The Biggest Letdown...

[Superduper]

rest assured --that its not just your box --
the highs could be alot better --and the bass distorts too soon --

so....your box is normal for that series

The bass is mediocre because the speakers are serious. Serious lightweights, that is. installing heavier, more substantial woofers will improve the sound but the structural integrity of the boombox comes into question. The plastic shell is so thin that cracking during shipping becomes a real possibility. Like 50 eggs cracking at the same time! The plastic shell is very thin, almost black box thin. The saving grace is that Sharp tied the woofers together with a pair of brackets. Still, the front case flexs quite a bit without the back cover on. I'd be very scared of shipping one of these with beefier woofers.

As for the tweeters, Sharp did something weird here. They neutered good 2-1/4" +/- dome tweeters with a shroud that cuts the tweeter opening down to like a 1/2" tunnel or so. High frequencies are very sensitive to sonic interference so removing the shroud will improve the highs. I looked and there is no easy way to de-shroud the tweeters so the easiest solution is to swap the outer speakers with coaxials.

 

[oldskool69]

...However I was very impress with it's younger brother the Fisher PH-480K it sounds great with plenty of bass and plenty of volume. ...

Glad youlike it!

 

[oldskool69]

.....Finally, a topic that is actually an easy one for me....

 

[MONOLITHIC]

rest assured --that its not just your box --
the highs could be alot better --and the bass distorts too soon --

so....your box is normal for that series

The bass is mediocre because the speakers are serious. Serious lightweights, that is. installing heavier, more substantial woofers will improve the sound but the structural integrity of the boombox comes into question. The plastic shell is so thin that cracking during shipping becomes a real possibility. Like 50 eggs cracking at the same time! The plastic shell is very thin, almost black box thin. The saving grace is that Sharp tied the woofers together with a pair of brackets. Still, the front case flexs quite a bit without the back cover on. I'd be very scared of shipping one of these with beefier woofers.

As for the tweeters, Sharp did something weird here. They neutered good 2-1/4" +/- dome tweeters with a shroud that cuts the tweeter opening down to like a 1/2" tunnel or so. High frequencies are very sensitive to sonic interference so removing the shroud will improve the highs. I looked and there is no easy way to de-shroud the tweeters so the easiest solution is to swap the outer speakers with coaxials.

You're right about the possibility of shipping damage 'cause my Toyota didn't arrive from Japan unscathed - it has a (now sloppily repaired) crack in the right backside of the case. But then, it wasn't packed right anyway. It could've been MUCH worse!

What you say about the speakers is interesting. I remember when autobot84 from stereo2go modified his 777 with coaxials. He said the box sounded much better afterwards.

 

[oldskool69]

What norm speaks of is true. The first time I had heard a 777 in years was a Bobby's house and I can tell you firsthand, that if your listning spot is not directly lined up with your ears at the same height as the speakers, the highs get knocked off and seem misdirected.

Many boxes have this problem where the tweets are "horned" or recessed in some fashion or another forcing the sound in a specific direction because the opening is smaler than the tweet itself. It's exacerbated when the tweet is recessed deep.

 

[redbenjoe]

"exacerbated"

i do that on every type holiday -- no matter what !!!

-------------------------------------

its also the biggest word ever used in alabama

 

[Superduper]

What norm speaks of is true. The first time I had heard a 777 in years was a Bobby's house and I can tell you firsthand, that if your listning spot is not directly lined up with your ears at the same height as the speakers, the highs get knocked off and seem misdirected.

Many boxes have this problem where the tweets are "horned" or recessed in some fashion or another forcing the sound in a specific direction because the opening is smaler than the tweet itself. It's exacerbated when the tweet is recessed deep.

Yeah, except that it's not only recessed in a deep horn but the end of the horn is shrouded. The actual tweeter looks to be the same size (or almost as large) as the M90. But the end of the horn only has a 1/2" hole. If you open one up, you'll see what I'm talking about. If you ask me, it's utterly stupid, especially given that the one thing that is noticeable on this model is the attenuated highs.

 

[mellymelsr]

no matter what though, a lasonic will kick almost every other boxes butt for bass

Ehh... I'll take a Prosonic PQR-9962 for bass.

...make mine a Kaboom....

 

[snoop918]

Hey guys, it's time for me to get in on this fun. My biggest let down has to be the emerson ctr-949, which can easily be explained once you see it. I also have the jvc pc-11jw. It actually sounds quite good. Any volume past halfway and it looses some guts. Still a very nice unit and built like a tank. I also received a boombox for Christmas, the long awaited jvc rc m70. I like this box alot. Plenty of bass, highs and volume. Very impressive unit. I hope to upload some pics soon. I will try and get some pics uploaded of my collection as well. Oh and I almost fogot to mention, the m70 was a one owner box.

 

[mellymelsr]

For me it is my JVC RC-M50C. I thought with the JVC name and its reputation for quality boomers this thing would crank. It has plenty of highs, less mids and NO bass to speak of. For a box with 6 inch speakers it lacks the performance I was expecting.

 

[TRC-911]

I think we all forgot one box-

Let's see if anybody knows what it could be-here's a hint, It's a black box

 

[TRC-911]

CROWN SZ-5100

 

[bill]

it was hard to really care this giant mono tv box sucked so badly but i must confess after picking it up and feeling the wieght of the thing i thought it would at least try a bit harder to sound good.
i mean i only paid ten bucks for it and it does have a im in the army look to it,but its really a paper champion. i mean lets start with the huge speaker cover on it that hides a extremely tiny tinny wimpy little speaker behind it.
this unit is sold as loyds samsung and i believe also venture and sears. this being said i could be off on those names but i am almost possitive those are the badges it wore.
it does have a condenser microphone on it and the black and white tv is pretty neat but its really a putrid pile of junk. despite its big clunky look its really a shoddy transitor radio with a bad tape deck and a middle of the road bw crt thrown in there.
i would give these a go only if the looks doing it for you. other than that it would most likely be a suitable replacement for that pristine crown in that recyling commercial posted here.