Was there any particular boomer that made you think that brand couldn't make anything decent?

For me it was Sanyo & the MW200:

I disliked the plasticy controls & speaker grilles, the poverty-spec features, & the bland, lackadaisical styling. It wasn't even that cheap because it was on sale at a time when twin tape boomers were quite new & therefore had a price premium.

In the shops it looked lacklusture next to the slick-80s-styled & shiny chrome offerings from Sharp, etc.

As a result, I thought all of Sanyo's stuff was worth a swerve...

How about yourself?

(I'm braced for someone to say that they hated a Hitachi 3D so much they were sick...!)  

Sony CFS-88 and CFS-F5 have turned me off of Sony, because they both sound weak as hell

I never cared for the Rising SRC-2015 (20/20) since I was a kid, and I'll always remember for it's sub par build quality and sound. Oh, and that Hitachi 3D Box has to go

Yeah, I've never understood why that box is considered a grail.  The speaker magnets are tiny, it's in serious need of upgraded components.  And it needs black speakers, not grocery-bag colored ones. 

Also, who the hell is Rising?  I think it was a fake company, manufactured by someone else who wanted to keep their identity private. 

I will admit however, that it does look absolutely pimp with an LED tuner dial upgrade.

I get your drift , but i really love the look of this box

On second thought, I prefer the SRC-2015 with square grilles.

The CFS-F5 I can understand - it's one of those boomers with too small speakers at the bottom, a bit like a GF555, but the CFS-88? Is that fold-out leviathan really weak on sound output? That's a shame.

agree on the sony 88...8 inch woofers sounds like shit.....that 3d you mentioned retro sounds better than alot of the grails my friend....i have one

Reno, I think retro is on the wind-up with the 3D comment.

Everyone knows the Hitachi 3Ds are as good as boomers get ...for £20 on eBay  

Staggering to hear that Sony is in the looks-are-writing-cheques-the-sound-can't-cash department (a title currently held by the Philips D8444, I believe). It's a 3pc for pity's sake so those big woofers should sound brilliant in their own enclosures. Is the amp too small?

Interestingly, Sanyo has never been, and even never positioned itself, as a premium brand.
They've never been the first. One of their goals, was declared as - not to surprise consumers with new developments but to meet the needs of consumers.
They were focused on seizing someone's new idea and putting it into production as soon as possible, and to produce quality goods, but affordable for most consumers.
Sony, for example, contrariwise, constantly tried to do their best to surprise, and to be the first.

Maybe because Sony is very young company, compare to Sharp and Matsushita.

In Japan Sony with all their innovations is considered as a premium brand, and it's products always slightly more expensive than similar ones, made by other brands.

Sanyo is like Opel or Volkswagen, they are good enough, and now Volkswagen even has a "Phaeton", but they will never be the Rolls Royce. 

the d8444 should sound better than it does 3 amps big woofer for a 1pc not good .

   hitachi w55 sounds bad ,  farting in empty dust bin syndrome

i was never a big fan of the lasonics or black boxes....they looked cheap to me....the only one that looked appealing was when they rounded off the 931 in 90s or so...then the i931 i liked....but the worst to me was the discolite...a 777 imitator i called it...and those lighted up speakers def didnt look hi-tech to me... to each is own.....but the reason the rising 20/20 is considered a grail is because it was very popular back in the day...i always loved the looked of the 20/20....i owned one for a short time then sold it was mediocre quality....and it was the radio that i used once when we had a blackout...yeah ret the 20/20 with black grills remind of a sharp, does look more solid... but don't recall them much in the stores...maybe perhaps its brother with the orange and blue colors i remember that one a bit more...i think it was under another brand too, international i think....

I'm with Blaster... don't really like lasonics as they look cheap and tacky.

Scott

Im with you on the Lasonics. I think they are true trash due to the function switches made with a plastic gear that when broken it cant be repaired. Not a good investment. These are fragile too.If you drop it consider it trash.

Originally Posted by metad:

Interestingly, Sanyo has never been, and even never positioned itself, as a premium brand.

They've never been the first. One of their goals, was declared as - not to surprise consumers with new developments but to meet the needs of consumers.
They were focused on seizing someone's new idea and putting it into production as soon as possible, and to produce quality goods, but affordable for most consumers.

Interesting info on Sanyo metad, thanks.

---

 

Originally Posted by metad:

Sanyo is like Opel or Volkswagen, they are good enough, and now Volkswagen even has a "Phaeton", but they will never be the Rolls Royce.   

Rolls Royce no, but they do have Bugatti  

---

 

That Hitachi looks to be a similar effort to the Sanyo I moaned about above: tone control only, plasticy grilles, etc.

Still, at least it's it's got servo decks, the styling is coherent & the switches look nice. It's twice the size it needs to be, however.

Well, I can't think of any other 1-piece box that has higher build quality than an M9994 or a MX920.  For me, Sanyo in those early years was very premium.

it's another story.
CEC belongs to Sanyo, but this fact doesn't make Sanyo boomboxes to be the same class as CEC audio gear, as Bugatti doesn't make volkswagen better

I'm pretty sure that volkswagen Phaeton much better than any entry level BMW or Mercedes Benz... but it still remains - Volkswagen.

M9994 or MR P6 are very good boxes, they much better than some of Panasonics Sharps or JVCs, and personally I like em a lot, but even so - Sanyo is not premium brand.

metad I am with you on the M9994. Its one of my favs along with my M9998. I never had a big ben but i am assuming its a well built unit too.

yeah the m9998 is good sounding box , love the green tuning dail and the deck light, little devil to do the belts

Exactly.

I have an early Sanyo walkman (M4440) & I breifly had ownership of a Sanyo MX920. The  build quality, feature count, etc. of these is excellent.

