National RX-5700

[Zippy]

A few days ago this beauty finally arrived from far away and after some hassle with the customs office Here is my first impression

It's mot exactly minty but the condition is pretty good. The antenna is not original and the wireless mic button has been pushed inside. Except from that there is only minor wear and tear. The contacts need a lot of attention. The bass and balance knobs don't do much unfortunately. Currently only one sound only comes from one speaker Hopefully I can fix that when I open this box up. The belts need to be replaced as well.

Anyhow, I really like this National! While not ressembling that streets look the RX-5700 was designed beautifully! Lots of metal and chrome, unusual grills and big VUs The (fake) wood panels definitely make the 5700 stick out. It's about the size of an M70, maybe an inch taller.
The built quality is just as good as the design. The knobs are extremely firm, the cassette keys don't rattle.

Despite the usual features you have a tape programm search and the fm wireless mic option I mentioned above. There's also a button to switch between level and tuner/battery but no light for the VUs. The radio scale goes from 76 all the way to 108

Now for the sound. And yes, it is just as good as everything else on this box. The bass is very good and only distorts at top volumes. There were some (very few) songs and tracks though in which the bass didn't come through that good. The highs are crystal clear at all volumes. It doesn't go super loud bit the overall sound is superb. And you have to keep in mind that I wasn't able to adjust the bass and that the sound only from one speaker so far.

In conclusion everything about the National RX-5700 is way above average and some aspects are even top notch. There are several bigger Nationals like the 7000, 7200, 7700 and 5350 which might tend to overshadow the (little bit) smaller and (well not that much) more common ones but the 5700 should be kept in mind just as much as those.

 

[Reli]

Nice
What about the tuner, is it lighted? If not, someone should mod that box and make both windows lighted

 

[Zippy]

No, it's not lighted... someone should absolutely work out a mod! Some warm, bright light would easily double the impression this box makes.

 

[AE_Stereo]

Love Nationals. They are made to be loved.
May be this thread would be an inspiration to you to light her up.
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=17787

 

[im_alan_partridge]

Nice box Zippy, good luck with the jobs you got to do.

The wood is fake, i never knew that , i guess i cant call them a woodie anymore

 

[goodman]

Congrats for this boombox!

 

[stormsven]

Congrats Freddy. I wouldnt say that the wooden part is fake too. Looks so real . Damn the whole box looks aristocratically posh Now you need some hacienda on Ibisa to complete it

 

[MONOLITHIC]

I've always liked those... The woodgrain trim instantly makes it a great looking house box.

Congratulations.

 

[bklyn sound]

Congrats looks great

 

[Superduper]

May be this thread would be an inspiration to you to light her up.
https://boomboxery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=17787

You can't get that effect on this boombox. The 7000 has an acrylic dial much like the JVC-M70, Sanyo M9994/M9998, and other similar Sanyos and JVC's. This one instead has a silkscreened metal dial.

As for size, the 5700 is actually about the same size physically as the 7000. A bit smaller than the 7200 and like 95% of all other boomboxes, much smaller than the 5350. Interestingly enough, this model is very solidly built and noticeably heavier than the 7000.

As for the wood sides, I wouldn't exactly call it fake. I mean, it's not real wood but it's a top quality imitation. Make no mistake, this is no cheap contact paper design... the wood texture is actually molded into the plastic which is solid. I actually would prefer the plastic sides over real wood sides anyhow since it's much lower maintenance, water resistant, lighter, and holds up better over time than wood. Just look at the real wood cabinets on all audio gear of that era, on home receivers, speakers, etc. 95% of these wood cabinets are made of veneer anyhow which chips, delaminates, and stains easily. Look at any old vintage gear and finding an immaculate wood cabinet is quite rare. And of course how about those black cup rings from moldy water damage, even on real solid wood? So is it fake? I suppose yes since it's not "real". But since "fake" carries with it a negative inference as in trying to mislead or bamboozle, perhaps a better word to use is "synthetic" or artificial, or something else that isn't necessarily derogatory. The durability of the synthetic wood finish is evident since almost all photographed examples still looking fantastic after 30 years. In fact, it's hard to tell it isn't natural wood from the photos, isn't it?

 

[Zippy]

That is a very good point you make

Here a few more pics.

The RX-5700 tells you in which order you should put in the batteries

 

[baddboybill]

Wow you had to post this now I miss mine :-(. someday I will get an RX7000 that's for sure

 

[AE_Stereo]

May be this thread would be an inspiration to you to light her up.
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=17787

You can't get that effect on this boombox. The 7000 has an acrylic dial much like the JVC-M70, Sanyo M9994/M9998, and other similar Sanyos and JVC's. This one instead has a silkscreened metal dial.

As for size, the 5700 is actually about the same size physically as the 7000. A bit smaller than the 7200 and like 95% of all other boomboxes, much smaller than the 5350. Interestingly enough, this model is very solidly built and noticeably heavier than the 7000.

As for the wood sides, I wouldn't exactly call it fake. ...............................
........................The durability of the synthetic wood finish is evident since almost all photographed examples still looking fantastic after 30 years. In fact, it's hard to tell it isn't natural wood from the photos, isn't it?

Agree with you on both accounts.

I have also seen that RX-5700 has no acrylic dial plate. My post was to inspire him to go for lighting.
RX-7000 is the easiest one to modify the dial light. There is an on-off switch for the light independent of the Power Level/Tuning/Light combination switch in many other boxes. Then the whole thing is readily accessible on opening the box - The power tap off point and the dials.

And, yes, the imitation wood helps to retain the looks for ever.