Last year I read the "Best Threads" area with the thread My thoughts about boomboxes discussion. It was there that the various Panasonic early 90's boxes were discussed. Some good / worthwhile comments were made by @Radio Raheem especially. Stuck with me. Started doing a lot of searching and reading... Months later I checked e-bay again for the list of good Panasonic models. There were two RX-DT707's listed right here in Canada, even in the same province! And one was 50% off reduced price to $89 Canadian ($65US). Claimed to be all working, except for the cobra lid, plus from a good longtime high rated seller. So I bought it. It arrived well packed the next day in 26 hours shipping time. The convenience of "local" shopping! Yes this boombox looks like an ugly plastic "capsule" or like a giant tranquilizer pill or the Alien head etc., I would tend to say the "cobra head" opening lid is a foolish gimmick and could have been avoided. But, then again, considering how it saves the space of some controls and is out of the way, not too bad! Just over 1 month of having this "707 thing" and I am still somewhat ambivalent at the design. While preferring the rugged 70's boombox look I can only shrug at this 707. At least I like the dark slate grey color and uniformity of it. EDIT: It started growing on me. Now I think it is quite a good design actually. Speaker grille dents on the right side and white paint scuffs. Scuffs came right out with Windex and elbow grease. And the grille dents I formed back into place with the use of a wooden lemon squeezer tool handle. Rounded wood pressing onto cotton towelling against the grille from the inside. Front of the speaker grille onto a floor carpet. Rolling and twisting action to firmly press the caved in grille back. Bit by bit gradually into place. With the Service Manual standing by...I took it almost all apart for cleaning. Lots of dust. Oiled CD spindle motor, tray motor, cobra lid motor. Cleaned cassette mechanics. Heads dirty but cleaned up fully. Deck #2 had a silver greyish goop film on the head - repeated Q-tip alcohol passes brought it all off. No visible wear. Cleaned the main electrical contact, but, seemed to have no discernible build up or oxidation anyway. Noted the date on the motors was 02 April 92. Cobra head working fine. In the process of accessing the gearbox I seem to have inadvertently solved the problem. Whatever that problem was. Oiled that motor too and all is working normally since. Well that's a nice bonus The various EQ settings are useful. "Soft" knocks the low level hiss on type 1 tapes right down like a high cut filter. S-XBS (Super extra bass system) certainly works. On "Heavy" most classic rock is best. Bass is really good. Just like everyone said it was! Or rather, now I hear what everyone means! And that is why I wanted to get one of these Cobra top Panasonics. I have a decent reference point now for what a 1-piece plastic boombox can sound like. "Techno Surround" imparts a very impressive effect in my opinion. Very much reminiscent of the Sony Discman D-555 "Surround" effect. And seems to works best with certain electronic music. Imparts a kind of transparent "out to the edges" holographic effect. Pointless trying to explain. Has to be heard. Remarkable. Wow. Dolby B: With a pre-recorded commercial music tape recorded in Dolby B (found thrown out with other tapes a few years ago) I can say calibration is sufficiently held / maintained to be effective and working. Turning on the Dolby knocks down the faint hiss with no significant notable reduction in the highs or overall volume. Original 32 year old belts yet to be replaced... and still darn impressive W&F numbers for an old boombox. Deck 1 with 3khz test tape: 3065.2 0.0885 0.1558 3064.2 0.0917 0.1742 3064.6 0.0809 0.1742 3065.1 0.0825 0.1742 3064.3 0.0833 0.1742 3064.6 0.0774 0.1742 3064.3 0.0852 0.1742 3064.4 0.0641 0.1742 3064.0 0.0940 0.1742 3063.7 0.0743 0.1742 3064.4 0.0696 0.1742 3063.9 0.0786 0.1736 3063.6 0.0790 0.1736 3064.4 0.0759 0.1644 3063.1 0.0794 0.1644 3063.6 0.0840 0.1644 3064.3 0.0780 0.1644 3063.7 0.0879 0.1657 3063.9 0.0803 0.1657 3063.5 0.0862 0.1746 3063.9 0.0858 0.1757 Deck 2: 3057.3 0.1376 0.2653 3056.7 0.1259 0.2653 3056.2 0.1197 0.2653 3057.2 0.1098 0.2653 3056.2 0.1101 0.2653 3056.9 0.1119 0.2653 3056.2 0.1271 0.2653 3055.8 0.1266 0.2653 3057.0 0.1217 0.2653 3056.3 0.1185 0.2653 3057.1 0.1117 0.2576 3057.2 0.1091 0.2418 3057.1 0.1287 0.2474 3057.1 0.1348 0.2553 3056.6 0.1256 0.2594 3057.1 0.1059 0.2594 3056.5 0.1175 0.2594 3056.6 0.1274 0.2594 3056.5 0.1061 0.2594 3056.5 0.1284 0.2601 3055.9 0.1401 0.2892 3056.1 0.1250 0.2892 3056.5 0.1139 0.2892 3056.2 0.1125 0.2892 3057.2 0.1253 0.2892 3056.1 0.1299 0.2892 3057.4 0.1423 0.2892 Conclusion: The best "bang for the buck" boombox purchase yet! Doubtful that I will find any equivalent good deal like this again for a long long time I sent for a remote off ebay. The amber color translucent gear is the one to be replaced. Nothing wrong with the gear in each of the two decks. Just replacing anyway and while the replacement gears are still available.
