Crown # 945 = my favorite box - EVER !!!
- Thread starter redbenjoe
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alfie said:This box was to be my first resto job. I was keen, contacted Melly about painting it (clearly I didn't heed his advice too well). When I posted pics of my collection to date I was contacted by some bloke from Florida who wanted it
. I was reluctant to sell because it was a sh!tty half cooked resto job but he was keen.
So you're the one...... :annoyed: 
Great find Alfie.... you made Ira's dream come true.
MasterBlaster84
Boomus Fidelis
Ira, that's beautiful and could be a favorite of many collectors. I would add that model to my collection in a heartbeat, I like my 950 a lot but the 945 is so much cooler then add in Norms touches and it's off the scale cool.
alfie
Member (SA)
Superduper said:alfie said:This box was to be my first resto job. I was keen, contacted Melly about painting it (clearly I didn't heed his advice too well
Great find Alfie.... you made Ira's dream come true.
Dont worry Norm, I anit going to be painting any more........
Not for a while anyway
Look carefully. You can see the recessed LED's. Also, note guys -- it's BRONZE, not BROWN!
Here is a slightly clearer pic than the RBJ shots
I just LOVE the fish-scale texture of the grills.
Before painting, some cracks were repaired. You'd never know if you didn't know before. The colors were chosen based upon an image that Ira got from someplace. This was our best attempt to replicate the scheme. Can't say for sure it's true but there were no other images of this rare as BB40 boombox to compare to. The grills were painted a graphite color. It was my suggestion because to me, the pic that Ira showed me looked silver but almost like reflection from an angular direction. Ira wanted silver but I didn't think that would look right. Anyhow, the end result looks correct. Straight on, the grill looks dark. But when illuminated from an angular direction, the paint reflects and almost looks silver and brings out the unusual fish-scale like texture. The orginal 945 had fakey piezos and they were swapped out for 950 true tweets and the sound improved commensurately. Overall, the sound is remarkably good for a boombox of this size-weight. Even I was quite impressed with it. The original mainboard was knackered and traces were cut, bypassed, relayed, etc etc. Then the power-function switch was flopping around by itself. The Power Supply was disconnected because a wire broke off. You can flip the boombox and the switch would switch positions -- good thing it would not power up. We decided that the board was too far gone and luckily, Ramon (being the junk collector that he is) had a spare junk 950 which we used to salvage parts from. Of course the 950 uses LED meters that uses a separate LED module with integral IC logic driver. The analog meters therefore, would not interface since the board did not have a built in driver, and the driver would need to be analog and not logic driven anyhow. So a custom one had to be created and the new board stuffed behind the tuner dial. Luckily there is a ton of room back there. With all the work invested, it became clear that we needed to do something with the dials to put the crowning touches on it and show that this one is special. We initially decided to illuminate above the dial but the tuning indicator would interfere with it so the decision was made to move the lamps to the sides (see images). Another custom voltage regulator was created to drive the LED's for the tuning dial. It is adjustable so it can be made brighter/dimmer. A separate type of LED's were used for the VU meters since it required a flat mounting scheme with little clearance. Those run at higher voltage so a current limiting resistor was enough to power that pair. A side benefit is that the LED mounting locations also lights the tape counter as well. So even old folks with weary eyes can see clearly at night. Anyhow, before buttoning everything up, all was cleaned out internally once again and as you can see, clean enough to eat out of.
Cleaned, wire looms bundled and Last look before reassembly.
Here is a slightly clearer pic than the RBJ shots
I just LOVE the fish-scale texture of the grills.
Before painting, some cracks were repaired. You'd never know if you didn't know before. The colors were chosen based upon an image that Ira got from someplace. This was our best attempt to replicate the scheme. Can't say for sure it's true but there were no other images of this rare as BB40 boombox to compare to. The grills were painted a graphite color. It was my suggestion because to me, the pic that Ira showed me looked silver but almost like reflection from an angular direction. Ira wanted silver but I didn't think that would look right. Anyhow, the end result looks correct. Straight on, the grill looks dark. But when illuminated from an angular direction, the paint reflects and almost looks silver and brings out the unusual fish-scale like texture. The orginal 945 had fakey piezos and they were swapped out for 950 true tweets and the sound improved commensurately. Overall, the sound is remarkably good for a boombox of this size-weight. Even I was quite impressed with it. The original mainboard was knackered and traces were cut, bypassed, relayed, etc etc. Then the power-function switch was flopping around by itself. The Power Supply was disconnected because a wire broke off. You can flip the boombox and the switch would switch positions -- good thing it would not power up. We decided that the board was too far gone and luckily, Ramon (being the junk collector that he is) had a spare junk 950 which we used to salvage parts from. Of course the 950 uses LED meters that uses a separate LED module with integral IC logic driver. The analog meters therefore, would not interface since the board did not have a built in driver, and the driver would need to be analog and not logic driven anyhow. So a custom one had to be created and the new board stuffed behind the tuner dial. Luckily there is a ton of room back there. With all the work invested, it became clear that we needed to do something with the dials to put the crowning touches on it and show that this one is special. We initially decided to illuminate above the dial but the tuning indicator would interfere with it so the decision was made to move the lamps to the sides (see images). Another custom voltage regulator was created to drive the LED's for the tuning dial. It is adjustable so it can be made brighter/dimmer. A separate type of LED's were used for the VU meters since it required a flat mounting scheme with little clearance. Those run at higher voltage so a current limiting resistor was enough to power that pair. A side benefit is that the LED mounting locations also lights the tape counter as well. So even old folks with weary eyes can see clearly at night. Anyhow, before buttoning everything up, all was cleaned out internally once again and as you can see, clean enough to eat out of.
Cleaned, wire looms bundled and Last look before reassembly.
baddboybill
Boomus Fidelis
You did an awsome job there 
MONOLITHIC
No Longer Active
redbenjoe said:great quality pix --
and now all can see the color is the cool/rare bronze
Well, you know Ira since you've seen pics and in real life, that the metallic color does not photograph well. But when you see it in real life, it's really a great metallic bronze color and no mistaking it at that.
It's not.alfie said:Incredible job Norm, I cant believe it's the same box!!!
hope you guys have noticed and admired the exceptionally nice 945 tweeter design
also --being an ultra perfectionist
it did bother me a bit --that there was a 1/2" light scratch below the left meter =
so -- no problem --see my custom repair !!!
you can see the sticker in the full shot , also
also --being an ultra perfectionist
it did bother me a bit --that there was a 1/2" light scratch below the left meter =
so -- no problem --see my custom repair !!!
you can see the sticker in the full shot , also
hemiguy2006
Member (SA)
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