Boomboxes and Ghettoblasters

[DirtFarmer]

I know nothing about these (even though I had one in the very early 80's).

What is considered the top of the TOTL for boomboxes? The McIntosh of its style, if you will.

 

[Northwinds]

 

[Bahamayellow]

I know nothing about these (even though I had one in the very early 80's).

What is considered the top of the TOTL for boomboxes? The McIntosh of its style, if you will.

Considered on of the best prices are outrageous 2-4K for a working one. The JVC M90 but the Aiwa boom box is suppose to sound a bit better. Not mine a stock photo.

 

[Gnesen]

Speaking of which, has anybody seen a boombox with outputs for external speakers? Because it seems this one does (see photos). I haven’t found a manual, so I’ll have to figure that function out.

I just picked up a couple of mono patch cables from a surplus store, stripped one end off each cable, hooked those ends up to a pair of Realistic Minimus-8s, and inserted the remaining 3.5mm ends into the ‘EXT SP’ jacks.

Wouldn’t you know it, they work great! Ha! I love learning new things, like the fact that some boomboxes can be hooked up to external speakers this way. I also found a photo of the first page of a service manual that says this boombox (Panasonic RX-5100) puts out 5 wpc RMS. That should be plenty.

By the way, the internal speakers do automatically cut out when external ones are hooked up. It certainly sounds better with the external speakers. The only issue is the cable wire is only 22ga.

 

[Gnesen]

Here’s a new one that I’m liking: Pioneer SK-21.

 

[SVI2004A]

A Technics Box

 

[Bruins]

I just picked myself up a Pioneer SK-21 also.
The deck is not working but the price was right.

 

[Gnesen]

I just picked myself up a Pioneer SK-21 also.
The deck is not working but the price was right.

Yeah, that's the issue with nearly all old boomboxes. At least this is a nice looking unit (IMO) and there's an aux input that you can try.

By the way, the SK-31 and SK-21 share the same service manual, which is available at HiFi Engine. It doesn't tell how to service the cassette mechanism, but it does tell you how to open everything up. Mine had a slipped belt.

 

[Gnesen]

Ok, this isn’t a real boombox, but this beer box is pretty cool, so I thought I’d share. It opens like a suitcase and is re-closable. They actually put a little thought into the design and it has fancy inner folds (not shown). Pretty decent beer too.

I think there were variations on this ‘boombox as a beercase’ a long time ago, but don’t remember for sure.

 

[soundmotor]

I know nothing about these (even though I had one in the very early 80's).

What is considered the top of the TOTL for boomboxes? The McIntosh of its style, if you will.

There are a few bespoke/crafted ones out there from small firms. So far though, IMO the category remains wide open for the definitive model. It hasn't been made, yet.

 

[Bahamayellow]

Listening to the boom box today keeping things simple. And it’s on the Fm. No tidal, iTunes, Spotify, or cd. Lol Happy 4th everyone.

 

[Ikura]

Hello all, there is a Magnavox MDHQ D8300 in my area i am interested in. Users says forward and rewind work but when Play is pressed the tape gets eaten. Claims this happens on both tape decks. I have swapped out belts before an old pioneer tape deck so I am not afraid to open it up. 1). How difficult is this unit to work on? 2). Does this sound like a belt or possibly a motor? Thank you for helping. Hoping I can fix if possible. Dying to get hands on an old unit again.

 

[kirkendoll]

Hello all, there is a Magnavox MDHQ D8300 in my area i am interested in. Users says forward and rewind work but when Play is pressed the tape gets eaten. Claims this happens on both tape decks. I have swapped out belts before an old pioneer tape deck so I am not afraid to open it up. 1). How difficult is this unit to work on? 2). Does this sound like a belt or possibly a motor? Thank you for helping. Hoping I can fix if possible. Dying to get hands on an old unit again.

My d8300 did the same so I opened it up to do a rebelt and found that a couple of gears in the tape mechanism just crumbled when touched making it totally nonfunctional. That did not slow it down tho, it still gets at least 6 hours of use at the lake every week using the radio.

 

[Ikura]

My d8300 did the same so I opened it up to do a rebelt and found that a couple of gears in the tape mechanism just crumbled when touched making it totally nonfunctional. That did not slow it down tho, it still gets at least 6 hours of use at the lake every week using the radio.

So the gears are not replaceable or easy to come by as belts are? What would the value be if I assume the tape drives are dead? Maybe I can get him down a bit in cost being it’s not a belt that can fix it....

 

[century tek]

A lot of the gears in those things are plastic but mine had its belt turn to goo after about 15 years. Bought it in '84 and still use it today as it has line in - line out, aux inputs and ext speaker jacks. I use it for FM and occasional SW listening but its great with an MP3 player so who cares about the tape deck.

 

[liemjerry]

do anyone have service manual for JVC RC-M80 ?
thanks

 

[Romeo Wolf]

I joined Boomboxery just a few months ago, so to say the least...I've got the vintage boombox bug.

For this Christmas I'm currently eyeing for a good deal on a Sanyo M9994K to upgrade from the one and only Cassette Recorder I currently have; a Sanyo M9909 (I used to have two other CR's but I sold them both for $40). I may go ahead and stick a WTB Listing in BT if my father approves, and see what offers I get even though I probably won't intend on getting one of those beauties just yet.

 

[Romeo Wolf]

http://stereo2go.org/forums/ has more of what you need.

Same thing with: https://boomboxery.com/forum/

 

[liemjerry]

anybody here using JVC RC-M80 ?

 

[Grenadeslio]

The holy grail.



nuff said.