Well, I believe that 2011 was the best of my (so far two) collecting years.
Lots of patience and presistence paid off in some cases.
I wated to take a minute and look back
Number 1: Intersound Super Jumbo J747S
This one came in the end of January and I was very very very impressed by its size
. luckily it survived a bad packing job and I loved it from the beginning. A rocking box!
Number 2: Sharp GF767H
When people ask me which of my boxes has the greatest story of them all, my answer is certain. the GF767 that came in a bus from Bulgaria from our great member Tony.
I know it is hard to imagine but back then, Tony was a complete newbie in this forum and had this listed for sale for way too long. I am so happy I jumped at that deal because it was the beginning of a great friendship. Thank you Tony!
Number 3: Lasonic TRC-975
On of the several resons Teresa rocked this year. Who is Teresa? She is my host-mom from the US and i stayed with her and her family for 6 weeks in 2009 and for 8 weeks in 2010. We became great friends and she was willing to help me with this Lasonic from the local ads in Massachusetts. Sadly i have been quite a not-so-nice buyer because I did not manage to pay her for quite a while because...yeah - because I was quite an idiot
. Well, good to know that we are still good friends and I finally paid her to receive this beauty. Thanks again to Floyd for helping me out with the chrome parts which needed replacement.
Number 4: Sharp VZ2000H
This deal came from our great member Peter who called me back in April (?) to ask me if i was still interested in a VZ2000. Well, needless to say I was still interested and jumped on his offer for two VZ2000s so I could build myself one good one. Thanks to member madbadger, I managed to tear down one of them, clean it and rebelt the turntable to have it fully up and running again. You cannot believe how happy I was when I had it back together and put a vinyl in and it actually started playing it! One of the greatest days of my boombox-life so far!
Number 5: Conion C-100F
If i was to nominate the biggest and coolest accquisition of 2011, it surely would be my Conion C100F. Teresa helped me out with getting it once again for a BIN on eBay.com. It arrived in one piece from the USA and after a very good clean and rebelting, it truly was a 9/10. I still greatly enjoy it once in a while but i came to the point that it is too loud for playing it indoors
.
Many of you guys will see it again soon - it is featured in the Boombox and Sneaker calendar 2012 by member DrmZ for the month of January.
Number 6: Sanyo M-X920
[picture to follow as soon as I can take one in Berlin]
The second annual Boombox meeting in Dessau was approaching and member Tony announced himself to actually come to Berlin by plane and drive to Dessau with me in Herbie
.
This is what he brought with him
. We did a trade for a box with nice and long LEDs for him and after a good clean, the Sanyo was a real looker again. It surely is not perfect but sounds great on FM and line-in and I would never let go of it until I found a mint 920 
. [Still on the lookout actually since i love that box ].
Thanks once again, Tony!
Number 7: Hamisonic DiscoLite
You are not thinking of Madonna now. And there you go, you thought of her . This summer I saw this DiscoLite pop up on eBay Germany and immediately offered the seller a fair BIN. Really no low-ball offer. 
but sadly I got an answer that declined my offer so I was out of hope. In a last attempt of desperation, I wrote to the seler and offered exactly 20,00€ more 
.
Then at work when "Hung Up" played on the radio I thought of checking my eBay messages and was more than shocked to see my offer got accepted and the listing was ended
.
It was a two week struggle after the box finally arrived and I was so scared I got ripped off...it was not a small amount of cash after all.
But then a package arrived on the doorstep that would have fit FIVE Discolites. Seriously the best packing job i have ever seen . When i took ou the box, plugged it in and saw the light ALL work, I was somewhere between heaven and paradise . I stared (and i mean STARED 
) at it the whole night and could not look away. i have been looking for two years to find one in my price range and in acceptable condition and am more than happy. It only neede a little deoxit on the record bar and sounded top again.
In exactly one year, you can see this Christmas light box on your boombox calendar again too. Ho, ho ho! :santa:
Number 8: Hitachi TRK-8180E
When I was on vacation with my parents, I got an SMS from Tony just saying that the 8180 is on its way to me. I had no idea that he was actually serious back then. I was interested in his 8180 before and he knew that but he actually told me he traded it away. You can believe how happy i was when I picked this up. It was a very very nice gesture of Tony and i am still very grateful to know him and have him as a good friend of mine
Here is smooch number 3 Tony. You deserve it
Number 9: Sanyo M7830 "Dachshund"
This is probably the one that was most surprised by in 2011. I loved the looks of this box ever since i saw on in 2010 in Dessau. When this one popped up on eBay.co.uk in near mint condition, I just had to bid on it. Luckyly for me i had some cash put away and was able to afford for a relatively low winning bid after all. So this was the very first boombox that got shipped to my new apartment in Hamburg . Somehow that is going to be hard to top since it was a perfect start. It came wrapped in lots of bubble wrap and it was fully working .
the true amazement started when i plugged it in - i could not believe for almost half an hour that it was only the Sanyo playing. The sound of this one is outstanding and easily outdoes most midsize boxes. It is a genious concept and not only unique-looking. This is the M90 among the minis, hands down.
