This month I'll be covering the mighty National/Panasonic RX-C100. With the new i931 hitting the market I wonder how it would have been in 1983...

Buyer: Hello Matshusita Electronics? Yes I am in the market for a portable radio. I want lots of bass and love some of your other stuff but that single piece case is leaky and really hurts the ability to produce bass and widen the soundstage.

Matshusita Electronics: Yes we understand and our marketing department has brought this to our attention. Have you seen our lineup for 1983?

Buyer: Why no I haven’t. What do you recommend?

Matshusita Electronics: Go to your local retailer and ask for the National/Panasonic RX-C100. It’s part of our National/Panasonic line. Loaded with lots of neat features and of course, power. You’ll love the smooth operation of the controls. We included a sweet deep sliding five band graphic equalizer, weighted tuning dial, lighted tuner, soft touch controls for the deck, Dolby B, tape search, and sir…..sir…..

Buyer: Sorry, was so excited I’ve already ran out and bought one. Thanks! Thanks a lot!!!

And so it goes today. The difference is that now you can only get these via e-Bay or enthusiast sites such as stereo2go. Matshusita Electronics really hit a home run with this one. This was their first large three piece unit where you could actually carry the speakers. Of course they had the 6400 etc. but you had to make your own mount to carry the speakers and the reality was that the weight really precluded you from doing this if you had any sense. The RX-C100 came in various flavors; Silver or Gunmetal (Some say black but that wouldn’t be accurate.), with or without condenser microphones, shortwave or not, various voltages, various tuner frequencies depending on your world location and other little details depending on your location. Matshusita (henceforth referred to as National/Panasonic) knew they had a hit on their hands and began production in late 1982 with worldwide deliveries by mid 1983. Of course, National/Panasonic did not follow the trend of the day by keeping the main body of their premium unit a single piece and not in components such as Pioneer, JVC and other contemporaries. And it can easily be said that National/Panasonic is a leader, not a follower.

Features:

The main body of the unit houses the tuner, amplifier and cassette section. You have what you can expect in volume, balance, loudness and function controls. The FM mode and beat proof to silence AM garbage is integrated into one switch. A couple of really sweet touches are the weighted tuning dial and smooth as butter five band graphic equalizer. These devices made me almost forget that I had a radio to listen to since I spent so much time playing with them, they felt so good. That, my friends, is what quality is supposed to feel like.


Some nifty additions are the lighted tuner dial. You just cannot appreciate this feature enough. This is especially true since it gives off enough light for you to see the tuner dial in the dark. You have options to turn the light on or leave it off which is nice when running on batteries. The other feature, oh boy, is no, not the expected sweep level meters or the led type. No sir, this baby has a fluorescent display that moves with the music as smooth as a snake flits it tongue in and out seeking prey. It is fun to watch it do its work. And yes, like the tuner dial light you can turn this on or off as you wish. Included also are microphone mixing control with two mic jacks allowing for stereo recording or mixing during playback.



The cassette section features soft eject, soft touch controls, Dolby B, TPS (Yet another variation on the theme.) music search with five song selection. There is an option to turn the search on and off also. Included is a record mute feature to insert those timely gaps to make your search function useful. Of course this deck is ready for whatever you have to slide in be it normal, Cr02, or metal tapes.

The included RD-C100 speakers are of the acoustic suspension type with a 6.5 inch woofer and a two inch tweeter mounted in a high density plastic housing. This type of plastic is highly dense versus the typical hard plastic and on the unpolished inside of the cabinets has a rubbery feel on the surface. Of note is that the woofer cones are white as expected on higher end units of the period. The speakers are rated at 30 watts maximum power with response from about 70Hz to 20kHz at 8 ohms.


At the back of the unit are a phono input, auxiliary input, and a line output to use the unit as a primary piece in a home system if that’s your thing. External connections for AM/FM antennas are available and included are storage compartments to stow extra speaker cable while in transport. And, hallelujahs…push pull clips for the speakers! The RX-C100 runs (depending on the model) from 100-240v AC, 15v DC External Transformer, or 15v DC on ten D batteries.




