Has China Finally Made A GOOD New Boombox? - HS-8922 - Unboxing & Review

In this video I unbox a new "HS-8922" Boombox, which promises to be stereo! I show and demonstrate it's features and give my thoughts on it.
For your North American cassette needs, go to:
www.cassettecomeback.com

[@DonnDeVoreMusic]

if you flip it upside down it fixes the L-R stereo problem 🙃

[@vwestlife]

Take a peek inside and see if it uses a CSG mechanism and TRW motor, just like the AudioCrazy mini-boombox I did a video about a few months ago. They advertised it as an "advanced Japanese mechanism", but I can't find any proof it's actually made in Japan.

[@namesurname4666]

when i saw the title i expected the video was yours

[@UnderEu]

@@namesurname4666 or Techmoan’s

[@CassetteComeback]

If I took it apart, chances are I wouldn't be able to put it back together 😁

[@GaryKeepItSimple]

I was wondering about that.

[@samuelfellows6923]

Chinesem crap, polished turd 😠

[@thanosb.5403]

What impressed me about this video, apart from the decency of the boombox itself, was the fact that the comments are made up of all those people with and without KZbin channels that truly love cassette decks. To quote the Stones "We make a beautiful team!"

[@wer123456]

Come hang out at r/cassetteculture

[@BacktoTranceCassettes]

I was just about to write a similar comment) Yes! We love CASSETTES FOREVER! )

[@PlayitagainVHS]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@MrWolfSnack]

Anyone that loves boomboxes and playing cassettes is always on the hunt for another one to play with, dubious quality included, these china pride boomboxes do make fun gadgets to mess with and dissect. some of them are actually really good. I have one made by "ION" that I bought from the Home Shopping Network and I absolutely love it, [and yes I do have OG boomboxes too, so I know what they should and shouldn't perform like.]

[@bullbutter9699]

Boom Boxes in the 80's were works of art.

[@PlayitagainVHS]

Yes they were.I agree 100 %

[@mikelambert8324]

Exactly.

[@325iaddict]

yes... any older one was indeed better... than this one.

[@Taco_Raider]

....and weapons of war. They were built like tanks.

[@BubbaBigDude]

It's good to see progress being made on modern cassette players/recorders, now let's teach QC how to properly wire LEFT and RIGHT channels.

[@namesurname4666]

this reminds me of ai images with people with the wrong number of fingers

[@MrWolfSnack]

I'd imagine the little sweatshop kids working in the factory are soldering the wires with the stereo face down and upside down when they come off the conveyor belt - so what was marked left is actually right and right is left.

[@mikestackhouse9001]

I think if this boombox had been manufactured in Japan, they would have put a few more bells and whistles into it. Not too bad for a utility boombox for an outside barbeque or just catching some rays. Looking forward to the next one Tony!

[@Trance88]

Wow! This thing actually looks legit! From the front, it really looks like a budget boombox from 1981.

[@ukkev7290]

I prefer bass & treble knobs to balance and tone knobs. I don't understand why manufacturers use balance for speakers that are close together.

[@wer123456]

Maybe if your source is messed up haha

[@bletheringfool]

Another great video Tony. Not a bad effort from the makers. It has the look of the early 80s about it. This would be great to listen to the audio books I keeping buying in charity shops. If Sainsburys branded them as BUSH and sold a few it would be great for the summer. The summer of the cassette comeback. We're getting another cassette release of Guardians of the Galaxy (volume 3) in July and so many more artists releasing stuff.

[@danniielle]

I love how you used this outside for the closing music! Nice touch my friend! 😎

[@SFtheGreat]

The boombox recording actually sounds a bit spacey with elevated bass, which is a little bit aesthetically interesting. Had the shipping didn't cost as much as the thing itself it would be all over the place. Right now it's on 40% discount though.

