I was just looking, no intent on buying but I spied this Pioneer CK-W300 and was intrigued. Listed for a little more than I wanted to part with, I just watched it for a few weeks. I got a notice the price had dropped quite a bit so I jumped on it to fill in my Pioneer Boombox Collection. The collection isn't overly large but I'm always impressed with the heft and build quality of the few units I do have. Pioneer was never one of the big players around here so the boxes tend to be on the rarer side. Jumping the shark means everything goes downhill afterwards, penned after the Happy Days Episode where Fonzie jumps the shark and the following seasons of the show were horrible. This box kind of reminds of that with it's plastic construction, off the shelf non-feedback buttons and sliders and mechanical tape deck functions. Sure it's in great condition and kind of looks cool but overall it's a sad reminder of how a big beautiful company like Pioneer could start their slow decline. I think one of biggest signs is the glued on Pioneer Logo which looks like an afterthought. There's some bigger models in this line-up they might be nice but these are extremely rare and never show up around here.
Nice box, Pioneer used to be a byword for quality. I tried to buy a remote from recently from Pioneer for a Steez boombox, it was nearly a hundred quid for a plastic credit card remote, 3 times what i paid for the box. I would never buy anything they make again. I stark contrast to the £1500 Pioneer hifi i bought in the nineties, they replaced a speaker on that for free when it had issues. No such customer service anymore.
