I only collect "oldscool" boxes.
But here a short look at modern ones.

This PANASONIC i became from a friend, he wants to throw it away. Everything works but he had bought a new one.
I took it and gave it last month to an other friend who was happy to get it.


This JVC i also became from a friend who changed his residence. It´s only 1 (!) year old, new condition with all papers and remote.
He would threw it away if i did´nt take it.
Crazy world....
I stored it for better times.


This littlebit ugly SILVA box i became from a guy in our rairoadstation. He would threw it away, because the USB-Stick works some times not.
I stored it:


This big SILVA is my "newscool" favorite.
I bought it at the waste-fleamarket for 5 euros.
Everything works. I use it, to copy CD´s on cassette!


At least, this UNIVERSUM i found at the dump.
Anybody throwed it away, because the CD-player is dead. Now working as radio in my scooter garage:


I recognised, we live in a "throw away time"!
Nobody repairs anything.
Good boxed are throwed away when buyed a new one.
Will this modern boxes ever get a soul like our collectible ones?
Can we give them a soul...?

Roman, I like the big Silva, and Universum, cool finds!

To answer your question, in a word...YES!

There are some modern bbxs produced by the likes of Panasonic, and JVC that, although lacking the familiar box shape, are nonetheless very well designed, loaded with goodies, and power. And yes...they even have a soul! They appeared on the NA market around the mid 1990's, and some are still being produced today. The Japanese market seems to have the edge, because they really embraced the design and technology of these modern day bbxs, as they have a much wider range of models available. Unfortunately, the NA market by comparison is quite limited in terms of the range of models available. Like most markets, ours is flooded with all manner of modern inferior "eggs" that are absolute rubbish...which, unfortunately is to the detriment of the few really good models out there, because when people see the shape of them, they naturally assume they are all the same. Not so with the likes of Panasonic and JVC. They stand head and shoulders above the rest. Many of the Panasonics for example, offer outstanding features, and a level of sophistication rarely seen in bbx functionality, some power blaster models include dual BTL amps providing rms power output of 20 and 30 watts, auto reverse tape decks, digital tuners, cd players, remote control etc. etc. etc. JVC even produced a line that include optical digital output ports. Here are just a few examples of the Panasonic "wedge" style models...

Thank you boys for the nice answers!
Yes, there a few new boxes they are good looking!
They cannot compare with our collections, but the time stands not still.
The different is also:
In the "golden years", the boxes were so expensive, that the people would take care of them and repair, if something wrong with it.
Today is repairing mostly more expensive then throw away and get a new one....

When you look at ebay, there many offers of "tubelike" blasters.
At the Harley-Davidson-Meeting last month in Austria, i´ve seen many of them.
Anybody owns such one?
Can say something about the quality?
They are better looking than the "eggs" and the bass must be also good, or?
Token photo at "Faak am See - european bike week":


Better photo of such an box:

Roman all i can tell you about the "tube-blasters" is:

NEVER buy any of these if it ain't no JVC Kaboom!!

The JVC RV may be expensive but they are worth it!
I once bought one just like the one you posted with the "Spitzenleistung" and i tell you:

It had only one subwoofer..the other end had a fake plastic-woofer without any function.

The JVC's got 2 woofers at each end and boy do they pump!
( you may heard it @ the harley-meeting as it looks like this is a real JVC Kaboom)

If you ever decide to buy one of these "tubelike" blasters , go to your local electronic-store and get a JVC.

Never buy the Elta etc branded tubelooking things.

There are a lot of members here who own one of the JVC Kabooms and they are all satisfied with the sound.

I do not know anyone who enjoys one of the fakes.

To the idea of "Newschool-blasters" with soul i totally agree with you.

Even if i do not even own one of the new ones i begin to like most of the Pana RX DT's and i may consider buying one of them cobra-tops soon

Here's something I found on the web::

However, like the original transistor radios the boombox was meant to be loud and proud-- a toy to show off. Instead of coming at the dawn of rock & roll, the boombox broke into the mainstream at the emergence of rap and hip-hop fashion. And it was a golden age of hifi as well, and early boomboxes had a lot of high-tech style knobs, switches, and extra features often beyond the needs of the average listener. But they looked cool, and you felt powerful with one of these monsters atop your shoulder. With clean angular lines, VU meters and lots of shiny metal, many of the early boomboxes were loud and luxurious and often boasted a fat price tag.

