What Year were these boomboxes made? [need help for a film]

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pingpongsummer

pingpongsummer

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Heya I'm looking for some boomboxes for an upcoming film called Ping Pong Summer (if you have any for sale, I've got this thread going). It takes place in 1985 and starts shooting in a few weeks, so we're looking for some nice ol boomboxes to fill out the hip-hop-centric story. I've found a bunch on ebay and craiglist, but many folks don't know the year of manufacture (and generally just put "vintage 80s boombox 4 sale!!"). I found the insanely thorough http://www.stereo80s.com site, but still, many of their catalog entries don't have a year posted either. So... I thought I'd turn to you guys for your infinite boomboxic wisdom!

I was originally going to put each find in its own topic, but there are so many I didn't want to flood the boards, so thought it would make sense to just keep adding posts to this topic as I find them. That's the right way to go about things on here, yeah?

Anyway, if you have any idea if any of the below boxes are from 1985 or before, please let me know. Thanks ahead of time!
 
pingpongsummer

pingpongsummer

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This one is listed as "JVC RC-555JW" and here are some of the posted pictures

screenshot2012-08-22at9.02.29am.png
 
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wills15

Member (SA)
Those would both be pre-85.

A (very) rough way of determining when it was made it the colour. Early 80s silver/metallic grey was the thing, by the late 80s most were black.

Also, brightly coloured ones, red, yelow etc. came into style around '85 and continued into the late 80s.

Then again, if I was making a film, as long as it's from roughly the right year, I wouldn't be too concerned. After all, many models ran for several years at a time.
 
pingpongsummer

pingpongsummer

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And here's a "Panasonic RX F35". I've seen a few posted around on here, but nothing happened to mention to the manufacture year...

screenshot2012-08-22at10.05.28am.png
 
pingpongsummer

pingpongsummer

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And here's a beautiful "JVC RC-656W"... man I hope this is time-period accurate cuz I'd love to have this guy in the film...

screenshot2012-08-22at10.09.20am.png
 
pingpongsummer

pingpongsummer

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wills15 said:
Those would both be pre-85.

A (very) rough way of determining when it was made it the colour. Early 80s silver/metallic grey was the thing, by the late 80s most were black.

Also, brightly coloured ones, red, yelow etc. came into style around '85 and continued into the late 80s.

Then again, if I was making a film, as long as it's from roughly the right year, I wouldn't be too concerned. After all, many models ran for several years at a time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the note! We've actually been using the same general eyeball system for most of the electronics we've been looking at. Staying away from the bright, flashy colors because that signifies the late-80s/early-90s too much, which as you say was only emerging in '85.

Also we strive to make the art production is as time-period-accurate as possible, because you'd really be surprised how much of a difference it makes to the viewer on a subconscious level. It's not just because we want to be factually accurate, but because stuff made later has a different feel to it. Not only in the ways you described, but because that's how manufactured goods are: they are a reflection of a surprisingly finite time period in which they were created in (through design, purpose, popularity, etc). So it's best to have everything have that unfakeable feel to make the whole film more believable to any viewer who happened to be conscious in '85.

Then again, we're not fascists. If we do find the perfect boombox only to find out it was made in 86, we'd probably let it slide for the sake of having the freshest **** in the hands of our hero.

But again: thanks for your tip! I'll pass those top two on to our production designer! Cheers!
 
pingpongsummer

pingpongsummer

Member (SA)
Here's something listed as a "Sanyo C5R" but I can't find any other Sanyo with that model number, even though there's a picture of the back panel reading that exact model number...

screenshot2012-08-22at10.29.38am.png
 
Reli

Reli

Boomus Fidelis
That JVC PC-2 and Sanyo C5 will be too heavy and cumbersome and harder to carry around since they are 3-piece boxes, plus they'll have wires dangling from the back.
 
pingpongsummer

pingpongsummer

Member (SA)
Reli said:
That JVC PC-2 and Sanyo C5 will be too heavy and cumbersome and harder to carry around since they are 3-piece boxes, plus they'll have wires dangling from the back.
Click to expand...

Hah good point. Yeah some these look too thick to be actual boomboxes, and that maybe the manufacturers just put a handle on top (and even space for batteries) just to follow suit in the running trend. I'll be more wary of stuff like that now, thanks!
 
Reli

Reli

Boomus Fidelis
pingpongsummer said:
This one is listed as "JVC RC-555JW" and here are some of the posted pictures
Click to expand...
Early 80's
pingpongsummer said:
And here's a beautiful "JVC RC-656W"... man I hope this is time-period accurate cuz I'd love to have this guy in the film...
Click to expand...
Same here
pingpongsummer said:
Here's a "Fisher PH 470." Looks like it'd be a little older than 85, but thought it was worth a try.
Click to expand...
Yep, I have a service manual for it and it says 1981
Yet another sanny... "Sanyo M9990" this time
Click to expand...
Probably even earlier, like 79 or 80
 
shane higgins

shane higgins

Member (SA)
Ok Paul has not started with the 3 peaces on stereo80s but will one day
If your boombox has buttons and knobs on top it's about 1980 give or take 2 years
If the tape play buttons are at the front good chance it's 1982 on wards
Also remember when you finish you movie don't just throw these boomboxes out
Pass them on
 
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