The MW200 told me that Sanyo had gone way downhill, following the fabled 'Decline & Fall' only too well...

What is your definition of a premium brand?

The only "small, premium" boombox brand I can think of was Marantz and Sansui.......But home hifi was their true market.

Me, I don't care what the name on the box is.....I care how well the box was built.  And IMO the M9994 was a premium box, built to exceed the quality of the competition in that year (RC-838, TPR-950, etc.).  And I can guarantee it didn't have a discount price.

By the way, speaking of Volkswagen, yes they are a "common man's brand", but they still drive better than anything else at the same price level from America or Japan.  Please tell me what else you could buy for $23,000 that drives & feels as nice as a GTI.  Civics, Corollas, Fusions, Avengers, etc. feel cheap in comparison.

You're right those you named above feel cheap in comparsion with Volkswagen, cause VW is going up, year by year, sometimes faster than others, but wait, you still call it "common man's brand", why ?
Please don't forget, the brand and it's product are different things, so maybe in near future we can call VW is a premium brand for their quality and value. Cadillac always was considered as a premium brand, and some people still think so, but where is Cadillac now? Their cars are pure crap nowadays, there is no comparsion with VW at all.

So, regarding design, sound quality, etc, M9994 is a very good box, in my opinion - much better box than any of Marantz, Sansui or Denon portable radio, you could call M9994  a premium box, but Sanyo is not premium brand.

Fair enough

Disagree about Cadillac however.  The Cadillacs of the 70's, 80's and most of the 90's were indeed crap.  But they have improved greatly since then, and are not crap anymore, IMO.

im on about the 3d hyperbass thing i have...best hitatchi box ever made...

that sony has weak amps shite speakers...just an all rounder to be avoided....it's a shame as they look sweet in the flesh

i used to own that fold out sony,it sounded poor and it looked odd,when it folded out it was thin and flimbsy,i wouldnt have another

odd thread ?

lots of posts

lots of words

what was said

just idle banter, some of it even about boomboxes...

ok - cool

OK, in summary:

metad is fairly determined that no-one leaves this thread still thinking Sanyo is a premium brand...

...the Sony CFS-88 is worth a swerve...

...some other half decent brands sullied their reputations with poor twin-tape boomers in the mid/late 80s...

...VW make a nice hatchback...

...Cadillacs have got less cr4p recently...

...& Hitachi 3Ds kick a$$  

Originally Posted by radio raheem:

im on about the 3d hyperbass thing i have...best hitatchi box ever made...

 

Aha, an ASW 3D. Not classic looks, but excellent sound:

I leave this box takes 10 years to the"classical"

Go back to your reservation, you've got no permission to leave it.

i think that all brands lowered their standards towards the late eighties,

that said some of my obscure lesser known branded boxes have good sound and build quality,

tough call although i would say philips even though i like them.

Yup. The 'Decline & Fall' had every major brand producing low power, plasticy poor excuses for boomers. I ignored them for the most part, but this Sanyo was so phoned-in it annoyed me.

That said, I've looked at the pic at the top of this post so many times now, it might be starting to grow on me  

It's a fine line between the honest, basic boomer & a cheap & nasty. 

I'm with you on Philips. In the early to mid 80s I liked their elegant silver or grey styling &  their relatively clever cost saving measures that produced a decent sounding boomer at a price just a bit lower than most of the competition.

By the late 80s their styling had got too crazy & much of their stuff just looked silly. Even thought they still sounded the same, the ridiculous looks meant I went elsewhere (hello Hitachi ).

I'm no moderator, but that wasn't strictly necessary, was it?

yep, it wasn't strictly necessary, the same as his sticky replies, which he constantly posts,  but this is his choice, so next time ask him, not me, okay ?

i'd have to say no not really to your question ISO, all brands make cheap crappy boxes aswell as great ones

glad you are back to " Lav Loo "

Sanyo built Fisher, and a lot of the Fisher stuff was outstanding.

The Magnavox with the three speakers on the front of it. D8444. Blech! Cool looking I guess, but pure mud and built on the extremely cheap.

It turned me off to anything Phillips/Magnavox permanently.

best post of the year...especially the hitatchi bit...made me laugh

metad you don't have much posative to say about anybody....leave redbenjoe alone...or i WILL contact the mods...thank you

hey, it was posted two weeks ago, but you raised it again, why?

you bored and need entertainment ?

I told you before, but you seem have short memory, so once again: do not stick your nose.

regarding, positive/negative: all the text you post on here, just plain negative, looks like you came on here just to spread your depression, problems, health issues.

so you are the last person to tell other people what to do.

you've got redbenjoe, to share your bad mood, share with him.

and yes, you may contact the prime minister or even president obama.

and last: do not speak to me in such tone.

RR --just ignore that phoney asshole metad --

he/she ?? NEEDS to mention my name --alot

( must like to jack-off over me )

and , anyway - no worries

-its funny to watch that tool self-destruct here

Well, that's sure to smooth things over a treat...

hey iso --

check out a few cool sanyos in this thread

Pick your poison!!

you might like them 

or --wanna see more ?

here's a potent sanyo

remember old member ledmeter ?

just bought this one from him - dont have it here yet -

it this # 7790

My posts may be negative meathead but i have better things to do than slag good members of such as redbenjoe and others ...my posts may be negative,,,but you have very little positave to say about anybody,,,,,your pathetic,,,,,redbenjoe has never done anything bad to you....if he Has PROVE it...but then you can't just like you can't prove you have any boxes,,,who are you anyway...i have had 1 or to members say you are panasonic fan...whomeaver you are your just a pathetic jerk with very little to offer tthis forum

Sorry guys, but I'm going to have to close this one.