys who have hundreds more boomboxes than I do.
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Originally Posted by Sandy G
Someday, I'd LOVE to have an AK "Let's Blow The F*CK Outta Stuff" day at my farm...You boys bring the Boses, boomboxes, etc, I'll supply the beer, bullets & Uzi, FALs AK-47s, etc. Should be jolly good LOUD fun....-Sandy G.
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Sounds like fun! Just wish you lived closer, Sandy - I'd come! If you do it, just make sure you check the boomboxes out on eBay before blasting 'em, though... would be a shame to waste a thousand-dollar "grail" that way, when the thousand bucks could buy a whole slew of unwanted targets to have fun with, or more drinks, or ... lots of other stuff!
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Originally Posted by koseltri
I'm lucky enough to own two of what I consider 'holy grail' boomboxes. I never liked the early-style one piece full-length handle type, I like the later detachable speaker, 'Portable Mini Component System' units. My favorite is the JVC PC-55. ...
...the other one I have is the Yamaha PC-8.
Anyone own either of these back in the day?
Scott
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Don't (and haven't) owned those, Scott, but they are good models for what they are! I mostly have the earlier, one-piece types you don't like, rather than the 3-piece "mini-compo" types. I see way too many of those to even think of collecting 'em, and they just don't have the same appeal to me. I make exceptions, though, for the Marantz models and a couple of others.
I'm planning to sell off dozens of boomboxes sometime later this year. In fact, I'll be clearing out most of my collection, and keeping just a very few favorites. Not sure how many (I lost count of how many I have somewhere back around fifty... now maybe 100?), but I have a lot of ultra-rare and "grail" models, and will sell most of them, too. The money I will put into other vintage gear (probably high-end Japanese-market turntables, my current "obsession".
) I just don't have the room and resources to collect everything, so something had to go. It's going to be the boomboxes, along with a lot of mid-fi audio stuff. I'm moving UPmarket in quality with the proceeds, over time, and simultaneously shrinking the physical space my gear takes up.
Boombox collecting can be as much fun as collecting anything else... but not everyone values them that way the collectors do. Most boombox collectors are ten years or more younger than the vintage home-gear collectors, because most people seek to collect the stuff that was "in" when they were young, in a kind of "nostalgia trip". At least it seems that way.