Definitely an amazing box.

Outside look is really retro and vintage. No doubts that it's a classic early boombox
Sound quality is QUITE GOOD. Nice bass definition, warm and good highs.
A curious feature is it's side speakers. Yes, it has four FULL RANGE speakers
Two in the front (like any BBX) and one at each side.
The amount of power is enough for me, and seems greater than the one pointed at the owners manual (1W per channel). In my opinion sounds like a 2W x 2
It isn't a powerfull set, but definitely had met the requeriments of that era.
It has 2 band radio with ligthed dial. Another detail is that stereo indicator was made with a bulb (not a led)
It features line in and phono with independient source switch position (instead of one and a rear switch to swap betwen phono and linein).
Of course two condenser mics, mic iput, remote input and speaker output.
Cassette deck is good quality, with full auto shut-off and counter.
It has separate bass and treble controls and balance (the slider on the rigth)

It has a general power switch, that you need to turn on in order to use the unit, like a music centre. When this switch is in OFF, no deck function can be enganged. That remainds the user to power the unit before playback.
Also, when the auto-shut off mechanism operates, it moves the on/off switch to off.
I like this idea, because power isn't routed throgh the source selector.

The deck has another strange feature called "stoper", which don't allows you to press play until the cassette door is fully closed. I guess to protect heads ...

Altough it has handle and run on batteries ... it's too heavy to take it with you to the park


Inside

The best I've ever seen, but definitely not service friendly. Too many boards and ALL HARD WIRED.
Servicing this BBX is a really nigthmare.
Power amp is discrete (made of transistors, not an IC). Take a look to the amp board and the heatsinks ... a Box built like a receiver ...
Lots of wires come from one board to another. Altough the amount of wires, the box is very tidy, but changing a component in the main board is a real pain because the amount of wired conections .
Cassette deck is really nice, heavy and well made. Have a look at the motor. The first time a saw a single speed motor with four wires !!!!
(it isn't a two speed motor). Looking at the electronic diagram some
feedback is provided by the motor to the servo amp board. Really a nive job
Source switch is like in the used in receivers or vintage amps. Really hughe.


Altough the unit is finished, the Sony logo and the model plate of the front are missing.
Here I need some meber help ... (Daiwa ) ... It would be great is somebody could take a good picture of that plate in order to see what I can do to replace it. I guess that the Sony logo wouldn't be hard to find

enjoy the photos !!!

Front:



Ligthed ...



Rear (general)



Rear (serial)




Inside ... dual speaker arrangement ...



Some wires ...



Power amp heatsinks



Deck motor ...




HELP !!!!!!!



IT'S A SONY !!!!!

Pedro.

its an extreme solid built and strong sounding box --send a pm to daiwa if you need a better shot --mine is away in storage --so this is the best i can do for now :

Many thanks !!!!

thanks for sharing!

some more info here.

Damn, they squeezed it all in there, didn't they? Love the shot with the dial light in the dark, real classy... Looks like you could set your drinks next to it, put on some jazz, call up your lady...

Daiwa, could you check the link, please ... it seems broken. Thanks for your help.

Thank Jens, nice information on this thread, many Sony models looked like the CF580

Also, the BBX come with manual, but for some reason, the manual is from the CF550, not the 580. If you want some infromation of this set, I can scan that. Looks like the 580.

Listening some Jazz on it, or early rock look a nice idea ...

EDITED:

I can see Daiwa's picture .. Thanks !!!

The controls and brightwork in that first picture look superb. I don't normally go for that style box but this one looks sweet.

quote:

Originally posted by plasmadis:
Damn, they squeezed it all in there, didn't they? Love the shot with the dial light in the dark, real classy... Looks like you could set your drinks next to it, put on some jazz, call up your lady...

You like that shot? Look at this shot of one, it really shows the beauty of this model...

Is that metal I see?

quote:

Originally posted by agentorange:
Is that metal I see?

Yes, the quality of these boxes is amazing. I don't have one, but people have always said in different threads how good the build quality of this model is. They look like black plastic around the bottom (around the speakers and the tape door), but the top is all solid aluminium I think. Fantastic use of materials. A masterpiece. This is definately a box which we could all look at and agree that "they don't make things like that anymore!"

Yes, it solid metal with some plastic inserts ... figure that it's grounded with a wire to avoid picking noise.

I think that Sony had exeeded the level of quaility allowed for a boombox ... I guess it hadn't been a best seller because it's higher price (since it has tons of hard wired connections, production costs MUST be quite high). Forgotten the price, you get quality.

But it's the second time I get surprised with a Sony. The first time was a CFS9900. Plenty of power hiden inside a portable look and the APM speaker performance is unveliable for its size.

quote:

Is that metal I see?

Yeah, Agent, brushed stainless steel. With a bit of polish, this little box cuts some handsome lines!