I had the CFS-9000 back in 1985 and was lucky to pickup a CFS-9900 and a CFS-W900 from Russia 2 weeks ago like new and it pumps !! I also have a FH-100W mini hifi system Very happy with all.
I kind of expected that someone would post a message or two about the Sony CFS-W900. It certainly seems to be an amazing dual-cassette-deck, three-piece stereo with helpfully several shortwave (SW) bands (sorry, only the SW version gets a cookie for now) and that cool slide-out tray with the "touch activated" cassette-deck keys. I would likely view it as my "King Of Boomboxes" unit if I were to get one today. But the expectedly very lofty prices a "Good" to "Mint" condition unit will likely demand on eBay (or elsewhere) prompts one to say: Me, own one of those gems? That's QUITE some hope LOL. Whatever the model, enjoy good music with them. Maybe some Vangelis? (Listening now to the opening track of his 1977 album Spiral that someone uploaded in full to YouTube ...)
Correct mine was from an ebay seller in Russia it was not cheap but it is like new and plays like new.
rcpilot, how would you compare the Sony CFS-W900 and the FH-100W? I've got the FH-100W and love the build quality, the CFS-W900 looks very similar build-wise.
Little late, bus yes, that's exactly what Sony did! The tuner is a Sony XT-1, tape + pre-amp (1 unit) is XK-23, amp is XM-1 or XM-41. I have an XF-5000 in pieces that has a working tape deck and a sometimes working radio, but it's too much of a pain to attempt to troubleshoot for what it's worth.
I cast my vote for ZILBAP: stands for something like Body Shaking or something... Japanese kind of pun? Had one in my “for-resurrection” stash, it looked very girlish/hi-end... will definitely get me one of ZILBAPs for when my life (if ever) gets back to normal
I haven't seen a Zilbap yet, who knows, one might show up. I was checking one out on the bay last week but there's so many affordable ones out there right now during boombox season....
I've got the service manual Stragulus, it might only be for the XF-5000 but I don't think they are very different. I pulled mine apart and yes it takes an hour just to get the components out of the main enclosure. Then you pull the covers off of the components and they are packed full of stuff, they crammed every centimeter with parts. My tape deck needed a little help but It was pretty late after I got everything apart, I never did get it refreshed, I wanted it all back together so I wouldn't forget how it was assembled. It was amazing how they put all of it together.
Doing a quick search ZILBAP seems to havbe been applied to a whole range of boxes in the same way that XPLOD was more recently. Here is one on Sony's own website https://www.sony.net/Fun/design/history/product/1970/cf-6500.html
I'm in, just need to find one now! The center screws on the F40 speakers look like an after-thought, very odd.
I have it currently in the fully disassembled state, operational on my bench with the parts all spread out. It's still difficult to work on because of short wiring between the various pcb. I also have a service manual but the main problem really is how tight it all is, and it's not a very desirable box to begin with. Trying to thin out the collection of in-flight projects. Somewhat related, I vividly remember restoring a Sanyo M9998 a long time ago, the scars have not fully healed yet But that one really takes the cake in terms of how much you can cram into a boombox:
Yes, those black screws look totally misplaced, almost as if photoshopped there. CFS-F70 is on my "Wanted" list now!!
