What attracts you to boomboxes?

[blacksnake]

This may seem like a silly question, but there seems to be some really eclectic tastes here. Besides pure nostalgia, what makes you want to have these boxes? For me it's the complexity... switches, lights, knobs, etc. Loud and flashy styling is probably a close second. When I was growing up, I took most of these things for granted, thinking they would just continue to make things this way. I never realized that these types of products would become relics so quickly.

Todays technology is cool, and I don't personally miss any of the old media, but I wish devices kept more of their mechanical complexity.

 

[hemiguy2006]

I have to say you hit the nail on the head with all of what you've described.
For me,It seems medium to large sized boomboxes do it for me.
Big chrome capped woofers.
Chrome trim and aluminum fascia, lots of knobs and switches, leds
or lighted VU's and tuner dials seem to make me happy as well.

 

[redbenjoe]

to me --there are 100s of unique and beautiful designs
in every size range and most every brand
and --music sounds exciting on them

 

[TW5]

They did become relics.
They were made for a few years and than stopped.
At that time it was like better stuff would be made.
Now its everthing has calculator buttons on them.

 

[fresh produce]

To me its the sizes the looks the knobs the large speakers everything about a boombox and when i get one it feels like i got a part of history in my hand

 

[mellymelsr]

I seem to have two personalities when it comes to collecting. I like the flash and chrome of the boomboxes made for the streets but I also like the feature filled high end radios that were built to sit on a shelf. So I am trying to round out my collection with boomboxes that appeal to both sides of my personal tastes. I also have several in my collection that appeal to me because I could never afford them as a child and pinch myself even now that I was able to acquire them. When I listen to my radios they just take me to a better place...the simplicities and joy associated with my childhood. There is nothing else that can do that for me and that is what makes all of them so special....

 

[restocat]

Good points mellymelsr.

For me, it is just great to have heavy, well built audio components. metal switches, chrome knobs, metal grills with chrome trim.

The modern engineers just can't seem to get the designs correct anymore. They over-engineer the parts so that they use the minimum amount of material, just enough to make the product work. The switches on my 9994 could withstand just about anything, for example. Meanwhile, some of the display models today can't even keep together long enough for the customer to try them out.

 

[alfie]

I seem to have two personalities when it comes to collecting. I like the flash and chrome of the boomboxes made for the streets but I also like the feature filled high end radios that were built to sit on a shelf. So I am trying to round out my collection with boomboxes that appeal to both sides of my personal tastes. I also have several in my collection that appeal to me because I could never afford them as a child and pinch myself even now that I was able to acquire them. When I listen to my radios they just take me to a better place...the simplicities and joy associated with my childhood. There is nothing else that can do that for me and that is what makes all of them so special....

Hey Melly,

I can see why you couldn't part with the Lasonic in your new avatar.

IT IS A BEAUTY

 

[Drew]

Restocat said it.....Quality of swiches, controls & materials ! Being a bit of an old man, I had a few 1970s units.... Most early ones were pretty nicely outfittted with bullit proof cases. Sony stands out.

But then again, so many in the 80s had super performance - gotta love that !

 

[Barrys_Bapz]

I hear the sound
In a metal way
I feel the power
Rolling off the stage
Cause only one thing
Really sets me free
Heavy Metal
Loud as it can be.

 

[fins5]

A lot of the same reasons for me.

Electronics and home/portable audio have these days lost that tangible "objects of desire" factor (though smart phones have kind of that same appeal now).

I still remember - clearly - the day I bought my JVC PC-550 with money I received as high school grad gifts. I lusted over the 55/550s for something like 1-2 years, knew a couple of guys who had them (rich families), could never afford one, and that feeling of finally getting one...wow. Now i have two and still smile when I think of it!

But I also remember spending hours at department and audio stores, testing the functions of many of the boxes I now own. Some (the M70/90 come to mind) I never got a chance to try - they were behind glass, or the counter, at the audio stores, and the salespeople wouldn't take them out for a 13-year-old kid!!