[@anasevi9456]

yeah was going to say, would never use it in a serious capacity...IT'S HORRID... However it does have a pleasing warm Retro filter sound to it.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

it sounded like a potato recording

[@BilisNegra]

@@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777 Basically what it is, but as Tony mentions several times, you'd not really buy one of these with recording on them in mind. Even more so if you were there in the '80s-early '90s and know what you could expect from noname Chinese stuff from experience.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

@@BilisNegra I don't accept garbage being sold on the open market.. it's 2023 where the 'world' tech industry brags how great the advances are..and they just keep pumping out land- fill garbage.. but people keep buying it as well. I have a different frame of mind than you.. this was basic stuff in '83. even a cheap Chinese / Taiwan recorder sounded fine back then. We have dropped the ball collectively on accepting turds with a glossy coating.

[@pontram]

The first thing that came to my mind was to use it as a lo-fi compressor unit with an added tape "simulator", I could think that a group of analog synthesizer/gear geeks like Hainbach could like that. The recording had definitely some charm to me, although I'm not into this kind of sound mangling.

[@tarstarkusz]

Great review Tony. Thanks for the upload.

[@petermcfarlane5275]

Head polarity reversed ... there HAD to be something! Otherwise perfectly acceptable, as you point out, for the most likely use. I'm currently slowly sharing my music library with my nephew who is 7 years old - I put it on Maxell cassettes which I record on my Sony WM-D6C; he plays them back on a little Tomashi F-116 I gave him, which he either carries around (as it has a built-in mini speaker) or he plugs it into a Bluetooth speaker that has blinky blinky LEDs, which he loves ... like you say, context is the thing. I warrant he's the ONLY kid in his class with his own personal cassette player. Playback on the Tomashi isn't perfect but totally satisfactory for his needs!

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Quite common to find left/right connections reversed in these cheaper off brand items, I've had the same thing in the past in jack plug to phono audio cables, where the left & right plug connections are the wrong way round.

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

Thank you! I needed a good laugh. Yeah, this is comparable to my little boom box I had when I was 12 years old. I'm amazed the VU meters are actually VU meters and not just dancing Christmas lights or fairy lights. The D cells is a drag for this day and age, but you could probably get a rechargeable power bank for 9 or 12 volts and use that with it's DC power input. The CD/Tape boombox/shelf system I had in the late 90s was quite a bit better. It had a fixed volume level without compression and made decent CD to tape copies for my personal tape player. It didn't have VU meters, though. Someone handy with a soldering iron could even swap some of those LED VU meter LEDs for more colors like green for low, yellow for medium, and red for loud..

[@sh4dowchas3r]

In the first place I was surprised it's stereo for MP3s, many of the recent ones I've seen reviewed don't even manage that.

[@jokingpants]

Can I just say, what a tune! Whoever that young singer is, they're going to be big.

[@CassetteComeback]

I hope so. That's a track off the new album we're making together.

[@seancuthbert4587]

The brick walling is often intentional. A lot of modern boomboxes use DC bias on the head and a permanent magnet erase head which generates a lot of noise. To mask this noise the levels are kept as high as possible. Unfortunately, DC bias also adds distortion.

[@sting64az]

Interesting and nice demonstration. I have 3 boomboxes. 1 is a 1980's AM/FM stereo and cassette player-recorder and 8 track player all works well. The 2nd one is a Sony CFD-G505 mega bass subwoofer that has AM/FM stereo and cassette player-recorder and CD player. 2002 model. The 3rd one is a ION deluxe boombox that has a vintage Panasonic look. That has AM/FM stereo and cassette player-recorder and Bluetooth with USB player-recorder that sounds pretty good with bass boost. That ION cost me $70.00 USA on sale, and this was 4 years ago. Too bad the one you demonstrated cassette doesn't play in stereo.

[@DarrellS54]

I never heard vu meters called Power Pump Meters before. Good one. 😄

[@jaredjackson8526]

Looks better than the GPO thing that was out a few years ago.

