Hi Guys,
Well I've finally landed a cheap and local example of one of my last street blasters - the Sanyo C35. I gave my original completely knackered C35 to my brother - who knows where that one ended up?!
Back in '86, my old C35 got me kicked off a bus, 2 trains and out of the Queen Street Mall, Brisbane.
Saw an auction for a local C35 in a partially working condition. The auction ended with me as the winner at $31 AUD.
The seller was a nice guy and his description was accurate. We did the hand over in a carpark but he was organised enough to have 8 D cells on hand for testing.
The amp volume sounded weak and the left channel was intermittent but the big Sanyo was complete with a good antenna and the battery compartment cover was present.
After I got her home I sprayed the 5 band equaliser and volume sliders plus the speaker 3.5mm speaker inputs - hey presto, she now was firing on all cylinders.
After I cranked her up all those memories came flooding back!
Unfortunately, one particular memory reared its ugly head - the crappy bass the C35 produces. The drivers flap around like crazy until you either turn down the volume or the left most equaliser slider.
The big speaker cabinets on these things are feather light so I knew quality speakers weren't inside there. But I was totally unprepared how **** the original Sanyo speakers are. Firstly, they are only 5 inch!!
As a 15 year old, I always wondered what was inside those cabinets so today was the day to find out (only took me 30 years to get organised)
A 6.5 inch speaker would easily fit but no, Sanyo went cheap and the performance suffered.
It's probably the only box I've had where the amp is literally too much for the speakers to handle!!
View attachment 31494
Check out that driver! Sanyo need a kick up the arse for that effort!
The cabinets were full of bugs and dirt so I pulled the drivers and hosed out the cabinets.
So what to do??? Do I maintain the original look or do I fit quality speakers that can handle what the amp is putting out??
Ok, that didn't take long, time to do an upgrade. You'll notice the paper surrounds were full of holes from hungry cockroaches anyway! New 5 inch speakers aren't very common these days but I did have a used pair of 5 inch drivers in stock. Here is a comparison pic of the old and new:
View attachment 31493
They have to be the most pathetic drivers I've ever seen!!
Anyway, after a couple of minor mods, the new drivers were screwed and soldered in place:View attachment 31495
Check out the unusual wood bracing in the speaker cabinets:
Anyway, here she is all modded and sounding nice and clear on the AM/FM stereo tuner + the proper line in sounded great too. The decks need a rebelt but I'll need to order belts so that will have to wait til next week.
Can you believe these tiny speakers were in those huge cabinets!!
Outdoors:
So this particular C35 now sounds as good as it should have back in '86.
Thanks guys,
James...
Well I've finally landed a cheap and local example of one of my last street blasters - the Sanyo C35. I gave my original completely knackered C35 to my brother - who knows where that one ended up?!
Back in '86, my old C35 got me kicked off a bus, 2 trains and out of the Queen Street Mall, Brisbane.
Saw an auction for a local C35 in a partially working condition. The auction ended with me as the winner at $31 AUD.
The seller was a nice guy and his description was accurate. We did the hand over in a carpark but he was organised enough to have 8 D cells on hand for testing.
The amp volume sounded weak and the left channel was intermittent but the big Sanyo was complete with a good antenna and the battery compartment cover was present.
After I got her home I sprayed the 5 band equaliser and volume sliders plus the speaker 3.5mm speaker inputs - hey presto, she now was firing on all cylinders.
After I cranked her up all those memories came flooding back!
Unfortunately, one particular memory reared its ugly head - the crappy bass the C35 produces. The drivers flap around like crazy until you either turn down the volume or the left most equaliser slider.The big speaker cabinets on these things are feather light so I knew quality speakers weren't inside there. But I was totally unprepared how **** the original Sanyo speakers are. Firstly, they are only 5 inch!!
As a 15 year old, I always wondered what was inside those cabinets so today was the day to find out (only took me 30 years to get organised)
A 6.5 inch speaker would easily fit but no, Sanyo went cheap and the performance suffered.
It's probably the only box I've had where the amp is literally too much for the speakers to handle!!
View attachment 31494
Check out that driver!
Sanyo need a kick up the arse for that effort! The cabinets were full of bugs and dirt so I pulled the drivers and hosed out the cabinets.
So what to do??? Do I maintain the original look or do I fit quality speakers that can handle what the amp is putting out??
Ok, that didn't take long, time to do an upgrade. You'll notice the paper surrounds were full of holes from hungry cockroaches anyway! New 5 inch speakers aren't very common these days but I did have a used pair of 5 inch drivers in stock. Here is a comparison pic of the old and new:
View attachment 31493
They have to be the most pathetic drivers I've ever seen!!
Anyway, after a couple of minor mods, the new drivers were screwed and soldered in place:View attachment 31495
Check out the unusual wood bracing in the speaker cabinets:
Anyway, here she is all modded and sounding nice and clear on the AM/FM stereo tuner + the proper line in sounded great too. The decks need a rebelt but I'll need to order belts so that will have to wait til next week.
Can you believe these tiny speakers were in those huge cabinets!!
Outdoors:
So this particular C35 now sounds as good as it should have back in '86.
Thanks guys,
James...
James, besides, one will never notice from the outside
Check out the beefy magnets on the new ones though. Dang!
