Crown is a long time audio component manufacturer. Rumor has it they may even be responsible for selling the very first boombox back around 1971 or so. Our friend Jens from Germany was nice enough to send us a pic of his massive mid ’80s Crown SZ-5100, laden with graphics and LEDs. Check out the tiny condenser microphones mounted up top!
There’s no doubt that Jens is a devoted boombox enthusiast. We must thank him for his terrific additions to the site, including this Tecsonic Mach8800. The chrome trim, six speakers and twin cassettes make this model pleasing to the eye.
What a shame–Dave found this defaced Helix for cheap, but will require great effort to restore. We’re guessing this was modified for some sort of theatrical production, as the lower cassette has been covered and painted. The Helix name is a well-known one for boomboxes, but we have yet to find the brand on anything except portable stereo.
Another Crown courtesy of Jens, this one is the SZ-8801. It certainly has all the inklings of a “decline era” ghettoblaster with its detachable speakers, tiny tuner indicator and blase looks.
Sony’s CFD-5 is true craftsmanship in an otherwise dying boombox world. This was the boombox to have as it was the first to offer a CD player. Jeff in San Francisco bought this in 1986 and admits that he, like the rest of us became caught up with the “one-upsmanship” that proliferated in that materialstic age. This gorgeous example faithfully provided music poolside while Jeff and his friends lounged the day away, sipping margaritas. Thanks Jeff!
This Emerson was a successful seller–it was under $150 in 1985, and offered everything the average consumer wanted at the time.
No-name brand boomboxes proliferated the 80s from places like Taiwan and Hong Kong, that’s why this obscure MI “Master Blaster” boasting its Japan manufacture is unusual. It’s a pretty large system (2 feet long!) but lacks the quality of the Sonys and Sharps of the era. This particular model offered left and right volume control, five band graphic eq and shortwave tuning. It was dubbed the “Master Blaster;” we’re not sure Stevie Wonder would be honored by the tribute.
One of Sanyo’s many lackluster home-stereo styled portables. 5-band equalizer, detachable speakers, silver chassis.
This laughable Yorx featured three cassette drives– one was detachable, doubling as a walkman. Probably released sometime in 1986 or 1987. Hitachi thought of this idea first, The detachable walkman idea never caught on.
Ninety bucks bought you this in 1985; a Sears boombox under its LXI brand name.
