As you all know I am a HUGE Lasonic fan and I have been lucky enough to have met Albert the 3rd generation owner of Lasonic and Grandson of the founder of the company and son of the man who built all the classic radio's we all know and love.
For me, the Lasonic brand is very personal. The TRC-920 was the first radio I purchased on my own when I was 15 years old. But the story of Lasonic is very close to me since my Grandfather, Father and I owned and operated an electronic's company and I know first hand how hard that can be.
I have always been a David vs Goliath kind of a person and really respect the fact that this small family company had the guts to go toe to toe with the electronic's giants like Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic, JVC/Victor and others. The fact that we even speak of them 30 years later says volumes about what they were able to do and it is no coincidence.
The reason for my trip to Lasonic surrounded our member Miles' (aka =ml=) "Boombox Creators" project. Miles and his film crew are working hard to track down the founding fathers that created these machines we love and collect and I honestly had no idea of the scope of this project until I saw it first hand.
When I arrived at the Lasonic facility and saw a full film crew, lighting, sound recording and multiple camera's I was floored. Miles and his team are doing us all proud and I can only pass on that if we can help him in any way we should. He is still trying to track down the designers and engineers that made these radios.
I was lucky enough to see them filming the question and answer session with company owner Albert Chen. Every question that was listed on this site was asked and got an answer. I stood there with my jaw dropped as I heard the answers and I can say, we were way off on some of our guesses as to how and why.
I am going to keep my mouth shut until the documentary comes out as I do not want to spoil what Miles and his crew are working on.
After the filming I did a question and answer with Miles on camera with my Lasonic collection behind me which was very cool.
After that I had a chance to speak with Albert in length about the past and future of Lasonic and again, I have to keep my mouth shut. All I can say is the company has BIG plans that we are ALL going to LOVE!
One thing I will share with you all is a brand new product. A carrying case for the i931.
The i931 fits in there perfectly
It has suitcase style handles
The Lasonic Logo is on top
It also has a clip on shoulder strap
The coolest feature is the removable speaker covers
You can pull the speaker covers off and keep on Blasting!
The beauty part is, it will fit other radios like this Trident.
These just became available on the Lasonic website this week HERE
Other information I found out is that the speakers in the i931 are EXACTLY the same as the ones in the classic 931. All the spec's are the same. Albert told me that even though they do not sell the speakers on their website, if Boomboxery members were to call Lasonic they would indeed sell them speakers directly! THIS IS HUGE information. As you know, the Lasonic 931 / 975 / 935 and 951 use these same spec speakers and it is their speaker design that creates that classic Lasonic Bass those radio's are so famous for. He told me his father was very aware that BASS was the goal and that Lasonic needed to lead the way in that department. We all know THEY DO!
Albert also told me that even though the parts are made in China, they will be moving towards full assembly IN HOUSE next year to tighten up quality control and improve the final product under their watchful eye.
I can see from visiting the new facility that Lasonic is a healthy company. They are building and shipping way more then they were when Miles and I first visited them a hand full of years ago. They had way more stock and way more radio's on the assembly floor. This in turn is good for us because they have some big business plans which Albert shared with me. But of course I promised to keep my mouth shut! The pictures below don't show the hundreds of finished i931's on the assembly floor. It was a DREAM to be surrounded by that many radios!
Albert gets it. He under stands that the Classic design and solid bass is what we are looking for. We both talked about other new radios on the market, their strengths and weaknesses and he really understands what Lasonic is and what it stands for. 2014 is going to be a GREAT year!
This story is far from over....stay tuned!
For me, the Lasonic brand is very personal. The TRC-920 was the first radio I purchased on my own when I was 15 years old. But the story of Lasonic is very close to me since my Grandfather, Father and I owned and operated an electronic's company and I know first hand how hard that can be.
I have always been a David vs Goliath kind of a person and really respect the fact that this small family company had the guts to go toe to toe with the electronic's giants like Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic, JVC/Victor and others. The fact that we even speak of them 30 years later says volumes about what they were able to do and it is no coincidence.
The reason for my trip to Lasonic surrounded our member Miles' (aka =ml=) "Boombox Creators" project. Miles and his film crew are working hard to track down the founding fathers that created these machines we love and collect and I honestly had no idea of the scope of this project until I saw it first hand.
When I arrived at the Lasonic facility and saw a full film crew, lighting, sound recording and multiple camera's I was floored. Miles and his team are doing us all proud and I can only pass on that if we can help him in any way we should. He is still trying to track down the designers and engineers that made these radios.
I was lucky enough to see them filming the question and answer session with company owner Albert Chen. Every question that was listed on this site was asked and got an answer. I stood there with my jaw dropped as I heard the answers and I can say, we were way off on some of our guesses as to how and why.
I am going to keep my mouth shut until the documentary comes out as I do not want to spoil what Miles and his crew are working on.
After the filming I did a question and answer with Miles on camera with my Lasonic collection behind me which was very cool.
After that I had a chance to speak with Albert in length about the past and future of Lasonic and again, I have to keep my mouth shut. All I can say is the company has BIG plans that we are ALL going to LOVE!
One thing I will share with you all is a brand new product. A carrying case for the i931.
The i931 fits in there perfectly
It has suitcase style handles
The Lasonic Logo is on top
It also has a clip on shoulder strap
The coolest feature is the removable speaker covers
You can pull the speaker covers off and keep on Blasting!
The beauty part is, it will fit other radios like this Trident.
These just became available on the Lasonic website this week HERE
Other information I found out is that the speakers in the i931 are EXACTLY the same as the ones in the classic 931. All the spec's are the same. Albert told me that even though they do not sell the speakers on their website, if Boomboxery members were to call Lasonic they would indeed sell them speakers directly! THIS IS HUGE information. As you know, the Lasonic 931 / 975 / 935 and 951 use these same spec speakers and it is their speaker design that creates that classic Lasonic Bass those radio's are so famous for. He told me his father was very aware that BASS was the goal and that Lasonic needed to lead the way in that department. We all know THEY DO!
Albert also told me that even though the parts are made in China, they will be moving towards full assembly IN HOUSE next year to tighten up quality control and improve the final product under their watchful eye.
I can see from visiting the new facility that Lasonic is a healthy company. They are building and shipping way more then they were when Miles and I first visited them a hand full of years ago. They had way more stock and way more radio's on the assembly floor. This in turn is good for us because they have some big business plans which Albert shared with me. But of course I promised to keep my mouth shut! The pictures below don't show the hundreds of finished i931's on the assembly floor. It was a DREAM to be surrounded by that many radios!
Albert gets it. He under stands that the Classic design and solid bass is what we are looking for. We both talked about other new radios on the market, their strengths and weaknesses and he really understands what Lasonic is and what it stands for. 2014 is going to be a GREAT year!
This story is far from over....stay tuned!
olice: 
