WHAT A DAY AT LASONIC!
First of all I have to thank James and Albert from Lasonic for being so gracious and allowing both myself and Boomboxery member Miles (aka =ml=) into their facility and show us around.
Below are many pictures of the things we saw.
Please allow me to start at the beginning….
I roll up and Miles is in the parking lot with his TRC-931 (3rd edition I think?) sitting on his truck and I knew I was in the right place! Miles is a super cool guy and we spent some time B.S.’n blasters after our meet inside Lasonic.
As I had mentioned, I brought 5 classic Lasonic’s with me, 2 TRC-920’s, 1 TRC-931, 1 TRC-975 and 1 TRC-935. James met us and he was all smiles when he saw that we had brought our vintage blasters with us. There were only a hand full of employee’s there and they were all looking at us and our radio’s like we were crazy, but they were smiling none the less!
James walked us into a conference room that was filled to the brim with many new i931’s and some vintage classics in perfect condition. I swear if you would have seen how clean they were, you would have died! (see pics below)
James introduced Miles and I to Albert, the great grandson of the companies founder. We spent some time talking with him about how his grandfather started the company building washing machines, electric fans and other small appliances. He said his father named the company Lasonic and that they have been a Los Angeles based company since the late 1960’s. I asked him where the name came from and he said he had asked his dad about it and he said he believed that his dad named it Lasonic after Los Angeles (where the company was then located) and Sonic, taken from Panasonic = LA-SONIC or Lasonic! How cool is that!
When I walked in with the 920’s and the 918, both James and Albert had to really look them over. They do not have either of these on display! I think Albert was in his late 20’s early 30’s so these radios are way before his time!
I did ask some of the questions you guys wanted me to ask….
AUSTRALIAN FANS:
Albert said they are working with a New Zealand importer that will handle both NZ & AU. They are working on coming up with a quantity that will make it affordable. He was hoping for later this year! Keep your fingers crossed!
OLD STOCK:
I asked if they had any more old parts and he said that they might have some packed up. They moved to Irwindale not too long ago and they might have some stuff packed away!
SCHEMATICS:
Albert told us that they do in fact have all the old drawings, schematics and manuals for all the old radios and that they have been converting files from floppy disc modern formats. BUT, paperwork and there is allot of work to make that happen. Of course there is no money in that, so I can only assume dedicating any man hours to it would not be top priority. But they do exist and there is still hope! (I will bug them about it!)
CHROME i931’s:
As you can see in the pictures below and we have talked about many times, there are in fact 2 CHROME i931’s in this world! However this will never go into production. Albert told me that they ruined 15 radio cases to make these 2 and that in order to chrome plastic, you have to put electricity through it to make the chrome stick. The cost and reliability to do so is too great. I asked him if he would sell one of them and he jokingly said, “Sure $500.00â€, I said OK and the look on his face was classic, he then said “No no no!, can’t do thatâ€. DAMN, I almost had one!
In their personal collection, there were i931’s with TV’s in them, CD players and every other custom worked design the mind could think of!
NEW LASONIC’S:
As you can see in the pictures, there are countless color schemes and designs. But I was told that the new i931 that is coming out this summer will have Blu-Tooth capability, so if you don’t have an iPhone, you can still run the i931 with a Blu-Tooth enabled smart phone. That’s really cool!
BUT THE REAL NEWS IS:
They are working on an all new MID SIZED Box, about the size of the 920! STAY TUNED FOR THAT ONE! I told him they need to make a BIGGER ONE, the size of the 975! He laughed! But at least I said it!
THE REASON I WENT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE:
I originally went to Lasonic to purchase a brand new i931 White on White! James was kind enough to set one aside for me and it was there waiting for me! We handled the transaction and after some time Miles and I figured we should let them all get back to work.
So we went out side for a quick photo op….But that wasn’t the end….
While Miles and I were outside, James came out with 4 Lasonic Tee shirts and a few i931 refrigerator magnets! (see pics). YEP, we were both pretty stoked!
Miles and I spent about an hour plus in the parking lot talking blasters. Miles had brought a few really cool radios that I had never seen, so it was really cool to check them out.
Miles is the one on Boomboxery that is experimenting with PRINTING PARTS! Look for his thread in the “Custom Sectionâ€. He took some measurements of the battery door from my 920. Yep, there might be printed 920 battery doors coming!
In the process of us measuring and talking blasters we realized that the battery door for the 975, 935, 931 (3rd gen) and i931 are all the same! That means that if you have any of these radio just mentioned, you can BUY a battery door from Lasonic on their “PARTS†page. Not the “Classic Parts†page, just the “Parts†page. It’s the one they are selling for the i931.
Needless to say, I was one hell of a day! For me, it was almost 6 hours of driving but worth every second! I also got home just in time as it is SNOWING at my house right now! Isn’t it MAY?
Again, Thanks to James and Albert of Lasonic for their generosity and time and thank you to Miles for coming out and meeting with me. It’s always great to meet a Boomboxery member and we got along GREAT! Also look for new pictures on the Lasonic Facebook page of Miles and I.
I think it’s time for a So Cal Mini Meet! Who’s In?
(If I made any mistakes remembering all the details, please forgive me, it was a long day)
Here is my 935 and 975 with Miles' 931 on the floor
My 5 classic's along with their big display!
Miles, James and myself
The new blasters at home!
