Anyone purchase the BUMPBOXX?
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I was really fond of the green versions of the Bumpboxx, but the blue camo is cool. The vinyl has a deep texture to it and is very thick. It still has a few dings in it from assembly at the factory and the trimmed vinyl edges need more attention but I love the changes. I feel like I need to black out the handle but I'll save that decision for another day.
Here is a quick pic at work, hopefully tonight I can test the tuner and features. At least it didn't show up broken like the other ones.
Here is a quick pic at work, hopefully tonight I can test the tuner and features. At least it didn't show up broken like the other ones.
Lasonic TRC-920
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FM tuner is no better than the last ones. It scanned and saved 30 stations and only 1 didn't have pure static. Why are these stopping on static and saving the preset station as if it actually had a clear signal???? Really there were 2 main reasons I wanted the V3 and sold my SE:
#1 tuners were supposed to be fixed
#2 my lime green SE was broken more than it worked
Fingers crossed the rest holds together. How do my digital and analog blasters pickup 20 clear stations and this doesn't?
#1 tuners were supposed to be fixed
#2 my lime green SE was broken more than it worked
Fingers crossed the rest holds together. How do my digital and analog blasters pickup 20 clear stations and this doesn't?
I don’t want a bumpboxx, but all these discussions really makes me want to demo & review one out of curiosity. Wish there was one close enough that I could try for a day or two. Anyone crazy enough to ship me yours for a tryout? No? It’s ok, didn’t think so, haha.
It sounds like the tuner has poor sensitivity, and even poorer selectivity and no muting to speak of. Both of the previous are important tuner performance specifications and as you have experienced, even old school tuners are decent, with muting included with most stereo tuners. The muting function basically is a tuning strength threshold that allows only the strong (actual) stations to come through and blanks out the static or poor stations. Generally speaking, the cheapest boomboxes will have a tuner that has acceptable tuner performance while higher end boomboxes "should" have stronger tuners that have better sensitivity and selectivity, with the best performance from standalone tuners, or higher end SW type of radios.blu_fuz said:
I suspect that on the bumpboxx, the tuner is an afterthought and likely the exact same design as the previous design. Since there's no question in my mind that the bumpboxx is not a custom designed product in terms of circuitry that was commissioned to be built/manufactured in China, but rather a combination of already designed "modules" incorporated into the product, it's no big suprise that the tuner probably is no more feature rich than ones like the following:
[ebay]222497695518[/ebay]
There are others but I suspect that they are all very similar in terms of design and performance, and I suspect that a similar circuit is probably incorporated into the bumpboxx as well. Of course I'm just guessing but it would be interesting to take a look at the actual bumpboxx circuit board and have a look-see.
I was hoping against logic that the tuner would actually work on your V3.0 box Joe. This situation sucks. :-(blu_fuz said:
Bumpboxx are asking more $$$s for these things now. You would think quality would have improved accordingly.
Lasonic TRC-920
Moderator
Superduper said:
I forwarded the above conversation to Rob of Bumpboxxjimmyjimmy19702010 said:I was hoping against logic that the tuner would actually work on your V3.0 box Joe. This situation sucks. :-(
Bumpboxx are asking more $$$s for these things now. Quality has to improve accordingly.
I reckon a gutted Bumpboxx with a quality car stereo on board would be a great thing - and with a properly designed and ‘working’ AM/FM stereo tuner and stereo sound quality to boot!
Chris, the whole thing boils down to the intended audience. Old timers, certainly those in their 40’s & 50’s and maybe some in their 30’s expect a boombox to have and contain certain features. However those young ‘uns who didn’t grow up with or play with cassette tapes and are primarily mp3’ers & iPod type personal audio device users may find the bumpboxx to be perfect. If this thing isn’t marketed to boombox enthusiasts, I think there wouldn’t be any problems.
But you know, if you grew up with a boombox listening primarily to the radio and cassette tapes, tapes that you made by spending countless hours sitting in front of a home deck, and mastering the skill of disengaging the pause key at just the right moment in the recording process to either eliminate the radio personalities voice, or minimizing the snap crackles & pops of the between tracks in the record, all in an effort to create the perfect cassette playlist...... and well suddenly the device that is marketed to or as a boombox has no real radio, no cassette tape or CD function, maybe no rca line-ins, no line-outs, doesn’t have that high quality stereo look, etc etc etc.... I think you understand where I’m going with this.
Perhaps it’s wishful thinking to expect a perfect boombox in everyone’s minds, since there is a mix of age, generation gap, experience, etc. Maybe classic boomboxes are dinosaurs destined to become extinct forever. But an old timer like me can always hope.