Technical & Testing:

The RX-C100 on the test bench using 1db signal put out about 20 watts. Now, this will blow up the myth that this thing puts out 30 watts based on what’s on the back of the speakers. Please note, by no means is this unit a weakling. I will note it’s a strained 20 watts and it wasn’t steady. It was steady at about 15 watts however. The reality is it doesn’t put out 30 watts or I have defective unit and I have no reason to believe it’s defective. This thing is incredibly loud. What hurts it, and those who have been inside one knows this, is the power supply section. This thing was designed first as a portable with a lot of high end features versus a portable component with dedicated amp. Will it out pound a HiFi Studio 1 on AC? The short answer is no. In a battery powered battle? Yes. The thing to keep in mind is if this thing had any sort of torroidial or high wind transformer this would be a different discussion for sure. This thing needs a proper power supply section. With the proper juice who knows what it’s capable of. Keep in mind; I am not bashing the RX-C100. I am just pointing out that it is what it is. Total harmonic distortion is rated around 0.07%. When driven at reasonable volumes the unit demonstrates that it does have some muscle to flex and is willing to do so as long as you don’t push it too hard as the volume goes up. Unlike some of its rivals this one is clearly outmatched by its speakers potential. And speaking of potential, were it the economies associated with the manufacturing process or whatever, the amp should never have had to share a common board with the tuner and cassette. Its baby brother the RX-C60 has it’s amplifier on a separate board and there’s no excuse for this one not to at the price it sold for. This is a case of missed opportunity. I don’t blame National/Panasonic as their job is to make a profit and to do this you simplify your approach. It’s still a quality unit with excellent output. There are others out there with more power for sure but don’t sound as good. So, that being said, the RX-C100 has nothing to be ashamed of here.

The tuner section is strong enough and proved so as I’m out in the country. The AM section works well enough especially given that I tested in the evening when AM stations power down. The tuner is not as clean as it could be due to the fact that it shares its home on the board with everything else. I haven’t met a tuner yet that didn’t like to be isolated from other electronics somehow to rid itself of hum or noise.

The cassette is a solid sounding unit with a frequency response of 30-15,000Hz with Dolby on using normal cassettes. The use of Cr02 and metal brings the high end up to 16,000Hz and (quite a jump) 18,000Hz respectively. The use of Dolby improved sound as could be expected. As was typical there was no way, if this unit was to be affordable, would you get Dolby C. Disappointing is that National/Panasonic with all that talent didn’t have something like their own ANRS (JVC) or HI-COM (Telefunken) to use in this application. Nonetheless, recording in Dolby produced warm sounding distortion free recordings with a wow and flutter rating of 0.05%. I played Steely Dan’s “aja” tape and was quite pleased at the reproduction given the age of the tape to consider as well. The tape search functioned without a hiccup and skipped two or more songs when set to do so.

Power with the required 10 “D” cells (alkaline of course) revealed what the real mission must have been. I don’t know of another unit that can touch it without being neutered. JVC PC-55 on batteries? Not close. It needs AC power. And it’s a sure bet I believe, that the HiFi Studio is no different. This is where the RX-C100 starts to pull away. The other two noted drain the juice like Dracula draining blood from co-eds at a sorority house. On batteries at reasonable volume it ran for four plus hours or so before I had to start turning it down to conserve power. Very nice to take outside and enjoy the scenery while listening to Alex Bugnon and enjoying some Glen Livet. Impressive run time I must confess. I’m not sure I would even want to try and find an external 15v transformer to deal with this beast.

Ergonomics:


This unit feels intuitive with the hefty weighted tuner dial, slick equalizer sliders, and soft touch cassette controls. The tuner window is large and easy to read. And as noted earlier, well lit! Unfortunately it also appears as if the engineers got off to a great start and came in with a hangover the next day. The equalizer should be where the receiver is and the cassette and microphone mixing and record level functions should have been located further south with the cassette. I am a fan of rotary controls (knobs) and there are plenty here. Most buttons that need to be pushed are large enough for the average finger and the controls have a hefty solid feel. Credit goes to the engineers for combining the FM stereo/mono and beat proof (oscillation) functions on one switch. No need to reach around back to find a tiny little beat proof switch. Now you have a tiny button up front! A glaring omission is a dedicated power switch and the handle doesn’t feel like much when you hold it, let alone feel like it can hold much for a unit this size.

