Looking for any technicians in my area, USA, or anyone willing to help.

[ScottSpeed]

Hello again wonderful folks. I have been recently having a very hard time finding anyone at all that is willing to work on these old boomboxes. I started with searching just my area and then I expanded my search to country wide and so far I have only found folks that repair speakers OR receivers / stereo equipment. None of them have said that they would be willing to help me with the old boomboxes. Yes I told them I am a collector as I know many shops have folks bring stuff in that they think can be repaired quickly and cheaply and it's not worth the shops time or worth the repair so they send them away. I am willing to spend good money to have these treasures repaired.

Now just as a disclaimer, I know how to solder and do minor technical work but I would feel much better sending the units that are over my head to someone experienced. Yes I can clean my own switches or solder a bridge but I don't have much test equipment and I'm learning as I go so please excuse my ignorance on anything here.

Now I am located in southern Missouri. I would be willing to ship literally across the country if I need to as I am getting kinda burned out trying to find someone to help.. Hell I'd probably ship it overseas if it was my only option.

I have a decent collection too and at least 4 or 5 boxes that need service atm.. Such as: Sanyo 9994, Aiwa CS880, Sony CFS-F40, Sharp GF 999, Sanyo 9998, etc.

So basically if you have a technician you recommend or anything like that please help me out if you can!

Thank you all so very much!!

 

[Superduper]

What’s wrong with your units?

 

[neanderthal]

There's a Japanese gentleman on youtube. Cant remember his channel name.

Also there are lots of threads here about techs. Do your research.

 

[Hisrudeness]

Hello again wonderful folks. I have been recently having a very hard time finding anyone at all that is willing to work on these old boomboxes. I started with searching just my area and then I expanded my search to country wide and so far I have only found folks that repair speakers OR receivers / stereo equipment. None of them have said that they would be willing to help me with the old boomboxes. Yes I told them I am a collector as I know many shops have folks bring stuff in that they think can be repaired quickly and cheaply and it's not worth the shops time or worth the repair so they send them away. I am willing to spend good money to have these treasures repaired.

Now just as a disclaimer, I know how to solder and do minor technical work but I would feel much better sending the units that are over my head to someone experienced. Yes I can clean my own switches or solder a bridge but I don't have much test equipment and I'm learning as I go so please excuse my ignorance on anything here.

Now I am located in southern Missouri. I would be willing to ship literally across the country if I need to as I am getting kinda burned out trying to find someone to help.. Hell I'd probably ship it overseas if it was my only option.

I have a decent collection too and at least 4 or 5 boxes that need service atm.. Such as: Sanyo 9994, Aiwa CS880, Sony CFS-F40, Sharp GF 999, Sanyo 9998, etc.

So basically if you have a technician you recommend or anything like that please help me out if you can!

Thank you all so very much!!

If all else fails then you can send them into this place in New York.

 

[Tinman]

If all else fails then you can send them into this place in New York.

Not sure why but that picture made me think of this Family Guy episode.

 

[ScottSpeed]

Thank you everyone for the replies! I wanted to first off say that this post was more intended to be as a search for technicians that are currently in the business of fixing these or stereo equipment and if anyone has had any recent experience with any. It wasn't really intended as a post that's asking for folks to try to help me fix and diagnose my radios. I can see how I was misleading there though so my apologies.

And to be more specific to you Superduper, the units vary from not being able to make a sound at all to ones that just need general cleaning and maintenance. However I am up to trying things out, I do have some units I would just feel so much better on having someone experienced deal with them for me. Kind of one of those things where even though you may know how to change the oil in your car, it's nice to be able to pay someone else to do it for you

Thank you all.

 

[Macs]

You could start looking on YouTube. There’s a few channels showing repairs and service of radios. Maybe one of them takes them in.

 

[Reli]

Best bet is to look in the Yellow Pages as well as Facebook Marketplace to find businesses that still do TV repair, VCR repair, and CD repair. They often possess the skills and willingness to work on cassette players. They are typically found in very low-rent urban areas next to dry cleaners and cheap nail salons.

Don't bother with businesses that describe themselves as Hifi restoration. They usually have a "too good for you" elitist attitude, because they assume most boombox collectors are low-income people who wouldn't be willing to pay very much. They're accustomed to dealing with affluent customers who are willing to pay $1,000 or more to restore a vintage receiver. Plus they know most boomboxes are cheaply-built and might fly apart if they start working on them. And finally, since most boomboxes aren't worth as much as vintage receivers, the owner of the boombox might simply abandon it without paying. So it's understandable that many techs refuse to work on them.