Joe and some other critics have raised valid points though. The fact that they are talking about gutting a bumpboxx to get what they want should be taken seriously and that is saying something. To me, I read that to say that they like the looks but it’s not cutting it from a performance and reliability aspect.
Now, from a practical aspect and in reality, let’s be frank. Modern car stereos are ultra cheap these days and can be had for what, a hundred bucks or so? And they are sooo feature rich that except for cassette, they can have most every feature one could want. If the same product was available without the packaging, installation hardware, instruction manual, frame, etc. in fact, if the same product could be ordered from the same manufacturer in basically bare bones manner, as a circuit board and front panel interface, could it not then be obtained cheaper maybe? And if the electronics was then installed with a large D class amp (in STEREO), would that not then be a game changer? Just food for thought.
But you know, if you grew up with a boombox listening primarily to the radio and cassette tapes, tapes that you made by spending countless hours sitting in front of a home deck, and mastering the skill of disengaging the pause key at just the right moment in the recording process to either eliminate the radio personalities voice, or minimizing the snap crackles & pops of the between tracks in the record, all in an effort to create the perfect cassette playlist...... and well suddenly the device that is marketed to or as a boombox has no real radio, no cassette tape or CD function, maybe no rca line-ins, no line-outs, doesn’t have that high quality stereo look, etc etc etc.... I think you understand where I’m going with this.
Perhaps it’s wishful thinking to expect a perfect boombox in everyone’s minds, since there is a mix of age, generation gap, experience, etc. Maybe classic boomboxes are dinosaurs destined to become extinct forever. But an old timer like me can always hope.
Joe and some other critics have raised valid points though. The fact that they are talking about gutting a bumpboxx to get what they want should be taken seriously and that is saying something. To me, I read that to say that they like the looks but it’s not cutting it from a performance and reliability aspect.
Now, from a practical aspect and in reality, let’s be frank. Modern car stereos are ultra cheap these days and can be had for what, a hundred bucks or so? And they are sooo feature rich that except for cassette, they can have most every feature one could want. If the same product was available without the packaging, installation hardware, instruction manual, frame, etc. in fact, if the same product could be ordered from the same manufacturer in basically bare bones manner, as a circuit board and front panel interface, could it not then be obtained cheaper maybe? And if the electronics was then installed with a large D class amp (in STEREO), would that not then be a game changer? Just food for thought.
Lasonic TRC-920
Moderator
I totally agree with what your saying.Superduper said:
This issue Joe is talking about should be a no brainer. If you have ever watched a cooking competition show, they say over and over "Don't put anything on the plate that isn't intended to be eaten". Don't add an FM circuit if it doesn't pick up stations.
I'll be honest with you. I don't know if the amp/mp3 player system they are using just comes with the FM receiver as a freebie. I think it does. I think it's just part of the circuit. but I will be bringing it up when I return to China November 11th. The amplifier is completely tuned to their spec's. I watched that process take place. That is not an off the shelf item. Totally bespoke.
I asked why they don't use a telescoping antenna and their answer was less of a surprise and more of a societal issue we live in today. Basically, because people are irresponsible C***S, if it's not completely indestructible it becomes a warranty issue which costs way too much money to deal with. Back when people took responsibility for their actions, say back in the 80's, that wasn't an issue. Humans knew to treat the antenna gently. Now they just whine until they get their way. SAD BUT TRUE STORY! And because of that, we end up with sh**y antenna's in the Bumpboxx. I'm not saying that is an excuse, but it add's to the fuel of why this damn thing doesn't work.
Most modern BT speakers are just that. I wouldn't call them "Boomboxes" because they only connect to a smart phone.
IF (still holding my breath, but we are moving forward)...
IF, the Bumpboxx Classic's come to fruition, it will be a classic in every sense of the term, including telescopic antenna's.
The FM tuner is part of the SD card/USB input interface. It’s an off the shelf part. (The original version of the Freestyle). Not sure if they’ve changed the part with the new models.
The ‘tuner’ is basically one single IC chip.
Interesting about the telescopic antenna issue - you see a lot of products for sale today with telescopic antennas.
I don’t doubt you’d have a bunch of man babies busting them and returning them demanding a refund.
The ‘tuner’ is basically one single IC chip.
Interesting about the telescopic antenna issue - you see a lot of products for sale today with telescopic antennas.
I don’t doubt you’d have a bunch of man babies busting them and returning them demanding a refund.
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