The Ultimate Marantz, Superscope, UNIX Boombox Thread

Found on the internet, such a cool photo, this is one of the Marantz Official Service Centers in California. These guys had their hands on some of the coolest equipment made, it had the look, the sound, and the volume only a few other companies could match. Probably around 1978, the apex for mass-marketed equipment, the VW in the background is forbearing of what's to come for Marantz.

 

In the late 70's, Marantz/Superscope brought out it's first heavy hitter, the monster receiver wars were heating up and boomboxes were also getting upgraded to legendary status. I don't have brochures or own a lot of Marantz Boomboxes but I think the Marantz/Superscope CRS-4000 might have been their first salvo in the boombox wars they saw coming. The CRS-4000 is a mid-size beautifully designed box that has only shown up on S2G a few times over the last sixteen years. It's heavy, the speakers are big and the tuning dial and VU meters are very impressive. While the competitors were also very impressive, Marantz had the name that endured it to the American Market, of course in hind-sight, there was a lot a great boxes being put out in this time period. My ownership is limited on these boxes, they seem to be made for different markets, the US only had AM/FM while everywhere else had multi-band. I haven't taken one apart yet but it seems that the top half and the bottom separate with the CRS-4000 Chassis being the base unit for any of the upgraded models.

My Superscope by marantz is all black and only has AM/FM tuning, there is also the chocolate and black model Superscope CRS-4000 with multi-band tuning. Before this, Superscope would change the number or add a letter to indicate the additional bands but it seems this model was either a Superscope (multi-band), and nothing indicating "Marantz" on it even on the back plate, or Superscope by Marantz (AM/FM).

This listing for a mint, in box unit showed up on Ebay Italy a couple years ago. It's marked Superscope with no Marantz tags on it.
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/132216667614?ViewItem=&item=132216667614
The seller took great photos of this one-of-a-kind find, it even has the price in yen, close to $640.00 USD in 1978!
The Superscope by Marantz Version only has six buttons on the top, the MW is AM and the SW has a cover over it, it was probably meant for the US Market and the Superscope was meant for Europe.




It is mind-boggling how a boombox this expensive was never used. Not only is there a box but the manual and demonstration cassette is included. As you can see this unit has no Marantz Markings on it. This unit also has a metal tipped antenna, one of the first departures from the signature white antenna tip, mine also has the chrome tip.



The Marantz Superscope CRS-4503L. Notice how there's a clear plastic cover screwed into the cassette door? I'd consider this a cosmetic feature that shows up on some of the higher level Marantz Boomboxes with the CRS-4000 Chassis.
https://www.ebay.at/itm/263830815334

 

I've been told that Marantz/Superscope never made boxes for other vendors but I've found other models that look identical to Marantz/Superscope Versions and this Samsung ST-537 is no exception. One of Samsung's first boxes, this is currently on ebay for sale and the seller has included some great photos.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-SA...196356?hash=item25f80a05c4:g:6GQAAOSw8b1aHyEt

This box is identical to the Marantz/Superscope CRS-4000 but I think it's a later vintage, maybe they bought the molds from Superscope to develop their own line? Someone buy it and open it up to confirm the construction. 99% of it seems to be Marantz/Superscope Construction but I did notice the antenna isn't the ball type Superscope used. I've only seen this type on Superscopes so maybe it was a cost-savings measure by Samsung.




I found this Samsung ST-737 in an Italian Electronics Magazine, this is a sure-ringer for the Marantz CRS-4000

 

I keep scrolling back and forth through the Samsung and Superscope photos above, I think there's enough differences in the exterior that it wouldn't be the same mold but just a very good copy and almost identical except for a few areas.

I looked a little closer at the top of my CRS-4000, the top portion is removable which would explain why the Samsung top looks a little bit different. I haven't taken the box apart yet but the mystery isn't over.

Camera Sound May 31st, 1978

 

The Superscope CRS 4800, two cassette decks, one on the side.
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/nye01/m/201311




The Superscope CRS-3800, another very seldom seen model.

 

Time to throw in the towel!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marantz-Su...nkw=superscope&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_TitleDesc=0

 

I just picked up this little treasure from 1978, the Marantz Portable Cassette Player Brochure. There's lot's of cool stuff and information in here that might fill in some of the blanks, I hope you enjoy it. As far as I know in my research, this has never been posted before and very rarely seen, I got it from one of Marantz's 70's Product Manager's Collection.

 

I love the CR-3520, I'd love to find one of those someday. It seems to be the US Version of the Japanese CR-3500.

 

Here's some mention of the tapes Superscope by Marantz offered, around this time they were gearing up cassette loading in California and Detroit, I'm not sure if they made their own tape or if it was supplied to them.

The CRS-4000 had an optional rechargeable battery pack, pretty cool!

 

The 8-track decks are cool if your looking to add to your Marantz Stereo Stack. I've never seen a Marantz Branded 8-Track so this would be the best alternative. These go for pretty good money these days.

 

Thanks Mystic Traveller, I really enjoy the product line and hopefully this saves some units from the electronics recycler. I used to love reading about Arkay's finds over in Hong Kong years ago and his self-proclaimed status of world's largest Marantz/Standard Boombox Collector (and that was by accident, he just kept finding these huge gold boxes). He had 2-3 of all the large boxes but we never saw any photos just a long description. At the time I might have seen one or two posted on the board but they were very rare.

If you have any more units feel free to post photos of them, there's still a bunch more to go going into the post 1980 group, most of which have rarely been seen outside of Japan. I have some more surprises and rarities to post from my own collection including the new to US Shores UNIX CRS-52 I posted in the I Found This Threads.

 

The little UNIX CRS 3.5 has a brother AKA Sansui FX-300R. Don't let the small size fool you, these are very heavy well built units, the Sansui seems to show up in the US, maybe they had a marketing agreement. This unit recently sold on ebay, it looks like it is great condition.



Red and the ultra sexy aqua version of the UNIX CRS 3.5








The UNIX 3.5 is also know as the Bustang, I have no idea what that is but it seems auto related.




This is interesting, this is branded as a Marantz Bustang GT CRS-3.8, without UNIX on the unit. This was also sold as the more common Sansui FX Version. I've got the Sansui and it's not a lightweight box, although small, everything has a quality feel to it even the heavy speakers, they may be the same speakers found in the MS-53 Microsystem (in another thread)




The Sansui Version was brought up years ago on the forum
http://www.stereo2go.com/topic/index.php?content_oid=193392314112213505&board_oid=193392314111653326



and isolator42 does the unthinkable and compares it to a Sony ZX-7
http://www.stereo2go.com/topic/index.php?board_oid=193392314111653326&content_oid=193392314112215357

 

These have to be just about unobtainium these days but this one looks mint, found on a Japanese Website, a UNIX Demonstration Cassette