Another concern is the way the speakers mount. Instead of the typical slide on type from the top, these mount by sliding the speakers onto a set of plastic “teeth” while on a level surface until the latch at the rear locks. Well, if you get a little goofy or have an accident with this, try not to lose your “teeth”. If you do, you won’t be taking your speakers on anymore trips. And when they are connected, by their design you don’t get that snug fit you hope for. But then do you really with any of these three piece units? (Well the Sanyo C7 & C9 come to mind…)


Overall Sound:

The large 6.5 inch woofer and 2 inch mid-tweet do an excellent job at reproducing across the spectrum with all settings neutral and the loudness deactivated. You must be careful though with the equalizer as different types of music leads to different expectations. (These issues were later addressed with digital equalizers having presets but you gave up fine control.) The loudness button also led to a mixed bag of results as well. At low volumes it really raised the punch as it should, but if you turned the unit up, you would get distortion, so naturally, you would release the loudness. What you got in this exchange though was an extreme drop in punch which was not made up for by the equalizer. There is a happy spot I found that worked well, but as with anything it depends on your taste and music. Once I found that spot though, it was very punchy without distortion and clear. I must say though, you will not jam this thing to the limit without backing off the bass. See the technical section as to why. I played Erykah Badu/Honey (Neo-Soul), Steely Dan/Peg (Classic Rock), Eric B. & Rakim/Follow the Leader (Rap), Little River Band/Happy Anniversary (Classic Rock), and Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Wizards in Winter (Classical). See video here:

RX-C100 Trans-Siberian Orchestras "Wizards In Winter"

Overall the RX-C100 has outstanding sound at reasonable volumes. There was plenty of bass to go around and even loan some to lesser boxes. Hooking up to my Infinity SM-60’s really showed that the speakers that came with it would be hard to improve upon. Unfortunately the amplifier in the RX-C100 is overmatched at louder volumes.

Highs: Slick Features, Quality Feel, Outstanding Speakers, Great Punch at Reasonable Volume, Very Good Battery Life

Lows: Needs a Real Power Supply – Amplifier Is Starved, Scattershot Control Layout, Cheap Feel Handle, Questionable Speaker Mounts

Recommendation: Get one of these if you haven’t already. This will make a fine addition to any collection. As long as you don’t want to pretend you’re Spinal Tap and turn it up to 11, the sound is hard to beat.

thanks oldskool for another pro effort -

some here may miss your poetry -- but i think these reviews are your A game

still you prompted a question :
"...you will not jam this thing to the limit without backing off the base"

well - does anyone know ANY box that can be driven all the way up at full base ???

Wow Oldskool that's one intense review, thanks. I'm going to have to reread it later to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I want to join with a "Wow" of my own - what an effort! Great pictures too!

quote:

Originally posted by redbenjoe:
Still you prompted a question :
"...you will not jam this thing to the limit without backing off the base"

well - does anyone know ANY box that can be driven all the way up at full base ???

Take into consideration that no one in general turns the volume and bass on receivers, amplifiers or any hi-fi equipment for that matter to the limit together. That is unless you plan on learning sign language or have a pit of money for repairs.

The limit in this case is what would be considered tolerable to the human ear in general for enjoyment at a distance of about 6-8 feet away to get good stereo seperation without distortion. There are some "Spinal Tap" roadies out there () I'm sure that like it all the way up at "11" but as a whole I would guess none of us maintain or approach that threshold during general listening.

Also note that a lot people think you can crank this at high levels with the bass jacked up. That is also a point of the statement.

Most radios will distort at full volume when bass/treble/eq settings are flat.

With the exception of newer digital music that is over-equalized intentionally, this unit will not.

This radio generally sold for $350-425 when it was new, already expensive and out of the reach of most. I agree with the review, separating the boards and a better PS would have been nice, but it would have pushed the system up further out of reach.


Overall, a superb mini-component boombox. Can't say that I agree with the knocks on the location of the eq, buttons, etc. The LCD would have looked cool put down to the right of the deck, but the EQ would have looked goofy on top of the deck. Given the size of the layout of the deck and EQ, they made the right choice.

This review was better than a history of GOD.
Thank you for your fine writing and expert assessment of this hallowed box. I offer you the sign of the box in peace, for your stalwart efforts in this project. Go in peace and serve the cassette.

quote:

Originally posted by Panasonic Fan:
Most radios will distort at full volume when bass/treble/eq settings are flat.

With the exception of newer digital music that is over-equalized intentionally, this unit will not.

This radio generally sold for $350-425 when it was new, already expensive and out of the reach of most. I agree with the review, separating the boards and a better PS would have been nice, but it would have pushed the system up further out of reach.


Overall, a superb mini-component boombox. Can't say that I agree with the knocks on the location of the eq, buttons, etc. The LCD would have looked cool put down to the right of the deck, but the EQ would have looked goofy on top of the deck. Given the size of the layout of the deck and EQ, they made the right choice.

