** Personal Grail National RX-C45 found at last! **

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jimmyjimmy19702010

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May 5, 2012
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Sunny Brisbane, Australia
Hi guys,

Some members may have been aware from my 'Wanted' thread here that I've long been looking for a nice National RX-C45 to keep my really rough but nice sounding C45 company. Whilst searching for the elusive C45, I've tried some other, more common later models in the C series including a C37, a C48 and some others that I've sold. For sound quality and particularly bass, none came close to my rusty, cigarette burned and very tired ol' C45! :rock:

I also started to think maybe something was wrong with my unit and that a 'fault' was causing the overly bassy sound!! :hmmm:

Yesterday, whilst doing my usual afternoon Ebay scan, I came across a recently posted listing for a 'National - Mini Cassette Portable Boombox' - despite the single, blurry Ebay photo, I could tell right away this 'mini cassette' was actually a mighty C45!! It had a starting bid of $10 or a BIN of $20 and it was only a few miles away for local pick up - Sweeeetttttt!! :thumbsup:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/National-Mini-Cassette-Portable-Boombox-/151510313533?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=pE9AqNbt8zrWxmSXGq52QZJCTcc%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Ebay pic:
View attachment 14007
I hit the BIN button and sent the seller a message asking if I could pick it up that afternoon. Fortunately, the seller got straight back to me and we were all set. The seller was getting rid of some of her partners stuff to make way for some cool eight track gear and a VZ3000 he'd just got back from his tech.

After giving the C45 a quick look over, it had the odd mark here and there on the top panel but it was obvious this was a well looked after, unmolested unit. I paused for a couple of seconds before I turned it on thinking "Is my theory going to proved right, Is this National going to sound tinny and crappy?" :-/

I slowly slid the switch up one position for the radio mode and.................... Boooooooooooom!! Wow, my theory was shot to bits, these C45s really do sound great!!! :clap:

All controls were scratchy free, everything worked including the deck and even the antenna was mint!

I handed the lady a 20 and headed for home thanking my lucky stars to discover this unit before Dan did!! (another local member) :lol:

According to the serial number, this unit was actually an earlier example and had the plain drivers without the chrome caps. My rough C45 has the chrome cap speakers from a smashed C37 I bought so I did a swap today to bring those cool, chrome caps into the deal.

The chrome on this unit is mint. One way to check the mileage of a C45 is to check the metal equaliser and volume slider back panel for wear - this one was scratch free - in fact, it looked brand new.

The cassette door was also crystal clear - I had assumed they were supposed to be yellowy and slightly opaque like my other one! :-)

Ok, time to do that speaker swap. A little soldering was required to separate the tweeter from the driver etc.

Comparison pic of the two types of C45 speakers:
View attachment 14008

Unlike other models in this series, National did bother to fit some some deadening material to the speaker cabinets. Due to the fact that these are a sealed cabinet, I flicked the factory padding and completely filled the cabinet with padding to eliminate the 'slightly hollow' sound you get from the factory setup with heavy bass music.

Obviously, if they were a bass reflex type set up, then filling the speaker cabinets like this wouldn't be an option.

Factory padding:
View attachment 14009

New padding fitted:
View attachment 14010

The sound deadening upgrade made a big difference and has made the speaker cabinets completely silent thus eliminating the 'hollow' sound that is usually emitted when the boom sounds go boom!

Being an earlier example, the tweeters were removable. The later version did away with the screws, attaching the tweeters with melt posts instead!

Non removal tweeters:

View attachment 14011

Removal tweeters:
View attachment 14012

As I could remove the tweeters, I gave the front speaker panels a warm, bubble bath. The paint on the grills is 100% new looking after a clean:
View attachment 14013

A heavily worn C45 equaliser panel:
View attachment 14014

A mint one!

View attachment 14015

Old and new:

View attachment 14016

The white bit is part of the 'Wireless speaker assembly': (all 3 piece boxes should have this setup)
View attachment 14020

Look Mum, no wires!
View attachment 14021

All cleaned up, fully working and booming the back yard with some old school tunes:

View attachment 14018
View attachment 14017
View attachment 14019

Youtube video: Kicking back with a little Pink Floyd :stereo:
The sound on the video is ok but doesn't capture the deep, down bass unfortunately:
http://youtu.be/KW3oJWwGOAo

I'll leave it at that for the time being as everything works but I'll probably re-belt it down the track if need be. I know these are super easy to work on anyway, so no worries all round!

