Questions for Realistic SCR-8 owners (big LED meter bbx)

[analogboi]

Inspired by the "Use Them or Lose Them" thread, I went down to the Basement of Banished Boomboxes and retrived my Realistic SCR-8. In the Basement of Banished Boomboxes lurk "parts boxes," as well as those boxes that were not quite as minty as the Ebay auction suggested. :annoyed: The Realistic falls into the latter...

I plugged it in, switched to the FM tuner, rotated the pots and pushed the switches a few times to get rid of the static, and started to re-assess this box.

It's not quite the train wreck I thought it was when I first got it. The tuner was pulling a lot of stations, and I found myself turning it louder and louder until I could hear it clearly throughout the house! So it got quite a workout!


My questions to anyone that has a minty version of this box (understand mine is far from minty):

1) Are the woofers in this box supposed to be a dull gray color? Or, are mine sun baked/faded?

2) Do the woofers in this box handle much bass? When it turn mine up to about "4" on the volume and crank the bass with the "loudness" switch on, the woofers are clearly bottoming out. :annoyed: Maybe the suspensions on the woofers are shot? When I back off the bass, the woofers sound normal, so I know the voice coils aren't blown. Maybe the bass control on this box is very aggressive?

Your comments are appreciated!

 

[oldskool69]

I had this box before I offloade...I mean offered it for a measly amount to our own Redbendiddlypoo.


It is a good box. The speakers are black. There should be no gray so you may have water damage. The other thing is that it has paper surrounds with that rubber cement goo around them unlike it's close twin, the G.E. 3-5239A "Blockbuster" which has rolled surrounds. That is why the SCR-8 bottoms out quicker than the Blockbuster because the woofers do not have the same throw nor are they the same density I think.

Regradless it is still a very nice unit and worth fixing up. The internals are extremely easy to work with as well.

 

[analogboi]

Thanks oldskool69! I may open this box this weekend to check out the rear-side color of the woofer cones. That may be a more honest representation of the original color.

While I'm in there, maybe I could check the fit of a few nice 6.5" speakers I have. The problem with retrofitting speakers is the original speaker's magnet usually comes very close to a PCB, transformer, or something else. There is just "no air" in some of these boxes!

Maybe Redbendiddlypoo can weigh in with his experience...

 

[monchito]

some boxes have very little room to spare some like the m90 some crowns and aiwa may have a little room to spare but that why you have to make sure your demensions are correct especially toward the rear ,, you do not want to end up with the magnet being to big or close to the board,, some car stereo speakers may fit or better yet a donor box with same rating might be a good way to

 

[blah blah]

i forgot that i really like mine! not super bass on this box, but i can definitely get past 4 before bottoming out, on hard rock can get around 8 with the bass at full 5. great reception unit too. sounds like your speakers are iffy. good thread..made me reconnect with my nice box gathering some dust

 

[Jovie]

I find the SCR-8 to be totally fine with mainstream music.Just don't push the bass on newer type recordings that have gobs of it.The woofers are fine on the SCR-8 for most purposes. I think recordings didn't have as much bass back in the '80s when this box came out. There are many boxes of the era that perform this way. During that time,the G.e. version (Blockbuster),along with a good many other designs, probably had more bass than most people would need.The SCR-8s sound has a pleasing balance and it's a great box!. I suppose It's all up to what you expect. Just my take having both boxes

 

[2steppa]

I think recordings didn't have as much bass back in the '80s when this box came out.

Plus these days it's all about MAX OUT and multiband compress everything so the bass is almost (and sometimes reaches) distortion point. Some of the mastering of current music is just so, so bad

It's nice to listen to a CD from the late 80s/early 90s soemtimes just to remember how nice they used to sound.