I am probably proudest of this box simply because of the effort that it took to get it clean. I mean this thing was DIRRRRRRTY! Does anybody know what the GF-9494 retailed for when new?

Some observations of the GF-9494X:

1) It is loud as hell!

2) Bass response isn't as good as the GF-777 or a Rising 20/20 (but what do you expect, this thing came out three years before the Roland TR-808 ) The GF-9494 is made for rock & roll!

3) The design is simply beautiful

4) It seems to weigh a lot for its size

Let me be the 1st to say sweeeet. My words may not mean much, being a new comer and all. But I was un-aware of this forum.
As a person of music (and love it loud) I am appreciating the opportunity to become part of this forum. And witnessing the effort and time you guys put into your passion of collecting. My collection will not meet the demand of others. But instead of being a guest, Godsmacked1068 is also a fan.
Very nice work. My words cant compare to what you must feel of your accomplishment

B E A U T I F U L !
Fatdog that box looks like brand new, how could you not be proud of it? Your Pics are awesome too, I will stare at them for a while if you don't mind.

it's so shiny. I can almost see myself in it's reflection.

Fatdog,
Your last two pics have the 22W sticker but the first several have something different, what's up with that?

Looks awesome - wanna sell it??

quote:

Originally posted by MasterBlaster84:
Fatdog,
Your last two pics have the 22W sticker but the first several have something different, what's up with that?

Well, now that you mention it... When the box arrived, it had the "Old English" type letter decals that apparently came with some of the older Sharps. I remember Metad pointing out that fact in another thread about the GF-555. On the GF-555, the spot where you put the letter decals is "empty" so I thought I'd just leave my letters alone (thinking the spot would be empty too) until I could find some more letters for to use my own initials. However, when I saw zvlad's auction for his 9494, I noticed that his had the "22W" in the same spot. I went over to my box and lifted up one of the letters - sure enough there was part of the "2". So, I just went ahead and took all the letters off.

Hey Vlad, would $2,000,000,000 be too much to ask?

Sharps aren't worth that much
I can only offer $1,500,000,000

quote:

Originally posted by vladi123456:
Sharps aren't worth that much
I can only offer $1,500,000,000

You know, shipping will be extra.

Hey, did you ever hear from the buyer for your working, then broken, then working GF-9696? Speaking of which...

I noticed that the nameplate "Sharp GF-9494" on the front of the box conceals the slots for tape speed and echo faders that are on the GF-9696. How 'bout that?!

WOW Those woofers look so Juicy!!!!
Great job man she is looking minty fresh.
It must have taken a while to get in every nook and cranny like that.
I have done it many times so I can appreciate your efforts
and the time it takes.
Its all worth it though and very gratifying when its all done.
Hope you are felling better bro!!
Big UPS on the Sharp I love it

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fatdog:
Well, now that you mention it... When the box arrived, it had the "Old English" type letter decals that apparently came with some of the older Sharps. I remember Metad pointing out that fact in another thread about the GF-555. On the GF-555, the spot where you put the letter decals is "empty" so I thought I'd just leave my letters alone (thinking the spot would be empty too) until I could find some more letters for to use my own initials. However, when I saw zvlad's auction for his 9494, I noticed that his had the "22W" in the same spot. I went over to my box and lifted up one of the letters - sure enough there was part of the "2". So, I just went ahead and took all the letters off.

QUOTE]

That's makes sense now, I've seen those letters before and wondered about it. The 22W looks far better but I wonder what the letters stand for? Were they just the initials of the owner?

Fatdog you really brought her back to life she looks sooooo fine!

quote:

Originally posted by ford93:
Fatdog you really brought her back to life she looks sooooo fine!

I owe my soul to Orange Glo. I don't think I could have done as good a job cleaning without it.

Nice fatdog a true classic box.

