Philips D8614

[Mark GF-575]

My latest purchase, a Philips D8614 which arrived yesterday VERY well packaged!!! After what seemed like 10 minutes I finally got it unwrapped. Not very heavy i thought but we'll see what it sounds like. Powered up fine, switched it to tape and was met by fluttering noise from the left speaker. Probably nothing I thought, popped in my Public Enemy cassette and pressed play on the rather cool servo driven mechanism and was met by a farty muffled noise from the left speaker!!! ****!!! BOUGHT A RIGHT LEMON HERE!!! Was gonna e-mail the seller straight away to have a go but decided to have a look at the tape head instead. Much to my relief it was very dirty and needed cleaning, so after a good clean the PE tape got put back in and gingerly pressed play again. SORTED!!! volume, bass,treble and spatial stereo knobs were quickly cranked up then the loudness button was pressed. BOOM!!! met by a wall of noise!!! VERY impressed by this box sound wise, the volume is very good almost full whack before it started getting nasty. All the other functions work fine as well. FM, MW, LW and SW radio, cassette buttons are servo motorized and metal/chrome/normal tape selector buttons. The only down side to it is the aerial top has snapped off but not too bothered and YES the carry handle is attached just folded down.

Enough waffling here it is,

 

[redbenjoe]

i have this exact job with the maggie brand -
agree --has a shocking big // deep sound to weight ratio

 

[kraftmatic]

Nice one. Love the clean lines. Glad you were able to get it sounding right.

 

[Northerner]

Congrats! It's a fab sounding box for its size and weight. I was really surprised when I heard one

 

[retrohead]

i agree to a point with si-they do have a good sound but ive never managed to grasp the whole philips thing,i guess they are just not my thing.....had a d8614 though and as i say the sound quality is excellent on them

 

[Northerner]

On the whole I don't particularly like Philips either...like the D8614 for sound but think it looks a little plain, like my D8444 because it looks fab, but sounds average! Not bothered about any others really

 

[systemaddict]

On the whole I don't particularly like Philips either...like the D8614 for sound but think it looks a little plain, like my D8444 because it looks fab, but sounds average! Not bothered about any others really

the d8614 looks plain how dare you Si

 

[retrohead]

ive got to agree with azz there si,its not plain,but for me it just lacks that certain oomph lol-its a stupid word that lol but thats what i mean

 

[Northerner]

Sorry mate, I'll retract 'plain' and go for 'oomphless' instead

 

[systemaddict]

Sorry mate, I'll retract 'plain' and go for 'oomphless' instead

iv'e yet to hear a sharp that sounds better

 

[Northerner]

Sorry mate, I'll retract 'plain' and go for 'oomphless' instead

iv'e yet to hear a sharp that sounds better

You're probably right!...I do want a D8614 as it sounds so good, you'll get no argument from me there! Just doesn't do it for me looks wise, but as with everything else in life, each to their own. Actually, thinking about it 'oomphless' sounds worse than 'plain' so I'll retract that as well and go for 'interesting'

 

[systemaddict]

ha ha top man, i'm sure if you was to get one Si it would grow on you immensely

 

[Mark GF-575]

I did a sound comparision with my GF-575. The Philips is better in all areas, clarity,loudness,BASS and the fact you can almost get it full whack before it all gets nasty. Just wish it looked as nice

 

[Northerner]

ha ha top man, i'm sure if you was to get one Si it would grow on you immensely

Well that is certainly possible...I didn't like the look of the jvc rc 656 at all because of the waffle grills but the more I looked at it the more it grew on me, so I got one and it grew on me even more, probably because I really like the sound. It's one of my favourites now. Not a particularly popular box because of the grills but I really like it

 

[goodman]

This is very good boombox. Congrats.