[@davarosmith1334]

I have the GPO ghetto blaster it cost £250 . The tape deck was the weakest link , I can't fault the rest of the features. It has proper tweeters and bass and treble controls, it's got a rechargeable battery which is great for out side. The only thing I don't like is the size it's to big! I have ordered one of these in the video from eBay as it looks the right size. If the tape part is wired properly I will use the Bluetooth or at a pinch I will play the tape regardless!

[@paulmalone1208]

Love this funky retro little boombox i hope in the futhure they wil come back. im an 80s man and would love it if cassettes came back love ❤ your channel.

[@Djd_Records_Zone]

36:06 makes me think of breakin' or beat street just a moment of that good old 80s break dance era sitting there on the pavement :)

[@duncanwoodward6831]

Quite a nice machine, but, even better, this song is REALLY GOOD, I'm really getting into this tune. It makes a change for there to be a modern tape made that's actually got a stereo head in it, even if it is wired back to front.

[@davarosmith1334]

I just received my wee ghetto blaster like this, I watched this video after typing in the model number and this video popped up. I tried the tape deck and the sound was coming out the proper channels. I think it's a great wee ghetto blaster, the radio was clear which in my house is a miracle as I don't usually get FM radio very good without interference. I tried the recording of the tape it was the weakest link, I tried lowering the input level on the Bluetooth using the red lights as a guide it worked a wee bit. All and all I'm very impressed with the ghetto blaster. I got mine off eBay for £74.99 it's gold and a make I've never heard of. Considering it costs £166 on Amazon I'm happy as a pig in shit saving nearly £100!

[@thaddeusmcgrath]

Thanks, if I see on in the states I will pick one up. My Lasonic boombox I had in the 80's had a good SW receiver but expecting worse with this including medium wave. Reminds me of a early to mid 80's Sanyo or Panasonic by the looks, love it!

[@PaulRichardson_Canada]

Love the carpet no studio needed. luv from Canada

[@derekdresser9214]

Such a great retro intro - both graphics and sound

[@kforkrish]

Thanks for half hour of late night entertainment before i fall asleep.😊

[@deepblueskyshine]

It almost covers the first ever version of DIN standard called Hi-Fi: for bandwidth 60Hz to 6.3kHz within 3db unevenness and 60db dinamic range (signal to noise ratio used to be more popular therm in those days), but than again - it's what came from electronic tract and not from the speakers themselves.

[@mikelambert8324]

I own five boomboxes all made in 1982, and they all sound amazing!! They certainly aren’t “cheap sounding “ as you called them. They sound so much better than these cheap modern “retro” boomboxes. 80’s boomboxes we’re built to last.

[@MrWolfSnack]

Anyone that called a vintage boombox cheap either likely didn't pay up for a nicer model and just bought bottom of the barrel (common with a high school kid's income back then and no internet to research a model), or had the audio levels tuned wrong. I just got a Pioneer SK-750 and weighing about 25-30 lbs it is certainly nowhere near 'cheap'.

[@mikelambert8324]

@@MrWolfSnack I’ve got a Pioneer SK 71 and an SK 51, and they are awesome!

[@MrWolfSnack]

@@mikelambert8324 Nice! Pioneer made good boomboxes

[@Taco_Raider]

My old Panasonic was a warbeast.

[@Micjoh]

Arrived today from fleabay. It looks great from a distance and cheap close up. The radio isn't bad. Even getting some sw stations. The Cassette deck, yep some low volume hum on playback but wow and flutter acceptable. It's perfectly listenable for sticking on when out in the garden. The details need work, but it's probably more than the sum of its parts and looks suitably retro

[@sparkstron73]

