I purchased this box today. It was at a local garage, in use. I first saw it in there a couple of months back. I read one of gettoman's posts a few weeks ago, about boomboxes with removable walkmans. In his post was a picture of the same Amstrad box that I'd seen in the garage. I didn't know before I saw gettoman's post that the box had a removable walkman. It was at this point that I decided that I definately had to have this box. So, about a week later, I called into the garage and asked about the boombox. The owner said that it was fine for me to have it as long as I brought them a replacement stereo to listen to. I don't get many days off work these days, so today I made it my priority to get that box! As my Sharp GF-7400 was on my hit-list of 'lack-lustre' boxes to be disposed of as and when time permits, I took it to the garage with me to serve as the Amstrad's replacement. I spoke to the owner and he let me do the exchange without hassle. After he has listened to and approved the suitability of the GF-7400, I made my way home with the Amstrad. The box was absolutely filthy. These are some pics I took when I got home...

You can see from the following pics just how much oil and grime covered this box. It was looking in a very sorry state indeed.

I'd already removed the walkman for cleaning.










Somehow these buttons have melted






I have now cleaned this section but have no pics of it yet.


The left speaker cabinet


The right speaker cabinet


Now for the 'after' pics...





Cleaning one of the speaker cabinets revealed this cigarette burn




Tuner section cleaned


Some more cleaned


Bottom section cleaned


Back together and looking pretty good!


It has a problem though, one of the speaker connections is missing, and only a wire is left. A round, metal 'bolt' which serves as both the wireless connection, and the cabinet attachment, is missing. I need a replacement. Does anyone know of any sources?

The wire. It makes the electrical connection but the speaker cabinet is 'floppy'


Also, I need replacement antennas. I have a pair antennas from a faulty box, but they turned out to both be an inch too long. I need some that measure approx 5 - 5.5" closed length. Again, if anyone has a spare pair about this length, I would be glad to hear from you!

I will be doing a lot of detail cleaning to this box another day, plus trying to fix the missing speaker connection, locate some replacement antennas, see about that 'time set' button, and try to fix both dead cassette decks.

The best feature of this box is the sound. Wonderful deep bass, and generally a very grown-up, high quality sound, and very loud!

Please get in touch if you can help with the further restoration of this box.

R.A.

hey RA.....try this place located in preston , lancashire...they do shipping as well....they have everything from belts to ariels to electronic components.

http://cpc.farnell.com/

hope this helps...................dave

very good job already RA, it,s great to see boxes being rescued like that nice looking unit too, and i love the story of how you obtained it

quote:

Originally posted by davebush:
hey RA.....try this place located in preston , lancashire...they do shipping as well....they have everything from belts to ariels to electronic components.

http://cpc.farnell.com/

hope this helps...................dave

Thanks for the link, Dave. Good site!

Some more pics.

Here's a shot of both speakers showing before and after cleaning.



And here's a pic for Jens.

Excellent work RA! I enjoy seeing any old box come back to life. I'm guessing a high pressure hose was used...

Hey Retro..soo you got it then,cool..you saved it from doom..you are right,these sound alot better than people think,they are proppa loud,and got real good bass,and they look real kool..

Yes! Good job done!
Very "street" looking machine.
Love the led-meter! Love the led-meter!
Interesting to hear about the good bass response too.

Shares a lot of similarities to Amstrad 8060.

very good r.a
just one thing to say:
YOURE FIRED!!!!!!!
Amstrad is/was owned by sir alan sugar

Beautiful restoration RA.

Thanks for the comments. Yeah Andy, I sure am fired as I stole it from right under Sir Alan's nose!

hey and andy is right Amstrad = (A)lan(M)icheal(S)ugar(TRAD)ing...

Atypical and interesting machine you've got, Retro. It offers longwave (LW) tuning in place of shortwave (SW) reception. Maybe that's fine,
seeing that you're living in the U.K. in Europe,
which I keep thinking is the (continental) source of whatever news- and/or music-based LW broadcasts that are still humming through the air (shrug). Anyway, like the other members say, fine restoration effort you've put
in .