Ok, now I'm a serious collector

... is something I've said to myself many times in my boombox collecting ventures.
Probably 3-4 in I was already saying that. Even if these first boxes are nothing to write home about, and probably aren't even on display anymore

Then maybe when I got my first big unit, a Conion C-126F, I thought that too, times two or three I guess. The rush was great.

I surprised myself saying that recently after buying one and thought it was funny.
Not that I could compare myself to some of you guys, but in the eyes of a non initiate, with 30+ boxes in and a few cool grails if I may say so, I think I'd be categorized as a "serious collector".

And you, have you ever said that to yourself?
If so, what was the box that made you say that?

cheers

dlt

 

Like many people I don't have room to be a Boombox collector. Walkmans are easier but you still need deep pockets for models like the TPS-L2. My most serious collection is Walkman Radios, and MP3 players incorporating them. Funnily I keep going back to a Philips that cost me £3 in a charity shop as it has good reception and a nice tone. It certainly wouldn't stop me spending £20 on a another one to see if it was better though

 

I have never considered myself a a collector although i have had all the ones i want and need....why, because i use them and abuse them...no point in having boxes you're never gunna use because i consider them mickey mouse or for whatever reason......i have never bought boxes and thought ohh that is worth thousands, well i have but i don't play by those rules....i have just sold a jvc m90, do i mis it no but i'm glad she has gone to a new home,,,the guy drove about 600 miles round trip to pick her up, now that is dedication and something i admire

 

I guess it depends on how one defines "serious collector".
If I were to judge by others' standards, I was never a serious collector and probably never will be because there are a lot of "must have" models that I don't have and don't want (some of which are crazy expensive).

On the other hand, I have a lot of walkmans (I mostly collect portables, boomboxes not at all) that are reference models, which some time ago were just in a wishlist including the very rare AKAI PM-R2, the SONY WM-10, the Infinity Intimate Stereo.
I also have the SONY TCD-D7 and TCD-D8 DAT walkmans (my favourite ones), the WM-3, both recorders (WM-D3 and WM-D6C), the TC-D5M among many others (including DAPs, MDs and Discmans).
So from my own point of view I am a serious collector as I have a significant part of the walkmans that I wished for in the past. Then it's about usage as well: I'm the kind who collects in order to enjoy using these devices, not just keep them on a shelf.
Given this, I want to limit my collection to a number of devices that I can actually use at least once every few months, otherwise there's no point in having them (at least for me).
Of course the best ones will get used regularly, but if I were to have 100+ devices, most of them will just sit on a shelf or box.

 

I guess seriousness is also relative.

And I've been through phases when I wasn't acting as a collector at all, let alone serious.


Everyone has his path and his particular relation to those sweet electronics.


(I have a few walkmans, too. A yellow sports one, AF59, a very compact electronic Panasonic (RQ-SX 1V) and a Sony F31 or 41. Pretty cool stuff. I don't collect them though. Not seriously, at least)

 

I guess I started considering myself a serious walkman collector when I scored my first landmark "must-have" unit, the TPS-L2, which I got rather early on. It's among the first 10 units of my collection. I've been into collecting stuff since I was a kid, when there's anything I really like, I end up collecting them. It's like collecting itself is the hobby, instead of the stuff I collect.

And I agree that seriousness is very relative. And that people collect with lot's of different things in mind, some of which may be weird for others. In terms of my walkman collection, I care more about the quality of the model, over the quality of the unit itself. That is, if there's a rare high-end model, but the insides are totally unrepairable, I'll probably get it just to have one in my collection. So I guess I value quantity over quality since there's always this drive in me to 'complete' the collection. Though it's not that I don't care about quality. I always try to repair units that I get, but if I failed or the results are unsatisfactory, it will still go into the collection. A successful repair is more like the cherry on top for me.

To 'complete' a collection, one needs know the stuff well, so I think researching is also what defines seriousness in collecting. Studying the history and technology behind the thing you collect will become the basis of the direction of growth for your collection. Like in my collection, other than completing the colors of one series, I also like to get examples of interesting development directions. Units with unique features and interesting/uncommon mechanisms. Like rather recently I got a rather obscure spring operated Sony reel recorder and a Panasonic "walkman" with an idler drive system. I didn't know that there are idler driven walkmans. I know of some early models with rubber ring around the capstan similar to the Sony DD, but this is the first time I've seen one with an idler between the capstan and motor.

There's always something new to learn and get in collecting. The sky's the limit I guess (or rather the storage space, which I admit is becoming some sort of issue)

 

I would say I’m a serious collector of boomboxes. Had 150 at the peak, maybe 80 now, and numerous ‘grails’. I’d also describe myself as a crazy hoarder however lol

 

As @stuck-in-time has already hinted at an interesting question for collectors (serious or not) is what percentage of your collection actually works. The repair backlog here is one of the things that has put me off buying more. Sat here at my computer, on the shelf above it there is a Hitachi 3D waiting for a new belt, a WM-25 Walkman waiting for a new headphone socket, some Toshiba personal stereo in bits, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. I doubt if 20% of the stuff over 20 years old I have bought in the past ten years has worked properly. Maybe that is why people get rid of it. Working full time and having other hobbies and jobs to do, I reckon I manage about three repairs a year, so if I buy more than that I just end up with a pile of non working stuff.

An advantage of the smaller items like Walkmans is that you don't need that much space to work on them. The Sharp VZ2500 I bought 2 1/2 years ago has been sat in my storage locker awaiting repair since the week I bought it. New belts for it are in the same box as the WM-25. I got around to buying them but that is as far as I have got. With the VZ2500 I do wonder if I should just spend five times what I paid for it on a fully restored one, but is that that isn't really my style.

Maybe if I didn't spend so much time of the internet I would get around to fixing a few more things. I'm old enough to remember the days before the internet and more than four TV channels when I easily found enough time to fabricate a completely new cassette door for an Akai PJ-35, in between, tiling a bathroom, building a patio, and decorating several rooms in my house. There again I also had what would now be called a mancave back then.

In fact the whole house was my mancave

 

i would class myself as a hoarder of anything to do with sound, music that is high end....as longman has stated most of my boxes did not work....so i gave them away along with plenty that did work like the m70,,,gave about 60 away boxes i just knew i was never gunna use again.......still have plenty that don't work but i will never part with them guys....i want to use my working boxes now before i watch my episode of two feet in the grave lol

 

First of all, I do not consider myself a 'collector'. I see myself as a Experiencer of these cassette portables from walkmans to anything that has a handle and operates on batteries.
I got into this mess back in the year 2005 when the store stopped selling blank cassettes in the stores and they said go online and buy your new sealed blank cassettes, so I went online.
Online I found cassettes and all the cassette portables that had passed me by when I was poor in the years past.
Money was just a tool to me, so I started buying all that I could, with a little referring help from the online forums.
Online Forums, great as I source of information but biased too much for my level of information I needed. Once I discovered youtube I found a new source of sharing that was not having to conform the the ideas of the few that just have to have their form of online etiquette adhered to.
I have found the few model's that I like to use and the rest of the ones I Have I am repairing and videoing in my Cassette2go youtube channel for sale https://www.youtube.com/user/Cassette2Go/videos
I still buy, maybe one small boombox a month to repair and sell but I am really trying to sell off the nearly 400 boombox I have now. Cassette2go is my youtube and my ebay name and in the 18 years in ebay I have been on there I have only sold 4 things there.