Ok watched and was pleasantly suprised. I bought a reka "boombox" from aldi good few years back and it had the same bluetooth feature and descent sound for its size. The tape mechanism was pretty bad and got worse the more I used it. Now its a cool looking bluetooth speaker radio. Ok for 25 pound. This one for the price is better than expected, seems they are using a slightly better mechanism but cross eyed technicians at the factory😂 I remember back in the late 80s early 90s I had a Panasonic shoebox style boombix that had amazing sound quality and soft touch controls. Now that new was probably the equivalent of 200 compared to the saishos of the day, which again I had and were cheap and cheerful. but Like you said for a teenager listining to the top 40 on a sunday were perfectly good. Think my dad took the Panasonic for himself or sold it and bought me a saisho😂. Thinking back I might have traded it for a twin tape saisho to copy tapes🤭

[@theotherchannel2279]

9:10 I would open it up and see if you can turn the plug around inside for the head connection.

[@michaelhernandez410]

Looks like 1970s styling. Brings back memories of college. It looks beautiful.

[@FunzieOne]

HAHAAA omg. Wiring it up backwards is definitely the chinese signature. cant say I was at all surprised. Loved this, regardless of the end result.

[@kittyhawk9707]

This would be spot on for slinging in the back of the van and using on site

[@steveoszman8746]

They will sell a lot em, a perfect work center machine.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

We are slowly getting there. x3 I have seen this kind of OEM model already in at least 2-3 different cheapo-brand versions and these things go for around 170-190 bucks.

[@MX-S]

It extends out to 6,300,000Hz. Naka-WHO? Outstanding!!

[@MacXpert74]

😂 Right, I wanted to comment on that too. 125-6300 Khz is a VERY impressive frequency range. 🤣

[@roversteve8772]

A Great video and honest review Thank You , looks alot like the Sanyo Model's we got here in New Zealand in the 80's as you say a decent Bluetooth speaker that can play cassettes 👍. It is a shame the channels are wired the wrong way but overall a good value unit to bring back some childhood memories 😊.

[@jerryspann8713]

Sanyo models didn't over saturate their boom boxes with 2 different types of VU meters and shitty DC bias recording.

[@ralphreinhardt6020]

Yeah, it sounds decent. Not great but decent . Another cool video Tony, always nice to get new C.C. content. 😎👍

[@michael5089]

What a great overview of this stereo. Techmoan has competition!!! Subbed👍❤️🎧🎧

[@markianclark9645]

yes Michael...and VWestlife just responded...Americas number one cassette and other retro tech reviewer..see a few lines below your post

[@mbvideoselection]

I cared about sound quality even when I was a child and always used my Dad's Pioneer X-1000 system whenever I could. But then, I was an unusual child.

[@njm1971nyc]

Oh Lord. This makes Saisho/Matsui/Hinari look like quality gear. This kind of tat would've been badged something like "Tronix" back in the 80s and found on market stalls and super-dodgy "gift stores". Even Aurex can't make a decent cassette "boombox" (hate that word) these days. That "high-res" cassette monstrosity they released a few years back proves that all hope is lost!

[@rosswarren436]

Afraid so. Until one "real" manufacturer bites the bullet and starts manufacturing a good quality cassette mechanism with decent heads having at least a 30 to 15,000 Hz response, all we are left with is that one cheap (very cheap) Chinese knock off. Even Tascam had to use it in their latest offering, not exactly inspiring much confidence in the longevity of this format. All of the old vintage decks won't last forever. I'm glad to have four of them and will use them until the day either they die or I do.

[@njm1971nyc]

@@rosswarren436 yup, the ONLY choice (if you care about quality) is a "vintage" deck. I would far rather own a decent quality Bluetooth portable speaker than this "thing" if I wanted music in the back garden, or whatever. I'd be embarrassed to own this Chinesium cassette/radio/mp3 thing. As for "looking good", I'll have to agree to disagree (with the reviewer) on that score, too. It looks cheap and tacky. Hard pass from me! I don't think the "proper" Japanese brands will ever make cassette decks (or tapes) again. They don't tend to be interested in old technology. They've only made a half-hearted stab at turntables recently (aside from Technics).