 

[mellymelsr]

I seem to have two personalities when it comes to collecting. I like the flash and chrome of the boomboxes made for the streets but I also like the feature filled high end radios that were built to sit on a shelf. So I am trying to round out my collection with boomboxes that appeal to both sides of my personal tastes. I also have several in my collection that appeal to me because I could never afford them as a child and pinch myself even now that I was able to acquire them. When I listen to my radios they just take me to a better place...the simplicities and joy associated with my childhood. There is nothing else that can do that for me and that is what makes all of them so special....

Hey Melly,

I can see why you couldn't part with the Lasonic in your new avatar.

IT IS A BEAUTY

...thanks Alfie...

 

[amishmansteve]

A lot of my collection tick now comes from being a child and not being able to buy a cool boombox. Back then the size and gadgetry of any boombox really blew my mind away.

 

[Pointdexter1906]

Great conversation here. Lots of things attract me to boomboxes - for one, they remind me of a simpler, happy time of life, and I can almost remember song by song the tapes (radio-recorded and deejay mixes) I used to play in my boomboxes from back in the day. I also like the portability, in fact, one of the reasons I even began collecting was that last summer, we had friends over for a cookout on our deck and my wife wanted me to bring a Bose wave radio out and for some reason, that just didn't seem like a cookout kind of device.... as far as which ones, I am primarily into the mid-sizers, i.e., 20, 21 inches, etc. I like the look of the "super jumbos" but they're not for me... and as far as the M90... maybe one day...

 

[blacksnake]

I also have several in my collection that appeal to me because I could never afford them as a child and pinch myself even now that I was able to acquire them.

This is a motivating factor for me as well. Like going back and buying a Lamboroghini Countach or something you saw as a kid.

 

[monchito]

yes most of my collecting is trying to find the boxes i used to have back in the days now the collection has grown and some are ones i used to remember seeing but was not able to have ...

 

[DoktorHoliday]

They're All like Works of art, and all have individual personalities, features and functions. Technology and Style Meshed perfectly together..Plus The Chicks Dig The Man With the Boom Box in his Hand...! I'm also addicted to the Hunt for new systems..

 

[mellymelsr]

They're All like Works of art, and all have individual personalities, features and functions. Technology and Style Meshed perfectly together..Plus The Chicks Dig The Man With the Boom Box in his Hand...! I'm also addicted to the Hunt for new systems..

...love that avatar... ...and you are holding my favorite box...

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

So much above has already said it all....

But for me personally, it has to do with a time period that was good in my life, mixed with having my DREAM radio, or what I thought was my dream radio only to have the "Next Big Thing" come out and dwarf it. When I was a kid I saved long and hard for my TRC 920. But it was a short lived rein at the top before bigger, louder, shinier boxes surpassed mine. As a kid, I couldn't afford to be replacing my radio, so I looked on with envy.

I watched trends change, I watched electronics get smaller and my "Ideal Image" of what I would want while looking at these god awful designs lining the shelves of electronic stores just seemed to fade away. I have bought a few, never kept them long, had no attachment to them and they had no performance that sparked any connection to those "Things".

It wasn't untill I started thinking about my old 920 a hand full of years ago while talking with a friend that I decided to go looking and to my complete and utter shock found that all this collecting was going on!

As fast as I could located another TRC 920 it was back in my hands. As mentioned above, the switches, the knobs, the cassette keys. All connected to ANALOG parts with genuine feedback and real resistance. Not a touch screen with an electronic "Fly By Wire" connection.

More then anything, all of the radio's I admired that friends had, all the radio's in the store fronts that I drooled over and even some I never ever saw before can all be mine.....IF the price is right!

As an adult, I can do what ever I want.....and I want another BOOM BOX!

A BIG Giant Chrome Laden 1 piece with BIG ASS SPEAKERS!

 

[baddboybill]

I would have to say the soft succulent lines of details.. The nice tight rounded curves. ...The shiny glimmering sparkle....the sound that comes from within when your playing her..... OH wait!! are we talking GIRLS