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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
