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