Dean in Boston provided us this photo by photographer Peter Anderson of a San Franciscan proudly carrying his JVC RC-550 (RC-550JW). We pose the question: Is it a ghettoblaster? Sure, those are one-way speakers, but lookit the size of that woofer! This thing is surely loud. The brackets on the sides are a nice touch.

Our friend Jens in Germany provided us with this oddity, a boombox fitted with a fold-out turntable and two tape decks. Unfortunately, we’re at a loss to determine make or model. It bears resemblance to the Marantz displayed earlier, but we’re not sure. Seems to have at least one band of shortwave coverage, two antennas and input jacks for something. This is a dream system for recording purposes, you’ve got everything you need in one device! update: Says Gordon from the UK, “The unit is actually made by Amstrad, it was very common in England circa 1983/4.” Petri from Finland writes, “it’s a Williams model 8060 twin cassette radio record player. Found one of these last summer from local fleamarket (I live in Tampere, Finland). If I remember right it cost something like 10 euros. Works great but I’m going to buy a new needle for it because the default one looks pretty dangerous to records.” Thanks guys!

This flashy ghettoblaster by Trident feels so chintzy, it’s a wonder it made it this long still in working order. Paul found this in Manhattan, and was pleased with its offerings: twin 10-segment LED meters, music search and soft-touch controls. Despite the gold color, there doesn’t appear to be an ounce of metal on this thing.

Thanks again to Chris in North Bay, Ontario for another classic. This is the Citizen JTR-1292 and is exotic for a number of reasons. Obviously most important is the condition. Chris found this at a flea market (screw eBay) with the ad decals still intact! But even more interesting is the tuner on this baby. At first glance, it looks like your average radio tuner…but look closely, and you’ll notice there is no tuning dial. That’s right, this thing has synthesized tuning, controlled with push buttons. But the display has an analog facade! You can also see the LED readout for the programmable tape system. I’m curious about the Citizen brand name. I know this was a popular name in Canada through the ’80s, and equipment I believe equipment was manufactured in Korea, and distributed by a company called JIL. This stuff sold like hotcakes at Consumers Distributing chains. Anyone with any additional information?

Classic chrome Lasonic TRC-920, courtesy of Bill in Tennesse. Despite the notoriety of Lasonic, we’re familiar with only four classic boombox models manufactured by the company (L30K, TRC-920, 931, 975). Were there more?

Thanks again to Jens in Germany for finding this thing. It’s a slightly ugly ghettoblaster with a slightly ugly name: Vinix. This one is near the top of the obscurity list. Worth noting is the handy LCD clock above the tape drive. We don’t think there exists any sort of time-controlled recording or playback functionality on this system, unfortunately. If anyone knows of a system with this features, please let us know! We certainly think it would be more useful than disco lights or an alarm.

Anyone ever see one of these in real life? This rates up there with Panasonic’s RX-7700 as one of the coolest systems of all time. The RX-7000 was probably marketed to the audiophile crowd, as it bore wood grain side panels and controls that resembled those of a home receiver. The cassette featured logic access and, oh my, is that a wired remote control on the left? The $700 price tag would be a steal in today’s market. Click here to calculate what $700 in 1981 is worth today. Thanks, Tracy West for providing this gorgeous photo!

In our opinion, the finest boombox ever made by Toshiba was the RT-S931. It offered feature-touch cassette buttons, which detached to double as a wireless remote control. Toshiba’s music search system was called MQJS, or Music Quick Jump Song Selector.

Martin sports his Sharp CF-5656 boombox at a Grandmaster Flash concert in Vienna, Austria. There’s no mistake that “old skool” rap has made a comeback. I will have to find my fat-laced Pumas and Kongol in the attic. Hmm, Grandmaster Flash in Vienna shouldn’t be too surprising. Remember Falco making it big in the US?

Another model in the Marantz “Gold Line,” this is the PMS-3500. Like the 6000, this one also has that home audio feel, and we can guess that tuner knob has a weighted flywheel.