Best selling boomboxes

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ScareDe2

ScareDe2

Member (SA)
Hey what's up guys,

I just finished my long headphone journey -- now I am back at driving my interest towards small sound systems; basically boomboxes and desktop speakers. I have a pretty simple question for this topic: what are the best selling boomboxes/compact system per years or decades.

:rock:
 
Fatdog

Fatdog

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Ooh, that might be difficult to answer... Are you referring to when the boomboxes were new on the market or closer to today's time? Either way, right off, I would have to say that the JVC RC-M70 has to be high on both past and present lists.
 
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neanderthal

Member (SA)
Also depends on the market.

The Hitachi 3D80/ 88 series sold very well in the UK in the late 80s early 90s. Don't know if that was the case here.

While it's nice to think that the grails sold very well, i'd bet that very basic radio cassettes sold by the ton by comparison. My twin and I each had a Sony CFS210 and most of the boys at school (we went to boarding school) had similar small stereos. Sure, some of the kids had nice boomboxes, but that was the exception rather than the norm. We weren't allowed to take the nicer boombox (Sharp WF-T380) to school, at all. Stuff went missing. Some kids took a nice boom box to school, but my brother and I were heavily involved in sports and were often away from school for sporting endeavors.

Sony CFS210
s-l1600.jpg
 
hopey

hopey

Member (SA)
That's valuable marketing data no one gives that away for free. I remember reading that 16 million were sold in the first five years of the 80's, as to what brand and model take your pick.
 
ScareDe2

ScareDe2

Member (SA)
According to ebay number of available units for sale (ebay.com) here is what I got with your suggestions so far, and I added the almighty Panasonic DT680 in the pot along with the Magnavox D 8300:



29 Sony CFS210

16 Magnavox D 8300

10 Panasonic DT680

9 Panasonic RX-5050

7 Magnavox d8443

6 JVC M70

2 Hitachi 3D80

2 lasonic TRC 931

1 Hitachi 3D88

1 Sharp WF-T380





I think the sony CFS210 will easily maintain its lead. If you find any boombox that hit higher than 10 available units for sale on ebay please share. Thanks everyone!
 
ScareDe2

ScareDe2

Member (SA)
Ok I had the idea to search ebay for vintage boombox and here is what I got for the brand Sony excluding those under production:

52 Sony CFD S05 year 2010 ?
36 Sony CFD-V17 year 1999
35 Sony CFM 140 (I & II) year 1980's
33 Sony CFM10 year 1985 ?
29 Sony CFS B15 year 2003 ?
22 Sony CDF V10 year 2003 ?
20 Sony CFS 3000 year 1988 ?
17 Sony CFS-1000 year 1985 ?
15 Sony CFS W303 year 1989 ?
14 Sony CFD-50 year 1990 ?
13 Sony CFD-440 year 1990's


Seems that so far we have a fight for the best selling boombox in the 80's between three Sony: CFM140 Vs. CFM10 Vs. CFS210
 
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neanderthal

Member (SA)
That's only a statistical study of the survivors, if you're looking at ebay. how many were trashed or destroyed? I don't remember at all what I did with my lil Sony, I didn't really care for it, but i DO remember who I gave my Sharp boombox to.
 
ScareDe2

ScareDe2

Member (SA)
I think the cheap ones are the one being trashed and destroyed the most, so if we still have them sold by tons on ebay that must correlate with a very high production/selling numbers.

EDIT: did you mean that the older the rarer? Yes I totally agree with you on that point. That's why I focus on best seller by years and decade.

:rock:
 
ScareDe2

ScareDe2

Member (SA)
Trying to find more available units from different brands, I could not find any JVC that gets close to 10 units for sale on ebay:

30 Sony CFD-ZW755 year 2001-2006 ?
16 Panasonic RX-FS430 year 1993 ?
14 Sanyo M7024A year 80's ?
13 General Electric 3-5622A year 80's ?


To sum up what I have now according to ebay is this: Sony takes the cake in about everything, every decades.

80's: Sony CFM 140 (35 units for sale)
90's: Sony CFD-V17 (36 units for sale)
00's: Sony CFD-ZW755 (30 units for sale)
10's: Sony CFD S05 (52 units for sale)

Now of course date of production is often difficult to find, maybe there is mistake so feel free to correct them.

:-)
 
Fatdog

Fatdog

Well-Known Member
Staff member
There's no way that those CFM models were sold in the 1980s. They are cheap, black, and rounded.
 
ScareDe2

ScareDe2

Member (SA)
Fatdog said:
There's no way that those CFM models were sold in the 1980s. They are cheap, black, and rounded.
Click to expand...
That would be late 80's with information I see. 1987 for the CFM 140. There is a second revision of that model I guess from later perhaps early 90's.
 
ScareDe2

ScareDe2

Member (SA)
Fatdog said:
You have the CFM-10 listed with 1985 as the possible date. The service manual for the CFM-10 has 1996.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1259804/Sony-Cfm-10.html?page=1
Click to expand...
Yes that would make sens. Then the CFM 10 would perhaps be the best seller of the 90's. It has probably sold more than the CFD-V17; it appears to be older and cheaper.

I think we have a pretty decent portrait already. Small and cheap units dominated the market, Sony being wayyyyyy ahead of competitions, and in the 00's, because it was only $100 bucks and apparently a good sounding box, the bigger CFD-ZW755 seem to have hit the market very strongly.
 
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neanderthal

Member (SA)
That CFS210 I posted I had in the late 80s, 88/ 89 or thereabouts, and that was in Africa so it probably started selling in the mid 80s here.

That was 30 years ago. :blush: i'm old.
 
Reli

Reli

Boomus Fidelis
Keep in mind that survival rates don't necessarily correlate with production rates.

Youth-oriented, cheap boxes like Lasonics, Helix etc. often got beat up, damaged, and thrown out, while "conservative" boxes like some of the plain-looking Sonys and Panasonics probably survived longer because their owners tended to be more "mature" and less likely to take them outdoors.
 
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