It looks like the M70's stranger looking cousin is coming to live in my house. Digital tuning from 1982 could either be a bomb or nice. I did a search and found some of you consider this to be one of the top 10 best looking boxes! Definitely NOT from the same design team at JVC as the M70 or M90 tho. So what am I in for? Is the sound decent? How about the build quality? Any other quirks with this one? How does it compare with my M70 (that currently follows me everywhere)? Thanks for the opinions!!

The M80 is a good sounding box. Build quality is good and the digital tuning works well. At least on mine it does. I like the fact that you can step tune with the buttons or hold them down briefly for auto tune. I also like that manual tuning can be done with the dial as well. Im not a fan of slider volume controls in general, especially L+R (same on the M70) simply because they are jumpy and it is annoying when you are trying to get the perfect volume level. The bass is adequate. The highs could be a bit clearer and brighter in my opinion but it has an overall full sound. I usually run mine with both treble and bass maxed out or maybe bass taken down a hair. It is not going to produce the sheer volume of the M70 however. Don't expect an M70. Expect an M80. Two different boxes completely. Hope this helps.

I don't know much about M80 - but M70 and M90 are the best sounding boxes out there - in my opinion, so M80 should be pretty good. I saw one minty looking M80 sold on ebay for $39 yesterday - I was very tempted to buy it - is that the one you're expecting?

'sup Vladi!

Yes, I am high bidder for that M80. Totally busted!! Had a nice exchange with the seller before I bid:

1) Antenna broken (MCM Electronics to the rescue, or Radio Shack, but theirs have that funny red tip).
2) Tape deck doesn't work (This doesn't bother me, I've worked on quite a few).
3) Only a few small scratches and the battery compartment is clean.
4) Radio section works fine.

Even the bottom of the box was clean, that impressed me. I don't expect much from the 'Bay tho. I've had both good and bad experiences (mostly good).

On a tangent: I have some pictures of my M70 outside when I was completing a rain water drainage project for my house. I hope to post these shortly. I had kids that were about sixth grade stop and say "nice f***'n radio, man!" (Potty mouthed brats!! Good taste in radios, however. ) Needless to say, the M70 was never out of my sight even for a second. I was playing Roth-era Van Halen at the time.

Since someone may reference this post in the future:

I found this site:

http://www.video-topaz.shop-site.jp/RC-M80suuri.html

Shows the guts of an M80 in several pics.

sound wise very nice but noy as good as the M70 or the M90 but still a very good box to have. mine has since found a new home.

Looks like a pretty cool radio. Not a fan of that style speaker grill though. It'd look a million times better with traditional metal grills to my eyes.

Odd one though.



Rock On.

analogboi, for $39 - you just can't go wrong. I think JVCs are the best sounding boxes - maybe not the best to look at, but none others come close sound wise.
And as far as M70 - well, it is a nice f***'n radio - kids were right

I'm getting a little more excited about this purchase. If you look at the Video-topaz site there is a ton of circuitry packed in there!! Complicated doesn't necessarily mean better, however...

Bashngu--Is the radio pretty sensitive? I like to listen to FM stations from Chicago and I live in the Milwaukee area. My M70 will do this. My pricy "modern" radios (Tivoli, Boston) won't. So much for the new stuff...

I'm not a fan of the "waffle-style" grille either Gluecifer. If the bbx is mint or close, I won't consider a plastic cutting mod. If the bbx isn't--well metal mesh grilles might be in order. I'd never mod a mint box (significant non-reverseable mods anyway).

Two more questions:

1) What size are the woofers?
2) Does anyone know where I can get a free or cheap service manual for the RC-M80?

Thanks for your comments/help so far!

quote:

Originally posted by bashngu:
The M80 is a good sounding box. Build quality is good and the digital tuning works well. At least on mine it does. I like the fact that you can step tune with the buttons or hold them down briefly for auto tune. I also like that manual tuning can be done with the dial as well. Im not a fan of slider volume controls in general, especially L+R (same on the M70) simply because they are jumpy and it is annoying when you are trying to get the perfect volume level. The bass is adequate. The highs could be a bit clearer and brighter in my opinion but it has an overall full sound. I usually run mine with both treble and bass maxed out or maybe bass taken down a hair. It is not going to produce the sheer volume of the M70 however. Don't expect an M70. Expect an M80. Two different boxes completely. Hope this helps.