Number 10, 11 and 12: Two Conion C100Fs and an Aiwa CS-880
This is what is still titled as "winter projects" because all of these need a good restoration. i can only thank member Blasterpunk once more for a front door delivery of all three of them . most of you already know that the C100 that misses like everything in the front is going to be a custom project called C-100BTTF. The progress is still good and the next big step is to get the guts back to life. Well, time will come and it will be fine. The Aiwa is a rather easy project...needs new speaker surrounds and belts and will be perfect again .
Number 12: JVC RC-550W "Big Momma"
It's over when the fat lady sings. This is the FAT LADY. The mother sister of all boomboxes that stand on any collector's shelf in the world. With the end of the year, I went back to the roots of boombox culture by getting this gem from Vienna. And there we are right on subject - ViennaSound. He is the mastermind behind this genious, generous and amazingly awesome trade.
When I visited Roman back in 2010, he promised to me that if he ever found another JVC RC550 i would have double-dibs on it.
This fall, I got a PM from him saying he actually located one on on of Vienna's famous fleas and bought it . After only a few PMs, we agreed on a trade that was nice for both sides and after lots of work stress and also health problems (still so sorry about that 
) he finally managed to send off the JVC to me and i was out of my mind when i saw it. It deserves all the fame it gets. The sounds is probably not the best of all boomboxes but it is the only box with a massive 25 cm woofer and it sounds brilliant to me. it also gets very loud and has crystal clear FM reception. It quickly became one of my favortie boxes - definitely my carry-around box for 2012 .
So - all good things come to an end. This year many things changed for me. I moved out of my parents' house and started studying at the Hamburg university of applied sciences. My collection grew but also shrunk this year. Many boxes are spread everywhere in the world now, doing their job and booming proud. And a few ones also found their way to me after a long time of travelling.
I hope reading all these stories emphasizes how much I want to thank all of you for going along with me and take part in my life as I also was let into some of your lives.
I made many great friends in the boombox collector scene and there are truly some of the coolest guys around i ever got to know.
The one big thing i came to realize this year is that it is not only about the radios but the people who carry them and feed them with tapes and batteries.
On that note:
YOU ROCK GUYS! THANK YOU!
Lots of patience and presistence paid off in some cases.
I wated to take a minute and look back
Number 1: Intersound Super Jumbo J747S
This one came in the end of January and I was very very very impressed by its size
. luckily it survived a bad packing job and I loved it from the beginning. A rocking box!Number 2: Sharp GF767H
When people ask me which of my boxes has the greatest story of them all, my answer is certain. the GF767 that came in a bus from Bulgaria from our great member Tony.
I know it is hard to imagine but back then, Tony was a complete newbie in this forum and had this listed for sale for way too long. I am so happy I jumped at that deal because it was the beginning of a great friendship. Thank you Tony!
Number 3: Lasonic TRC-975
On of the several resons Teresa rocked this year. Who is Teresa? She is my host-mom from the US and i stayed with her and her family for 6 weeks in 2009 and for 8 weeks in 2010. We became great friends and she was willing to help me with this Lasonic from the local ads in Massachusetts. Sadly i have been quite a not-so-nice buyer because I did not manage to pay her for quite a while because...yeah - because I was quite an idiot
. Well, good to know that we are still good friends and I finally paid her to receive this beauty. Thanks again to Floyd for helping me out with the chrome parts which needed replacement. Number 4: Sharp VZ2000H
This deal came from our great member Peter who called me back in April (?) to ask me if i was still interested in a VZ2000. Well, needless to say I was still interested and jumped on his offer for two VZ2000s so I could build myself one good one. Thanks to member madbadger, I managed to tear down one of them, clean it and rebelt the turntable to have it fully up and running again. You cannot believe how happy I was when I had it back together and put a vinyl in and it actually started playing it! One of the greatest days of my boombox-life so far!
Number 5: Conion C-100F
If i was to nominate the biggest and coolest accquisition of 2011, it surely would be my Conion C100F. Teresa helped me out with getting it once again for a BIN on eBay.com. It arrived in one piece from the USA and after a very good clean and rebelting, it truly was a 9/10. I still greatly enjoy it once in a while but i came to the point that it is too loud for playing it indoors
.Many of you guys will see it again soon - it is featured in the Boombox and Sneaker calendar 2012 by member DrmZ for the month of January.