[@rosswarren436]

@@njm1971nyc yeah, I have a "decent" portable JBL Bluetooth speaker for outdoor use, and it works fine. Hopefully, just for the sake of argument, they'll start including better codecs than just SBC and AAC. LDAC and aptx-HD would be nice. Funny enough I have an old Sony CD/cassette boombox from the 1990s that still works just fine. I even play tapes in it while I'm grilling hamburgers.

[@Raptor50aus]

I just restored another Sony CFS-W900 from 1985 with APM 3 way speakers and it sounds absolutely amazing. It be great to buy something like that today but no chance.

[@jerryspann8713]

This crap they're trying to sell today needs to be piled up in the middle of Walmart and set on fire. A decent boombox with yesterday's styling but with digital tuning, a decent CD player and a cassette deck with the same quality amplification used in the JBL tube like blue took speakers.

[@clydez007]

Brings back memories 80s and The 90s

[@rumblebars]

Nice to see something that is decent these days. I was working in the Auto Parts business when China made stuff started showing up in the late 1990s. Working at a VW parts/service shop and was used to saying that only German made parts were any good. (Yet VW produced Rabbits and Golfs in the USA from 1978 - 1988, but assembled with many of the non-USA-made parts piped in from Germany) and I was largely skeptical of any parts that were not made in Germany or Europe. Some China made parts were obviously inferior, but some were just fine. I think it really does not matter where something is made... if the design is good and quality control is in place at the factory.

[@vnv_jruza]

The playback quality is a very pleasant surprise! The contrast to its horrendous recording quality is quite funny, but I'm glad it exists and isn't complete ewaste the moment it leaves the factory.

[@mbvideoselection]

In fact if it wasn't for the awful Automatic Gain Control, the recording quality would probably be fairly decent.

[@j4techmediajishnusreedharst]

Very happy to see it 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@JamesE707]

Love these videos Tony. Wasn't surprised about the faults - Left/Right channel, and VU insensitivity. But overall - positive! I wonder if today Sony/TEAC/Panasonic etc decided to make one of these - how much could we expect to pay? £200, £300, £400, £500, more?

[@THELLYS_RADIO-ESCUTA_E_OUTROS]

I'M IN BRAZIL, AND I REALLY LIKED THE BOOMBOX, I INTEND TO PURCHASE IT, HOWEVER, THE IMPORT VALUE IS VERY HIGH CURRENTLY, THE STEREO PROBLEM IS SOLVED BY CHANGING THE WELDING OF THE WIRES, THE VU'S CAN ALSO ADD A SMALL AMPLIFIER TO THEIR INPUTS , I JUST DIDN'T LIKE THAT IT DIDN'T HAVE AN EXTENDED FM, SINCE IT WAS A NEW MANUFACTURE, IT'S A SHAME NOT TO HAVE AN EXTENDED FM! PLUS I AM A RADIO LISTENER AND A LOVER OF CASSETTE TAPE AND VINTAGE PRODUCTS! I WILL GET IT! CONGRATULATIONS ON THE VIDEO FRIEND, HUGS FROM ARGOIM ;BAHIA, BRAZIL!

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

This could be the best “High School” 🏫 age boombox 🤯. It reminds me of how old I am now, as opposed to 1984, but it takes me back. Too bad, mine didn’t have the VU meters, but it was still a slice of history’s “ pie” 🥧. This happens to be the more deluxe version of boombox 🤯. Your friend, Jeff.

[@Reflectiveness]

Good job Tony.

[@stormchaser300]

The power meters on the top are both connected to the right channel and are not left and right you can see this in the channel left & right test on the tape you did,

[@NOWThatsRichy]

It looks the part, even if the sound is not the best, at least designers /manufactures are realising that people still love the designs & styles of the early 80s boomboxes.

[@Dan40049]

Looks good. I wonder how the performance on Shortwave is.