Sure "ghetto blasters" are still popular and practical in their own right, but over the years the designs have grown increasingly tedious and utilitarian, and a lot less large. Through the 90's the boombox designs gradually morphed into that swollen plastic "steroid" look reminiscent of contemporary SUV's and tennis shoes, with boring bulges and cheap sci-fi trimmings. Yuk.

i own a real jvc from the second coming, the rv90 kaboom being the first and the one i own the nb1 which is the same as the first in all respects except on the secont model they have removed the rubber on the ends and changed the colour.

i bought it about 5 years ago new when i got sick of buying one crap modern box after another i think i must have owned most of the modern ones back then and this one is the real deal for sure it cost £299

spec:
60w total 20+20+10+10 bi-amplified
2x super woofers 6.5" &20w
2x full rang 4" &10w
tuned bass ports
mains or batt (10xD)
1x auto reverse tape deck one touch
1x cd player
1x digital radio tuner
carry strap
full function remote control
seperate bass control for woofers
graphic equaliser pop,rock etc
also has trebble booster which makes it sound like it has tweeters
blue backlit display and some level leds for the acs

i use it fairly often and it sounds great there is so much bass that rumbles so low its quite unbelievable for something with only 6.5" woofers, it doesnt struggle with volume either i dont think i have ever listened to it full on because its so loud but when i tried it briefly there was no distortion that i could tell just crisp trebble and deep bass, the cd player is flawless as is the tape deck which has very little hiss .

the only thing i did find is when used on batteries the performance seems to vary, for example on high performance batteries like duracell it seems to retain the same power in the bass but when used on alkaline or rechargeables it doesn thump as much seems like the amp is tring to take more than what the batteries can deliver when the bass pumps, trebble always sounds the same regardless of batteries used.

hope this helps

what is this black boombox in the background here

quote:

Originally posted by Roman:
I only collect "oldscool" boxes.
But here a short look at modern ones.

It´s this one!

I agree 100% with the opinions here.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe Cool:
...There are some modern bbxs produced by the likes of Panasonic, and JVC that, although lacking the familiar box shape, are nonetheless very well designed, loaded with goodies, and power...
...Like most markets, ours is flooded with all manner of modern inferior "eggs" that are absolute rubbish...which, unfortunately is to the detriment of the few really good models out there, because when people see the shape of them, they naturally assume they are all the same. Not so with the likes of Panasonic and JVC. They stand head and shoulders above the rest. Many of the Panasonics for example, offer outstanding features, and a level of sophistication rarely seen in bbx functionality, some power blaster models include dual BTL amps providing rms power output of 20 and 30 watts, auto reverse tape decks, digital tuners, cd players, remote control etc. etc. etc....

even my Pana RX-DT37 egg is very loud without distortion, even if it isn't in the same league as a Cobra-top for bass.

quote:

Originally posted by Roman:
...When you look at ebay, there many offers of "tubelike" blasters.
...Anybody owns such one?
Can say something about the quality?

quote:

Originally posted by Kid Sensation!:
...NEVER buy any of these if it ain't no JVC Kaboom!!

Absolutely. JVC created the Kaboom & it's success spawned many inferior copycat models. Some might be OK, but a JVC Kaboom is the one to have. They are VERY loud with astonishing bass output & if you're careful with the controls a good sound balance is possible too. I have one & I highly recommend it.

quote:

Originally posted by DecentMan4you:
what is this black boombox in the background here

Check out Romans post about it here

i got two kabooms a silver and black one i scooped for not to much on sale.
better yet one of the first ones i scooped from a dumpster in really good shape works perfect. had the rubber goop on it that i scrubbed off.
i have been meaning to get around to painting it but never have.
both of them sound really good.
not the best sounding boxes i have but they have the second best bass sound of the boxes i have. they are pretty cool.

i have 2 also one is the drum pad model they both sound fantastic bone rattaling bass with those subwoofers

Today i´ve seen such tubebox at the "conrad" electronic store. It´s a AEG, avaiable in white or black.
When i looked nearer the finish tasted very cheap.
I would compare it with the worse quality boxes in the late 90´s of china.
It costs 82euros.
But i think it´s not worth to get such one...

I like this Sony.

Sony ZS-X3CP S2 Sports
I remeber I saw this like 5 years ago at the sony style store berlin and liked the design a lot. At this time it only was available at the style store and not in regular stores. The shape is still nice.
But I must agree, that most boomboxes today dont have this must-have-appeal. Kaboom is not my taste.

Oh and this panasonic was my dream boombox when I was about 16 years old.


Too expensive for me at this time.

The PANASONIC is very stylish!
It looks like a space-glider from starwars.
When the sound is as well as the optic, it´s perfect.

Generally speaking I tend to think of all boomboxes as having a soul though some of the really cheap eggs of today seem maddeningly empty to me personally.This is because it's a personal thing.After all if it has a soul to you that's all that matters .