Number 6: Sanyo M-X920
[picture to follow as soon as I can take one in Berlin]
The second annual Boombox meeting in Dessau was approaching and member Tony announced himself to actually come to Berlin by plane and drive to Dessau with me in Herbie
.This is what he brought with him
. We did a trade for a box with nice and long LEDs for him and after a good clean, the Sanyo was a real looker again. It surely is not perfect but sounds great on FM and line-in and I would never let go of it until I found a mint 920 . [Still on the lookout actually since i love that box ].Thanks once again, Tony!
Number 7: Hamisonic DiscoLite
You are not thinking of Madonna now. And there you go, you thought of her
. This summer I saw this DiscoLite pop up on eBay Germany and immediately offered the seller a fair BIN. Really no low-ball offer. but sadly I got an answer that declined my offer so I was out of hope. In a last attempt of desperation, I wrote to the seler and offered exactly 20,00€ more .Then at work when "Hung Up" played on the radio I thought of checking my eBay messages and was more than shocked to see my offer got accepted and the listing was ended
.It was a two week struggle after the box finally arrived and I was so scared I got ripped off...it was not a small amount of cash after all.
But then a package arrived on the doorstep that would have fit FIVE Discolites. Seriously the best packing job i have ever seen
. When i took ou the box, plugged it in and saw the light ALL work, I was somewhere between heaven and paradise . I stared (and i mean STARED ) at it the whole night and could not look away. i have been looking for two years to find one in my price range and in acceptable condition and am more than happy. It only neede a little deoxit on the record bar and sounded top again.In exactly one year, you can see this Christmas light box on your boombox calendar again too. Ho, ho ho! :santa:
Number 8: Hitachi TRK-8180E
When I was on vacation with my parents, I got an SMS from Tony just saying that the 8180 is on its way to me. I had no idea that he was actually serious back then. I was interested in his 8180 before and he knew that but he actually told me he traded it away. You can believe how happy i was when I picked this up. It was a very very nice gesture of Tony and i am still very grateful to know him and have him as a good friend of mine
Here is smooch number 3 Tony. You deserve it
Number 9: Sanyo M7830 "Dachshund"
This is probably the one that was most surprised by in 2011. I loved the looks of this box ever since i saw on in 2010 in Dessau. When this one popped up on eBay.co.uk in near mint condition, I just had to bid on it. Luckyly for me i had some cash put away and was able to afford for a relatively low winning bid after all. So this was the very first boombox that got shipped to my new apartment in Hamburg
. Somehow that is going to be hard to top since it was a perfect start. It came wrapped in lots of bubble wrap and it was fully working .the true amazement started when i plugged it in - i could not believe for almost half an hour that it was only the Sanyo playing. The sound of this one is outstanding and easily outdoes most midsize boxes. It is a genious concept and not only unique-looking. This is the M90 among the minis, hands down.
Number 10, 11 and 12: Two Conion C100Fs and an Aiwa CS-880
This is what is still titled as "winter projects" because all of these need a good restoration.
i can only thank member Blasterpunk once more for a front door delivery of all three of them . most of you already know that the C100 that misses like everything in the front is going to be a custom project called C-100BTTF. The progress is still good and the next big step is to get the guts back to life. Well, time will come and it will be fine. The Aiwa is a rather easy project...needs new speaker surrounds and belts and will be perfect again .Number 12: JVC RC-550W "Big Momma"
It's over when the fat lady sings. This is the FAT LADY. The mother sister of all boomboxes that stand on any collector's shelf in the world. With the end of the year, I went back to the roots of boombox culture by getting this gem from Vienna. And there we are right on subject - ViennaSound. He is the mastermind behind this genious, generous and amazingly awesome trade.
When I visited Roman back in 2010, he promised to me that if he ever found another JVC RC550 i would have double-dibs on it.
This fall, I got a PM from him saying he actually located one on on of Vienna's famous fleas and bought it
. After only a few PMs, we agreed on a trade that was nice for both sides and after lots of work stress and also health problems (still so sorry about that ) he finally managed to send off the JVC to me and i was out of my mind when i saw it. It deserves all the fame it gets. The sounds is probably not the best of all boomboxes but it is the only box with a massive 25 cm woofer and it sounds brilliant to me. it also gets very loud and has crystal clear FM reception. It quickly became one of my favortie boxes - definitely my carry-around box for 2012 .So - all good things come to an end. This year many things changed for me. I moved out of my parents' house and started studying at the Hamburg university of applied sciences. My collection grew but also shrunk this year. Many boxes are spread everywhere in the world now, doing their job and booming proud. And a few ones also found their way to me after a long time of travelling.
I hope reading all these stories emphasizes how much I want to thank all of you for going along with me and take part in my life as I also was let into some of your lives.
I made many great friends in the boombox collector scene and there are truly some of the coolest guys around i ever got to know.
The one big thing i came to realize this year is that it is not only about the radios but the people who carry them and feed them with tapes and batteries.
On that note:
YOU ROCK GUYS! THANK YOU!
Thomas
