Crown CSC-350L Restoration & LED Mod

I picked up a Crown CSC-350L on Craigslist for a steal, but it was in a very sad state. The speakers' foam surrounds were dust, the lighted panel was dead, and the input board had been worked on by someone who didn't know what they were doing, so the aux line-in was left only, and they completely broke the phono inputs. The tape deck's cover was also broken and the antenna was seized.

I was able to fix everything after about a week of work. I rebuilt the speakers and they sound incredible, and I devised a work-around to the lights by adding a carefully placed LED strip.

The end result is a giant, heavy boombox with hi-fi aspirations and great sound. I'm just waiting on some knurled aluminum knobs to come in to complete it, and I might add a tiny red led to the radio station dial if I can come up with something.


Before. I drove from San Diego to LA to rescue her


The speakers were dust. Contrary to popular belief, the 350L actually has two 5" speakers and two passive radiators, each in their own sealed internal enclosure.


I couldn't fix its old lights, so I added an LED strip that probably looks better than the originals. It took an hour of fitting to find the perfect spot for it to light the panel and have the shell still close. You have to run the strip (12V blue LED strip, 12-inch length) exactly as I show here or it won't work out.


Almost like magic, 12V is accessible exactly where you'd want it. You don't even have to extend the short length of wire that comes with the LED strip.


Run the LED's lead through here



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYjpQnuwH1M

Well done. I would like one of these one day

Looks very good with this LEDs, after restoration.

A very classy mod. Looks great on this box, well done!

Very good!!

Thanks for the positive feedback, it's getting a lot of compliments in person too and I'm enjoying it.

The first of the knurled aluminum knobs came in and they look and feel great. I'm going with that style for the rest of the missing knobs too, and although they're a little more hifi than boombox, it works for the 350L I think. I'd rather have the originals for it, but there is no chance of finding those replacements I think.

vermouth said:

The first of the knurled aluminum knobs came in and they look and feel great.

Click to expand...

Looks good and in place. What rig are they taken from?

Those are brand new knobs I got from Aliexpress. You can find them on eBay and Amazon too but they're usually much more expensive there.

Great job on this!!😎🎶🎼📻

The knobs look good

Looks great, LEDs are bit bright you could use a simple voltage divider to reduce the illumination.

Wow! Great job! I’ve always loved this box! Kind of like an upside down Pioneer 909, love the blue leds!

Since there's an acrylic plate over the numerals, you might be able to use just one light on each side of it, because the acrylic is designed to carry the light across.

Help! Need help with CROWN CSC 350. I'm trying to disassemble the boombox. Can't figure out how can i remove the cassette lid to ease the front panel.

Excellent job!

muchkusblin said:

Help! Need help with CROWN CSC 350. I'm trying to disassemble the boombox. Can't figure out how can i remove the cassette lid to ease the front panel.

Click to expand...

The tape door in this model has ''teeth'' locking it in place.
You will have to remove it from downwards directed upwards.

Reli said:

Since there's an acrylic plate over the numerals, you might be able to use just one light on each side of it, because the acrylic is designed to carry the light across.

Click to expand...

I saw this post today only.
I was about to say the same, just need to fit one LED each at ends of the acrylic plate perpendicular to the edge. Just try by holding a LED with your hand on the edge of the Acrylic sheet and see the magic!

Never hurts to try.. Ive found that on longer pieces of acrylic though the effect, of course, fades enough that you get uneven lighting when you get to the middle of a tuning dial, for example.

Works well on like VU meter covers etc.. its been a number of years since I last did it though.

Have you found it works well on longer pieces?

Thats sharp looking.. thanks for the link..