If you're serious about rebuilding a Boombox - READ THIS FIRST

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Lasonic TRC-920

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Feb 16, 2010
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I'm just going to throw this out, because it's very under-advertised and under-promoted.
Also, because there are a lot of new members signing up, buying boxes and opening them up for the first time.

As many of you know, I have probably worked on 100 boxes at this point. I own 65 and have had many more, all of them I have opened.

If you have spent any money on a Boombox and plan on working on it, spend just a few extra $$$ for a factory service repair manual that shows you how to open it up and in what order. I just worked on a General Electric 3-5280C mono box. It was a nightmare, hidden screws, 20 wires that had to be un-soldered, one of the worst jobs I have done. If I had a manual, this would have been no big deal.

I am of course speaking of www.AnalogAlley.com
(BTW, this is not a sales pitch, I do not make money from this site)

A massive investment has been made to create this database of manuals and IMHO and from my experience, it is so cheap to buy a manual that shows how to take these apart without the guesswork and get it back together with a better chance of it working as if from the factory.

Boomboxery and Stereo2Go member Superduper runs this site. He literally has tons of manuals (I'm not exaggerating, TONS). Even if it's not listed on his site, email him, chances are, he has it and it's just not listed.

Prices for service manuals vary from $14.95 down to schematics for $5.95. If you just spent $200 or more for a radio and have NO CLUE what you are doing, spend a few $$$ more. SERIOUSLY. In some cases, it's the difference between having a fully working Rocker or a rock!

I decided I'm going to start making the meager investment into a $12 manual for the radios I know will never leave me OR radios I want to fully restore to put up for sale in hopes of bringing in "Da Big Money" for a fully functioning Box.

I recently bought two manuals, I downloaded the PDF file instantly, printed it and was ready to work RIGHT NOW.

Also, it's not just service manuals, it's also owners manuals that have all the instructions on how your radio works and it's various features. Got a complicated cassette music search feature? Not even sure IF your radio has a complicated cassette music search feature?

Owner's manual :lol: :yes:

I think it's good stuff....Just wanted to share.

www.AnalogAlley.com
analogalley.png
 

trippy1313

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You know what Chris? Thank you. I've but a manual or two from SuperDuper's site, but I still forget because I always think of that site for his fantastic M70 LED upgrade and slider rebuilds.

I forget that his actual most valuable items are his insane collection of owners and service manuals.

Can I request this be pinned?
 

caution

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Mar 25, 2014
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Well said Chris!

Not only does he have a large selection of service and user manuals, he also takes great care when scanning them into PDF format. He'll go in and scrutinize each page for deficiencies, such as faded areas that may not have full representation after processing, and will rebuild them in order to provide customers a fully readable manual.
 

Will

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I have to go check that out. I just ordered a M70. This thread was right on time. Thanks Guys.
Note: if you have a direct link to SuperDuper, that would really help.
 

Will

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I just ordered the M70 light kit. Do they have one for the Sharp GF-777 like the guy has in this video. Note: about 4 minutes and 50 sec. into the video it shows the LED backlight in the VU meter and cassette decks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAbmtRXpEUU
 

Lasonic TRC-920

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Feb 16, 2010
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Superduper said:
Thanks for the support and business guys. Really appreciate it.
100% :superduper:

Will said:
I have to go check that out. I just ordered a M70. This thread was right on time. Thanks Guys.
Note: if you have a direct link to SuperDuper, that would really help.
Here is the link to the M70 manual https://www.analogalley.com/osccart/product_info.php?products_id=173

Will said:
I just ordered the M70 light kit. Do they have one for the Sharp GF-777 like the guy has in this video. Note: about 4 minutes and 50 sec. into the video it shows the LED backlight in the VU meter and cassette decks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAbmtRXpEUU
I have that in my M70, it rocks.
 

Will

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Will said:
I just ordered the M70 light kit. Do they have one for the Sharp GF-777 like the guy has in this video. Note: about 4 minutes and 50 sec. into the video it shows the LED backlight in the VU meter and cassette decks.
Oops I meant three (3) minutes into the video.
 

Superduper

Member (SA)
Will said:
I just ordered the M70 light kit. Do they have one for the Sharp GF-777 like the guy has in this video. Note: about 4 minutes and 50 sec. into the video it shows the LED backlight in the VU meter and cassette decks.
Will, Thank you for the order. Please allow a few days for us to build and bench test your kit before we ship it, as we only build them on demand nowadays. In the meantime while you are waiting, please download the installation instructions so you can familiarize yourself with the installation process. Also, some of the guys here have produced videos showing the installation. It may help you to watch those.

http://www.analogalley.com/pdf/m70_lamp_install.pdf

As for the GF-777 led upgrades, keep in mind that my kit is way more than just adding a few LED's. It also changes how to activate and extinquish the led's. When I created the kit, I did so with the goal of creating an easy to install kit that takes all the guesswork out of the installation. You just move 1-wire, solder 3-wires and hot glue the parts to the front case, then you are good to go. Ok, there's a few more details but that's the crux of it. This includes hand creating and wiring up the harnesses, etc so minimal work is done by the end user. On installations like that GF-777 (and many others), they were hardwired to the power so that it's always on whenever you turn the unit on. Mine allows you to use the factory light switch. Also, the GF-777 and many other boomboxes with non-acrylic tuner dials don't respond well to lighting projects like the M70, RC-550, RC-828/838, M9994, M9998 etc, that have acrylic light carriers. That's probably why that GF-777 doesn't really have a lit tuner, rather just lit meters and cassette chambers. More importantly, on those projects, the installation is the challenge, not creating a kit. Therefore, all you need to do an upgrade like that is a little bit of knowledge of how to wire up led's, the desire and initiative to do a project like this, the time, and if you aren't that knowledgeable of electronics, then some instructions of how someone else did theirs. I have done many custom LED projects but there is no kit there. It's just something that one must create on the fly. In retrospect, I didn't photograph those projects since it does add a lot of time to the job to document the steps but perhaps someone in the future might provide some detailed installation steps for you. The important thing is that on custom kits, just a little knowledge of leds, their polarity, how to properly wire and protect them from overcurrent conditions will go a long way towards opening up your horizon on custom installations limited only by your imagination. In my experience, the most difficult part of doing such upgrades is finding a suitable location to mount leds to have the best visual effect, and the actual manner to mount them as well that doesn't look tacky and retains a professional appearance. I have seen butt ugly installations where led strips were mounted with double side tape on the exterior of a boombox and wired by drilling holes through the exterior cabinet. All I can say on those is.... no comment.
 

Will

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Superduper said:
Will, Thank you for the order. Please allow a few days for us to build and bench test your kit before we ship it, as we only build them on demand nowadays. In the meantime while you are waiting, please download the installation instructions so you can familiarize yourself with the installation process. Also, some of the guys here have produced videos showing the installation. It may help you to watch those.
Yep, I watched Bad Boy Bill installation videos and I read the LED kit installation instructional manual.
 
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