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Boombox for a "Deadhead"?

SpinninTimmy

SpinninTimmy

Active Member
Most people think of hip hop and loud bass when they hear "boombox".

Due to the nature of my lifestyle, a mostly portable, self contained great sounding sound system would be perfect.

A set with balanced sound with depth, crisp high range, vivid mid range and bass that is lifelike but doesn't overwhelm are called for.

I have listened to the Dead, CS&N, Ry Cooder, Moby Grape and more on 70's and early 80's portable sets in the day that sounded great.


Line in/out a must. A great tuner. Some have said G.E. did well in this respect. Pioneer was also known for some great car tuners....

Metal tape would be cool, though it's probably as hard to find as a boombox with a cassette deck that still works. I know a Bluetooth receiver can be used via line in, I wonder if there is a phono that could be as well?

I know there are experts here who know if one or more sets that are tailor made for an overfed, long haired leaping gnome...

In the name of Owsley, I invoke you and beseech you to speak!
 
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I'd probably look at the systems euphemistically called "portable stereos". They generally had better quality components and detachable speakers.
 
once you spin it's weighted tuning knob you know why it's the holy grail of boomboxes, they weren't cheap new ($850) and they aren't cheap used either, but if you want the best there is no substitute.

National RX-7000
maxresdefault (4).jpg

ok, so now that you're over your sticker shock if checking prices lol, my more sane suggestion would be a Panasonic RX-5080, still not cheap but these babies rock. I'm almost tempted to say I prefer it's sound over the 7000 above, ya it's that great. More than one person on a job site was shocked to find out the music they were hearing was coming from one of these boomboxes.
1562644-831a041a-panasonic-rx5080-large-boombox-guettoblaster-works-a1-price-includes-shipping.jpg
 
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maybe you can find something here.

I pulled one of mine apart and added a 3.5mm input. these are great when you want tunes and are installing sheetrock in a basement.
 
AIWA was the king of portable stereos but the two carrying cases they used can be difficult to find. Hitachi had the Lo-D, Sanyo had the A8, A10 Series (along with Sears Branding).
https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/what-is-the-difference-between-all-the-aiwa-compo-boxes.2274/

There's a Sony XF-5000 on ebay right now, in a separate auction there was the matching speakers, they might have sold. This was a $1600.00 USD portable when it came out, it has a big motorcycle type battery in it. It might be the most expensive boombox every made, solid metal!

It all depends on your price range and how blingy you want it. Some of the 70's boomboxes were set up to be part of a home entertainment system. AUX in, Phono in, Tape in, speakers out (yes some have jacks for external speakers) but you could also cut the cord and go portable. Battery life stinks, with any portable I'd be stocking up on two sets, minimum, of Eneloops.

Something like the Superscope (by marantz) CRS-4000 will be a heavy-weight and look cool with dual VU meters. AIWA TPR-950 is a classic but it also sells for decent money. The Sony CFS-99 is a monster boombox but still a relative bargain. It has all of the inputs and some "studio" features like dual MIC inputs with mixing so you drive that train along with Casey. JVC M70's get praise for the sound quality and sometimes they pop up at a decent price, the sliding controls on the top tend to collect a lot of dirt. Another classic, one of my favorites for the looks alone, is the JVC RC-838 but it's slowly starting to move up the pricing ladder.

A true Deadhead might also be interested in the original taping equipment, most of these were portables known as "field recorders." Search around the internet for the war stories, archive.org has a few. They used equipment like the Nakamichi 550, Sony TC-158SD, UHER CR-240, Technics RS-686DS, Superscope CD-320. Field recorders are more like portable component tape decks with a battery tray.

Good Luck!
 
checked eBay, did see a number of offerings for the RX-7000 but all out of the country, they range in price from $1200+ to absolutely ridiculous The RX-7000 has both line in/line out, phono in, ext speakers out, and two mic inputs.

it's heavy, even without batteries it weighs 20lbs, not exactly portable, at least not for long distances lol.

Screenshot_20220113-155836.png

Screenshot_20220113-155959.png

also found one RX-5080, more than it sold for new but not ridiculous if everything works
Screenshot_20220113-160116.png

good luck hunting, these are a hot ticket item right now

Edit: I have an RX-7000, and I've had two 5080's so I know from personal experience just how great both are.
 
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Bone Yard said:
AIWA was the king of portable stereos but the two carrying cases they used can be difficult to find. Hitachi had the Lo-D, Sanyo had the A8, A10 Series (along with Sears Branding).
https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/what-is-the-difference-between-all-the-aiwa-compo-boxes.2274/

There's a Sony XF-5000 on ebay right now, in a separate auction there was the matching speakers, they might have sold. This was a $1600.00 USD portable when it came out, it has a big motorcycle type battery in it. It might be the most expensive boombox every made, solid metal!

It all depends on your price range and how blingy you want it. Some of the 70's boomboxes were set up to be part of a home entertainment system. AUX in, Phono in, Tape in, speakers out (yes some have jacks for external speakers) but you could also cut the cord and go portable. Battery life stinks, with any portable I'd be stocking up on two sets, minimum, of Eneloops.

