Marantz/Superscope Portables ..... Pls assist me !!!

Discussion in 'Portable Stereos of Today & Tomorrow' started by KJ Bleus Parsons, Nov 19, 2019.

  1. KJ Bleus Parsons

    KJ Bleus Parsons Active Member

    Messages:
    178
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    MadCity, WI USA
    Now that its autumn into winter season here in Midwest USA, I'm getting back into cassette deck kinds of things, and pondering purchase of a nice oldie portable (some call them boomboxes I expect) Marantz or Superscope branded unit. Not too big sized, detachable speakers okay. I'd like a quality build two or even three head player recorder, with output to connect to home audio gear.

    Anyone who has ideas and/or opinions is welcome to post replies. Or you can private mail me to converse particulars of interest. Thanks very much, greatly appreciated.

    Here's to keeping the oldie Marantz/Superscope gear alive and kicking out the jamms !!!

    Cheers,

    Bleusy
    ************
     
    KJ Bleus Parsons, Nov 19, 2019
    #1
  2. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

    Messages:
    3,855
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bournemouth UK
    Longman, Nov 19, 2019
    #2
    Jorge likes this.
  3. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    16,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Minnesota
    ....and were only getting started on that thread Longman!

    Bleusy, they tend to be somewhat rare, up until three or four years ago, I only saw a handful on Ebay since I became aware of the model around 2004. Now they're starting to show up on a regular basis. For the real deal, I'd keep an eye out for the Marantz or Superscope Branded CRS-4000. One of the cornerstones of the boombox world, there's a few variations of this box's chassis with different radio bands, multiple tape decks, and my favorite the one with three heads, the CRS-5000. It does have a different number but from 20' you'd have a hard time telling the difference.

    These are kind of big, but not huge, pricing is all over the place but they don't show up that often. I'm hoping to get back over to Tokyo early next year, if you see one you like on Yahoo.jp, let me know I might be able to bring it back with me, I ship them locally to Tokyo. This one is currently at $14 USD, it will probably go for more but who knows. It does have a stash hole already cut in the back if you need it. I've never had a unit shipped over here so I don't know that cost. These run on Japanese 100v, you can plug it in and use it but if it's some thing you like I'd get a voltage converter, just in case, they run around $20 USD.

    https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f377060289
     
    Mister X, Nov 20, 2019
    #3
    Jorge likes this.
  4. KJ Bleus Parsons

    KJ Bleus Parsons Active Member

    Messages:
    178
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    MadCity, WI USA
    Thanks very much .... Seems that the Japanese market is the place to be, so I'll scout that out periodically.

    CRS-4k or 5k is just about what I'd like to grab. Gosh, some of those offered from Russians are high priced; seems like scalping at play for them !!!

    Cheers,

    Bleusy

    ************
     
    KJ Bleus Parsons, Nov 21, 2019
    #4
    Mister X likes this.
  5. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,754
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Malibu, CA
    @KJ Bleus Parsons: it looks like we shall be bidding against each other... ;)
    On the other hand, it looks like there was a "golden age" in BOOMBOXERY, just before it went mainstream and break-dance crowd... @Mister X might be able to narrow the timing down, but in my own experience the quality of Hitachi TRK-5190 (snapped off eBay last year for next to nothing) is Way Above anything in my (now perished, thanks to Woolsey Fire) collection:

    L1130638.jpg
    It was heavy as a brick, here is a knob made of metal-rubber-plastic:
    L1130826.jpg
    playing with this Angel was almost a sensual experience :)
     
    Jorge, Nov 21, 2019
    #5
    Mister X likes this.
  6. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    16,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Minnesota
    That's a tough one Jorge, that's a beauty from around 1975 and it was stunning when you finished it. Everything was perfect about that design, the colors and dials look amazing. I've got a few of the 70's boat anchors, metal chassis, dual VU's and heavy duty piano keys for the tape deck. Yea they are big and heavy but the audio/video guys pushed the manufacturing to the limits to get things smaller and lighter, in some cases it seemed cheap but some of the later models were also engineering marvels. The quality just oozes out of these older models, put in 8-12 batteries and people can't believe how heavy they are. On top of that they were meant to record, people loved recording everything back then, it was so new and fun.
     
