this little monoural beauty is available, starting from some web-dealers just over 40 bucks (€uro). it's a real retro-unit, means it's designed and made like an 80'es box and features USB and SD. quite like it, might even buy one just for the fun of it (pic from Soundmaster-site !): ...what do you folks think about it ?
I was thinking about starting a photo thread of all of the new boomboxes out now. It's interesting to see how they cut and paste design ideas from decades ago. I wonder how the USB works on these?
You can also find this on ebay QFX J-220BT ReRun X Registratore Lettore/Registratore Cassette 4-Band AM, FM, SW1, SW2 3" | eBay
I like the design of the Sounmaster RR18SW and you know for sure it is a mono box. The one on ebay doesn't say anywhere on it that it is a stereo radio cassette. No FM-stereo indicator either. I really think it is mono and it only looks like a stereo box. Also it seems pretty small to me.
Anything with a cassette manufactured in 2023 in China is going to be missing stuff you would expect. If leaving it mono means it can be be manufactured for $2 instead of $3, the Chinese will do it. As Alan Sugar called it 40 years ago on his own stuff, "A mugs eyeful" I bet there is nothing driving those tweeters either.
If they were smart they'd have a huge goofy-looking model like the big LaSonics, Helix, etc, or even a "disco-lite" type with a row of speakers. Why aren't they re-doing the iconic plastic-fantasic stuff from back then? Most of it looks like nicely done entry-level models. Kind of neat that they're redoing them but at the same time, they're kind of boring.
...well, to be honest: if i was using one of those to take it for a walk, it wouldn't make a difference neither its stereo or justmono. it would be just for the fun of it. all those "telephone-sound" units (...some here might hate me for it: that's what the most so called "boomboxes" are ) are only for "retro"-backround-doodle, nothing els. to enjoy music is allways the best live or in hifi-stereo, means for me: 1st. i prefer to make my own music, having nice jams with my buddies (me drums plus three mates: sax, bass-guitar, guitar) 2nd. to go to concerts 3rd. have that in my armchair with a good set and from vinyl (wich is my personal retro-compromise) to walk around with a boombox or to have one on the shelve is only for the "lifestyle"... i quite like the stereo-looking QFX, too
Maybe in everyday use it's not really important if it is mono or stereo, but it gives you an idea of how much effort has been put into making a boombox with some quality to it as opposed to one to optimise the cost with and therefore probably no quality at all.
It's maybe the exception, but there were some great "boomboxes" manufactured in the early to mid 80's that were every bit as high quality as their hi-fi counterparts. Sony and Pioneer did some great ones that are so well built that a lot are still going now. And the amplification in some of them is on par with what they were selling as hi fi separates. This of course abruptly came to an end as they couldn't compete with the cheap tat that looked great but had rubbish electronics inside.
you can say, that there was (so called) hifi equipment in the same cheap quality as in boomboxes, but not the other way around. i don‘t know of one and i had a lot. from building-quality the best i know is the Telefunken hifi-studio 1 - that at least had some decent speakers, but for sure can‘t be compared to a proper hifi-set, sorry… don't get me wrong - i still do like boomboxes but definitively not for their sound, it's for their look, the era they stand for etc.
But what defines hif? Look at Yorx and all those department-store brands selling budget receivers with nice-looking metal fronts but balsa-wood backs and cheap 8-watt amps. Considering that they often used the same amplifier chips used in boomboxes, there's not going to be much difference in sound quality. Also, when you buy a receiver you have to buy speakers, so it's only fair to compare what a boombox would sound like connected to those same speakers. Many boomboxes sound quite impressive with external speakers.
going back to the origin of the tred... I think I found the original that inspired the Soundmaster Radio Cassette NATIONAL PANASONIC RQ-544S FM/AM Registratore Portatile Vintage | eBay