[@anasevi9456]

Thanks for the review. Chinese cheapo manufacturers have been doing a lot better job of making sure their decks are in spec over the last few years; even if everything else is still a bit slop. Made in China is what you pay for it, the top often among the best, the bottom often the worst. But the quality isn't that much cheaper than even European manufacturers. Was a Chinese developed M-mount lens made from 2011-2015 with a domestic novel lens array that out performed Leica's own latest and greatest German made £11k Noctilux lens by every metric, however it cost flipping £6-7k!

[@stevenchouinard850]

Exatement made in china 🤣

[@Ale.K7]

Great video!

[@SilverAudioHiFi]

Well I decided to buy one and predictably the sound is a bit on the thin side but I suspect that's due to fairly cheap speakers the unit ships with. When running a tape through the headphone jack and into a decent set of powered speakers it actually sounds quite good. No way that wow and flutter spec of 4% is correct it's probably 0.4%. So you get what you pay for like the LEDs and VU meters don't work on mine but I'm thinking I might have a look at retro fitting some better speakers in it and patching the PCB to get those LEDs working. The Bluetooth pairing is sensational. Fast and no problems pairing to an A52 smartphone and the Galaxy watch 4.

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah, if you think of it as a retro looking Bluetooth speaker that can play cassettes ok, you'll be happy enough.

[@raymondj8768]

Ive still got all my cassettes from the 80s all Rock !

[@ronniepirtlejr2606]

I owned some pretty top-of-the-line boomboxes in the 1980s. One Rocking monster I had was the JVC DC10 👍 They are starting to get a little better but, they are still not there with the quality!

[@Dedicatedtolivinginthepast]

This looks just about exactly the same as a boombox I have from 1984 with all of the save features except for the fact that this one has VU meters and mine doesn't!

[@arunasradzevicius1168]

Hey, cool video. Could it be that when you was recording test signals you mixed up cables?

[@CaptainDangeax]

Hi. maybe you did not notice, the led power level in the tuner windows are both wired to the right channel

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah. They're just for aesthetics so it's not really an issue.

[@JamesE707]

Just me thinking out aloud again - from experience I've often found that playback from recordings made from good decks always sound better. Should do too. :)

[@PeterMilanovski]

I have the Panasonic that's on the right side of the catalogue page selling for £150, actually I have 3 of them.... They were selling them here in Australia under the National brand... They are also using a permanent magnet erase head so don't expect hi-fi grade recordings but playback is actually pretty good... National made sure to print Portable HiFI System on the front of it... I had always wanted one when I was younger and they were new but they were expensive....

[@JamesE707]

Tony, funny you've just triggered a memory: back in 1973, my father bought me a *Sanyo M2000G* tape player (no radio). He bought it for £15 second hand from a friend, but it retailed at £30. So, translating that into today, and add 'boom box' functionality, I wonder how that would translate into today's money? Of course manufacturing methods, and cost cutting change over time, so not as expensive as we predict, but certainly a few quid nevertheless.

[@guerrillaradio9953]

Stability, wow and flutter (again, in context here), and what stood out to me was the treble (?!) even with a basic type I tape??? Get out the D batteries, and pack it up for the beach, it's about to be summer! 😏

[@leemaniac9091]

Is it possible to reverse the wires from, the head where they go into the board? Does it have real tweeters inside it? Is the mic any good? Can you tweak the VU meters with an internal pot control? All things I'd love to know but great video :)

[@yanks1fan09]

The VU Meters are just wonderful sitting there not reacting. 😂

[@samuelfellows6923]

😕 ~ that is because they have been incorrectly configured as “power meters” - like ones commonly seen on vintage HIFI component amplifiers = that react to the wattage of the volume setting

[@amnril]

Let’s be honest, it’s utter crud. Just slap a JVC M70,M90 or any one of a huge number of early 1980’s boombox next to it and see the monumental difference. At least it looks Retro and the VU Meters seem to work even if the cassette heads are wired the wrong way around 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Fun video to watch though 👍🙂

[@jaredjackson8526]

Does it actually record to USB from the radio?

