With a few notable exceptions (the Super Jumbo, among others, comes to mind), black boxes do not seem to rank among the most beloved units within the community. I wonder if this is because their golden age is the 90s, when blasters underwent major transformations such as the egg-shape design and the introduction of the CD. Or because none of the so-called grails is in black; but the latter is the well-known "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" logical fallacy, so it can hardly count as an explanation.

Whatever: I too usually prefer the more elegant look of silver/aluminium units, despite the fact that I am partial to colored minis. But my first box was black, so it must have left on me the infamous imprinting. Hence I am spellbound each time I find a beauty like the following:

HITACHI TRK 8080E

Like all the Hitachis I know, this box oozes quality: in its salad days the Air Damping Ejecting System must have intimidated everybody who owned a cheap blaster: the tape deck takes ages to open!  It has all the bells and whistles (4-band radio, normal/chrome tape selector, loudness, line-in, sockets for external speakers/antenna lovely twin mini VU meters, and so on). And it sounds great, with very good mediums and highs  ̶  less so basses, admittedly; but then you hit the loudness button and you’re happy. I particularly love the decorations of the woofers, similar to the ones of the astonishingly breathtaking beauty number two:

PALLADIUM 494/550 U-150 (or is it LF4?)

Actually the model number is a bit of a puzzle, so help in identifying the correct one is highly appreciated. The box just says “Palladium”, but on the plate I can read: “Art. 494/550.Ftz-Nr. U-150". So where does the “LF4” come from? Well as you may have detected, this beauty is an aka of at least two other boxes. I believe the first one is a Watson, but I might be wrong. The other however is certainly the Beston 4000, which a few months ago appeared on ebay. The seller said it was an aka of the Palladium 494/550 LF4, which explains the alternate model number. Here’s the Beston btw:

As for the third beauty there’s not much to add: everybody knows that I should change my nickname into Sanyovar, and with reason: the lovely M4500KE is in fact my favorite black beauty. Why? That’s hard to explain. On the one hand, like the Hitachi and the Palladium, it too has (almost) all the bells and whistles, plus a great bassy sound  ̶  without loudness, which is not at all needed, believe me! Yet overall the Hitachi looks more solid, and the Palladium is way louder, although of course this should be expected from a bigger box. Most people would also say that the Palladium is more original, and sounds better; and this too may be true. So the reason for my preference is not at all “reasonable”. I know, it is utterly irrational. The fact is that love is irrational and there's no need to search for justification: it suffices to itself. Enjoy:

SANYO M4500KE

Great reading Sal !!

I do like all 4 of them !

the Palladium is also aka of Wilco CRS-1047. i just lost an auction of one two days ago after thinking i had it in the bag - 2 bidders whent nuts & ended up going for twice the amount i bid for.

that's right, i wrote Watson but it read Wilco here it is:

it would be interesting to find out which is which  ̶  the original and the aka, i mean. also how many other akas there are. the feature i love best in the Palladium-Beston-Wilco box is the manual FM preset dial: you can store up to 4 stations. also the unusual command buttons are extremely elegant and functional. good luck with your search SoleBox, this unit is not very common but also not really rare. you will find one at a reasonable price sooner or later

thanks Lee. i remember commuting between London and your place more or less a decade ago. i used to listen to my walkman along the way 

The Sanyo just oozes quality that the others lack in my opinion. Nice sound and quality interns and an exterior to match. Nice.

Loving the palladium it really does look sweet, great post Sal

I like the palladium - where do they come up with these names? lol

So very early 80's look & probably quite well made

Maybe produced by 'Orion' or similar company?

Never seen one before so a new one on me!

I love these machines samovar, I aquired a TRK 8080 last year and love it. The black Sanyo looks utterly stunning! Great post!

thanks seb.  the Hitachi is better than its reputation, as you yourself know, and the Palladium sounds loud and clear -- and it's so visual! but the Sanyo... i know i'm biased but believe me, it's incredibly good, easily the best of the bunch!

I found another aka for the Palladium -- which by the way is dubbed Palladium-Neckermann CF4 here:

http://www.koltsov.biz/vintageaudio.html

The aka, or pseudo-aka, is the Sensor RT1246. I like the Palladium best, but note the lovely VU meters on this model:

I can't stop drooling over the photo of that Sanyo MK4500E, in some ways it could have a smidge of Hitachi TRK 8200 DNA

3 nice radios radios there sal-the 8080 is a fantastic hitachi-good size,good sound and good weight to it

the palladium-its legend proceeds it-was in love with these ever since i saw andy bisons wilco version,i think a lot of people agree there,a true black legend

never experienced the sanyo,but after hearing great things about them i have no doubts in my mind that they are a very worthy black box.

great post this

The Palladium/Wilco should be owned by everyone....It's heavy, solid bass, fantastic weighted knobs, cool LED's. 

As for the Sanyo, I had the Sears AKA of it, and it had no bass, just sharp mids & highs.  I see one on Ebay every week, and they usually sell for only $100-200.

Love them all & your enthusiasm on this site