So Boombox Lovers.......... I saw this in early December & placed a low bid on it as I could see it needed some work!! I didn't expect to win it really - & I didn't!! A week or so later the seller who was as nice as a pie contacted me asking what I would be willing to pay for it.........I told him what they are worth in condition with little or no cosmetic damage, this one had at some point dropped it's left speaker resulting in some minor damage - The seller kindly accepted my silly offer & not only that he packed it up better than most other sellers! It took around 20 minutes to unpack/unwrap this very heavy beast!! It was after unwrapping it that I heard that unwanted sound in my mind: Quack Quack Quack Quack Quuuuuaaaaaack!! The left speaker's woofer was only just hanging on by one of it's mounting screws & & leaning at a crazy angle in the speaker cabinet I noticed that the small crack was only very slight in the top left corner.......... The cassette deck was dead as described by the seller, no surprise here - this bulletproof deck has a tendancy to deposit it's original belts everywhere on the inside of the main unit & this was no exception! This is the same deck as the TRK-9100 I picked up last year & a delight to work on AFTER all the gunk has been removed & the capstan shaft cleaned & a drop of machine oil applied to shaft & bearing! Belts replaced, this deck uses 2 square section bands surprisingly one for the capstan flywheel & reel drive while a small band driven from the reel drive idler shaft operates the full auto stop mechanism - You would think that perhaps stabilty could be a problem using just a simple square band but this is simply not the case - This deck is as solid & stable as an even keel & it's also an extremely reliable mechanism built to a high standard, a doodle to work on as i say......... After a cursory clean of all the switches & controls which were all very noisy, it was time to clean up the whole shooting gun & reassemble the main unit - I noticed that despite the left speaker problem, the outwardly cosmetic condition was simply astonishing..........after cleaning up the casing & controls we were rewarded by a stereo that looked like it had just been unpacked new out of the box! Just amazing!! Before closing the main unit I checked on headphones that the deck was working correctly & it was spot on, nothing to adjust & deck doing all it should once again!! Next it was time to check the steel speaker mounting studs on each side of the main unit - All of them were so loose they were about to drop off which explains why the speaker had at some time taken a dive & snapped 3 of it's 4 mounting poles inside the box!! All four studs tightened up & locking paint applied to all of them to secure before main unit & right speaker given final polish & set aside.......... Left spoker opened up & thankfully all snapped off mounts were still present, so a good clean up of mounts & any stray plastic fragments prepared the speaker front panel for repair!! A couple of hours later saw a successful repair of the damage & the very substantial woofer screwed back on to the panel! A small amount of plastic glue run along the small crack in the cabinet which pulled it together making the damage pretty much vanish like the back legs of a rabbit!! Clean up the cabinets after reassembly & mount left speaker on to main unit - a nice tight fit & reassuring click as it once again locked into place as intended - I've really "Aced It" here I was thinking as I prepared to test the whole shooting game out....... Quack Quack Quack Quack Quuuuuaaaaaaaack for the second time with this machine......both woofers were completely shot to bits & flapped & farted like an old ex girlfriend's fanny as soon as the volume was increased above a third of the way up! So, what to do next?? Now I have dozens of pairs of speakers saved from scrapped stereo's all carefully stored in bubblewrap in boxes - looking at the impedance on the Hitachi, my heart sank...... 2.8 Ohms Not much chance of having such a strange match with such a huge magnet I pondered!! Was about to give in & admit defeat when I spied a pair of Sanyo C7 speakers from a long since scrapped machine - I looked on the back of cabinets: 2.5 Ohm screamed the specs Pretty much a perfect match & a much better speaker than the original woofers, bigger magnets & a very strong rubber surround that doesn't seem to rot at all!! An hour later & woofers replaced & soldered into place, a really tight fit which allowed a really good seal to the front baffle! Tweeters soldered to the replacement woofers simple crossover, damping material back in cabinets & all tightly screwed back together........ Fantastico results!! Rich powerful bass with no farting or flapping at all & a sweet terble not to harsh or tinny A really excellent result & I knew then I had caught up with the even keels & ended up with a really nice minty compo system! Soft touch deck, Dolby B, sensitive 4 band tuner, beautiful led meters & a powerful amplifier with bass & treble sliders - Combine all this with a quality build & finish! This stero looks like new as the images show & I am delighted with the first foray into 2019!! Et Viola: Hi-Res Images: https://onedrive.live.com/?id=BEA218B70F2B18D1!32441&cid=BEA218B70F2B18D1
I feel like you comb the old catalogs looking for anything with 1/4" buttons because I never see stuff like this for sale, awesome find, your collection seems to have some really unique boxes that are not well known. Not only is it good looking but the Yamaha Inspired Rotary Switches must be unique this boombox and maybe Marantz but I can't remember. I looked at the photos first then read the description, it's fitting that you used Sanyo C-Series Speakers, I thought this looked like a Sanyo with some Yamaha thrown in. I really like that they thought "detachable speakers" was such a good selling point that they printed it on the front.