Thanks for the response Panafan. That is the point of these in depth reviews. I want to hear other points of views on the details that we love or loathe instead of just "Wow sounds great!".

I also noted, though not directly, that this was an expensive unit. I referenced the RX-C60 as an example that had it's amp board seperate and it cost less. If you are to be the cream of the crop you should at least be equipped as such. That's all I'm saying. I dont think, given the number of RX-7700's etc. that sold, that a little more on price would have been an issue. This was a premium system and promoted as such. And you are right it is a desireable piece to have as I noted.

Regarding digital over equalization, I also played some good old analog (Steely Dan/Little River Band) and though it did not distort as readily as it would from a digital source, it did run out of steam. The power supply, as you also noted, is the key here. Anytime I test these unit's I make it a point to test using analog and digital. The result is a composite of both. And there is some pretty overboosted analog too. Listen to Faze-O "Riding High" or Tanna Gardner "Heartbeat" from the early eighties.

Regarding layout, I compared it with others in it's class and comapred to some of those (and trying to look at it from a logical view), it's scattershot. The Sanyo C9 and some others (review to come) are no different.

Keep'em coming I want to hear more!

thanks :

this review really worth getting a place of honor in the bbdb!

Thanks Jens! More to come! The RX-DT680 and RX-C300 are next, and then a generation comparison between the RX-C100 to RX-C300 to RX-DT680! Of course others will be reviwed in between these to keep this from becoming a Panafestival!

wow sounds great

quote:

Of course others will be reviwed in between these to keep this from becoming a Panafestival!

Ya, how about review some Technics next

Send me yours and I'll blow it's self esteem clean away!

Congrats !!!!
Its a five star (*****) review ... excelent.
What amp (chip part) have they used ?.
One from Matsuhita ?. A guess they use a BTL like the M70, who USES A MATSU****A CHIP !!!!
No one undestands portable design like Panasonic.

You're sure you did'nt work for a HiFi magazine oldskool?

Nice review on the Panasonic RX-C100 write some more o.k.!

Cool video did'nt know you are into classical (Trans Siberian Orchestral) good choice. I noticed also the EQ settings you had your C100 set thats how I always have it on my DT-680. You get great results at those settings crispy highs and deep lows. The C100 sounded great did you use a cassette or some other source?

quote:

Originally posted by ford93:
Cool video did'nt know you are into classical (Trans Siberian Orchestral) good choice. I noticed also the EQ settings you had your C100 set thats how I always have it on my DT-680. You get great results at those settings crispy highs and deep lows. The C100 sounded great did you use a cassette or some other source?

Thanks Ford! Glad you enjoyed it. Never worked for a HiFi magazine. Read them alot when it was more about stereo and not home theatre. I just like to find some of the little things that make or break a box for some people and try to evoke some emotion. Some may agree or get upset, but that's the point. For some it was features, others looks, and some sound...

I actually tested at flat EQ settings. The Steely Dan/Litle River Band was off of a cassette and of course AM/FM radio. I had to borrow the Little RIver Band Cassette. The rest was a digital source to see how it dealt with modern media. Keep in mind, and I should note this next time, I back off the output levels to match typical pre-recorded cassette levels as digital media, as Panafan noted is overboosted across the board, but there is plenty of analog that is the same as well. Just depends on what the producers wnated to achieve.

The EQ settings in the video were really more of a pose than preferred, and I wanted the woofs to jump just a bit for the video.

Oldskool69, I can't thank you enough for such a wonderful review of the RX-C100. You've covered all of the aspects and details of this box, which is excellent for anyone considering purchasing an RX-C100 to add to his/her collection. I also enjoyed the video. I think you chose an excellent song for the purpose demonstrating the performance on this boombox because the song contains instruments in all frequency ranges. You can hear the bass, the mids, and the highs, which show what this box is really capable of. From what I heard in this video (I've never seen or heard an RX-C100 up-close and in person) the sound was awesome. Crisp clean highs, wonderful mids and solid punchy (yet clean) bass. I can also tell you had the volume up pretty high. I bet it was really loud!!!! Yet, the sound was still clear and undistorted--and the audio coming from a digital sound source on top of that. NOW THATS WHAT I CALL A GREAT SOUNDING BOX!!!! I also think the smiley-faced EQ settings helped contribute to this as well by cutting the sometimes over-emphasized or muddy sounding mid-range frequencies contained in certain recordings.

I think the RX-C100 is often overlooked or under-estimated by many.

Excellent review, excellent video.

Thanks again.