Bring Me The Mini's...The Quintessential Collection!

Soundesign and Yorx boomboxes might be scraping the bottom of the barrel but I do have one I kind of like. Of course this was a thrift store find and really cheap, so it was hard to pass up. What I look about it is the overall look, they really pulled off the 80's without going overboard or looking cheezy. The white speaker grills really stand out and the purple tweeter grills kind of give it a little pop. No unit from the 80's is complete without turquoise and mauve which they added to the piano keys. The gray switches looks nice on the black case, yep, with all of these crazy colors it looks pretty cool up on the shelf. I think it's called "WIN cassette"

 

The JVC RC-S5JW, is this their smallest two speaker stereo boombox? I love this one, it's really heavy, has speaker out, mic in (with mixing), analog VU/Battery guage and the world famous Biphonic Stereo. The oddest part is that most shipped with a removable transformer and cord. There was an optional, super rare, battery pack that also could be used.

 

JVC RC-S1R (left) and the JVC RC-S11JW (right) Two mini's that are almost identical, this might be one of the closest re-imaging from the same company. The controls are almost identical but the RC-S1R has an added beat cut and the the speaker is square. The handles are different on the metal sides and the RC-S11JW balance and volume controls have a slant to the front. The dial is slighty different but both have three bands. If anyone knows the history or timeline let me know. I wonder if someone just wanted to tweak the design or they wanted an upgrade for the model year but the old unit was a good seller so they changed a few things? The other thing I've thought is that JVC sold early models to Radio Shack, guessing I'd say the one on the right, the other model they kept for their own catalog? Maybe they had extra for Radio Shack and they attached their logo.

 

They've got the pearl paint, it has an awesome shine to it, nice to see you back Juan Asano, those are very nice looking.

Those Sony F10s are so nice, they rarely come up for sale, nice find!

 

For a long time I overlooked General Electric Boomboxes, most were made in Hong Kong or Taiwan, where some of the bottom of the barrel equipment came from but I've been really surprised with the build quality and heft of some of their mini's. First up is the 3-5285A, this really reminds me of JVCs little boomers but just a little lower on quality.

I accidently turned this one off for the photo but it has some really neat features, the tuning needle is red or green depending on the signal, there's an FM STEREO LED and five LED tuning meter, not a bad light show for such a small box. GE really likes push buttons, this has six on the top (one is pushed down in the photo) balanced out nicely on the left side with bass/treble/dual volume, balance. Side inputs/outputs are L+R mics, L+R RCA speaker outs, 1/4" headphone jack.

What you can't see in the photo is there an ear where the handle swivals on each side with a small hole in it. These move independently of the handle which makes me wonder if they were for mics?

I've never seen a General Electric Boombox Brochure or catalog, if anyone has one, please post in the brochure section, it would be interesting to see their equipment.

 

General Electric 3-6025A, another little heavy-weight with surprising build quality. This has LCD tuning which the used on a few of their boomers, who knows maybe they more access to the technology then the other guys, it was still high-tech and a little more expensive than analog. This one also has a ton of push buttons, seven on the top (not counting the cassette deck) and 10 on the front. RCA speaker outs, headphone mini-jack and cool looking speaker grills round it out.