We all have them. Boomboxes you bought or were given, thinking you were going to love them…except you don’t. No fatal flaws…just lower-end units - decent looks, decent sound, overall good condition…they just leave you feeling “meh”. Wondering if anybody might be up for some “no love” BBX trades? I have a Sony CFS-43, a Realistic SCR-4, SCR-10, a lower-end black Toshiba component BBX (will post model), and a few others I have stored at work. They all work - or mostly work - and are in overall good shape. They just don’t bring me joy. I’ll provide the complete list in a day or so. I’d love to trade for a GE 3-5252, 3-5285, [3-6000 parts machine], Sony CFS-45, CFS-400, CFM-200, Panasonic RX-FM27, RX-5005, or whatever else you might have. Rules are simple - even trade, disclose known issues, bring joy to your fellow collectors Would be cool if a bunch jumped in on this. Any interest?
Ok…here’s my “no love” radios. I’m open to any and all trades. Please try to make the deal as even as possible. I.E. - “I’ll trade you a completely dead Lenoxx Sound boombox, run over by a truck for that clean, fully functional SCR-10” I’d love to trade for a GE 3-5252, 3-5285, [3-6000 parts machine], Sony CFS-45, CFS-400, CFM-200, Panasonic RX-FM27, RX-5005, or whatever else you might have. Realistic SCR-4 (fully functional). I think this is a fairly rare unit. I chased it for a long time. They very rarely appear on eBay. Can’t put my finger on why I don’t love it. Build quality is very solid, sound is very good for its size, huge antenna, lots of little LED’s, what’s not to like? Sony CFS-43 This pedestrian radio gets the job done. I love most entry level radios. I don’t like the square black grills and the weird placement of the radio face. Antenna is missing but still pulls in a ton of stations. Cassette works great but requires a firm press of the play button. Toshiba RT-7016 Given to me a year ago. Everything works, sounds great, not a fan of component boomboxes. As found condition. A little cosmetic resto work and this would be a nice little radio. Front is very clean, top of radio is marked up. Realistic SCR-10 I can’t understand why I don’t LOVE this unit. Realistic is in my top 3 favorite brands. Also sold by Sharp. Everything works, fantastic sound, nice aesthetic. Clean radio. Realistic SCR-310 Found in a thrift shop a decade ago. Radio works, both tape decks non-functional, a lot of corrosion in the battery compartment. Cosmetically very clean. GE 3-5454 I thought I would love the look of this radio. I do but it’s not enough to overcome the fact that it was at the tail end of the boombox era. Sounds a lot better than I expected but overall feels cheap and blah. Everything works.
Great idea, I like it Cool boxes. I don't need any more right now though I have that Hitachi 3D5 to give away / trade. I did a lot of internal cleaning and new belts and fixed both of the cassette top load doors (still not 100% perfect but solid. This is apparently a notorious issue on this model). Just one little problem... heh... shipping is so expensive... unless someone who wants it happens to live nearby and can pick it up... it makes no sense
I hope you find a good home for the Hitachi. Decent radio. I thought about shipping too. I wonder who has the cheapest shipping rates? Can anyone chime in on this? I’m thinking USPS but I could be wrong. So, I am hoping that someone will have a soft spot for these radios. Everyone loves the glitz and glamour of a GF-777 but so many of these humble cheap workhorses were in the trenches everyday gifting the world with music. I happen to love entry-level radios…just not the ones I’m listing I’d gladly pay the shipping on an RX-5005, RX-FM27, CFS-400 or similar low-end unit. Grab your popcorn and let’s see what happens!
I have found FedEx to be the cheapest for shipping mid-to-large size boomboxes. While USPS is the cheapest for Walkmans and small mini-boomboxes.
True, it was by Fedex that I got those 3 boxes sent up from Cassette2go in Texas, not too bad a price. But those old Mono boxes were "really worth it"
Well…that was a bust 10 day go by and not a single response. I figured someone might at least be interested in the two Realistics. Will prob hold on to those two and give the rest away to my students.
Personally, I'm always interested in "no love" boxes from other continents. Because sometimes they're equipment that's very rare in my own region. However, 10 years ago, shipping this kind of stuff wasn't expensive. But these days, the shipping costs are so high that it's not worth it. I'm glad I was able to score a few nice 110-volt GE and Realistic models in the past. The trading concept is also very nice, but it doubles the shipping costs. Giving them away to students is imo a good idea. It informs younger people about the existence of this kind of stuff and can teach them that simply looking ahead doesn't always guarantee the right future products. That you can also learn a lot from what was already invented by predecessors, for example, in the case of technical students, like industrial design. In my experience, it has an inspiring effect on them. And if they're going to repair them, there's a greater chance they'll start doing something else than making "art" or iPhone docks with the rapid prototype machines for example. So, a good idea!
