Howdie.
For years I've been telling myself I really needed to get myself a nice old boombox.
TBH, I've wanted one with the intention to gut it and modernize with some modern speakers/amp/electronics. Havn't explored forum enough to see if that's a thing here, but I've seen it elsewhere, so I assume I'll find some neat stuff here.
Anyway, picked up a JVC RC-828JW. I've had it in my possession for all of like 4 hours. It was sold as broken, figured best for gutting, but stupid simple to work on, and in an hour or so, had it working like new (well, cassette still unknown, but whatever), so replacing internals is off the table for a bit. Cleaning the funk off of it took quite a while.
Love the VU meters and RCA inputs and overall style (others far nicer, but for price, seems to be nice intro box)
Anyway, since it's now all working, sounds good enough for the beach and camping, so I think I'll limit such mods to just adding internal bluetooth, which should be a simple and reversable 'mod' if you can call it that. Hopefully not too sacriligious
Seems a good box to learn on, see how well it holds up.
Built myself a boombox of sorts a few months back (all vacuum laminated wood), but ended up too much effort (and heavy) to rationalize actually using in the woods.
Anyway, mostly interested in making most of the aesthetics of the box, but emphasis on keeping it functional, as the classic look is quite pleasing. Not sure what common things people have learned in the 30 years since this thing was made that would increase use. Considering small things like making the 'dial light' stay on always, as LED bulbs should be efficient enough, and it looks better lit. Also interested in alternative power solutions for these things, as 8x D rechargables seems pretty inefficient way to power it given the available space. So any quick links would be helpful (I plan on searching after posting this hello)
Anyway, neat forum so far, glad to be here. Feel free to correct anything I'm super ignorant to, or point me towards good stuff... or just say hi... I'm a total noob to boomboxes, so anything helps.
For years I've been telling myself I really needed to get myself a nice old boombox.
TBH, I've wanted one with the intention to gut it and modernize with some modern speakers/amp/electronics. Havn't explored forum enough to see if that's a thing here, but I've seen it elsewhere, so I assume I'll find some neat stuff here.
Anyway, picked up a JVC RC-828JW. I've had it in my possession for all of like 4 hours. It was sold as broken, figured best for gutting, but stupid simple to work on, and in an hour or so, had it working like new (well, cassette still unknown, but whatever), so replacing internals is off the table for a bit. Cleaning the funk off of it took quite a while.
Love the VU meters and RCA inputs and overall style (others far nicer, but for price, seems to be nice intro box)
Anyway, since it's now all working, sounds good enough for the beach and camping, so I think I'll limit such mods to just adding internal bluetooth, which should be a simple and reversable 'mod' if you can call it that. Hopefully not too sacriligious
Seems a good box to learn on, see how well it holds up.Built myself a boombox of sorts a few months back (all vacuum laminated wood), but ended up too much effort (and heavy) to rationalize actually using in the woods.
Anyway, mostly interested in making most of the aesthetics of the box, but emphasis on keeping it functional, as the classic look is quite pleasing. Not sure what common things people have learned in the 30 years since this thing was made that would increase use. Considering small things like making the 'dial light' stay on always, as LED bulbs should be efficient enough, and it looks better lit. Also interested in alternative power solutions for these things, as 8x D rechargables seems pretty inefficient way to power it given the available space. So any quick links would be helpful (I plan on searching after posting this hello)
Anyway, neat forum so far, glad to be here. Feel free to correct anything I'm super ignorant to, or point me towards good stuff... or just say hi
... I'm a total noob to boomboxes, so anything helps.
Whatever your into, we're glad to have you, there's a little bit of this and that around here so if you have questions, Im sure you will find answers. Have fun with it! 
