The JVC RC880.
Shame.
A perfectly decent looking boombox, who's looks are ruined by tiny speakers behind massive grilles:

I'll bet it even sounds OK, but a visual own-goal like this is a real turn-off for me.

I know we've done this one before, but has anyone else got any howlers like this?
I remember a Sanyo like this...

That's the exact one that came to mind before this picture loaded up They were perpetrating a fraud with that one weren't they? It's a good looking box too.

That trick was used on other boxes.Though not nearly as bad,the Goldstar TSR-581 had a black area outside the cones and inside the chrome rims.On balance it's a great sounding box with good bass and great highs!I don't feel it detracts from it visually that much.Though not my preference I don't agree with your opinion that it ruins the looks of the 880 either.

I've never heard an 880 to be honest.It might sound really good as some smaller drivers will surprise you with their output.Even if this box might lack some bass it still may sound amazing depending on your musical preferences.With traditional rock I feel the highs are more important than the lows.More contemporary boxes tend to neglect the highs.

If the major manufacturers were to bring back the classic boxes shape I tend to think they may reuse this trick.I also feel they might try to incorporate some unobtrusive porting.They can get more out of smaller drivers these days which cuts production costs.Hopefully if new old school boxes appear they will go the way of the i931 keeping the traditional larger drivers.

True Jovie, I don't think it ruins the looks but It sure puts a hurting on them.

Classic boomboxes just don't have the visual impact they should without big speakers even though current technology can make smaller speakers sound pretty good.

My Conion TC-555 was that way!

I considered having my tech cut out the case to the actual size of the chrome grille trim and install 7 or 8 inch... but sold it instead. I figured, why turn it into something its not?

yea that did look a little to bad big grills and those small speakers,they could have maken a mistake
thou and ended up just using the smaller speakers if they would have made the grills smaller then it would have looked even worst,i guess they should have went ahead and added the bigger speakers that way it would have looked as a badd a** box

quote:

cut out the case to the actual size of the chrome grille trim and install 7 or 8 inch...

I always thought that would be cool to do on some boxes. Would they then need to have a more powerful amp too?

Is it the Toshiba that's the 3 piecer with smaller woofers with huge passive radiators? I love the box and would like to hear it but, thought it would look better with larger woofers and smaller passive radiators. I know it rocks but, I'm just speaking from the looks. I think Frank has one. I don't have a pic to post.

i have an rc880 its not a great sounding box but its not horrible sounding either ,it would be a great box for a speaker mod though.

quote:

Is it the Toshiba that's the 3 piecer with smaller woofers with huge passive radiators? I love the box and would like to hear it but, thought it would look better with larger woofers and smaller passive radiators

This one...

The Sanyo C series has this visual setback of large grilles and small woofers too. When I had my C3, and heard how bad it sounded, it seemed pointless to me for the box to have 5-6" grilles and 3-4" woofers.

i am taking the fifth amendment on this one.

oh god. This reminds me of the panasonic home stereo my mom had. it had big tower speakers. they looked like they had 12" woofers but here under the fabric they had painted the outer silver on to make them look big. when the stereo died my mom bought a 100 watt per channel stereo receiver and as soon as she turned it on she smoked the speakers. I took them apart and they were like a 4 or 5" speaker rated at 3 watts. then she had to go out and buy new speakers. she ended up buying two pair of realistic mach two speakers. she still has them but she needs the woofers refoamed. I told her next time I am home if she buys the foam I will install them for her.

You know, it makes me giggle to see you guys talking about how "current" technology can make smaller drivers sound great. I take it these same folks never heard a JVC PC-5, from 1979 ?

quote:

Originally posted by Jovie:
...I don't agree with your opinion that it ruins the looks of the 880 either...

Fair enough, but you can't deny it would look better with bigger speakers filling up that grille, surely?

quote:

Originally posted by Jovie:
...some smaller drivers will surprise you with their output...

True.
I have a Panasonic with speakers no bigger than those in this JVC & it's very loud with buckets of bass. This owes plenty to the bass-reflex design & that it's a 3pc, however.

The point here is why bother stretching the components of a mini into the form factor of a medium-sized box?

It's clear that this JVC is a low budget box but they could have gone to more effort to hide the obvious compromises. Small speakers can sound great but 3" drivers look naf behind a 8" grille.

