Today I bought five portable radio receivers for $60 total, brought them home and managed to disinfect every crevice of dust and bacteria there possibly was lurking on all five portables on the exterior.
Let's go about them one-by-one.
1. Sears (SR-2000 Series?) Department Store Cassette Recorder;
Cute, small square tube that's, to my surprise, in really good cosmetic condition (or so I remember)! Unfortunately it's cheap enough that the Cassette door is harsh-eject, so I may sell it later on after testing.
2. General Electric FM/AM Portable w/8 Track;
Unfortunately I don't know the model number of this one, but it has a door on the left side to eat your 8 tracks, and it's pretty weighty for its size.
3. 1978-1980 Sanyo M2402-3 FM/AM Monobox;
This unit also happens to be cheap enough that the tape door is harsh-eject just like the Sears, and there isn't a tone control anywhere. But I like the way they designed the tuner dial.
4. 1981 General Electric 3-5265A "Home 'n Go" AM/FM Stereo Cassette Music System; https://www.wikiboombox.com/GE 3-5265A
This Unit had the best sound out of the five, at least from my quick testing at the seller's property. But a further test at my father's could change that when I get the opportunity on Sunday. It provided good bass output and clarity.
Unfortunately the third piece of the antenna was stuck so I couldn't push it all the way back down...and I also tried to extend it so that I could disinfect the antenna, but unfortunately I pulled a little too hard and ended up disassembling a good chunk of the antenna off
time for a new Antenna!
Anyway, this is a surprisingly good receiver (to me), since it accepts Chrome tapes, and to say the least, I was not expecting the FM Sensitivity to be so good! even with the antenna (mostly) at bay, it picked up even the weaker FM stations with ease! Though, I will do further testing with the following Sunday for confirmation.
5. 1983 Lucky Goldstar (LG) TSR-581 Boombox; http://wikiboombox.com/tiki-index.php?page=Goldstar+TSR-580+and+TSR-581
This was the reason why I decided to even buy those five portable receivers: to have a respectable (albeit unsung gem), proper boombox at all! So that I didn't have to stick around with a cheap wafflebox recorder (Sanyo M9909)
It was a take-all or no-go, and I really wanted it, so I went ahead and accepted the offer.
Anyway, it's by far the largest out of the bunch, and the flashiest as well. Unfortunately it has a couple issues;
-Quartz Clock Display don't work no more
-Tuner knob is missing
-AC Cord input is loose and needs to be glued (or screwed) into place
-4 of 6 screws holding the front face to the rest of the body are missing, so somebody's been inside before me.
-Both antennae are broken/missing
-Crack on Acrylic Glass protecting the tuner dial
-Shoulder strap rods are missing
Despite all these things either missing or loose, the radio actually works!
This is a great boombox, with great sound (actually, nearly on-par with the Sanyo M9994, and beats some of the more expensive boxes in terms of SQ), and great build quality. It also accepts Chrome tapes. Only thing is, the knobs and sliders feel pretty cheap, but what do I know? It was 1983, and manufacturers were starting to cut corners as they realized people preferred aesthetics over quality.
I will give all these a further test sometime soon, hopefully on this following Sunday. But for the time being, what are your guy's thoughts on any of these five portable receivers? Which one's your favorite?
Oh, and can anyone figure out the model number for that 8-Track GE Portable?
Let's go about them one-by-one.
1. Sears (SR-2000 Series?) Department Store Cassette Recorder;
Cute, small square tube that's, to my surprise, in really good cosmetic condition (or so I remember)! Unfortunately it's cheap enough that the Cassette door is harsh-eject, so I may sell it later on after testing.
2. General Electric FM/AM Portable w/8 Track;
Unfortunately I don't know the model number of this one, but it has a door on the left side to eat your 8 tracks, and it's pretty weighty for its size.
3. 1978-1980 Sanyo M2402-3 FM/AM Monobox;
This unit also happens to be cheap enough that the tape door is harsh-eject just like the Sears, and there isn't a tone control anywhere. But I like the way they designed the tuner dial.
4. 1981 General Electric 3-5265A "Home 'n Go" AM/FM Stereo Cassette Music System; https://www.wikiboombox.com/GE 3-5265A
This Unit had the best sound out of the five, at least from my quick testing at the seller's property. But a further test at my father's could change that when I get the opportunity on Sunday. It provided good bass output and clarity.
Unfortunately the third piece of the antenna was stuck so I couldn't push it all the way back down...and I also tried to extend it so that I could disinfect the antenna, but unfortunately I pulled a little too hard and ended up disassembling a good chunk of the antenna off
Anyway, this is a surprisingly good receiver (to me), since it accepts Chrome tapes, and to say the least, I was not expecting the FM Sensitivity to be so good! even with the antenna (mostly) at bay, it picked up even the weaker FM stations with ease! Though, I will do further testing with the following Sunday for confirmation.
5. 1983 Lucky Goldstar (LG) TSR-581 Boombox; http://wikiboombox.com/tiki-index.php?page=Goldstar+TSR-580+and+TSR-581
This was the reason why I decided to even buy those five portable receivers: to have a respectable (albeit unsung gem), proper boombox at all! So that I didn't have to stick around with a cheap wafflebox recorder (Sanyo M9909)
It was a take-all or no-go, and I really wanted it, so I went ahead and accepted the offer.
Anyway, it's by far the largest out of the bunch, and the flashiest as well. Unfortunately it has a couple issues;
-Quartz Clock Display don't work no more
-Tuner knob is missing
-AC Cord input is loose and needs to be glued (or screwed) into place
-4 of 6 screws holding the front face to the rest of the body are missing, so somebody's been inside before me.
-Both antennae are broken/missing
-Crack on Acrylic Glass protecting the tuner dial
-Shoulder strap rods are missing
Despite all these things either missing or loose, the radio actually works!
This is a great boombox, with great sound (actually, nearly on-par with the Sanyo M9994, and beats some of the more expensive boxes in terms of SQ), and great build quality. It also accepts Chrome tapes. Only thing is, the knobs and sliders feel pretty cheap, but what do I know? It was 1983, and manufacturers were starting to cut corners as they realized people preferred aesthetics over quality.
I will give all these a further test sometime soon, hopefully on this following Sunday. But for the time being, what are your guy's thoughts on any of these five portable receivers? Which one's your favorite?
Oh, and can anyone figure out the model number for that 8-Track GE Portable?