If you find one of these C45s cheap, grab it!!

Super seller by the way, excellent communication and accurate description. Don't hesitate to deal with this seller!

James..... :-)
 

jimmyjimmy19702010

Member (SA)
May 5, 2012
3,578
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MrMcBlaster said:
Damn nice score!

And you were right I would have snapped that up real quick LOL!!

That blurry pic did it no justice it lols very minty
Not quite mint but the important parts look great!! See, I'm still buying boomboxes!! :cool:

SLO said:
Wow 20 bucks???!!! What a score :thumbsup: I would have never guessed these were so boomy. Congrats man, thats one CLEEEEAN 3 piece. Nice work too :yes:
It's all in the amp and equaliser though - hook up the C45 speakers to any other 3 piece Panny/National and they don't sound anything special!
 

Hisrudeness

Member (SA)
Jan 1, 2014
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South East London UK
Awesome box. Not sure what Panasonic were doing with these small compo's in this period but they must of been putting in Kryptonite in them they sound so strong!

Great personal Grail, I feel the same way about C53's
 

JVC Floyd

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May 6, 2009
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awesome , the rxc 45 is a real gem of a boombox ,. these tiny things are great and the size will fool you every time love the looks sound and quality of this machine . never knew about the wireless speaker part, guess i better take off those extra wires huh lol.
 

jimmyjimmy19702010

Member (SA)
May 5, 2012
3,578
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nz boom said:
cool mate i have one to love it . :thumbsup: the sound is very nice :yes:
Thanks mate, I assumed you'd have one or more of these!


Mystic Traveller said:
Great score and well done! Congrats! :thumbsup:
Thanks, yes it's an awesome piece of kit - $20!!


I also have C-45, domestic Japanese one, do like this machine. :yes:
Wow, any chance of a pic of the Japanese domestic version?

Hisrudeness said:
Awesome box. Not sure what Panasonic were doing with these small compo's in this period but they must of been putting in Kryptonite in them they sound so strong!
Great personal Grail, I feel the same way about C53's
I think you mean the C52s. I've always wanted a C52 for that super smooth, piano style finish and that cool logic deck. Do you have a C45 to do a sound comparison? I've never heard a C52 but if they sound like a C45, I will definately try and get one!!
JVC Floyd said:
awesome , the rxc 45 is a real gem of a boombox ,. these tiny things are great and the size will fool you every time love the looks sound and quality of this machine . never knew about the wireless speaker part, guess i better take off those extra wires huh lol.
Most of the time you see a C45 on Ebay, the photos show wires hanging out of the speaker boxes! :-)
JustCruisin said:
Personal grails are where it's at! :cool:
We're all different and so are a personal grails!
 

Gluecifer

Member (SA)
May 6, 2009
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Magic work! Gotta love it when all the planets align for a personal grail score!
Love these minicompos, really feature packed and quality through and through, but I've not had the pleasure of this particular model yet.



Rock On.
 

JustCruisin

Member (SA)
Jan 28, 2012
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jimmyjimmy19702010 said:
I agree! We are all different and so are our personal grails!


I use the poly fill from some old cushions the wife was going to throw out - it works perfectly. One cushion gave me enough material to do my DIY box and the C45!! :-D
I can respect the minis that pack a punch, because most people wouldn't expect such good sound from a smaller radio..
The general consumer thinks "Bigger is Better", but that's not always the case..
I have a JVC PC-70 about that size, and it sounds great despite being small..

That poly fill is sold at fabric/craft stores if nobody wants to sacrifice a pillow..:cool:
 

Reli

Member (SA)
Dec 24, 2010
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I have also thought about spraying truck bedliner onto the interior box walls, has anyone done that? Then you could add poly fill on top of that.
 

jimmyjimmy19702010

Member (SA)
May 5, 2012
3,578
26
38
Sunny Brisbane, Australia
MrMcBlaster said:
Oh I see how it is on the mean streets of brisbane
:-)
I think your still far ahead of us this year with finds including a C100F, JC2000, RX-5350 + any others I don't know about.

Rest easy mate, you're still the 2014 king of local finds..... But 2015 will be a different ball game!!

James... :-)
 
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