Questions about the Magnavox D8443

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Dude.I am probably gonna copy your rig. I rarely play these due to way better options.
But as my "sentimental box",I cant help but hold onto them.
It's time to change-out the engine on one.
Thanks for lettin' me watch.

Sounds good to me, I have a plan worked up in my mind, when I get the box here I will go through it and make a parts list of what I need and then start a thread. I will list all the parts I will use. I am going to try to use stuff that I have, but will have to buy some items. Basically, it will be close to the list Jimmy posted

Owned one of these some years back and they do look nuts for sure☺ I always thought mine sounded ok but having no led lights was the thing that pissed me and made me get rid. Can't understand why they don't sound so good? All other Philips boxes sound great, my d8614 is one of the best sounding mid size boxes around. I remember mine was made in Malaysia, and my 8614 is made in Austria. Maybe this has something to do with it?

Anyway for looks you can't go far wrong here Chris☺but a good modding will do this box justice and give it the fire power it deserves☺

I have always thought it to be such a shame that Magnavox / Philips didn't do this thing the right way. I'd bet hard money that the design team was shot down by the financing department on how much money could be spent and they lost.

And no LEDS

I will work on that....

Problem with Philips is most of their boxes use feeble amps and tiny speaker magnets. It's like they took them out of their TV sets or something. And those pizeo tweeters self-destruct after a certain amount of use. I have a D8554 that still has great highs because I bought it new in box, but all my other Philips have shitty highs because the tweeters don't work any more, if they ever did. Pizeos are nothing more than Hallmark greeting card speakers. Cheap crap. All so the manufacturer can save $2 or 3 from not having to use a cone tweeter.

Oh and my D8554 has that same 8" woofer, it's not a sub at all, it's basically full-range.

This was another question I had, was even if that center speaker would be useable as an actual sub. So that is F'n GONE!

And Pizeos....

To anyone person who might be reading this thread that is new to the hobby and want to upgrade their radio, Google Pizeo, if your box has them, replace them with a nice tweeter and you will see an immediate improvement in sound. Like Reli said, these bean counters wanted to say $2-$3 per radio and WE ALL SUFFERED!

Hello,

I´ve worked on it, for me it´s a disgrace and a pain of work. Yes, i agree, it has mean looks, very promising looks i gotta admit, but performance..... not even worth a thing. These plastic speakers look really miserable, really, i know they tried, but what, is this a budget CS-800 or what ? Hydraulic eject, that´s a joke, it has a spring loaded door that didn´t work too good either. Amp, what is that ? Don´t know, i personally would avoid this box, cheapo CS-800 which is not the cutest one to service. Very disappointing in overall. The one i worked was my friend´s one luckily

To be honest, I had no idea people hated the performance of these this much! And with so many available, why are you all not hacking into these?

Here's a pic that'll give you a little idea. Plenty of room for the 8". The small ones mount really oddly.

20141211_125446.jpg

Thanks for the pic, that helps greatly. With all the electronic's out, there will be tons of room for EXPANSION!
I think the hardest part of this project is going to be getting that center 8 tuned into an actual sub. Sealing it to the correct size and porting it correctly will require some fine tuning that will be a little time consuming, but I am up to the task.

 

[Mystic Traveller]

The unofficial Three's Company swingers boombox.Haha.

Also LMAO, FMF

 

[Northerner]

Feel free to hack away! Every store had a pallet of these. I've thinned my herd(hoard) down to 7.

The only difference is the radio bands. Phillips is LW/MW/SW/FM,Mag has AM/SW1/SW2

Mags came in grey or silver.
I've never seen a grey Phillips.
(I want one)

The Phillips does come in grey or silver...I have both

 

[Northerner]

Can make them look prettier
https://boomboxery.com/forum/index.php/topic/17745-ive-discoed-up-my-philips-d8444/

 

[Reli]

Here's a pic that'll give you a little idea. Plenty of room for the 8". The small ones mount really oddly.

20141211_125446.jpg

Yeah look at those tiny-ass magnets....Wow

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Can make them look prettier
https://boomboxery.com/forum/index.php/topic/17745-ive-discoed-up-my-philips-d8444/

Yep, that was one of the earlier LED mods, kind of makes me feel like I'm being pulled over! I like the placement though, like it could have been a factory set up.
But like SystemAddict said, the lack of LED's in the stock form, just leaves a nice design stale and static.
Maybe it's time Clp-Chronic goes jumbotron on one of these! There's plenty of real estate!

Yeah look at those tiny-ass magnets....Wow

Yeah man, seeing the back of this thing is really sad. What the hell were they thinking?
I have a pair of Lasonic / Lucky 4 ohm speakers out of a 918 that I think will fit. These have a nice long excursion and in the 918, tons of bass. I think they would be great as the full range driver replacements if they fit. They are smaller than the 920 woofers. Plus they have a really nice chrome center cap.

 

[ralrein1]

Man L.T.R.C.920,those woofers with the white and the big chrome dust caps.Can't wait to see your finished product,gonna look killer.I'm sure it'll sound kick-arse too!