    Mister X, Nov 21, 2019
    #6
    Jorge likes this.
  7. Longman

    Longman Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

    Messages:
    3,855
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Bournemouth UK
    I think you could determine "The Golden Age of boomboxes" by simply feeding the original prices through an inflation calculator.
    Comparing these early Boomboxes to more modern ones is like comparing a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost to a Ford Fiesta and then concluding that the 1920s were "The Golden Age of Cars". I have commented before that Superscope by Marantz were the first stereo boxes I remember seeing. However, they cost over £100 when I was getting £1 a week pocket money and you could buy a magazine like Electronics Today for 30p.

    I have just been skimming through the American catalogues in my collection and surprisingly didn't find any stereo boxes up to and including 1977. The mono box below makes a few appearances in the JC Penney catalogue. $94.50 is $403 in 2018 money according to https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ I would expect a bit of quality for that.

    1977 JC Penney.png
     
    Longman, Nov 22, 2019
    #7
    Mister X and Jorge like this.
  8. Jorge

    Jorge Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,754
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Malibu, CA
    ...and once you start doing that, The Golden Age ends :) Once "they" learned to make things cheaper, it was a matter of time to notice that cheaper models are easier to sell.

    here is a selector switch from TRK-5190. In five pieces!!!:
    L1130819.JPG L1130820.JPG

    Keys in my favorite mono boombox, RC-550: chrome over brushed aluminum, rubber inserts, when pressed the feeling of moving solid metal pieces: whats not to love:
    L1140216.JPG
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2019
    Jorge, Nov 22, 2019
    #8
    nickeccles, KJ Bleus Parsons and Mister X like this.
  9. autoreverser

    autoreverser Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,829
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Europe
    ...a tiny bit off topic, but fits nicely here: yesterday i spotted a superscope box doing it‘s daily job since ages in a porsche garage (!)

    BE2FB1D5-B98E-489F-A80E-9A3397D2EE86.jpeg
     
    autoreverser, Dec 20, 2019
    #9
    nickeccles, Jorge, Mystic Traveller and 1 other person like this.
  10. Reli

    Reli Well-Known Member S2G Supporter

    Messages:
    1,021
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    USA
    The top year for boombox quality, sound and performance was 1980, IMHO.
    Some brands like Hitachi and Toshiba went downhill after that.
    Others like JVC and Panasonic remained high quality.
     
    Reli, Dec 21, 2019
    #10
    nickeccles and Philip Taylor like this.
  11. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    16,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Nice shot autoreverser, that's the ultra-rare two deck version!
     
    Mister X, Dec 30, 2019
    #11
    nickeccles likes this.
  12. autoreverser

    autoreverser Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,829
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Europe
    ...and the guy is willed to swap if i find something adequate - i‘m doing my best and keep you updated :nodding:
     
    autoreverser, Jan 1, 2020
    #12
  13. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    16,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Mister X, Jan 2, 2020
    #13
    autoreverser likes this.
  14. autoreverser

    autoreverser Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,829
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Europe
    thx but the one i spotted is a double-deck...
     
    autoreverser, Jan 2, 2020
    #14
  15. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    16,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Minnesota
    The one I posted was for Bleusy.
     
    Mister X, Jan 3, 2020
    #15
  16. radiorich

    radiorich Active Member

    Messages:
    179
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Washington state
    Hello everyone,
    yes that is a name i have not heard in a while Superscope I have some of their stuff in my collection and back before i owned my business the owner before me sold superscope and when I owned it I sold and did warranty work on Marantz and I own some their gear .
    Sincerely Rich
     
    radiorich, Nov 15, 2020
    #16
    Mister X likes this.
  17. Mister X

    Mister X Moderator Staff Member

    Messages:
    16,441
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Nice! As you can tell I'm a big fan of their equipment, in the early days of the forum some of the more knowledgeable and foreign members would talk about this equipment but it was so rare, I waited 6-8 years before I saw anything on Ebay. If you have any information or brochures, feel free to share. Did you ever do work on the portables? Working on this thread, I was surprised that they did do advertising on the early units.
     
    Mister X, Nov 16, 2020
    #17
  18. radiorich

    radiorich Active Member

    Messages:
    179
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Washington state
    Hello Mister X,
    no mostly receivers and tape decks but I may have one stored away thou .
    I have worked on a lot portable boomboxes and pocket transistor radios from all makes .
    I even have a rare Jc Penny's Am/Fm/phono built by Panasonics that kind of cool .
     
    radiorich, Nov 16, 2020
    #18
    Mister X likes this.

Share This Page