That box looks SOOO awesome: right-out-of-the-box minty fresh and squeaky clean. Amazing restoration, Fatdog. Loud and proud!

redonkulous job lol, looks like ur always amazing us with your work!

Great Job!!!!

Re-f'n diculous! I don't think I personally get that clean! WOW. Just f'n WOW! Fantastic job of making a very nice box a super hot wanted item!

Thanks for the great comments guys! The boombox gods definitely smiled upon me with this box.

Hey Noid, glad to see you're still kickin' it around here!

Dude,that thing looks soooooo Fresh!!! Great job,I'll bet your proud. You should be.

perfect job, wish you were my neighbour!

excellent job

cheers

ghetto68

thats one clean looking box fatdog, i recanty got one of these and i must agree with all 4 of your pointers

Hats off to you fatdog A fantastic job done looks fresh shiny and new.
The effort and time spent is worth it,i also did the same to mine.

Happy

quote:

Originally posted by Fatdog:
2) Bass response isn't as good as the GF-777 or a Rising 20/20 (but what do you expect, this thing came out three years before the Roland TR-808 ) The GF-9494 is made for rock & roll!

Guess I'll have to settle for some "Rockbox"...


Man, if I wasn't sure about wantin' one of those before, I'm definitely sure I want one now!

That box is a stunner, Fatdog!

quote:

Originally posted by MONOLITHIC:
Guess I'll have to settle for some "Rockbox"...

Oh, hell yeah!

wow ! that is a great job done there fatdog , looks stunning !

did you have to clean the speaker cones at all ?

lush

Awesome job FD . Damn , i missed one by 1 € a few weeks ago

quote:

Originally posted by r o y a l ®:
did you have to clean the speaker cones at all ?

I did indeed. I was thinking that the cones would need a good bleaching seeing as how they arrived looking almost like a light beige color, but when I brushed off the years of dust and whatnot, the fronts were a nice off-white color just like the backs so I decided to not bleach.

Very nice 9494! Since I will NEVER be able to attain this beauty (or the 9696 for that matter)....how do these 9494/9696 sound? Can you compare it to an M50/M70 JVC,Panasonic RX-5250,5600?? I have a Sharp GF-9090, and GF-9292 (courtest of Bredgeo,Thanks!).....and I love the 9090 and can get loud for a smaller boombox, the 9292 does not impress me and my Panasonic RX-5050 rips it apart in sound clarity,volume,bass and stereo separation...pretty much every department. I LOVE the look of the 9292! So how does this 9494 hold up? Thanks!

Well, I don't have any JVC boxes to compare it to, but I would give the Panasonic RX-5150 a higher score - not much higher though. The only "fault" I can find is with bass response. Both the 5150 and the 9494 get really loud with nice mids and highs, but the 5150 seems to have more low end. Plus it's got the "Ambience" feature which is loads better than the Sharp "Wide" sound.

This Sharp is cracking my top ten now Fat!
What awesome shine! You're elbows must be sore...
Way to work it! If Vladi drops out, I've got a more realistic offer of $100,000, plus shipping, of course

hey fatdog --that job and the photos have earned you the exclusive tittle of MASTER !!
nice work

quote:

Originally posted by redbenjoe:
hey fatdog --that job and the photos have earned you the exclusive tittle of MASTER !!
nice work

Oh, now... you know flattery will get you everywhere!

Fatdog....it is a beautiful restoration....just thought you needed to know that.....AGAIN!

WOW WOW WOW is all I can say to that!!!

Incredible clean up job, you've done yerself proud kid.

great job it looks new

That beauty looks factory new, absolutely stunning work Fatdog!

quote:

Originally posted by Fatdog:]
You know, shipping will be extra.

Hey, did you ever hear from the buyer for your working, then broken, then working GF-9696? Speaking of which...

I noticed that the nameplate "Sharp GF-9494" on the front of the box conceals the slots for tape speed and echo faders that are on the GF-9696. How 'bout that?!

