We've had this before, but we have many new members (and older!) members I'd like to hear from.

What boombox have you bought or seen that looked like it should rock, but had really disappointing sound? Conversely, what boombox really surprised you when you cranked it up?

For me,

Disappointing



The JC Penney 681-3195. Looks mean, with its 2-way speakers and graphic eq, but really lacks bass and a lot of volume. I was really surprised by the lack of sound this radio had.

Surprising



The Panasonic RX-C60. This mid-size boombox can really fool you. It weighs quite a bit, and with separate bass/treble AND a loudness switch, it can really sound nice. Its volume is nothing to sneeze at, either. This thing can eat batteries, however. All in all, a very nice sounding radio.

What's your opinions?

Hi ol buzz!
that is really sad.
The penney seems to be a "poser" then...

congrats to the rare c60!

The Sony ZX-7 sure suprise me with a very good sound for it's small size it blew me away with a very good bass sound, The little square speakers really sound good, This boombox is very recommended. The boombox that really disapointed me was the the Sony CFS-88. The boombox is fairly big with 8 inch woofers, But the bass sound is wack, I wass very disapointed with the sound .

Disappointing for me would be the
Philips D8443 Power Player.
I remember seeing pics of this and thinking
it looked like it meant business !
I didnt want to ship one to Australia because of cost and then after about 3 years of collecting i finally found one local and was a bit let down to be honest.

Surprising,
I have to agree with you buzz.
The national RX range is very surprising.
Even the lesser models such as the RX 45, 46 ,47 are very surprising ! If you dont have one i would recommend it

Nice silver C60 too buzz, havent seen one in that colour before.

I was utterly disappointed by my Marantz PMS - 7000 and pleasantly surprised by the sound of the Panasonic RX - C100

I agree with retro on the marantz pms 7000... T have the japanese version of that one crs-8000..with it;s killer looks and marantz reputation of hi-fi...I was alittle diappointed...don''t get me wrong., it''s still a nice sounding box but I expected more tight bass hi-fi from it....the other boombox surprised me from lack looks etc but real good sounding was my pc-5 from jvc...sounded much better than my pc-55 for bass reproductions.

Hi new to this great forum and a major audio nut. I juat picked up and restored a Akai PJ-35 RU. Heavy and built like a tank. Awesome detail in the sound.

Rock on

I found the Sharp GF-9696 a woeful disapointment in the sound department. Massive in size & looks & puny in sound.

Compared to the glorious Aiwa TPR-950 which, let's face it, isn't one of the big boys but what a solid, punchy, crisp sound. The near-perfect bbx in my view.

Worst disappointment was my white GGF-A1 Sharp Base is a bit tinny. Best is my mint Panasonic RX-A2. 100 watts of pure delight.

Ooh, good topic.
I'm going to keep my response in the realms of the Hitachi 3Ds, for no good reason...

Surprisingly poor 3D...
Hitachi 3D30:

Not a small 3D, but amongst the acres of plastic there's a weedy 4" centre woofer that runs out of puff far too easily. This would be more forgivable if the mids & highs sounded great (like the 3D2) however this is not the case.
Miserly features like only a 3 band EQ, don't help, but the build quality leaves you feeling that every conceivable corner had been cut to maximise profit, trading on the good name of earlier & better 3Ds.

Surprisingly good 3D...
Hitachi CX-W950:

It's the top-of-the-range 3D ASW ( = Acoustic Super Woofer, where the centre woofer is buried in a tuned enclosure - like a Hyper-Bass JVC). Features include twin decks (full auto-stop, one autoreverse), CD player, digital tuner, the lot. The ASW gives lovely rich & deep bass, but only up to a point, where the sound falls to pieces. Boombox thrashers look elsewhere, but otherwise the sound is damn good, including the mids & highs. With this boomer, Hitachi were trying to keep up with Panasonic, JVC, Sharp, Sony, et al, & they didn't do so bad here.
"Surprisingly good" because it's a later model even than the 3D30, but the build is good, the features are great & the sound quality is a close match for a cobra-top Panasonic, up to that lower volume limit. This was the last hurrah for the 3Ds & Hitachi boomers of any sort, just before it all went woefully egg-shaped.
Eagle eyed among you might notice that the above pic is of the CX-W900 (same but with an analog tuner) because I don't own a 950... yet

Sony CFD-10-was suprised at how good it sounds, especially nice bass level.