Something like the Superscope (by marantz) CRS-4000 will be a heavy-weight and look cool with dual VU meters. AIWA TPR-950 is a classic but it also sells for decent money. The Sony CFS-99 is a monster boombox but still a relative bargain. It has all of the inputs and some "studio" features like dual MIC inputs with mixing so you drive that train along with Casey. JVC M70's get praise for the sound quality and sometimes they pop up at a decent price, the sliding controls on the top tend to collect a lot of dirt. Another classic, one of my favorites for the looks alone, is the JVC RC-838 but it's slowly starting to move up the pricing ladder.

A true Deadhead might also be interested in the original taping equipment, most of these were portables known as "field recorders." Search around the internet for the war stories, archive.org has a few. They used equipment like the Nakamichi 550, Sony TC-158SD, UHER CR-240, Technics RS-686DS, Superscope CD-320. Field recorders are more like portable component tape decks with a battery tray.

Good Luck!
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Thanks!!

Am looking at a JVC, a Panasonic RS-466S arrived today, and it sounds really nice.
 

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I'd probably just get some kind of Bluetooth speaker and plug something into it. The state of the art for Bluetooth speakers is much better than what I remember was possible with those old boom boxes and it seems that you pay a big premium for those things as well...
 
RunOutGroove said:
I'd probably just get some kind of Bluetooth speaker and plug something into it. The state of the art for Bluetooth speakers is much better than what I remember was possible with those old boom boxes and it seems that you pay a big premium for those things as well...
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Thank you, sound quality is more important to me than volume or convenience.
I also Luke an item with some history behind it.
Just an old fart, I guess. :)
 
SpinninTimmy said:
Thank you, sound quality is more important to me than volume or convenience.
I also Luke an item with some history behind it.
Just an old fart, I guess. :)
Click to expand...
Actually, what I was saying is that I think that the sound quality is better with these Bluetooth speakers than what I remember of the old boomboxes... as they seem to have figured out how to get a bigger sound out of a smaller package. They're a far more portable solution too and cheaper in that you don't have to get a ton of batteries to power the thing.

I get it though, if you just like the mojo of those things, then nothing else is going to do...
 
jblnut said:
Don't forget JVC - one of my best is a JVC and it still rocks....

jblnut
Click to expand...
I was looking at a JVC Pc-150, until I read a few very bad reviews. Guess it turns out JVC made some world class boxes, and a few that looked really nice, such as the PC-150, but had very poor performance. I would have to do more research. I know some of them are quite pricey, I wondered why the PC-150 was so cheap by comparison.
 
Grenadeslio said:
checked eBay, did see a number of offerings for the RX-7000 but all out of the country, they range in price from $1200+ to absolutely ridiculous The RX-7000 has both line in/line out, phono in, ext speakers out, and two mic inputs.

it's heavy, even without batteries it weighs 20lbs, not exactly portable, at least not for long distances lol.

View attachment 2451463

View attachment 2451464

also found one RX-5080, more than it sold for new but not ridiculous if everything works
View attachment 2451465

good luck hunting, these are a hot ticket item right now

Edit: I have an RX-7000, and I've had two 5080's so I know from personal experience just how great both are.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the recommendations!
 
Bone Yard said:
AIWA was the king of portable stereos but the two carrying cases they used can be difficult to find. Hitachi had the Lo-D, Sanyo had the A8, A10 Series (along with Sears Branding).
https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/what-is-the-difference-between-all-the-aiwa-compo-boxes.2274/

There's a Sony XF-5000 on ebay right now, in a separate auction there was the matching speakers, they might have sold. This was a $1600.00 USD portable when it came out, it has a big motorcycle type battery in it. It might be the most expensive boombox every made, solid metal!

It all depends on your price range and how blingy you want it. Some of the 70's boomboxes were set up to be part of a home entertainment system. AUX in, Phono in, Tape in, speakers out (yes some have jacks for external speakers) but you could also cut the cord and go portable. Battery life stinks, with any portable I'd be stocking up on two sets, minimum, of Eneloops.

Something like the Superscope (by marantz) CRS-4000 will be a heavy-weight and look cool with dual VU meters. AIWA TPR-950 is a classic but it also sells for decent money. The Sony CFS-99 is a monster boombox but still a relative bargain. It has all of the inputs and some "studio" features like dual MIC inputs with mixing so you drive that train along with Casey. JVC M70's get praise for the sound quality and sometimes they pop up at a decent price, the sliding controls on the top tend to collect a lot of dirt. Another classic, one of my favorites for the looks alone, is the JVC RC-838 but it's slowly starting to move up the pricing ladder.

A true Deadhead might also be interested in the original taping equipment, most of these were portables known as "field recorders." Search around the internet for the war stories, archive.org has a few. They used equipment like the Nakamichi 550, Sony TC-158SD, UHER CR-240, Technics RS-686DS, Superscope CD-320. Field recorders are more like portable component tape decks with a battery tray.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks, Bone Yard!
All the information is very much appreciated!
 
A Cadillac boombox, of course...

ea2099c2-f52f-11e5-9427-5e0f2ec020a6.jpg
 
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