Haven't heard from the buyer - so I sent him an email that since he took too long - our deal is off and I'm relisting the item - we'll see
Ya, 9696 has those extra speed and echo controls, plus LED VU meters instead of the analog ones your Sharp has. Also 9696 doesn't have 18W and 22W steakers all on the same boombox - must be a feature exclusive to 9494

quote:

Originally posted by vladi123456:
Also 9696 doesn't have 18W and 22W steakers all on the same boombox - must be a feature exclusive to 9494

Ehh, if you're referring to the stickers that came on the 9494, one has 18cm and the other has 22w. It must be the scotch.

Speaking of stickers, I went to Kinkos and had some printed out. Apparently, their printer was low on some color ink because the stickers didn't come out right. They started giving me excuses that toner/ink was just checked, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I walked out without getting them. I'll head back when I can and try again. The oil pump/sensor is acting up on the Bimmer. We're a one-car family at the moment.

Bimmer acting up?? You see - most Sharp owners are supposed to drive a Lexus

Just dropping in again to say WOW WOW WOW
Frigin WOW!!!
I cant get enough of your Sharp.
Ive admired the looks of this radio for a while mainly
because of all the chrome and those white woofers!!!
Fantastic !!!
Reminds me of the Risings woofers.
BTW thank you much for helping me out,
its a done deal
and she will be on her way tommorow.
Look out for a major restore post within a few weeks of my long lost love.

quote:

Originally posted by vladi123456:
You see - most Sharp owners are supposed to drive a Lexus

Lexus?! Why would I want a glorified, over-priced Toyota?


Hey Frank, that's great to hear about the Rising! I'll be looking forward to your restoration post. I'll go ahead and suggest buying some Orange Glo up front. OG works wonders and will really make all the chrome on the Rising shine like new!

quote:

Originally posted by Fatdog:
Lexus?! Why would I want a glorified, over-priced Toyota?

Because Sharp owners know - the overpriced Toyotas never have problems with oil pumps
I'm just kidding by the way - bimmers are super nice cars!!

Nice design, and it looks really clean. Good job Fatdog! ...though you missed a bit on the top right-hand corner of the cassette door. Sorry, I know there's always one...

quote:

Originally posted by Retro Addict:
...though you missed a bit on the top right-hand corner of the cassette door. Sorry, I know there's always one...

No, no. You're absolutely right about the spot on the cassette door, R.A. After I had taken the pictures and put away the camera, I was still doing some very nit-picky cleaning with an X-acto knife and was able to very gently remove some more hard-to-reach dirt and also the spots on the cassette door. They weren't rust, but they also wouldn't come off with regular cleaning. The X-acto fixed that though. Of course, I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you have a very steady hand!

quote:

Originally posted by Fatdog:
After I had taken the pictures and put away the camera, I was still doing some very nit-picky cleaning with an X-acto knife and was able to very gently remove some more hard-to-reach dirt... Of course, I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you have a very steady hand!

Oh yeah Fatdog, I put a little scratch on a boombox using a knife wrapped in a microfibre cloth trying to remove a very stubborn stain! I was really p*ssed off about it!

Wow, great work Fatdog. I haven't seen such a clean box since one of driptips "driptip treatment" boxes

she's a beuty fatdog ,i love the design of that box with the controls on top makes it much easier to use .

just say..... what a brutallity!!!

looks new, let me your time machine Fatdog

congrats fatdog

muy bonito

Super clean,I had a chance to pick one of these units up,i decided not to, now im kicking myself in the a s s

quote:

Originally posted by MafiaGato:
looks new, let me your time machine Fatdog

congrats fatdog

muy bonito

Gracias tanto, MafiaGato! ¿Mi máquina de transporte a través del tiempo? Un dia, mi amigo... un dia.

Jimski, go back and get it now! These 9494s are top notch. As soon as you grab the handle and pick it up, you can tell that you're holding a quality box.