 

[hopey]

Best bet is to look in the Yellow Pages as well as Facebook Marketplace to find businesses that still do TV repair, VCR repair, and CD repair. They often possess the skills and willingness to work on cassette players. They are typically found in very low-rent urban areas next to dry cleaners and cheap nail salons.

Don't bother with businesses that describe themselves as Hifi restoration. They usually have a "too good for you" elitist attitude, because they assume most boombox collectors are low-income people who wouldn't be willing to pay very much. They're accustomed to dealing with affluent customers who are willing to pay $1,000 or more to restore a vintage receiver. Plus they know most boomboxes are cheaply-built and might fly apart if they start working on them. And finally, since most boomboxes aren't worth as much as vintage receivers, the owner of the boombox might simply abandon it without paying. So it's understandable that many techs refuse to work on them.

Very true but doesn't sound promising.

 

[Superduper]

I can already tell you to forget about getting the sony cfs-f40 or the GF-999 serviced. Techs are not likely going to want to work on Japan domestic units if for no other reason that there would be no service documentation for those models. They usually have entire shelves of electronics on the shelf in the job queue. Without service documentation, it would take much longer to service and success isn't even guaranteed, so would they risk devoting time to something like that or would they prefer to move on to something else on the shelf that they know they can repair?

Biggest problem with the 9994 is the tuner... transistors get weak and are no longer available, making it difficult to get exactly right. The rest should be serviceable, as long as no unobtanium parts are required.

The CS-880 is a very difficult beast to service. All of the drivers will need to be refoamed including the center passive radiator. Don't let them just swap the outer drivers though... they are special and work hand in hand with the passive radiator, so replacements likely aren't going to perform as well.... insist that they refoam the originals. The electronics are isolated from the lower speaker chamber so it's very cramped in that upper chamber and sealing foam is probably crumbling by now. Cramped quarters mean pain in the ass servicing. If the tuner goes out, especially in the display section... could be a problem if replacement parts are no longer available.

Lastly, the M9998 should be serviceable. However, like the CS-880, once again the speaker compartments are sealed from the electronics. There's a reason why both models sound good, and that design is part of it. However, once again, the electronics compartment is extremely cramped. Sanyo is notorious for having a charlottes web of wiring spanning everywhere and anywhere, and seemingly almost impossible to put back together in the way they came apart so that everything fits. Some plastic parts on the tape deck breaks and there simply is no replacements available except used which are getting harder to find every day. The tape deck motor has a tendency to begin running slow and unlike other boomboxes, this one does not seem to have a speed adjustment.

Not trying to pop your bubble but the amount of time usually necessary to restore one of these boomboxes almost always exceeds the value of it. Only because we are collectors, we are willing to devote seemingly endless amounts of time to fixing them up. A technician is going to want anywhere from $40 to $100 an hour for his time. If this was 1980 and they've been working on these all the time, they can service them quick. These days, they probably haven't seen one of these come by in a very long time. Like a GM technician working on a Mercedes Benz for the first time, it's not that they can't do it, but it will take far longer than someone else who specializes in that make or model. But just because they don't specialize in that model, doesn't mean they aren't going to charge for their time. I'm just saying be prepared to fork over the cash if they're even willing to do the job.

I hope you find someone who is very familiar with boomboxes and willing to devote the time to doing them right. These techs are harder and harder to find.

 

[ScottSpeed]

I see. Well thank you for everyone's responses. All very good information. I guess I'm just surprised to see that in a boombox group, there's no one that specializes in repairing these units that folks here have had experience with.. I take it everyone repairs their own units, had them serviced years ago when someone was in business doing it, or they just live without the repair.

Makes me wonder why someone doesn't start up a business specializing in these specifically since no one does anymore and there's still so many collectors with new ones showing up everyday. For example in my walkman forums there is only around 3 or 4 very popular technicians that can just about repair, modify, calibrate, and restore any cassette player made under the sun and that's specifically what they specialize in. I know that at least 2 of these technicians have over a year waiting list as I type this now. These technicians are placed across the globe but that doesn't matter a bit due to the need of the repairs as well as being the only ones capable to do it.

I figured there would be at least a couple folks like this in the boombox world and maybe hopefully I just haven't found them yet.

Thanks for your time folks.