Hi there! I've been wandering around this forum on an almost daily basis for the last few months but have neglected to properly introduce myself or post my (not particularly impressive) collection so apologies! I say 'not that impressive' but I love 'em! 
Before I say anything else I just want to say what a fantastic forum this is...the members know so much and are really helpful and friendly...I wouldn't have had a clue what boxes were any good or how to fix them without the expertise on this forum, so thanks! I also like the fact that there's a hardcore of members who obviously know each other pretty well too and aren't averse to taking the piss out of each other...some of the conversations crack me up!
So, my name is Simon and I'm in the North of the UK, I've only been collecting a few months, and I'm gonna post my collection in the order I got them.
Like many here I was a teenager in the 80's and I've always been into my music and love my gadgets so on a whim I searched on eBay for the old ghetto blaster I had back in the day. I was dead chuffed to find the exact model, a Sharp GF4646, though not so chuffed once I got it as, although it was cosmetically good and all working, it was no where near as good as my dim and distant, nostalgia affected memory had suggested!...it explains why I moved onto Technics separates as soon as I got any money!
It might all have stopped there had my lovely wife not found an Hitachi 3D in a charity shop, in really good nick, all working, boxed, with packaging and manual for the princely sum of £8...I think it'd been boxed up and stored in a loft for a long time as it wasn't even dirty. I love this 3D as its got no curves, the handles on either end are cool, and the bass speaker in the middle doesn't half bounce when its playing!
So my 16 year old son thought the 3D was great and wanted to blag it to play his dubstep and house crap on so instead I bought him his own, which again was no wear and tear and all working, but as it was slightly less 80's (bit of a curve on it) I was happy for him to do what he likes with it!
Next was a proper Sharp and my first biggie! A Sharp GF525 which I love...shoulda seen the smile on my face when I opened the packaging on this one!...it was like 'wo, this is more like it!!!'. Its massive, weighs a ton and is nice and loud. Everything worked bar the usual capstan issue on the tape decks which I just fixed a week ago so now its working perfectyl. Got it from the original owner and paid a very reasonable £16 for this beauty! So this one is to blame for my Sharp GF obsession.
One of my work colleagues heard about my new obsession and for nowt gave me this Pye, though I've also seen it as a Philips and a Magnavox. Its all working and in good nick, it even has the spatial thing going on, its a bit lightweight but looks cool.
I then bought a couple of minis to see if they were my thing...they're not. A Sharp QT250 which is a good sounding box for its size but pretty common and a nice red Pye doubler...think I'll move these on at some point if anyone wants them. In fact I’ve got another 2 QT250’s, one which I’ve used for parts and another still with its sticker on the front.
Next was my absolute favourite box. Got this Sharp GF9191 from eBay but as it turned out it was from a forum member (the clue was that it was fantastically well packed!). It needed new aerials, a clean, and I've just rebelted it and had a go at the capstan rubber and its now working perfectly. I love this box, it sits in pride of place in the kitchen (well away from anything wet or messy!) and gets used every day....just gotta love those beautiful chrome rims!
Continuing my GF obsession I got my GF9090. This was cheap from an eBay seller who clears untested electricals and when I got it it looked like it'd been buried in a swamp. Many hours of scrubbing and its looking much better. All sounds good and I fixed the tape deck this weekend...did the gooey capstan but found it was still chewing. Finally worked out that the pinch roller was to blame and managed to replace that....so another one all working!
Then I bought this Hitachi TRK8020 that when I got it didn't work at all, just got a strange popping noise from the speakers. A fair amount of contact cleaner and some new belts and it all works perfectly...so I was pretty chuffed with myself that day! Its not a big box but it has a real heavy quality feel to it, it even has track searching on it.
Another eBay clearance seller and I got this Hitachi TRK8190 for a bargain sum on a BIN as soon as it came up. When I opened the packaging alarm bells started ringing as bits of rusty metal kept falling out. When I opened the battery compartment there was loads of corrosion....still attached to the disintegrating batteries!!!!!! The muppet paid to ship a couple of pounds of toxic metal. I messaged the seller to say that most untested sellers I'd used at least point out obvious faults and you don't need to test it to see its full of crap!! They offered to give a full refund and collect it at their expense or give me two thirds of the price back and I keep it...so I kept it. Sounds great but I've not got the tape deck working yet, there was surprisingly little corrosion in the box itself so it wasn't a bad deal all in all.