PC-5 is the one unit that springs to mind but this wasn't a cheap box, the tiny drivers were carefully matched to the real wood (well, chipboard) enclosures, paired with the right amp this unit sounds amazing.

Asymmetry is what spoils it for me. I hate it when the tape deck isn't perfectly centered. GF-9000 for example.

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
Asymmetry is what spoils it for me. I hate it when the tape deck isn't perfectly centered. GF-9000 for example.

Yes, I agree with that 100%. The 9000 would be a perfect looking box otherwise. The Hitachi TRK-8190 & 8290 are like that too.

Great to hear from you R.A., hope you're rocking on brother.

And I just realised my GF-9000 doesn't have Dolby NR.

Whats that all about..



Rock On.

Here is something else that irritates me.....The tape door is centered correctly, but the actual tape mechanism is shifted a quarter inch left of center. So if you try to put a cool "reel" tape in there, it doesn't line up correctly with the Biphonic LED's up above.

Stop it.. I'm getting a complex...

I love the JVC838 and the Hitachi 8190... some of my favorite boxes.. they have a rugged.. almost a pure functional look to them..

Thats kinda like saying the GF777 looks stupid with twin decks on one side... Not symmetrical, but functional... (and great looking to me)

I like the differences on all the boxes, if every box looked the same.. that'd be real boring..

Johnny

quote:

I like the differences on all the boxes, if every box looked the same.. that'd be real boring..

Well said Johnny!

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
Here is something else that irritates me.....The tape door is centered correctly, but the actual tape mechanism is shifted a quarter inch left of center. So if you try to put a cool "reel" tape in there, it doesn't line up correctly with the Biphonic LED's up above.

You need help, dude.

quote:

Originally posted by Gluecifer:
Great to hear from you R.A., hope you're rocking on brother.

And I just realised my GF-9000 doesn't have Dolby NR.

Whats that all about..



Rock On.

Hey Rick, great to hear from you! Glad to see you finally got your GF-9000. A biggun, innit? Yes, I've noticed the 9000 has no Dolby NR. It seemed strange to me, especially on such a large box. But as I never use the feature, I don't miss it. In fact, I hardly ever listen to tapes on my boxes, and I record onto tape even less. I sure am rocking on, I've been playing with my newly acquired Sanyo M9990 a lot. Woah, it's a monster. It's much smaller than the GF-9000 and has 6.5" woofers, but it sounds much, much better! It has such a clear and bassy sound, I'm well impressed with it.

quote:

Originally posted by MONOLITHIC:
You need help, dude.

^ Come on Reli, that's nit-picking!

....the gf 777 does look stupid. very unbalanced,cheap looking suitcase with little speakers!

...just my personal opinion,rememebr that you 777 lovers.

This thread is funny!

Gettin' down to the nitty gritty!!!

yeah it is freakin' hilarious!

They did the same trick on my JVC RC-680 so it cant be a mistake. Its just a fake.

Here´s a picture of it. The black case in darker environment makes it not that bad like in your picture but on a close view...



http://www.flickr.com/photos/radio_drmz/2936249568/sizes/o/

The JVC kaboom suffers the same sickness with the bigger than driver grilles but makes up for it with its juicy sub drivers
I think the 838 is a good looking box tho.

quote:

Originally posted by Retro Addict:

quote:

Originally posted by MONOLITHIC:
You need help, dude.

^ Come on Reli, that's nit-picking!

I can't help that I have higher standards than the rest of you

^

Entertaining thread!

The Sharp GF-7474 also has those "smaller than the grills" drivers, and its grills aren't all that big to begin with! The one thing I noticed about it, though, is that it seems to have much better-than-average stereo imaging, something lacking in most boomboxes. I think maybe the smaller, inset woofers have something to do with it. Maybe the "extra" space and depth around them increases the separation, and reduces wave-pattern cancellations? Just a theory of mine, to explain how such an apparently cheap design can sound as good as it does. But it does look a bit cheap/silly, when you first notice it.

quote:

Originally posted by transamguy1977:
The JVC kaboom suffers the same sickness with the bigger than driver grilles...

you're not wrong there:
http://stereo2go.com/eve/forum...954/m/1711044206/p/2