Boom boxes with large speakers

floyd

Boomus Fidelis
The Hitachi BTL output ICs in the Clairtone can draw a lot of power. It's set up like a car radio. I think it has good sounding speakers and decent cassette mechanisms too.

The plastic case seems poor quality though, and the internal layout is functional but chaotic. I'm glad you mentioned that the Elta has poor build quality, it will keep me from looking for one!
I don't want to rag on the elta . I just think that for nearly 1k unless you get lucky and find one for cheap is a hefty price to pay for the quality you get. I wouldn't mind having another one but not at those prices.
 
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maxhifi

Member (SA)
I don't want to rag on the elta . I just think that for nearly 1k unless you get lucky and find one for cheap is a hefty price to pay for the quality you get. I wouldn't mind having another one but not at those prices.

The comparison is very relevant though. I don't really intend to collect boomboxes, but rather to have an awesome one to play tapes and listen to the radio. I don't want to get my hopes up and make an expensive purchase just to find out it isn't as good as what I've already got.
 
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floyd

Boomus Fidelis
The comparison is very relevant though. I don't really intend to collect boomboxes, but rather to have an awesome one to play tapes and listen to the radio. I don't want to get my hopes up and make an expensive purchase just to find out it isn't as good as what I've already got.
It reminds me of when they stopped making Twinkies all of the sudden people where paying a thousand dollars for a box of Twinkies and at the end of the day whether it's a dollar or a thousand dollars it's still a ****ing Twinkie.
Then next thing you know that started producing them again and it would be real hard to not look like a damn fool for paying the inflated price.
 
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floyd

Boomus Fidelis
I'll say this when I first saw the rcm 90 in person back in 1986 the guy who had it was selling brand new boombox out a box truck at a swap meet auction in woodsboro maryland . the guy had it sitting inside the box truck and he was using it to listen to while he ran the his booth . I asked him if it was for sale and he said it was an older model and he didn't put it out because he thought it was out of style . it was only lightly used and had no wear on it . I told if you meet me in 1 week I'll have the cash to buy it from him . then I had to figure out how I would get the money.
Then a guy I knew asked me if I wanted to sell my Honda XL 75 dirt bike and as much as I loved it I was in love with the jvc even more . that dirt bike was the only thing of value I owned and I sold that mother ****ed as fast as I could and the guy showed up 1 week later and I got the m90 and never looked back.
I knew instantly that this unit was the real deal and that was probably the proudest I've ever been because when I saw the jvc on ll cool j's radio cassette tape I swore one day I would own this boombox but I never thought I had a chance being that I didn't even know what model it was or where to buy one plus how to pay. for it. It's has been the boombox love of my life . the old girl is just a bad ass boombox that commands respect. What drew me to his booth from 100 feet away was the stacks of bran new sanyo big Ben boomboxes my eyes lit up and I had to investigate lol.
 
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maxhifi

Member (SA)
I'll say this when I first saw the rcm 90 in person back in 1986 the guy who had it was selling brand new boombox out a box truck at a swap meet auction in woodsboro maryland . the guy had it sitting inside the box truck and he was using it to listen to while he ran the his booth . I asked him if it was for sale and he said it was an older model and he didn't put it out because he thought it was out of style . it was only lightly used and had no wear on it . I told if you meet me in 1 week I'll have the cash to buy it from him . then I had to figure out how I would get the money.
Then a guy I knew asked me if I wanted to sell my Honda XL 75 dirt bike and as much as I loved it I was in love with the jvc even more . that dirt bike was the only thing of value I owned and I sold that mother ****ed as fast as I could and the guy showed up 1 week later and I got the m90 and never looked back.
I knew instantly that this unit was the real deal and that was probably the proudest I've ever been because when I saw the jvc on ll cool j's radio cassette tape I swore one day I would own this boombox but I never thought I had a chance being that I didn't even know what model it was or where to buy one plus how to pay. for it. It's has been the boombox love of my life . the old girl is just a bad ass boombox that commands respect. What drew me to his booth from 100 feet away was the stacks of bran new sanyo big Ben boomboxes my eyes out up and I had to investigate lol.

That's a great story! 38 years is a long time to have anything, I don't think I'd ever let that JVC go!

When I saw the Clairtone on Facebook marketplace I didn't even negotiate price, all I could think about was how I needed it to be mine before anyone else got it! Now it's in 20 pieces and I'm waiting on belts, so I only really got a preview of how it sounds so far. My only other boombox is a Sanyo M7770K, which although quite nice for what it is, isn't something that anyone would get too excited about.
 

floyd

Boomus Fidelis
That's a great story! 38 years is a long time to have anything, I don't think I'd ever let that JVC go!

When I saw the Clairtone on Facebook marketplace I didn't even negotiate price, all I could think about was how I needed it to be mine before anyone else got it! Now it's in 20 pieces and I'm waiting on belts, so I only really got a preview of how it sounds so far. My only other boombox is a Sanyo M7770K, which although quite nice for what it is, isn't something that anyone would get too excited about.
I remember the first time I saw the conion c100 in the movie the last dragon . I mean my mouth fell open when I saw that beast . I'll never forget that moment.
As far as the sanyo m7770 I have one but like a dumbass I plugged the wrong a.c. adapter on and burnt it up . my older brother had one of these new bit he would kill me if I looked at it sideways. So I wanted one of my own lol. But now I wanted to have a nice one to give to him because I know it would bring back memories . bad for me but good for him lol.
 
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maxhifi

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I remember the first time I saw the conion c100 in the movie the last dragon . I mean my mouth fell open when I saw that beast . I'll never forget that moment.
As far as the sanyo m7770 I have one but like a dumbass I plugged the wrong a.c. adapter on and burnt it up . my older brother had one of these new bit he would kill me if I looked at it sideways. So I wanted one of my own lol. But now I wanted to have a nice one to give to him because I know it would bring back memories . bad for me but good for him lol.

My m7770k works fine, and sounds great on FM, especially with the so called wide stereo setting, but the tape deck is a little tired, I think the head must be worn. It is cosmetically nearly perfect though. Unfortunately I didn't save my own childhood boombox, which was a Citizen JTR1490R around the same size as the Sanyo m7770k. I've also never seen another one for sale.
 
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BoomboxLover48

Boomus Fidelis
This is mine....


1729820850536.png
 
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maxhifi

Member (SA)
This is mine....


View attachment 59590

On mine, changing the belts made it work, but the AMSS solenoid won't engage. There's instructions on how to resolve this in the service manual, but I haven't bothered, because I don't care too much about AMSS, and don't intend to sell it.

White is nice, looks quite different than mine for just being a different color!