So it's been about a year since I found a boombox worth posting about. I hadn't given up,but I was getting discouraged. Unfortunately, I can't afford the beautiful boxes of eBay, so Craigslist, thrift stores and the swap meet are my go to places for boomboxes, and nothing had been showing up, that us until this past weekend.
Our local swap meet is just an open parking lot, no shade or anything. Thid particular day was burning hot, and after walking aisle after aisle filled with junk I was giving up hope, till I saw a lone Sony CFS500 standing tall and proud in the back of someone's lot. Being a Sony fan boy, a one piece Sony boombox would be a personal grail for me, so I was super excited. In fact, I had been eying this particular model on Craigslist for about a year now, but they wanted $100, which is just a bit out of my range. But how much would this guy want for this one?
After waiting patiently for the seller to finish helping another customer, I go for it...
"How much for the boombox?"
"Uh, a dollar (my heart begins to race) it has some sound issues."
Sound issues? Pshh,how bad could it be?! Especially for a dollar! So I gave him a dollar and was off on my way.
Now, the coolest part was whilst walking around the rest of swap meet, I had about 6 people ask me about the boombox, and some people gave little quips like "You gotta hols it up on your shoulder!" or "I got about 12 D cells for that thing! Haha", people were loving it! It really rekindled my love for the boombox again.
The best part? It works! It has issues with the radio, for some reason the radio works properly when the tape player is on, I even cleaned the switches, didn't do anything. Also, I'm missing some slider knobs, if anyone has some, let me know! Really, these are small issues. I also couldn't believe how clean it turned out after a quick wipe down, well not quick I did a full teardown to clean all the speakers up. Aesthetic wise this Sony puts my 5085 to shame, not that the 5085 was all that perfect to begin with! Overall, sounds great, looks great, all for a great price!
Now, for the pictures!
I remember thinking this JcPenny boombox was big when I first got it, hence the side by side. Haha
Our local swap meet is just an open parking lot, no shade or anything. Thid particular day was burning hot, and after walking aisle after aisle filled with junk I was giving up hope, till I saw a lone Sony CFS500 standing tall and proud in the back of someone's lot. Being a Sony fan boy, a one piece Sony boombox would be a personal grail for me, so I was super excited. In fact, I had been eying this particular model on Craigslist for about a year now, but they wanted $100, which is just a bit out of my range. But how much would this guy want for this one?
After waiting patiently for the seller to finish helping another customer, I go for it...
"How much for the boombox?"
"Uh, a dollar (my heart begins to race) it has some sound issues."
Sound issues? Pshh,how bad could it be?! Especially for a dollar! So I gave him a dollar and was off on my way.
Now, the coolest part was whilst walking around the rest of swap meet, I had about 6 people ask me about the boombox, and some people gave little quips like "You gotta hols it up on your shoulder!" or "I got about 12 D cells for that thing! Haha", people were loving it! It really rekindled my love for the boombox again.
The best part? It works! It has issues with the radio, for some reason the radio works properly when the tape player is on, I even cleaned the switches, didn't do anything. Also, I'm missing some slider knobs, if anyone has some, let me know! Really, these are small issues. I also couldn't believe how clean it turned out after a quick wipe down, well not quick I did a full teardown to clean all the speakers up. Aesthetic wise this Sony puts my 5085 to shame, not that the 5085 was all that perfect to begin with! Overall, sounds great, looks great, all for a great price!
Now, for the pictures!
I remember thinking this JcPenny boombox was big when I first got it, hence the side by side. Haha
Great score no doubt 
