I just picked up a clean RX-5010 off of eBay. It's been an unexpected revelation in so many ways. I've been away from the hobby for more than a decade, and back then I was only chasing Holy Grails. I casually bought the RX-5010 thinking it was a mid-end radio in the Panasonic line. After unpacking it, I realized that it was actually a pretty rudimentary unit. I did some googling and was further surprised by it's $99 price tag back in '81...which led to another surprise...I thought it was from around '84. I was confounded by this remarkable little radio and it's timeless design, build quality, and great sound. Then I started thinking - this just might have been THE perfect BBX for the masses back in the day. I can't think of any other radio that so purely communicates "boombox" in its aesthetic. Every line is deliberate and necessary almost as if Jony Ive designed it. It's simple, clean and unembellished...and in that lies its beauty. I don't think the word "iconic" is out of place here. As for features, you only get the bare essentials but they are presented in such a solid, polished way. No Dolby, no metal tape settings, no Ambience, not even a separate bass and treble control - tone only. Despite that, it sounds GREAT! A lot better than a $99 radio should sound. Which leads me to build quality. My first BBX was a Realistic SCR-9 (also $99) and that radio has extremely crude build quality compared to the RX-5010. Even my second radio, a GE 3-5252A ($99) feels half a decade behind. Neither radio touches the Panasonic for sound quality. And lastly, the RX-5010 feels like a workhorse. It seems nearly impossible that Panasonic brought all of this together in one product and priced it at a mere $99. It reminds me of the quote "When something is thoroughly well-done, it often has the air of being a miracle."
I agree, every time I've gotten a Panasonic it tends to have fewer problems than the other brands do. I would put Panasonic and Sony at the very top of the boombox quality rankings. Followed by JVC, Sansui, Marantz, Pioneer, and Sharp.
My favorite similar to yours is the quasar GX 3632 In comparison to yours, this one adds line in, metal tape capability and ambience but I don't use ambience and this runs on 6D batteries.
Here's the back label of my quasar. Allow me to add what I believe to be the perfect boombox for the masses. This is the National rx-5025 JDM which you only can get from Japan. Notice the similarity between these two models. The JDM model loses shortwave but gains TPS one time and TPS stands for tape program search. The extra knob on top is for mic mixing so you can do karaoke. You also lose the stereo mono or stereo wide switch because it just plays in stereo. For me, the national rx-5025 is the best all-around box but you can only get them from Japan. And on both of these you get little paiso tweeters but you really can't hear them along with stereo microphones. So if I was walking around and just needed something to listen to that wasn't going to drain my batteries because these only take 6D batteries each one. This would be what I would take because it also has line in or out but I like the look of the quasar over the national. It just looks better as the national is more plain but they both sound terrific and give me just enough tunes for me to hear but not be so concerned about using up all my battery power over the course of one day. One more little tidbit when you go to service this particular models that have the cassette controls on the bottom you must open and then carefully pop out the door from the bottom as the unclip from the hinge. But be careful not to break the hinge as it is an open-ended circle. If you understand what I mean. Once you do that, you simply remove the back cover from the front and then service the unit and it's so simple to do and that's all I can tell you. Hope you enjoyed my little review of the perfect boombox.
Then we have the Panasonic RX 5030 or the Panasonic rx-5031 which I didn't know existed. Also only taking 60 batteries having line in on both and like that. here is a top view so you can understand the features. Next we have the input and output. They are both the same if you can't see the black one. And lastly both take 6D batteries and also have world voltage I like these models too, but I don't like the looks of them as well as I like the quasar gx 3632 however, I've been looking for that model for quite some time as I've sold three of them as I had four. So I'm keeping the one because I just can't find anybody selling these models anymore.
