Hello, first post here. Very sad story.

So, I found this boombox at goodwill that was a goldmine. It had two decks, was a single "ghettoblaster" unit (no detachable speakers), had panning between the two decks, had a mic input and a slider for mic input volume on the front, and had line/phono input on the back. $15.

After getting it home (this was about 7 months ago) it proceeded to eat up a tape, so I took it to my parents for storage until I could find out how to fix it, because it was a beautiful thing.

My Mom "purged" it.

Now I'm trying to figure out what exactly I lost. There are very few 'boxes of this "style" that are going for less than 200 dollars on the eBay, and they don't have a second deck.

I didn't write down or record the brand or make, but I vaguely remember it being a brand that still exists, like a Panasonic maybe, and it looked a lot like the Panasonic RX-5250, with the long, straight handle on the top.

I am really, really feeling loss right now, I've bought some amazing tapes in the last 7 months in anticipation of being able to play them once I found a repair shop, and once the people at the shop informed me that it might have been worth over 600 bucks.

Anyone have any ideas?

Edit: Now that I look at it... Does the Phillips D-8734 have grounding for Phono and line in/out? If it does... how many dollars does that go for?

Found it!!

It was a Sharp GF-555! Although I don't see fade controls from A to B, this looks very close.

There are also the 666 and the 525 which are similar.

Welcome Rayek! The good news if its a GF555 is that they are cheap to buy (even in great condition with everything working) here in the UK and on ebay nearly all the time! the bad nes is It will cost a lot to post to the States cos they weigh a ton! A lot of people say they're ugly but I have one and think it's a thing of beauty too!

good luck with your search !!

Thanks, all

It's just good to know exactly what it was specifically so I can keep a look out. It's good to hear they pop up in good condition frequently enough.

Honestly I don't really care about how it looks, I was just surprised to see a -> b crossfading and phono in on a boombox. Shows what I know, though!

It was made around 1980/81 and Must be one of the first boomboxes with twin cassette decks I reckon!

After a "chat" with my mum, she had me email the details to her and she's going to try and hunt one down for me. Which is nice of her, I'm going to keep an eye out here and elsewhere...

Is there a place other than eBay to look out for these things?

ebay the easy/lazy way to find a box you're looking for but you pay through the nose! Finding one "in the wild" like you did is quite rare here in the UK but you may have a better chance in the U.S at a goodwill shop or flea market or Craigs List. If its one model only you're looking for, you'll need to be very patient or very lucky!

Well, if there are alternatives with the same features I'd be happy to know about them, for sure.