heh - youse guyses might enjoy this (vintage boombox, of sorts) - Videokarma.org TV - Video

mhardy6647 · #1 03-03-2012, 01:07 PM

On the scrap metal pile at my favorite local vintage audio emporium :-) a couple of weeks ago. It's been de-toxing in the garage since then. Today - a rainy day in MA ('til a little while ago) - was a good day to try it out.

It's in poor condition - but it actually works OK. Controls are scratchy (imagine that?!). The tape deck doesn't seem to work... but the radio's fine. I noted with some amusement that it has SW as well as AM and FM.

I just couldn't resist it when I saw it in the muck and mire of the scrap metal pile. What a piece of... umm... history... :-P

best of all, it had a very nice quality Maxell 110-min metal cassette in it. I am actually listening to it as I type this (on another cassette deck, of course). 1950s doo-wop/pop standards kind of stuff. Odd fodder for a boom box.

Smoky Pond · #2 03-03-2012, 01:52 PM

Cool find!

Just yesterday I was thinking about the Sanyo boom-box I had in the mid '70's and wondering where I might have stashed it. It wasn't as big as some of the later ones, but it sounded pretty good and was loud enough to hear in a busy machine shop.

mhardy6647 · #3 03-03-2012, 01:55 PM

This thing is attache-case sized :-P

Celt · #4 03-03-2012, 02:30 PM

Yeah, I remember those. It's from the 80's when there was a resurgence in SW interest. FONY had some with SW on them too.

mhardy6647 · #5 03-03-2012, 03:11 PM

I have a purchased-new (ca. 1983) JVC portable with SW... but it is much less -- assertive -- than this Maggotbox.

bob91343 · #6 03-03-2012, 03:22 PM

I have an old JVC with CD player on top of it all. And a Superscope job I bought new back around 1980. I don't use either.

Sandy G · #7 03-03-2012, 03:49 PM

SW ?!? How does it do in comparison to MY ol' Bacon-fryers ? May have to Shit-Can 'em all now...(grin)

Smoky Pond · #8 03-03-2012, 05:36 PM

All this talk about boomboxes begs the question: Just how BIG did they get?

Electronic M · #9 03-03-2012, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smoky Pond

All this talk about boomboxes begs the question: Just how BIG did they get?

I had one about that big....maybe it was bigger. It was about the size of the main unit of one of those 70's radio-phono-tape all-in-one table stereos.

Sandy G · #10 03-03-2012, 06:44 PM

Unless one was either an Idiot, or a Masochist, I would think trying to balance one of those accursed HARD-EDGED, heavy things on one's shoulder 'twould be a mite uncomfortable..

bob91343 · #11 03-03-2012, 06:48 PM

When I was in the service business I was repairing a VERY LARGE boom box. It was probably twice the size of that one in the pic. Amazing! It had been dropped (well, duh!) and I had to order many structural parts. Never finished the job, as I couldn't get everything needed, but the customer understood. She picked up the unit and paid me for the parts I did get, and left with a smile, the broken unit and a sack of parts.

Electronic M · #12 03-03-2012, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Unless one was either an Idiot, or a Masochist, I would think trying to balance one of those accursed HARD-EDGED, heavy things on one's shoulder 'twould be a mite uncomfortable..

Almost never carried mine it was heavy enough that I doubt I could have gotten it up on to my shoulder, so the handle was the transportation method of choice (when a car(t) was not available). I only had it for a year or two until I sold or tossed it in a move when I was 12.

Sandy G · #13 03-03-2012, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob91343

When I was in the service business I was repairing a VERY LARGE boom box. It was probably twice the size of that one in the pic. Amazing! It had been dropped (well, duh!) and I had to order many structural parts. Never finished the job, as I couldn't get everything needed, but the customer understood. She picked up the unit and paid me for the parts I did get, and left with a smile, the broken unit and a sack of parts.

Aye-Yup. To be PORTABLE 'n' all, a LOT of the ones I remember sure were flimsy as all hell, w/all manner of easily-broken tee-ninecy parts to snap off & lose..And since a LOT of 'em took seemingly multiples of 150 "D" cells to work, w/the el cheapo busto-matic plastic cases, they were doomed to early graves...Or "Landfills"...

Smoky Pond · #14 03-03-2012, 08:14 PM

If I find either of these at a decent price, the Panasonic RX-7000 or RX-7200, I'll definitely add them to my collection:

Sandy G · #15 03-03-2012, 08:19 PM

Panasonic was prolly one of the BEST of the lot...They DID have "Standards"...