Changing brands to the Toshiba rt-8900s but the s does not stand for shortwave. Maybe silver I don't know. The model on the left has shortwave and the tuner scale goes all the way up to 108. But the model on the right is a JDM model from Japan with the exact same model number on the back. But the tuner scale only goes up to 90 on the FM. And then of course I made the mistake of buying four more of these because I really like the tape deck and the tape music search that it uses. Or what is it called music track skipping selector there we go. These use 8D batteries and they have stereo wide and your tape selector for normal or Chrome and bass & treble, balance, volume and that's about it. And of course they have line in. okay, I'm going to end my little rant here with a overall picture of the outside wall of my bedroom and near the ceiling. On the upper left you'll see three black identical boomboxes those are the Toshiba as they are the ones I just showed on the bed which is next to a silver rc550 and other models but I'm not going there cuz I could be here all day. decentman4you2007@gmail.com here's my email. I'll answer any questions. Good day!.
when reviving Discmans I actually hate Panasonic idea of printing resistors into the mainboard: leaking batteries or electrolytics destroy not just 'the usual suspects' but also those printed resistors Nevertheless, my favorite boombox is Panasonic: National RX-5500 Disco Mac: I have a 100% proof that this one is my favorite: when running away from the Woolsey Fire, right before it burned the whole house to the ground, I grabbed my documents+wife+kids,... and this boombox! Why not one of my Grails? I have absolutely no idea! Yes, Matsushita Co. owns Technics, National, Panasonic, and Quasar. At least with Discmans they had interesting marketing strategy, instead of sales or discounts they offered exactly the same model at different prices: for those who must own the best it was Technics SL-XP5 for those asking for a discount it was Panasonic SL-NP10 for those on the budget it was Quasar CD8966
I also have a Panasonic RX 5500 that I was unable to repair. It works and I got as far as taking the door off and a couple of knobs and some screws but the radio works so I couldn't get the. I can't remember what I couldn't get to work Here it is plugged in radio working as you can see by the power level meter got the antenna and the battery back but it needs fixing and I'm not in love with it. So if you want the second one or if you know someone who wants one. decentman4you2007@gmail.com
Because it's built like a tank, and puts out tons of sound per square inch! Great box for classical and acoustic, very precise. I have never seen one with black controls before, interesting
It would be interesting to know where the RX-5010 sat in the Panasonic range. Probably down at the bottom. My first Boombox was a Sony CFS-45L that I bought new back in 1980 https://www.stereo2go.com/topic/ind...9377108813478439&board_oid=193392314111653326 My original reason for joining Stereo2go was to point out that despite being the cheapest stereo "boombox" in Sony's range back then it was 1/6th of the cost of the new Honda motorbike I bought the same year. Thinking about it I also probably did more research in deciding which Boombox to buy than which Motorbike as I needed the boombox to integrate with the stereo system I had recently built. There were too many other things on my wish list to afford both a Boombox and a cassette deck.
Funny. You mentioned Honda and boombox because I tried mounting boombox to the handlebars of my 2021 Honda ct125a that I traded my KLR for back December 18th of 2021 and here's that little video.
I feel like the RX-5010 was towards the bottom end. It retailed for $99 and was very, very basic. Still a remarkable radio at that price point. Blows away my GE 3-5252A that cost the same back in the day.
looks like it! @Cassette2go made a side-step towards those beautiful RT-8900 Toshibas, and I found a photo of a bbox which in 2008 started me onto this collecting path. Toshiba RT-130S as is RX-5010, it is the lower-shelf treat... Mystery solved:
“It is the lower-shelf treat” I LOVE IT. I’m gonna borrow that from you. It describes most of my collection!
Sorry for the late entry, it's my busy work season... I featured this Panasonic RX-5040 in the B&B thread, I was buying a grail Panasonic Car Stereo and the guy had this in his garage. A little harder to find but I think this is the grand-daddy of this style for Panasonic. While it looks a little dirty, it's a very impressive build, kind of small but very heavy. I have a few of the later models, they are very nice but this one is very chunky looking up close, it's a tad fatter then the others. I've found that they have really nice tuners, pulling in a ton of stations. The big tuning knob has the diamond pattern that was also found on the Marantz Gyro Tuning. All around a great boomer and it has AUX for the streamers.
Does this have a auxiliary switch on top of the radio or does it just have RCA jacks on it somewhere?
Can you show a picture of the top of the radio with the handle down. I just looked at the only one of these for sale on eBay and he has the handle covering the control and you can't tell what they do. So could you post a picture of the top of this model showing the controls? Thanks!