Yeah the shape of the panasonic was very futuristic. To me it looks like the front of a pontiac firebird. Just missing the red scan-led´s. This was the time, when me and me brother were big knight rider fans

quote:

Originally posted by ramon:
i have 2 also one is the drum pad model they both sound fantastic bone rattaling bass with those subwoofers

i just missed one of those flame job drum pad models.
it was cheap too like me.
how do the two compare.

quote:

Originally posted by ViennaSound:
Today i´ve seen such tubebox at the "conrad" electronic store. It´s a AEG, avaiable in white or black.
When i looked nearer the finish tasted very cheap.

AEG....it rhymes with JVC !!!
How clever of those Chinese, they really have people fooled

AEG , originally was a german electronic company founded in 19th century.It's now swedish ( AEG-Electrolux )

I do not think that they thought of JVC at that time..

BUT, the german G does also rhyme with the german C

Of course there are chinese companies which do own rights on the AEG-name..maybe that thing is really from them.

anyway..those are fake-ass kabooms.

I'm not a fan of any of the new boxes, and for me they are soulless. Mainly because the manufacturing and design is entirely without the thought of any care, love or quality (in most cases).

The ghettoblaster glory days were a time when every electronics company were all trying to outperform and outdo eachother in features, quality and sound. It was a time when, due to competition, the best radios were produced.

Without this competition, and a market that widely appreciates them, the 'new' portables are just empty shells cobbled together with cheap electronics as a sideline, not a flagship.

Nowadays it's the company's Blu-Ray player, or mp3 player, or even game console. I think they'll always be something on the market that's portable, with speakers that plays music, but the high water mark for quality and soul happened in the 70s and 80s.

Just my thoughts anyway



Rock On.

That´s fully right.
But this is the problem of everything today.

Can you imagine that the actual cars become oldtimer? I never! They are also soulless.
But the people in the seventies said the same about the 70s cars. And some of them are now oldies.
So never say never.
I think 99,9% of the actual electronics will be dumped soon, in reason of the bad quality. But some will survive.
When the time comes, we will see.

I say..... Ni identity, no soul!

That is me..........


Oh.... I got an M90........

In my opinion, and seeing the egg's that are being sold now, really this boxes can't have a soul. I've only listened a Philips, that could match the performance of one of my lowest level boxes.
Like J.C. said, the problem is the market research done prior of importing the products.
People won't pay for a well made Panasonic.
They import then in little quantities.

That happened in the 90's with the RX-dT680.
It was so expensive .. so the system (I remeber that) stayed on the shelf for month and months ... It cost like a technics receiver plus a half of a technics twin digital deck.
Ok, the 680 is an excelent product viewed from the 90's quality standars. But people DIDN'T want to pay for a well built biamp system.

Those big aiwas with 4 colour fluorecent display were cheap and huge. Of course the died a little time after warranty had expired ... But they were cheap.

Think it:

When BBX appeared, they were designed thinking more in a HIFI PORTABLE than a simple gadget that makes sound when you turn it on.
Thing like number of ways (speakers), power (a good amount) reliability, I/O ports to hock another systems, and even phono preamps were clear clues.

For me, it was clear that for many users, 70 and 80's portables had enough performance and features to match any standar music system. Of course we won't speak about separates.

But now, the portables you get, the OEMS and cheap are designed to survive a little (and then break down). Quality, power and reliabilty are forgoten things. Of course people buy them for a little money, they know that this gadget won't last a lot, and this boxes are far of being considerated the main system in a house.

quote:

Originally posted by ViennaSound:

That´s fully right.
But this is the problem of everything today.

Can you imagine that the actual cars become oldtimer? I never! They are also soulless.
But the people in the seventies said the same about the 70s cars. And some of them are now oldies.
So never say never.
I think 99,9% of the actual electronics will be dumped soon, in reason of the bad quality. But some will survive.
When the time comes, we will see.

This is the point though, how many of the new boxes will exist in any working form in 30 years time? Apart from the Coby-hoarders on here, I can't see any of them lasting.

They're lucky to work for 6 months, let alone decades. I suppose the ones that do will be a rarity, but who will want them? There's virtually zero cultural identity or pop culture association to any modern boxes. I'd say you'd be better off collecting original model ipods. They're a quality design that has massive worldwide culture value. An original boxed first gen Ipod will probably be like a boxed C-100F in twenty years time. Love em or hate em the ipod IS this generations walkman, and the closest thing to modern electronics with any kind of soul.

Sorry, this is all off the topic a bit, but is always fun to talk about.



Rock On.

Soul? no, not actually.None of them are "groovy".
I dpo have several new models and they are better machines. They are built better , but they do not have that "soul" you mean IMO>