A boombox under the Technics brand is indeed a rare find. This is their SA-C05, a compact system that outputs a respectable 26 watts of sound. It weighed 27lbs and cost around $400.

James from Philly has an impressive collection of systems, including this Rising SCR-2015. I’m guessing this one puts out 20 watts total…or is it 20 per channel! Wow…

Brian specializes in classic arcade machines, but what vintage arcade is complete without music? “It’s sort of the quintessential 80’s pic, with the ‘box sitting atop my Ms. Pacman cocktail arcade game. This is the only 80’s boombox I have, but it’s the typical high quality Sony with AM/FM, shortwave and a good cassette deck. Runs on 6 “D” batteries and has a voltage selector for 110/220VAC input. I got this about six months ago on ebay, still new in the box. I’ve wanted a classic 80’s portable like this for some time, and was pleased to find this excellent example. Everything on it works great and it sounds good.”

Thanks to Dwayne Colon for providing a whole bunch of pictures to the museum. Here’s his first, a Sharp GF-535. Nicknamed “The Searcher” (for its music search system?) this system has a nice splash of color and some unusual slide controls for volume along the left of the tape deck.

Our buddy Dean from Boston visited a friend in New York and was floored to see his apartment peppered with systems like this Toshiba “Bom Beat” WX-1. Says Dean, “This is the ADRES model (Automatic Dynamic Range Expansion System) with insane mixing and EDITING capabilities, phono preamp, some unusual detachable speaker setup, double cassette, SW1&2, Toshiba “Passive Radiator” speakers, and more than a few offbeat controls like “Beat”. Owner is a paint collector, check out the cans on the side for sizing.” By the way, Dean is a spray paint can collector; check out his site rustmagic, an effort to preserve classic aerosol and spray paint cans.

Minty Sharp GF-666, eh? Jimmy from Montreal suspects this was the first boombox equipped with twin cassettes: he estimates the date of manufacture at around 1981. Notice the cassette controls designed specifically for Sharp’s APLD music locator system. Very cool…definitely a tape bootlegger’s dream machine.

Mia Sparko (Marco Matias) is a vintage Hip Hop Colture collector of many styles. Obviously, stereos come with the territory, and he’s been avid collector since 1989. Here’s one of his pieces, the street-wise Rising.

This gorgeous system is branded under the National name, which suggests its sale in Asia or Europe. It’d have the Panasonic brand if sold in North or South America. This is the RX-5700 and it is quite gorgeous, but I can’t help but feel in belongs in someone’s library (like mine), and not on a street corner.

Javier in Florida shows off a sweet Sharp GF-9595. One of the first “PLL synthesizer” tuners offered on boombox, for sure. This must have been a costly feature at the time, as systems continued to ship with analog tuning well into the early ’90s. Sharp was indeed an innovator in the boombox market.

Jens has contributed so much to this site, and we sure appreciate it. Here’s his latest find, a National RX-5300. This system has all the typical good stuff plus TV sound!