Loved the look of this Sony CFM31L mono now rebelted and all working.
I'd seen the next model a few times on the forum and members had said they were under-rated so could be bought cheaply but sound great. I initially didn't really like the look (its those waffle grills!) but it really started to grow on me. So I got myself a JVC RC656 and absolutely love the sound on mine, its not the loudest or gives massive bass, but it has a really nice tone to it. Didn't even need much of a clean and tape deck worked perfectly without any work (made a nice change!). Got it cheap too but did feel a bit guilty when I found afterwards that I'd outbid another forum member by 15p...oops.
Another Sony mono. A CF470L that needed rebelting and the tuner string re-doing...what a bitch that was! All good now and weighs a ton for a mono, not really sure why I got it though.
Lastly my beautiful Philips D8444...only got the picture I took in the car when I went to pick it up as strictly speaking its my birthday present so the wife has confiscated it until next month! Bought from the original owner who bought it in the early 80's for his wife who ran a once a week class in a dance studio. When she stopped it went in the loft and had been there ever since. So it'd had a cassette in it once a week for a little while and then nothing for 20+ years so its in really good condition and everything works perfectly, no dents, no scratches, just a little bit of paint loss to the grill that'll soon be remedied once I get my hands on it! The forum came in handy with this one too as several people had said the sound wasn't as good as you'd expect, so I was expecting rubbish sound. So it was a nice surprise when I was allowed to plug it in for 5 minutes and found mine sounds bloody good, not as bassy as you'd hope but good nonetheless.
So thats my collection as it stands, nothing outstanding but then I've spent very little money!...I love them all, especially my GF525, the GF9191 and the D8444 and I'm gradually getting more 80's tapes to play on them (gotta do it properly!). I love cleaning them and am gradually getting braver about the fixes I attempt, but most of all I love how they look and how they sound!
Before I say anything else I just want to say what a fantastic forum this is...the members know so much and are really helpful and friendly...I wouldn't have had a clue what boxes were any good or how to fix them without the expertise on this forum, so thanks! I also like the fact that there's a hardcore of members who obviously know each other pretty well too and aren't averse to taking the piss out of each other...some of the conversations crack me up!
So, my name is Simon and I'm in the North of the UK, I've only been collecting a few months, and I'm gonna post my collection in the order I got them.
Like many here I was a teenager in the 80's and I've always been into my music and love my gadgets so on a whim I searched on eBay for the old ghetto blaster I had back in the day. I was dead chuffed to find the exact model, a Sharp GF4646, though not so chuffed once I got it as, although it was cosmetically good and all working, it was no where near as good as my dim and distant, nostalgia affected memory had suggested!...it explains why I moved onto Technics separates as soon as I got any money!
It might all have stopped there had my lovely wife not found an Hitachi 3D in a charity shop, in really good nick, all working, boxed, with packaging and manual for the princely sum of £8...I think it'd been boxed up and stored in a loft for a long time as it wasn't even dirty. I love this 3D as its got no curves, the handles on either end are cool, and the bass speaker in the middle doesn't half bounce when its playing!
So my 16 year old son thought the 3D was great and wanted to blag it to play his dubstep and house crap on so instead I bought him his own, which again was no wear and tear and all working, but as it was slightly less 80's (bit of a curve on it) I was happy for him to do what he likes with it!
Next was a proper Sharp and my first biggie! A Sharp GF525 which I love...shoulda seen the smile on my face when I opened the packaging on this one!...it was like 'wo, this is more like it!!!'. Its massive, weighs a ton and is nice and loud. Everything worked bar the usual capstan issue on the tape decks which I just fixed a week ago so now its working perfectyl. Got it from the original owner and paid a very reasonable £16 for this beauty! So this one is to blame for my Sharp GF obsession.