No need to rewrite was bashngu has already written since I pretty much agree completely.
Yes it's a nice box and for the price you paid you are getting a lot of box for the money.

I own all three, the 80 is a very nice unit, soft touch controls and is very big but not heavy, it does not have the heavy deep sound of either the 70 0r the 90 however back in the day it did cost more than the 70.

The M80 is the most used box in my house right now. It's not the best sounding, but that tuner could pick up stations on the moon

I've used it as a "cassette deck," with the line outs plugged into my large home stereo. Sounds great!!

I've also used it as a "headphone amp" for when I DJ. The bass/treble controls on my mixer do not sound as nice as those in the M80. And the internal amps can drive most headphones to very high levels. Causes an interesting crowd reaction from the "kids" as well (what's that thing??)

It's used so much, it never gets a rest for a good cleaning that it deserves.

All in all--a keeper

The M80 has 6½" woofers & 2" tweeters, but only 3.5 Watts per channel.
Here's the catalog spec sheet for the M80 - nice & big for a good colour printout

my take on this is
that it was more for a older user that wanted a superb radio.
it can get fairly loud and the sound is detailed and clear.
not super bassy.
sounds nowhere near as good as a sanyom9998 or a pioneer sk95.
or the pc-30 i just got.

its a very nice looking unique boombox and you got a good deal on it.

I wonder if the power rating isn't an misprint of some sort or EXTREMELY conservative. Here's why I say that:

1) While not as loud as a "bridged" amp (M70 or M90) it seems A LOT louder than 3.5 watts would indicate.

2) The M80 runs off 10 batteries or 15 volts. 15 volts into a 4 ohm load (confirmed because I've seen the writing on the speaker magnet) would deliver about 5.5 watts even with "low performance" amp chips.

3) Cranking the M80 for about an hour with music that has good bass leaves the top of the cabinet over the amp heatsink warm. I don't think a 7 watt (3.5w x 2) amp circuit would do that.

...stepping off soap box now...

Isolator42, love the catalog sheet! If I had that, I would frame it in my "80's electronics room." With the working example below it, of course.

Do you have the catalog sheets for the M70 or M90 too?

analogboi-

I have an original M80 service manual so if you ever have any questions or need some pages let me know. My M80 needs some work on the deck that I have not gotten around to yet...

i think the power output is pretty much accurate.
i have a grundig radio that sounds fabulous and its only two watts.
i mean power isnt always indicative of how good it will sound.

Hi. My favorite bbox. Very high quality sound...

quote:

Originally posted by analogboi:
...The M80 runs off 10 batteries or 15 volts. 15 volts into a 4 ohm load (confirmed because I've seen the writing on the speaker magnet) would deliver about 5.5 watts even with "low performance" amp chips...

Surely the quoted power output would be determined by the rated output of the amps rather than the voltage input of the boombox. Otherwise all boomboxes running on 15V would have the same output (assuming the same speaker impedence).
Now if you're talking about a potential maximum possible output, then I agree.

quote:

Originally posted by analogboi:
...Do you have the catalog sheets for the M70 or M90 too?

Sure.
Here y'go:

Thank you so much for the print outs, brings back memories, I feel so lucky to own all three in mint shape, they all get a work out daily.

Thank you for the M70 and M90 scans. SWEET!!

Interesting how they are a little vague on the M90s power output. As far as I can tell (by looking at the datasheets for the chip), the M70 and M90 audio amps are essentially the same. HOWEVER... the M90 chip is in a more robust package (SIP package) and can dissipate more power (the M70 chip is a DIP package). So, the M90 chip gets a 4 ohm load and the M70 chip gets a 8 ohm load.

I hope to experience an M90 someday...