My quick review of my new i931. I will probably update this as time goes on.
(Warning: I am a life long Lasonic fan, I am not an audiophile and for the most part if you give me a volume knob, a beer and can make my ears ring, I’m a happy man!)
To start with, I love the looks of this white on white radio. I don’t know why THIS color combination sticks out so hard in my mind, even after seeing all those other color combinations at the Lasonic headquarters (with the exception of the all chrome) this white on white blows my mind!
I pulled this radio straight out of the box, rolled it over and put 10 D’s in. I pushed the power button and it was already set to “Tuner†and a second later, music was playing. I didn’t touch the tuner or put up the antenna! Why is this such a big deal, because I live at 6,000 feet, 35 miles back into a mountain range amongst 8500 foot peaks and 70 miles from any city! Even my best tuners need a little fine tuning to have a station with no static. I was very surprised at that! Solid Tuner for sure!
Last night I loaded up a micro SD chip with about 60 songs, popped it in the SD slot (using a micro to standard adapter) and headed to my buddies for a few beers!
Once there I set the i931 up on his bar, pulled out the remote and turned it on. Music started playing, beers popped open and for the rest of the night we were partying! At the flick of a switch you can turn on dancing, laughter, smiling and good times. I love Boomboxes!
I purposely put in a variety of music. Some Classic Rock, like Eddie Money, some newly mixed Thrash Metal like Exodus, some Hip Hop like Cypress Hill and some Oldies like The Monkeys.
All this music is very typical of my collection and I normally will experience the highs and lows that go with all these various recordings. I think with the modern electronics, it seems to show the variations between the recording quality LESS.
I have to say, I have NO other Boomboxes with a REMOTE CONTROL and being that I’m a man….I LOVE REMOTE CONTROLS! At my house I have a remote for EVERYTHING! I even have a remote for the bathroom light so I can adjust the mood while I’m on the bowl.
To be able to stand across the room and crank my favorite song from my Boombox just kicks ass PERIOD!
I also found that with all the different music I was playing that the “EQ†selector buttons were very handy. If Exodus just finished and now it’s Eddie Money, I could hit the Classic or Rock button and it balanced the vocals and drums a bit more. Very useful when playing a variety of music all at once. Plus you can do it from the remote!
There are still lots of features I haven’t gotten too. I did find the Bass / Treble up and down settings. I thought the i931 just had the push button EQ, but you can then fine tune that! It comes set out of the box with the Bass at 4 and the Treble at 6 (1-7).
From the box it sounds Punchy, Crisp and Bright!
Before I go further describing the sound quality of this radio I want to say this….
I have read many many reviews of this radio, more often than not, it has had mixed reviews mostly leaning towards “Not enough Bass†or “The sound quality is so soâ€. I was very prepared to accept that this radio would be an “OK†performer and just be happy to have it in the collection.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT THOSE GUYS ARE TALKING ABOUT!
This thing RIPS! On rechargeable batteries (that weren’t even fully charged) this thing was ROARING last night! The volume goes from 0-40 and around the 25 mark it really comes to life. With the EQ set to “Loudness†the over all balance of bass / mids and highs are great. You can turn it up to 40 and there is no distortion AT ALL and it is just ROARING!
I set it on the hardwood floor and the bass REALLY came alive! If you feel you need more bass, set it on the floor, Problem Solved!
My buddy, who’s house I was at was very impressed. He has seen all of my radios and we have done this all before, but when I told him what I paid for this, he was even more impressed! He is a computer programmer / techy geek and he was also impressed with all the connectivity it has. Every type of media (except cassette, 8 track, reel to reel
) is addressed with Blu Tooth coming this year!
When I first started looking at these I couldn’t get past the tuner sticker…MAN, I’M OVER THAT JACK! Just seeing those classic white Lasonic 8 inch speakers pounding through the crash bars is enough to pull the eye in a new direction!
