Paul grabbed this Aimor at a Virginia flea market for $40. It’s an oddity from the late ’70s–portable stereo with detachable speakers, multi-band radio and cassette deck. There’s an FM stereo LED, metal knobs to control tone, balance and volume. This sucker is heavy and is a grayish green in color–a real boat anchor as far as boomboes go. Never heard of Aimor, but it was made in Japan and is of pretty decent quality.

Even discount brands like Yorx jumped into the “stereo-on-the-go” market early on. But at first glance, this doesn’t look very cheap, does it? Black with silver trim, illuminated meters, LED on the tuner, balance and tone control… this model was inexpensive by 1979 boomobx standards at $119. How ironic that such a price tag in 2002 would be considered high for a portable stereo.

Released the same year as the 801, the TPR-850 lacked some of the functionality, but is still nice. We haven’t found any indication that Aiwa boomboxes made it to the US until 1980 or 1981.

An artist’s rendition of the “on-the-go” stereo enthusiast in 1978. No, really, they were all disco fans back then.

Hector Amezquita in Mexico City proudly displays a “holy grail” in the boombox world, a JVC RC-838 (this one’s technically an RC-838JW, the JW is code for an optional voltage control). Released in 1978, it was dubbed the Biphonic system and looks remarkably ahead of its time. It’s completely packed with functions: jacks for remote, auxilary equipment, headphones; beat match; “binaural” eqalizer, LEDs for expand/stereo mode; 6-band radio (4 SW/AM/FM) and two antennas. Thanks Hector!

Jay found this late ’70s Sanyo at a consignment shop up in Maine for $15. Price was right, this thing looks like it was barely used! Simple, no-frills model from Sanyo, but unlike today’s Sanyo, this component is actually well-made and built to last.

Aiwa claims to have manufactured the very first stereo radio cassette recorder in 1977, the TPR-810. We’re not accepting nor disputing that at this point, but the Marantz system on the previous page was pulled from a 1976 ad. Pictured above is the TPR-801, released in 1978. It’s a sharp-looking machine, with twin meters, 3-band radio and minimalist front. Check out those slim mode switches above the tuner portion.