Sony didn’t sell the biggest or loudest boomboxes in the world, but they were well made and their sound was terrific. This CFS-77 was no exception–it was sold up to 1983 and had most unusual floating tweeters positioned in front of the speakers. Sony was of the opinion that “less is more,” evidenced in the sleak shapes of their walkmans and televisions. We see this in the narrow CFS-77, CFS-99 and CFS-500.
Wow, what a cool system. Apparently, Casio wasn’t the only company to cross-breed a synthesizer and ghetto blaster. Fisher did also, and the result was this SC-300 Stereo Composer. This system is unusually long, but feature-packed. We’ve got detachable speakers, a vertical level meter, four band radio, auxilary input and of course, the cool synthesizer mounted up top! The user can play the keyboard and record directly to cassette. The keyboard’s got a cool little LCD display which displays the instrument that’s being played and the key that’s pressed.
Aiwa’s TPR-955 was sold around 1980-1981, but it was ahead of its time. The digital LED counter provided instant access for up to 9 segments on a tape (separated by blank space) and doubled as a sleep timer. The cassette-eject mechanism was oil-damped, and the DM-511P option was a pair of microphones that mounted to the top of the portable for professional-sounding live stereo recordings.
Aiwa’s 1981 CS-880, a magical ghettoblaster that offered “3D” acoustic sound through a unique speaker arrangement. Aiwa’s tape decks have an impeccable reputation, the 880 and 770 for example offered a 0.038% wow and flutter: an impressive stat indeed for a portable stereo system. The awesome look and features make this one among the top for boomboxes.
Hey Bill, I guess we gotta talk to these guys about getting a GF-777. Thanks Dean, for presenting this TML Breakers family photo, circa 1983. The patriarch of course, is that silver square dude in the middle. Original photo courtesy of Jamel Shabazz.
Phil from across the pond offers this gorgeous system, a Sharp GF-575. Size may matter when talking about ghettoblasters, but you gotta appreciate the elegant design of this model. And boy, is it feature-laden. It offers AM/FM/SW and LW band coverage, Dolby NR and twin cassettes! Button location is totally up front, no controls on the top or sides. We’ve also got separate left and right mic jacks and additional speaker jacks in the back. Phil is proud to say he receieved this from family for free, and it’s in perfect working order. Looks to be near blemish-free, too. Thanks Phil.
Look familiar? That’s right…another Sharp, looks almost like the one above. The picture at left is a publicity shot for Wild Style provided by our buddy Dean up in Boston. He’s a terrific resource for several of the photos you see on the site and he’s a knowledgeable source for the subject. Original photo courtesy of Henry Chalfant/James Prigoff.
Toby, vintage synth aficionado has an appreciation for the likes of this Pioneer SK31. Features include line in/out, L&R mic in, mix mic in, wired remote jack, speaker out, tuning/level/bat meters, tape counter with start and end buttons, tape memory repeat, music search, ext antenna in. From Toby: “Rescued from a garage sale…unbelievably crusty dirty tape mechanism. Capstan looked like a totally rust encrusted mess. Nope, just an amazing layer of tape filth.”
The 1982 Docu-drama Wild Style is arguably the only classic hip-hop film in existence. This scene depicts a happy guy enjoying his boombox during a live concert at a private party. No, it doesn’t make sense to me either, but it does indeed depict the quintessential urban scene in the early ’80s. I wish I could’ve experienced it, but I was only 11 at the time and my Mom wouldn’t let me go into the South Bronx by myself. That stereo is one of the holy grails, a JVC RC-M70JW/C.
This Sharp is probably the most famous dual-cassette systems, having graced countless music videos, album covers and advertisements. The GF-777 (aka GF-777Z) graced the back of Run DMC’s debut album and has eluded us for quite some time now, placing it in the Holy Grails list. Bill provided this pic and a plea to find one–he’s an avid boombox collector and sells them occasionally, too. Check our classifieds area for more info. UPDATE (courtesy of Ed): “the GF-777Z had an earlier model, the GF-767 with less features and blue speaker covers (this was the actual radio that was captured on the back of Run DMC’s first album). Now most importantly its other REAL holy grail relative was the GF-909 which was the same GF-777 but it was a production prototype only sold in Japan. The difference was that system’s text was in Japanese and the speakers were all black.” Thanks Ed!