One of my work colleagues heard about my new obsession and for nowt gave me this Pye, though I've also seen it as a Philips and a Magnavox. Its all working and in good nick, it even has the spatial thing going on, its a bit lightweight but looks cool.
I then bought a couple of minis to see if they were my thing...they're not. A Sharp QT250 which is a good sounding box for its size but pretty common and a nice red Pye doubler...think I'll move these on at some point if anyone wants them. In fact I’ve got another 2 QT250’s, one which I’ve used for parts and another still with its sticker on the front.
Next was my absolute favourite box. Got this Sharp GF9191 from eBay but as it turned out it was from a forum member (the clue was that it was fantastically well packed!). It needed new aerials, a clean, and I've just rebelted it and had a go at the capstan rubber and its now working perfectly. I love this box, it sits in pride of place in the kitchen (well away from anything wet or messy!) and gets used every day....just gotta love those beautiful chrome rims!
Continuing my GF obsession I got my GF9090. This was cheap from an eBay seller who clears untested electricals and when I got it it looked like it'd been buried in a swamp. Many hours of scrubbing and its looking much better. All sounds good and I fixed the tape deck this weekend...did the gooey capstan but found it was still chewing. Finally worked out that the pinch roller was to blame and managed to replace that....so another one all working!
Then I bought this Hitachi TRK8020 that when I got it didn't work at all, just got a strange popping noise from the speakers. A fair amount of contact cleaner and some new belts and it all works perfectly...so I was pretty chuffed with myself that day! Its not a big box but it has a real heavy quality feel to it, it even has track searching on it.
Another eBay clearance seller and I got this Hitachi TRK8190 for a bargain sum on a BIN as soon as it came up. When I opened the packaging alarm bells started ringing as bits of rusty metal kept falling out. When I opened the battery compartment there was loads of corrosion....still attached to the disintegrating batteries!!!!!! The muppet paid to ship a couple of pounds of toxic metal. I messaged the seller to say that most untested sellers I'd used at least point out obvious faults and you don't need to test it to see its full of crap!! They offered to give a full refund and collect it at their expense or give me two thirds of the price back and I keep it...so I kept it. Sounds great but I've not got the tape deck working yet, there was surprisingly little corrosion in the box itself so it wasn't a bad deal all in all.
Loved the look of this Sony CFM31L mono now rebelted and all working.
I'd seen the next model a few times on the forum and members had said they were under-rated so could be bought cheaply but sound great. I initially didn't really like the look (its those waffle grills!) but it really started to grow on me. So I got myself a JVC RC656 and absolutely love the sound on mine, its not the loudest or gives massive bass, but it has a really nice tone to it. Didn't even need much of a clean and tape deck worked perfectly without any work (made a nice change!). Got it cheap too but did feel a bit guilty when I found afterwards that I'd outbid another forum member by 15p...oops.
Another Sony mono. A CF470L that needed rebelting and the tuner string re-doing...what a bitch that was! All good now and weighs a ton for a mono, not really sure why I got it though.
Lastly my beautiful Philips D8444...only got the picture I took in the car when I went to pick it up as strictly speaking its my birthday present so the wife has confiscated it until next month! Bought from the original owner who bought it in the early 80's for his wife who ran a once a week class in a dance studio. When she stopped it went in the loft and had been there ever since. So it'd had a cassette in it once a week for a little while and then nothing for 20+ years so its in really good condition and everything works perfectly, no dents, no scratches, just a little bit of paint loss to the grill that'll soon be remedied once I get my hands on it! The forum came in handy with this one too as several people had said the sound wasn't as good as you'd expect, so I was expecting rubbish sound. So it was a nice surprise when I was allowed to plug it in for 5 minutes and found mine sounds bloody good, not as bassy as you'd hope but good nonetheless.
So thats my collection as it stands, nothing outstanding but then I've spent very little money!...I love them all, especially my GF525, the GF9191 and the D8444 and I'm gradually getting more 80's tapes to play on them (gotta do it properly!). I love cleaning them and am gradually getting braver about the fixes I attempt, but most of all I love how they look and how they sound!
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