One thing I do really like is that they set the VU meters to increase as the volume goes up like the 918 and 920. The 935 and 975 both show “Line Level†not volume level. I prefer the light show to increase as the volume goes up and at FULL VOLUME, there is still some flicker left on the last LED’s. NICE…Real NICE! 
Over and over again my friend and I kept saying “This thing Rocksâ€. I kept thinking, “I have read people bashing this radio, saying it doesn’t Blastâ€. I totally disagree. I always take the input of friends who are not collectors into account. They have a different point of view, maybe less critical, I’m not sure, but I do make it part of the equation.
Last night as I headed out the door, I grabbed the handle and thought “Nice, no creeks, no fear it is going to finally give out.â€
Buttons and knobs with out crackling, woofers without distortion or fear of tearing.
These are made of modern ABS plastic, so unlike our vintage radios that are of the older fragile plastic that breaks if you drop it or ship with USPS, this stuff is TOUGH! Sure you can ding it and scratch it, but if you dropped your i931 and your M90 from a table top, I would bet the i931 would fair better (notice I said YOUR).
It took me, and is still taking me some time to get it through my head that this is NEW! I haven’t had a NEW Blaster since 83. Hell, this is only the second new Blaster I have ever bought in my life (first being the 920 in 83).
Over all, I am very happy and highly recommend these to others. To any of my friends who are NOT Boombox collectors, but are iPod / iPhone fans and are even considering a docking station with tiny lame speakers, I will be a salesman with this. There is just no reason to buy any other docking station with speakers than this one!
The idea that I can now toss this in the car, with little or no fear of tearing up a grail is a wake up call. If I “F†it up, I’ll go buy another one! They are readily available, there are no shortages. I don’t have to wait for eBay to spit another one out for me to ruin!
I love all my Lasonic’s for various reasons, but this bad boy just moved up the list! Time to go get some fresh D’s!
(Warning: I am a life long Lasonic fan, I am not an audiophile and for the most part if you give me a volume knob, a beer and can make my ears ring, I’m a happy man!)
To start with, I love the looks of this white on white radio. I don’t know why THIS color combination sticks out so hard in my mind, even after seeing all those other color combinations at the Lasonic headquarters (with the exception of the all chrome) this white on white blows my mind!
I pulled this radio straight out of the box, rolled it over and put 10 D’s in. I pushed the power button and it was already set to “Tuner†and a second later, music was playing. I didn’t touch the tuner or put up the antenna! Why is this such a big deal, because I live at 6,000 feet, 35 miles back into a mountain range amongst 8500 foot peaks and 70 miles from any city! Even my best tuners need a little fine tuning to have a station with no static. I was very surprised at that! Solid Tuner for sure!
Last night I loaded up a micro SD chip with about 60 songs, popped it in the SD slot (using a micro to standard adapter) and headed to my buddies for a few beers!
Once there I set the i931 up on his bar, pulled out the remote and turned it on. Music started playing, beers popped open and for the rest of the night we were partying! At the flick of a switch you can turn on dancing, laughter, smiling and good times. I love Boomboxes!
I purposely put in a variety of music. Some Classic Rock, like Eddie Money, some newly mixed Thrash Metal like Exodus, some Hip Hop like Cypress Hill and some Oldies like The Monkeys.
All this music is very typical of my collection and I normally will experience the highs and lows that go with all these various recordings. I think with the modern electronics, it seems to show the variations between the recording quality LESS.
I have to say, I have NO other Boomboxes with a REMOTE CONTROL and being that I’m a man….I LOVE REMOTE CONTROLS! At my house I have a remote for EVERYTHING! I even have a remote for the bathroom light so I can adjust the mood while I’m on the bowl.
To be able to stand across the room and crank my favorite song from my Boombox just kicks ass PERIOD!
I also found that with all the different music I was playing that the “EQ†selector buttons were very handy. If Exodus just finished and now it’s Eddie Money, I could hit the Classic or Rock button and it balanced the vocals and drums a bit more. Very useful when playing a variety of music all at once. Plus you can do it from the remote!
