Hi!

New to the board... and in fact new to vintage boomboxes. I wanted to get my boyfriend one for his birthday. I have done some research. However I wanted to know what is a better buy RX5050 vs RX5030. I have heard a bunch of chatter on how 5050 has good sound. From ebay looks like the 5030 is more affordable. I am assuming the higher number has more features? Please shed some light for this newbie.

Thanks!

Hello Eikocoy,

Panasonic 5050 sounds better, because it has equalizer.

5030 a bit older, with "more vintage" look and has more simple/robust and reparable cassette deck, and IMO it looks much better, especially the version National Panasonic 5030F with short waves, and fancy speakers grills (see the pic).

But generally they are from the same league, difficult to say, which one is better - it's a matter of taste, in this case.

The better box is RX-5500, in many ways, design, features, sound quality, etc, but they are more rare, and expensive, so you decide

Hope this helps.

National Panasonic 5030