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You're viewing Page Two of our Decline & Fall section of
the Boombox Museum. Click here to view Page One, or the above
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Our friend Tim in south Florida has an affinity for walkmans, but he
appreciates the larger audio devices too, like this JVC PC-DC33.
It a very cool 4-band system with a slide-out turntable! The
cassette recorder and line-out function makes this incredibly
useful for dubbing bulky LPs and 45s. The detachable speakers and
equalizer make this an adequate all-purpose stereo system, for
home and on the go. Thanks Tim!
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A B&O ghettoblaster? Sure, if your ghetto happens to be
Beverly Hills or St. Moritz. Indeed, audio snobs will scoff us
for placing this on the site, the BeoSystem 10 stereo cassette
recorder merits notice. The sleek, minimalist design and hefty
price tag is typical Bang & Olufsen, but very much unlike any
other portable stereo of the period.
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Crown is a long time audio component manufacturer. Rumor has
it they may even be responsible for selling the very first
boombox back around 1971 or so. Our friend Jens from Germany was nice
enough to send us a pic of his massive mid '80s Crown SZ-5100, laden with graphics
and LEDs. Check out the tiny condenser microphones mounted up
top!
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There's no doubt that Jens is a devoted boombox enthusiast.
We must thank him for his terrific additions to the site,
including this Tecsonic Mach8800. The chrome trim, six speakers
and twin cassettes make this model pleasing to the eye.
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Notice a trend with the systems of this era? Here's Lasonic's
TRC-931, a popular system from around '86 or so. I remember when
these were given away as prizes on that kids' game show Double
Dare. The one pictured is an original, unlike the one below
which is a re-release. A couple of years ago, Lasonic had the brilliant idea
to reply to market demand and sell a slightly re-designed 931.
 Notice the
features and graphics look pretty much the same, but the chassis
has a more rounded look. Even the second release models are hard
to find these days and fetch up to three times list price.
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What a shame--Dave found this defaced Helix for cheap, but
will require great effort to restore. We're guessing this was
modified for some sort of theatrical production, as the lower
cassette has been covered and painted. The Helix name is a
well-known one for boomboxes, but we have yet to find the brand
on anything except portable stereo.
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Another Crown courtesy of Jens, this one is the SZ-8801. It certainly has all
the inklings of a "decline era" ghettoblaster with its detachable
speakers, tiny tuner indicator and blase looks.
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Max in Lousville, KY scored with this Helix HX-4636. It's equipped with
5 speakers, dual amps, dual tape decks, 5 band equalizer, 4 band radio! Says Max,
"I took it to school today (it was Decades Day) and blasted Run-DMC through the
halls while carrying it on my shoulder. After all, nothing sounds better out of
it than Run-DMC." Geez, times have changed, I remember getting detention for
wearing my pitiful $20 Soundesign walkman through the halls!
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This is one of our favorite stereos from this era. At around
12" in length it's hardly a ghettoblaster but is cool
nonetheless. The radio tunes AM/FM and shortwave, the speakers
are detachable and the cassette records. Oh, that's detachable
too, so you can carry it about as a walkman . The PC-DM100 came in assorted colors
too, including red, blue and silver.
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