Munk’s Pioneer Disco-Robo

Here’s Munk’s “Disco-Robo,” a most unusual portable system designed by Pioneer, also known as the Multimedia Machine. We’re not sure what to make of it…is it a robot that plays music or a boombox with a brain? We’re not sure, but this would most certainly fall into the holy grail genre of systems. Robot collectors and boombox enthusiasts alike are drooling over this one. Says Mark, “takes 12 D cells, 2 x mic inputs, echo filter, tuner, tapedeck, all able to be mixed & multiple units can be chained together via outputs….this thing rocks!”

National RX-7200

Yeah, the RX-7000 is gorgeous, but lookit the RX-7200! It’s a beefy machine (not quite as large as the photo indicates) and the wood sides give it a more refined look than other machines of the day. If you look closely, you’ll see the icing on the cake: that’s not an LCD, but a LED (or VFD?) digital tuner! Have you ever seen another boombox with this feature?

Aiwa CS-W7

Apologies for the poor picture of this magical Aiwa CS-W7. It’s one of a handful of boomboxes that had tape decks for standard size cassettes AND micro-cassettes! While companies like Panasonic and JVC were pushing the buck in large machines, Aiwa was trying to make them sleeker and smaller. This rare model sold for a short period in 1983 for around $400. Imagine recording your favorite shortwave program to tape, then dubbing it micro?!

Dezzy’s Helix HX-4635

Says Dezzy in Minnesota, “Take a look at this boombox and you tell me if you think it deserves to be put next to Conion C-100F and Clairtone 7980. This was made at the Coney-Onkyo factory in Kobe, Japan during the 80s. The very same Japan factory that produced the Conion/Clairtone boomboxes. This is licensed under the Helix name, model HX-4635. It is a C-100f with nothing changed on it (top deck is autoreverse just like the Conion and has tape rotation LED’s) but the nameplate on the back and the raised letters on the front saying the name ‘Helix.’ This must of been a forgotten model that belongs on the Holy Grails list.”

Brian’s Arcade Stereo

Brian specializes in classic arcade machines, but what vintage arcade is complete without music? “It’s sort of the quintessential 80’s pic, with the ‘box sitting atop my Ms. Pacman cocktail arcade game. This is the only 80’s boombox I have, but it’s the typical high quality Sony with AM/FM, shortwave and a good cassette deck. Runs on 6 “D” batteries and has a voltage selector for 110/220VAC input. I got this about six months ago on ebay, still new in the box. I’ve wanted a classic 80’s portable like this for some time, and was pleased to find this excellent example. Everything on it works great and it sounds good.”