"Underrated Units" Collection

There are so many units out there that were spectacular, but hardly drew any attention.

One I'd like to highlight was the Panasonic RX-FS460. It was a great unit, featuring an auto reverse cassette deck and a 2-way speaker system (4" woofers with 1/2" Piezo tweeters.) I personally own one of these, and the sound quality is amazing, especially considering the speaker drivers aren't placed in acoustically tuned cabinets with dedicated port systems like so many others had. I also own the FS470, which is the same unit internally as the 460, except it features a stereo RCA jack on the top for a line in option.

 

One I've been searching for is the Sanyo WCD-950 with the rare passive radiator "ZooScene HORN" bass system. Sure, it's a real eggy looking unit, but dual CD's and dual cassette decks? I'll take that any day of the week!

The WCD-950 I'm certain, was the Japanese model. The American model was the MCD-950, which was the same unit except for the model number.

 

Yes this Panasonic is great very underrated and can be had for peanuts

 

Where was it made? That sometimes gives an indication of the quality.
The problem with small boxes like the one you posted is that they look so similar to ones like the RX-FT530 which I have.
That is "made in China" but does have a pair of Phono plugs for line in on the top. I have to admit that I have hardly spent any time listening to mine.
At £3 in nice condition and fully working a few years ago it certainly wasn't a big investment and went almost directly from purchase to storage.

 

the key to this one longman is the xbs as well as the bass slider, some of them did not have the xbs and were not worth having imho

 

tell ya what, im using mine now, it sounds way better than an m70 but much less power, a box that works lol..my own portable handbag lol

 

Both of my RX units were made in Malaysia.

 

Nice to see the FS420 in good use! Did you replace the OEM drivers? It looks sweet!

 

Hey it's thanks to you i dug her out...i don't think i have used it for about 8 years....yes i changed the speakers about 10 years ago...i remember hearing one of these in the early 90's in hospital and i was well impressed even with the original speakers, if anything it has to much bass now as the cabinet vibrates when the bass is on full

 

thanks mr x lad, i used to mod boxes all the time years ago man it's just old age and lack of patience that has caught up bro the only box i haven't owned that i would like is a panasonic 5350 but i have had most of the boxes in the past ohh had no lasonics either but could have had plenty of those...and NO tone control boxes or minis apart from this one lol

 

Before I saw that I was going to comment that from the photo it looks to have good quality speakers. Speakers have improved quite a bit since the early 1980s with rubber surrounds allowing much more movement. The only disadvantage is that the rubber can be more prone to eventually splitting than the old corrugated paper ones.

 

Yes, though the rubber and foam surrounds allowed for more excursion, the folded mesh or paper surrounds tended to last longer. I've seen some high excursion JVC woofers from ghettoblasters like the PC-X200 from the late 80's with folded surrounds in mint condition. However, some of my cheap subwoofers from even the last 2 decades have started to see some foam decay on the woofers.

 

i have had all the hyper bass boxes and if I'm honest the jvc pcx200 was the best with the deepest bass....although the jvc pc x1000 is much louder it does not have the deep bass of jvc pc x200

 

What did you think of the RC-X510? What was it's sound like?

 

i prefer the 610 for it's front decks but both great units though

 

Was the bass quality on the X510 comparable to that of the X200?

 

yes they all operate in the same way but the x200 is the best of them all even better than my jvc pcx1000

if you want the ultimate bass buy a jvc rd md5....nothing will ever beat that buddy