There are still lots of features I haven’t gotten too. I did find the Bass / Treble up and down settings. I thought the i931 just had the push button EQ, but you can then fine tune that! It comes set out of the box with the Bass at 4 and the Treble at 6 (1-7).
From the box it sounds Punchy, Crisp and Bright!
Before I go further describing the sound quality of this radio I want to say this….
I have read many many reviews of this radio, more often than not, it has had mixed reviews mostly leaning towards “Not enough Bass†or “The sound quality is so soâ€. I was very prepared to accept that this radio would be an “OK†performer and just be happy to have it in the collection.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT THOSE GUYS ARE TALKING ABOUT!
This thing RIPS! On rechargeable batteries (that weren’t even fully charged) this thing was ROARING last night! The volume goes from 0-40 and around the 25 mark it really comes to life. With the EQ set to “Loudness†the over all balance of bass / mids and highs are great. You can turn it up to 40 and there is no distortion AT ALL and it is just ROARING!
I set it on the hardwood floor and the bass REALLY came alive! If you feel you need more bass, set it on the floor, Problem Solved!
My buddy, who’s house I was at was very impressed. He has seen all of my radios and we have done this all before, but when I told him what I paid for this, he was even more impressed! He is a computer programmer / techy geek and he was also impressed with all the connectivity it has. Every type of media (except cassette, 8 track, reel to reel
) is addressed with Blu Tooth coming this year!When I first started looking at these I couldn’t get past the tuner sticker…MAN, I’M OVER THAT JACK! Just seeing those classic white Lasonic 8 inch speakers pounding through the crash bars is enough to pull the eye in a new direction!
One thing I do really like is that they set the VU meters to increase as the volume goes up like the 918 and 920. The 935 and 975 both show “Line Level†not volume level. I prefer the light show to increase as the volume goes up and at FULL VOLUME, there is still some flicker left on the last LED’s. NICE…Real NICE!
Over and over again my friend and I kept saying “This thing Rocksâ€. I kept thinking, “I have read people bashing this radio, saying it doesn’t Blastâ€. I totally disagree. I always take the input of friends who are not collectors into account. They have a different point of view, maybe less critical, I’m not sure, but I do make it part of the equation.
Last night as I headed out the door, I grabbed the handle and thought “Nice, no creeks, no fear it is going to finally give out.â€
Buttons and knobs with out crackling, woofers without distortion or fear of tearing.
These are made of modern ABS plastic, so unlike our vintage radios that are of the older fragile plastic that breaks if you drop it or ship with USPS, this stuff is TOUGH! Sure you can ding it and scratch it, but if you dropped your i931 and your M90 from a table top, I would bet the i931 would fair better (notice I said YOUR).
It took me, and is still taking me some time to get it through my head that this is NEW! I haven’t had a NEW Blaster since 83. Hell, this is only the second new Blaster I have ever bought in my life (first being the 920 in 83).
Over all, I am very happy and highly recommend these to others. To any of my friends who are NOT Boombox collectors, but are iPod / iPhone fans and are even considering a docking station with tiny lame speakers, I will be a salesman with this. There is just no reason to buy any other docking station with speakers than this one!
The idea that I can now toss this in the car, with little or no fear of tearing up a grail is a wake up call. If I “F†it up, I’ll go buy another one! They are readily available, there are no shortages. I don’t have to wait for eBay to spit another one out for me to ruin!
I love all my Lasonic’s for various reasons, but this bad boy just moved up the list! Time to go get some fresh D’s!
That one made me chuckle. 
When mine was shipped from Amazon, that decorative piece on the bottom had fallen off and was rattling around in the box, and of course the very popular version of the iPod classic that I had was the one model NOT supported by the adapters... And then there was that tuner sticker! LOL... But I am honestly thinking about giving the i931 a second chance after this glowing review (I unloaded my first one on eFlake...). Great write up! 
