I know, Vladi paid for it huge $$$.
How do you think, what is actual cost for it?
I ask it for to do a conclusion for myself - to buy or not to buy, not for offer to sell it.

Are you wanting to know what it cost new? That's about the only thing you may get an answer on. What it is actually "worth" depends on the person selling it. If you want to know what you should pay or what you think you should pay you will need to do private research. Pricing is really a taboo subject unless commenting on what is known, such as seen on eBay or Craigslist. See this link.


Boombox Pricing

imho - based on pure sound quality -- these are good , but they dont deserve to sell for top dollar
but based on the very unique looks and that they are rare --this model is one of the most expensive boxes

I think the whole "well it was waaay expensive when it was new" thing is bunk. In the end it's driven by hype (get your two scoops here), and people dumb enough to believe that the prices on Ebay represent actual value.

So RBJ, I agree. The 7700 was expensive, but it's been put to pasture by newer stuff. Yes, it's very cool, but heavy as crap, definitely one to put (and leave) on the desk in the study.

The pop-up microphones are nice.

I personally like how it sounds - it is definately in the top 5 of my most favorites boxes. It's not worth what i paid for it, but if you can buy it for less than what i paid - you should definately get one of those!

Deffo a top shelf unit,I've never heard one personally. I'm sure it sounds awesome.

I agree with what you all say about the 7700.....my 2 cents is this: I will always regret selling mine on ebay a few years ago! I had the silver version and it was a beautiful, rock solid unit with an actual metal chassis inside with weighted dials and a cassette player that rivaled a home professional unit! It wasn't the loudest made, but it has a better quality sound at all levels,even up to "10"!! It was a 1980 model, so it isn't bi-amped, and it's circuitry was dated from the 70's, but it held up quite well. I do believe the speakers could be better quality....they looked dated and don't have the silver caps in the center like most of the early-mid 80's. I do believe it's rare and I do believe it's cool!

I have 7700 and my 2c is that there are several aspects that influence the initial price tag. Among them:

1. Design complexity
2. Build quality (hand assembly vs mass production)
2. Available and new features compared to others
3. Sound quality (play/record)

Nowadays, additional aspects added:

1. Rarity
2. Resale value

All of those are tightly linked (though not without the exceptions):

Design complexity leads to more complicated assembly, to better build quality, to better sound quality, to higher price tag, to be more rare as fewer units being sold, to higher resale value.

This is typical not just to boomboxes but to anything else collectable.

With all that said, this is exactly what sets this box apart from other units. Its heavy weight is not a limiting factor (unless all you care is hauling it on your shoulder) but an important component that drives the sound quality. As Matrixambience pointed out - it holds volume extremely well - without any rattling or distortion other boxes are often suffer from. Its speakers may not be very powerfull but they hold up well, have very nice bass definition (especially when the box sits on the floor and not on the desk) and play awesome overall.
Tape deck quality is also exceptional for that time.

RX-7700 was actually less expensive than RX-7200 (Y138K v Y145K) and has much less powerful speakers - 6.5wx2 speakers vs 12.5wx2, however rx-7200 is not as rear as rx-7700. So clearly, even though rx-7200 was more expensive, they were more popular than rx-7700. Why? Because rx-7700 was a speacialty box unlike r-7200 which was much more mainstream.

Having both, I can say that rx-7700 has better build quality than rx-7200. In fact this is the best build single piece Panasonic of that time, in my opinion.