Sharp 9090, Awia 985, or GE 3-6035A

[Starfire]

So I'm looking to pick up a vintage boombox and these are the three that have caught my eye, which would have the best sound quality?

I know the GE has the largest woofers and from what I can tell decent real tweeters.

Any suggestions?

 

[Reli]

The GE only "looks" like it has large woofers. They're only 6", but the trim makes them look larger.

I've never had an Aiwa 985, but if it's got the same amps and speakers as the 950 or 955, then that's definitely your best choice. Best-sounding box of its size, IMHO.

 

[Starfire]

I thought they were 7" though I can kind of see the surround on them making them look bigger.

 

[T-STER]

The Aiwa 985 without doubt.

The Shap GF9090 are lovely smaller boxes, the metal top, loads of toggle switches and pretty nice sound and looks is also great but not in the same class.

Never heard the GE but i think they always look quite tasty, i'm betting its nice sounding but a little bass shy.

Reli is pretty much spot on in my humble opinion.

 

[Ghettoboom767]

I agree with Reli also,I have the 9090 but those Aiwas are great bass boomboxes!😀

 

[Reli]

Aiwa > GE > Sharp

I've never had a 9090, but I've had three 9191's, and they sound decent, but not as clear as the GE does. Plus the GE is lighter and thinner and easier to carry, AND has FM presets.

The Aiwa isn't any louder than any of those, but it does sound the best, especially on Wide Mode.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

If your priority is sound quality, you should consider a Sanyo.
Sanyo amps sound the best IMHO. M9990, M9994View attachment 21003View attachment 21004

 

[k2j]

Ya Sanyo but people are complaining about the tuners not working. How about the blockbuster as long as you don't play tapes..

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

I've had 5 Sanyo's and only one had a bad tuner. But yep, some people have had bad luck with Sanyo tuners. I've personally had more problems with Panasonic tuners!

My newly acquired Hitachi TRK-7620 (3D7) smokes all other 12v boxes I've got here to compare for sound quality and bass. The very basic deck also sounds very good.

But if you're more into the look of boomboxes, models like the Blockbuster are a great looking radio with good sound but a very ordinary deck (from what I've read here).

 

[Starfire]

Actually just picked up a Toshiba RT-S893 (Bombeat 18) loved the look and being 3-way figured sound would be decent.

 

[Hisrudeness]

The Blockbuster is one of my favourite mid boxes. I've got three and don't normally like to have too many duplicates.
Consider Panasonic
5085
5150
5500 etc

The Ambiance feature on these is excellent. Panasonic seemed to be able to do the 'wide stereo' thing better than most manufacturers across their whole range.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

Actually just picked up a Toshiba RT-S893 (Bombeat 18) loved the look and being 3-way figured sound would be decent.

Nice looking Toshiba! Looks like they used the same switch gear and deck in the Bombeat 40 amongst other models:View attachment 21009View attachment 21010

 

[Starfire]

Yeah, hard to find to much about them, but it'll make a nice project to fix up and restore

 

[Reli]

Cool, I had the BomBeat 16, which is the same model except that the tape deck is different. Your tape deck seems better.

Those models don't have much bass, but it has great mids & highs, and a great Wide setting.

The knobs on mine were junk, they felt cheap because they provided absolutely no resistance. Perhaps the previous owner used too much Deoxit, and eliminated the internal grease.

 

[Reli]

Be careful with the AC cable input, because it has a voltage selector built within it.

 

[Starfire]

So I got the Toshiba, tape doesn't work, no surprise, but no radio either. Aux works fine though so if I had to guess from the block diagram it might be the TA7614AP chip as I get no tuning light, no sound, no static, just a low hum when turned up.

Any ideas?