Hi everyone,

Just wanted to introduce myself, prompted by Agentorange and after weeks of lurking around the forums I decided to join. I am from the UK and have always been into boomboxes/vintage hi fi and generally 80's items.

 I recently started to collect boomboxes, I say "collect" but only have two so far! Gotta start somewhere eh? As I explained to agent, I recently purchased a mint Sharp GF 58-58 on ebay for £80, whilst it is mint condition I wasn't overly impressed with the weight, build or sound. I am going to try and buy my first ghetto that i really love, I like the look of the typical 80's classics like JVC M70/M90 of course but think the Aiwa TPR 950K im currently watching on ebay may be more in my range! I stupidly missed out on a Hitachi TRK 8300-e recently by a pound and that one also looked good.

Anyway, I would be grateful if anyone could give me some models to look out for that are reasonable priced yet still a good look and reasonable sound, I look forward to chatting to you all over the future and for you all to share in my collection growing. One day i will have a collection worthy of the boards, I have seen some truly amazing selections, Im inspired!!

Hello and wecome to the forum T-Star, from what I've read, the Telefunken CR-8200 aka Universum Supersound 16000 can compete with the big boys and wont set you back too much.

Hi, glad you decided to swing by.  You won't be sorry, or rather, you will be.

You may be in a better position to get a bargain if you have some technical skills, most boxes can be fixed as common issues are usually based on age and wear rather than damage.  Common issues are perished belts/speakers, crackly pots, poor switch contacts and can be fixed with very basic know how.

Some favorites of ours and good ones to look out for are as follows.  Some may disagree but I'll try to give 'guide' prices.

Aiwa TPR-950 - This is a real bargain box, very solid and has one of the best sounds around - £75-£120 for a clean working model, less for a fixer.

JVC M70 - One of our faves, good looks, solid build, OK sound - £150-£220

Sharp GF-9191 - Great looks, slightly sub-par sound - £70-£100

Sharp GF-9494 - Better looks, great size, same sub-par sound - £90-£180

Hitachi TRK-8190 - Has all the bells and whistles and looks to match, not the best sounding but many around - £60-£100

These are just the common boxes on eBay UK but there are also a lot of other gems around, Panasonic boxes are always the best quality and there are many great JVC 3-piece boxes, PC5 is a classic. 

Ultimately it's down to personal taste but if I was to give you any advice I'd say don't just lust after the most expensive models, it's a major gripe of mine but many new collectors just throw money at the big boxes e.g. JVC-M90, Sharp GF-777, Conion C100 ets, yes these are great boxes but the net result is that the prices just get silly.  We're talking £1200+ for a nice M90.  These boxes have been the topic of many a man's downfall, we've seen marriage brake-ups, bankruptcy and even deaths on these pages over the years.  All over a radio.

So, just follow your heart and enjoy.

Hi AO and Retro, thanks, that is some really sound advice.

I think part of the whole journey for me will be discovering the old, terrible condition treasure at the bootsale and fixing it up. Of course I will love the day I find an M90 at a bootsale for £20 but until then I'm just going to see what I find!!!

My first objective is just to land a box i really like and not to worry too much about name or model, there is so much to enjoy about these, aesthetically and sound wise. I appreciate the help with the models you mentioned, I will keep my eyes open.

Look forward to chatting to you all.

Another good idea is to look for badly listed stuff on eBay.  Most sellers will list their item as a 'boombox' or a 'ghetto blaster', so a good idea is to look for 'radio cassette' and mess around with other search terms such as 'portable' & 'player' etc.  Also, do wildcard searches by model e.g. 'sharp gf' or 'aiwa tpr' etc.

Welcome aboard T-Ster. Sorry to hear you've been bitten by the boombox bug..you should pull through I say sorry because it's an addiction!

I agree the M90 is a great choice but for 20... you'd have better luck finding a politician who doesn't lie.

I think a M70 can be found that needs a little TLC, for a reasonable price. The Bay seems to have quite a flow of 70's lately in various states.

Like AO said...follow your heart.

Welcome aboard T-Ster, where are you located mate, you can often get a good deal if you are able to collect in person 

@Brutus Thanks man, love the fisher price record player in your avatar, my sis had one of those!

@MitchellJames I'm down in sunny Cornwall mate

Oooh, where in Cornwall?

@AgentOrange Im in Truro mate

@ Northerner Well said that man!

Hi matey!   I'm new here myself, even though I have not been a member of s2g for long I can say it's a great forum. Recently got myself a couple of Aiwa CS-600's. You can get these relatively cheaply but they are pretty good! As Si says, you don't have to spend big bucks!

welcome aboard t-ster.

agree with retro -

that tele 8200 is the #1 best ' bang for the buck '

Thanks StereoMad, I'm gonna bid on AO's Aiwa, wish me luck!

Just received one I bought on Ebay, a Panasonic, described as "excellent working order" but on arrival has a horrible hum on the radio and tape doesn't work! Out comes the screwdrivers!

Good luck with your bid; those 950's are very highly regarded, be interested in what you think of it if you win.

Those Tele 8200's look real good, none about on ebay etc though, do these come up much? Really like the look of them..

They show up pretty often, you might have a better chance with ebay.de.

Here is one. Paypal and int. shipping... 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3606...696488829%26_rdc%3D1

hi i already welcomed you yesterday but my message was queued as needing authorization from admins (a malfunction of he antispam filter). you can't go wrong with a Telefunken. This precise model however is rare, whereas the Universum Senator version is pretty common on the German bay. I have one and it sounds fantastic

ditto

Thanks guys, and thanks Michiel for the link. I'm quite interested in the one from the German ebay link but slightly hesitant as I don't speak German (have Google translated the ad!) and worry about the language barrier should there be any problems, what do you reckon?

http://www.ebay.de/itm/BIG-GHE...;hash=item53fb2fa37d

almost all German ebayers speak excellent English. you can buy from them with confidence

I would expect him to speak English too. Especially because he accepts paypal. But most of the sellers that ship in germany only dont.

You could ask him what the dented "gitter" is  And see his answer.

It's not my kind of box (looks boring), so cant say much about the price, if it's high or low etc...

a warm welcome to the forum, where you'll find all kind of people who share the same passion for portable audio. you'll get a lot of heads up on boxes walkmans and so on from amost everybody. keep in mind, however, that with the exception of a few selected units on which everybody agrees, opinions on boxes are highly subjective.

hard to suggest a better box than the Aiwa 550 as a start up. the CS-600 is another Aiwa worth looking for; not as good as the 550 but definitely less expensive. i love a variety of boxes but have a soft spot for Sanyos. hence my suggestion for a midsize box with a nice sound & all the essential extras at a reasonable price: Sanyo MK4500. if you like it, you can easily find it on ebay.de. if you want a superior quality & slighlty bigger unit, then go for the Sanyo M9998: you'll love it.

Hi Samovar and thanks for the warm welcome, i will definately research the ones youu mentioned. Oh and I bought the unit Michiel mentioned from Germany so thanks man for the heads up!

I appreciate all the advice guys, and all the warm welcomes.

Welcome T-ster !

Joining the forum is a wise decision

Cheers Deech!