Had a bit of a dry patch finding decent gear and was outbid on the same model Toshiba I dearly wanted TWICE within a month, so my blaster-karma was ebbing pretty low. Then in the last week there's been a welcome turn around in fortune.
Firstly this lovely National Panasonic RS-466FDS
I orginally wasn't going to take her, and excuse to weak photography (last shot I managed to get before batteries died). But the design was just too nice to pass up. Lots of features and a perfectly working cassette deck closed the deal for AU$5. All she needs is a new antenna that I'll deal with. Lovely clean sound with a great dynamic range, was super happy with her in the end.
Next up was a bit of a grail for me, the Emerson CTR-966.
From the first time I saw this radio I fell in love with the design, I knew she wasn't going to win any audio fidelity competitions, but it didn't really matter to me. She was in pretty average shape, covered in paint spatters and other detris, as well as missing the band selector knob. and other internal issues. A few days work got her boomin' again and being the perfect carry-around size I've been taking her to work for the last week or so and she's been performing great.
Another eBay score next, this delectable Radiotone RRC-8911DL.
Some reading this may recognise her as the ebay listing was very popular, the seller had no less than 17 enquiries for overseas shipping, so I'm sure a good couple of those were from the brotherhood. I loved the design of her the instant I saw the listing, the combination of older 70s portables and the bigger new ghettoblaster styles just slam together on her. Nice big radio too, and the LED meter's superb. She's got a couple of problems still, mainly a cruddy record switch, I think, that's effecting the left channel unless the REC button's jiggled a little. Will have another try fixing her up this weekend. Great radio though, hot graphics and a pleasing sound too.
A big time personal grail arrived mid last week too. My boombox history involved visiting friends of the family in my state's capital in the early 80s and their son, a couple of years older than me, was massively into the breakdancing/graffiti/hiphop/dj scene in Melbourne and he was my gateway to all things rockin. To cut a long story short I finally, after many years, got his actual radio. The same one that recorded my mixtapes from 1984 that I still play. This is an ultra-grail for me and to have the ACTUAL same one, complete with his family name stickers on the pieces, is just a million different kinds of awesome.
She's a Silver SR8800 and is a true behemoth. Massive 3 piece, longer than my Conion C-100, and packed with features. The main deck needs rebelting and theres no way I'm risking doing it myself, so she'll be going to my repairer next after I pick up my BigBen and GF-9000. She's got quite the LED display and some BIG sound, really looking forward to having her cranking again.
And my final addition, and not a ghettoblaster, but they always seem to turn up around these parts, is a lovely condition complete VZ-3000.
Scored for AU$40 from my local dump/recyclers I was very please to take her home. Lovely sound and nearly flawless cosmetically, she just needs a rebelt of the record player and will all be 100%. I was thinking of using this as my vinyl to tape recorder, but am unsure of the overall quality? Were they a high end or medium level unit? She sure sounds great and the tape playback is superb. Any help on replacing the belt and overall feelings of the quality of the vinyl playback/recording would be most appreciated!
So my last week's haul has made up for a good couple of months of finding bugger all, very pleased with my additions, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading about them!
Rock On.
Firstly this lovely National Panasonic RS-466FDS
I orginally wasn't going to take her, and excuse to weak photography (last shot I managed to get before batteries died). But the design was just too nice to pass up. Lots of features and a perfectly working cassette deck closed the deal for AU$5. All she needs is a new antenna that I'll deal with. Lovely clean sound with a great dynamic range, was super happy with her in the end.
Next up was a bit of a grail for me, the Emerson CTR-966.
From the first time I saw this radio I fell in love with the design, I knew she wasn't going to win any audio fidelity competitions, but it didn't really matter to me. She was in pretty average shape, covered in paint spatters and other detris, as well as missing the band selector knob. and other internal issues. A few days work got her boomin' again and being the perfect carry-around size I've been taking her to work for the last week or so and she's been performing great.
Another eBay score next, this delectable Radiotone RRC-8911DL.
Some reading this may recognise her as the ebay listing was very popular, the seller had no less than 17 enquiries for overseas shipping, so I'm sure a good couple of those were from the brotherhood. I loved the design of her the instant I saw the listing, the combination of older 70s portables and the bigger new ghettoblaster styles just slam together on her. Nice big radio too, and the LED meter's superb. She's got a couple of problems still, mainly a cruddy record switch, I think, that's effecting the left channel unless the REC button's jiggled a little. Will have another try fixing her up this weekend. Great radio though, hot graphics and a pleasing sound too.
A big time personal grail arrived mid last week too. My boombox history involved visiting friends of the family in my state's capital in the early 80s and their son, a couple of years older than me, was massively into the breakdancing/graffiti/hiphop/dj scene in Melbourne and he was my gateway to all things rockin. To cut a long story short I finally, after many years, got his actual radio. The same one that recorded my mixtapes from 1984 that I still play. This is an ultra-grail for me and to have the ACTUAL same one, complete with his family name stickers on the pieces, is just a million different kinds of awesome.
She's a Silver SR8800 and is a true behemoth. Massive 3 piece, longer than my Conion C-100, and packed with features. The main deck needs rebelting and theres no way I'm risking doing it myself, so she'll be going to my repairer next after I pick up my BigBen and GF-9000. She's got quite the LED display and some BIG sound, really looking forward to having her cranking again.
And my final addition, and not a ghettoblaster, but they always seem to turn up around these parts, is a lovely condition complete VZ-3000.
Scored for AU$40 from my local dump/recyclers I was very please to take her home. Lovely sound and nearly flawless cosmetically, she just needs a rebelt of the record player and will all be 100%. I was thinking of using this as my vinyl to tape recorder, but am unsure of the overall quality? Were they a high end or medium level unit? She sure sounds great and the tape playback is superb. Any help on replacing the belt and overall feelings of the quality of the vinyl playback/recording would be most appreciated!
So my last week's haul has made up for a good couple of months of finding bugger all, very pleased with my additions, and I hope you guys enjoyed reading about them!
Rock On.
, hoping to get it fixed soon.