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

Tip: I wouldn't bother trying to port the enclosure for the 8 inch sub. The cabinet is too small in relation to the size of the driver. I'd cup the rear of your mid speakers to isolate the cones from the impact of the sub. If you seal the rest of the cabinet, that should give the 8 inch sub the maximum volume of internal air to generate bass. Plenty of acoustic fill will increase the bass depth further.

This is going to be a kick arse project!! Looking forward to one of Chris's awesome build threads - it's going to be epic!

I'll shut up now.

James...

 

[trippy1313]

Wow those are WHITE!!!

You know I didn't see, but did you say if you got the Silver or Charcoal version?

 

[Okelly]

Looking forward to your restoration Chris. I have the D8444 as well and would like it to sound like it looks!

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Man L.T.R.C.920,those woofers with the white and the big chrome dust caps.Can't wait to see your finished product,gonna look killer.I'm sure it'll sound kick-arse too!

We will see...Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Tip: I wouldn't bother trying to port the enclosure for the 8 inch sub. The cabinet is too small in relation to the size of the driver. I'd cup the rear of your mid speakers to isolate the cones from the impact of the sub. If you seal the rest of the cabinet, that should give the 8 inch sub the maximum volume of internal air to generate bass. Plenty of acoustic fill will increase the bass depth further.

This is going to be a kick arse project!! Looking forward to one of Chris's awesome build threads - it's going to be epic!

I'll shut up now.

James...

I have some idea's I will be testing to see what can really be achieved if anything. My Cerwin Vega AT-15's had cupped mids and high's because the 15 was so freakin' brutal, nothing would survive.
But I have a few tricks up my sleeve

Wow those are WHITE!!!

You know I didn't see, but did you say if you got the Silver or Charcoal version?

Oh yeah, never posted any pics....
Here's what I will be starting with. Broken "Stereo" knob post, dent in grill, none working deck.

But the rest doesn't look bad, at least it didn't before USPS (will surely) put a fork lift fork through it!

Looking forward to your restoration Chris. I have the D8444 as well and would like it to sound like it looks!

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

If this works, it might be a new revolution for the ol' Maggi D (or not)

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Another question....What was the point of the graph on the top panel of the radio?

What information is that giving me and what the hell do I use it for?

Great, it shows me a flat line? Seems like this thing was flat lining from the factory!

I see there are many Magnavox radio's that that and more information.

 

[baddboybill]

Definitely a box needed in any collectors collection.


Bad Boy Bill

 

[trippy1313]

Cool. Looks pretty good. Not too bad to work on, a little clumsy but not bad.

I'm not a big fan of the wire connector things, but at least you don't have to desolder it all.

You'll have a good time with it though. The way your projects have been turning out, I'm sure it'll be a sign of hope for these beautiful but sad machines.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

Frequency response graph? The ideal would be a perfectly flat response to allow a 'true' sound - it's all bullshit in this case though! According to the graph, it has a level response from approx 60hz and up!! Not possible!

Paint over the bloody thing!!

James....

 

[trippy1313]

I didn't understand the graph. Starts negative and yeah, flatlines at zero??? Not very encouraging. Looks alright though, and "Three Amplifier System" gives false hope. Haha

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Paint over the bloody thing!!

James....

Made me laugh out loud on that one!

 

[crazygamer]

I didn't understand the graph. Starts negative and yeah, flatlines at zero??? Not very encouraging. Looks alright though, and "Three Amplifier System" gives false hope. Haha

So does everything on it, even the Hydraulic Eject ! With better speakers it might improve dramatically.

 

[blu_fuz]

Hahahaha. I've had 3 of these and they do look rad but are a pile of crap in the build/sound department and people around me will pay $100 for one with a bad deck so I sold them all. A good blaster to beat the streets with (literally), HA! Now, I think it has the perfect size and layout to build a custom. The gray/silver colors actually look pretty good to me when they are in good shape.

Either way, this should be interesting.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Hahahaha. I've had 3 of these and they do look rad but are a pile of crap in the build/sound department and people around me will pay $100 for one with a bad deck so I sold them all. A good blaster to beat the streets with (literally), HA! Now, I think it has the perfect size and layout to build a custom. The gray/silver colors actually look pretty good to me when they are in good shape.

Either way, this should be interesting.

Yeah, Magnavox / Philips really had a beautiful design in this. It's been 30 years since I have heard one and only recently saw one in person, but did not hear it.

But like Jimmy has said, the hard part or straight up IMPOSSIBLE part will be finding the interior volume to actually make the sub woofer work. Member SLO texted me the dimensions of the case (since mine is still being mangled in the mail) and they are really narrow. 13 inches high, 21 inches wide and only 5 1/4 inches deep.

The entire interior volume is close to 1 cubic foot. An 8 inch subwoofer sealed would require almost all of that. And ported would need 40 inches of port tube (my numbers are fudged, but close)

It might be easier to use the 8 inch factory woofer in the front as a passive radiator, cut the magnet off of it, seal it up in a smaller enclosure inside and put a small 4 inch sub in the rear case. Magnavox was nice enough to put a pattern for cutting there