I've been booming this guy today, right before I boxed it up.
I forgot how good it sounds. Those who owns one (or more) will concur. If you don't own or listened to one, you have no idea what you are missing. The first flick of the heavy weighted tuning knob tells you this is no cheapo boomer. The first push of the quality detented equalizer suggest ultra high quality. No, this does not feel like a boombox. It feels more like a piece of high quality home stereo gear. But once you listen to it, you won't care. It only has 2x 5" full range dual cone drivers. But the highs will make you forget all that. The only thing it makes you wanna say is.... "who needs tweeters?" Then yes, there are 2x 5" passive radiators. But these guys, unlike the Aiwa 880 radiators look to be true passives instead of just a floating aluminum disc. All I know is that your jaw will drop at the heavy hitting bass this thing is capable of. And the smallish looking size belies the sound output. You are wondering "is that little guy actually putting out all that distortion free power?" But make no mistake, compact does not mean light. This thing is about 1/2 the size of a GF-777 but weighs almost as much. It's compact but it's not hollow nor empty. Therein lies the downsides. From my experience, these Pioneers are quite prone to scratchy controls and oxidized switches. And virtually none of original ones have working decks. Boombox cleaning and rebelting.... no problem, right? Wrong. For all the reasons mentioned above, these things are not easy to work on like other big empty boxes. They are actually filled to the max! But nothing I'm saying is news to current owners. Hey, there is a reason why this is the only reason I know of with a model toy of it. That has got to be the biggest sign of flattery and indicative of the high regards for this fantastic piece of art. I know some collectors don't think this model looks like the typical boombox but everyone should at some point in their collecting, at least listen to it. The hard part is picking up a good one -- they are very hard to find. They also cost some pretty coin. But regardless of what it takes to buy one, this reviewer thinks it worth every penny paid for it. Yes, it IS that good!
Disclaimer: You need to listen to a good one. If you listen to one that has degraded electronics and oxidized controls, expect a terrible scratchy exprience. And on very badly oxidized one, maybe even NO sound.
I forgot how good it sounds. Those who owns one (or more) will concur. If you don't own or listened to one, you have no idea what you are missing. The first flick of the heavy weighted tuning knob tells you this is no cheapo boomer. The first push of the quality detented equalizer suggest ultra high quality. No, this does not feel like a boombox. It feels more like a piece of high quality home stereo gear. But once you listen to it, you won't care. It only has 2x 5" full range dual cone drivers. But the highs will make you forget all that. The only thing it makes you wanna say is.... "who needs tweeters?" Then yes, there are 2x 5" passive radiators. But these guys, unlike the Aiwa 880 radiators look to be true passives instead of just a floating aluminum disc. All I know is that your jaw will drop at the heavy hitting bass this thing is capable of. And the smallish looking size belies the sound output. You are wondering "is that little guy actually putting out all that distortion free power?" But make no mistake, compact does not mean light. This thing is about 1/2 the size of a GF-777 but weighs almost as much. It's compact but it's not hollow nor empty. Therein lies the downsides. From my experience, these Pioneers are quite prone to scratchy controls and oxidized switches. And virtually none of original ones have working decks. Boombox cleaning and rebelting.... no problem, right? Wrong. For all the reasons mentioned above, these things are not easy to work on like other big empty boxes. They are actually filled to the max! But nothing I'm saying is news to current owners. Hey, there is a reason why this is the only reason I know of with a model toy of it. That has got to be the biggest sign of flattery and indicative of the high regards for this fantastic piece of art. I know some collectors don't think this model looks like the typical boombox but everyone should at some point in their collecting, at least listen to it. The hard part is picking up a good one -- they are very hard to find. They also cost some pretty coin. But regardless of what it takes to buy one, this reviewer thinks it worth every penny paid for it. Yes, it IS that good!
Disclaimer: You need to listen to a good one. If you listen to one that has degraded electronics and oxidized controls, expect a terrible scratchy exprience. And on very badly oxidized one, maybe even NO sound.
I would love to hear one of these in person. I have always read how much collectors live them.
and haven't got back in there yet.