First of all I have to thank James and Albert from Lasonic for being so gracious and allowing both myself and Boomboxery member Miles (aka =ml=) into their facility and show us around.
Below are many pictures of the things we saw.
Please allow me to start at the beginning….
I roll up and Miles is in the parking lot with his TRC-931 (3rd edition I think?) sitting on his truck and I knew I was in the right place! Miles is a super cool guy and we spent some time B.S.’n blasters after our meet inside Lasonic.
As I had mentioned, I brought 5 classic Lasonic’s with me, 2 TRC-920’s, 1 TRC-931, 1 TRC-975 and 1 TRC-935. James met us and he was all smiles when he saw that we had brought our vintage blasters with us. There were only a hand full of employee’s there and they were all looking at us and our radio’s like we were crazy, but they were smiling none the less!
James walked us into a conference room that was filled to the brim with many new i931’s and some vintage classics in perfect condition. I swear if you would have seen how clean they were, you would have died! (see pics below)
James introduced Miles and I to Albert, the great grandson of the companies founder. We spent some time talking with him about how his grandfather started the company building washing machines, electric fans and other small appliances. He said his father named the company Lasonic and that they have been a Los Angeles based company since the late 1960’s. I asked him where the name came from and he said he had asked his dad about it and he said he believed that his dad named it Lasonic after Los Angeles (where the company was then located) and Sonic, taken from Panasonic = LA-SONIC or Lasonic! How cool is that!
When I walked in with the 920’s and the 918, both James and Albert had to really look them over. They do not have either of these on display! I think Albert was in his late 20’s early 30’s so these radios are way before his time!
I did ask some of the questions you guys wanted me to ask….
AUSTRALIAN FANS:
Albert said they are working with a New Zealand importer that will handle both NZ & AU. They are working on coming up with a quantity that will make it affordable. He was hoping for later this year! Keep your fingers crossed!
OLD STOCK:
I asked if they had any more old parts and he said that they might have some packed up. They moved to Irwindale not too long ago and they might have some stuff packed away!
SCHEMATICS:
Albert told us that they do in fact have all the old drawings, schematics and manuals for all the old radios and that they have been converting files from floppy disc modern formats. BUT, paperwork and there is allot of work to make that happen. Of course there is no money in that, so I can only assume dedicating any man hours to it would not be top priority. But they do exist and there is still hope! (I will bug them about it!)
CHROME i931’s:
As you can see in the pictures below and we have talked about many times, there are in fact 2 CHROME i931’s in this world! However this will never go into production. Albert told me that they ruined 15 radio cases to make these 2 and that in order to chrome plastic, you have to put electricity through it to make the chrome stick. The cost and reliability to do so is too great. I asked him if he would sell one of them and he jokingly said, “Sure $500.00â€, I said OK and the look on his face was classic, he then said “No no no!, can’t do thatâ€. DAMN, I almost had one!
In their personal collection, there were i931’s with TV’s in them, CD players and every other custom worked design the mind could think of!
NEW LASONIC’S:
As you can see in the pictures, there are countless color schemes and designs. But I was told that the new i931 that is coming out this summer will have Blu-Tooth capability, so if you don’t have an iPhone, you can still run the i931 with a Blu-Tooth enabled smart phone. That’s really cool!
BUT THE REAL NEWS IS:
They are working on an all new MID SIZED Box, about the size of the 920! STAY TUNED FOR THAT ONE! I told him they need to make a BIGGER ONE, the size of the 975! He laughed! But at least I said it!
THE REASON I WENT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE:
I originally went to Lasonic to purchase a brand new i931 White on White! James was kind enough to set one aside for me and it was there waiting for me! We handled the transaction and after some time Miles and I figured we should let them all get back to work.
So we went out side for a quick photo op….But that wasn’t the end….
While Miles and I were outside, James came out with 4 Lasonic Tee shirts and a few i931 refrigerator magnets! (see pics). YEP, we were both pretty stoked!
Miles and I spent about an hour plus in the parking lot talking blasters. Miles had brought a few really cool radios that I had never seen, so it was really cool to check them out.
Miles is the one on Boomboxery that is experimenting with PRINTING PARTS! Look for his thread in the “Custom Sectionâ€. He took some measurements of the battery door from my 920. Yep, there might be printed 920 battery doors coming!
In the process of us measuring and talking blasters we realized that the battery door for the 975, 935, 931 (3rd gen) and i931 are all the same! That means that if you have any of these radio just mentioned, you can BUY a battery door from Lasonic on their “PARTS†page. Not the “Classic Parts†page, just the “Parts†page. It’s the one they are selling for the i931.
Needless to say, I was one hell of a day! For me, it was almost 6 hours of driving but worth every second! I also got home just in time as it is SNOWING at my house right now! Isn’t it MAY?
Again, Thanks to James and Albert of Lasonic for their generosity and time and thank you to Miles for coming out and meeting with me. It’s always great to meet a Boomboxery member and we got along GREAT! Also look for new pictures on the Lasonic Facebook page of Miles and I.
I think it’s time for a So Cal Mini Meet! Who’s In?
(If I made any mistakes remembering all the details, please forgive me, it was a long day)
Here is my 935 and 975 with Miles' 931 on the floor
My 5 classic's along with their big display!
Miles, James and myself
The new blasters at home!