[@Ken_Dodds_Tickling_Stick]

Looks not too bad for the money. Its very similar in shape, style and size to a Waltham unit i had in the early 80s....even the layout of the top knobs and switches are identical.

[@dimitrioskalfakis]

kudos for the enthusiasm ;-)

[@michaeldickson9876]

The VU meters look exactly like those on my pioneer ct-f9191

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

A similar product I've seen is the GPO Brooklyn from their Rewind range. Wonder if it's any good, can't seem to find it here in Brazil.

[@fredrodnick2881]

I also remember when my casserole deck broke, years ago my brother bought me a sansui one which I appreciated but it only had auto level control which to this day drives me crazy, so much so that I debated getting back into lps, but being somewhat poor and not having as much space for records as I used to, I declined.

[@GGoAwayy]

When my casserole deck broke, it was the french fried onion dispenser on top that snapped off.

[@AdamsBrew78]

It’s a shame there’s no refined boutique, 80s style boomboxes on the market. The half baked “GPO Brooklyn” is the best I’ve seen, and it’s nothing special. There could be a market for a tape/CD/dac passion project with high quality sound, solid metal construction and decent I/O ..perhaps digital int/ext record with mic input or built in mic, SD card. Throw in a Hypex based class-D amp and maybe even speaker terminals for extra versatility, power output increases under mains, 40-50 watt @ 8 ohms.

[@CassetteComeback]

And you do that, and the "enthusiasts" will say "I'll just keep using my *insert old item here* / I'd rather go on to eBay and refurb a *insert old item here*" The mass market needs to come back to cassttes again for any real quality to appear, but since that's not going to happen and also because there's no new quality media, nobody is going to take that risk.

[@davidbrown5646]

This does look a little bit like the Sharp GF 4343 I had back in the day, although that didn't have VU meters.

[@roytofilovski9530]

As long as it's stereo, what does it matter if the left channel comes out of the right speaker etc.?

[@gttarus1]

It looks like it was inspired by the Sanyo m9935. It looks so similar to my sanyo boombox.

[@AstonsVintageTechnologyWorkshp]

Erm, did the marketing department not spell check the manual? 😛 "Remove any more 'SPERM' from the swab". It's nice, but hopefully people won't get that excited. 🙃

[@CassetteComeback]

Nice spot!

[@senilyDeluxe]

I got my first stereo in 1994 at age 9 (a Crown - incredibly basic but had all I needed - permanent magnet erase head tells you pretty much all you need to know) and I found 72 spelling errors in the manual. Didn't have any funny spelling errors IIRC.

[@samuelfellows6923]

Poorly translated “chinglish”

[@senilyDeluxe]

You don't have to put in dozens of hours repairing it, dealing with belts that turned to goo or cracked gears you have to 3D print replacements for... (although I do have some vintage boomboxes that sound absolutely amazing and make recordings that are... decent, so fixing these can be rewarding - but then again it doesn't have to. My optically more appealing 1980 boombox sounds ok while my ugly-when-new 1980 boombox sounds better than most late 90s compact stereo systems. I'm not kidding!)

[@davarosmith1334]

Have you redone the wires on the tape deck? If so could you do a video showing what was done, like a after video of what it's like after it's done.

[@RandyDarkshade2]

Is it the channels wired wrong or did they connect the VU meters themselves wrong? Maybe you could open it up and switch the wires if you wanted too?

[@AudioGuyBrian]

It's too bad that KZbin doesn't let you use some good music like Rush, Jinjer, or even AC-DC and instead you are stuck with that 70's disco music with I guess has no copyright on it. I would love to hear what something like Rush's Tom Sawyer, or Jinjer's Outlander song would sound like on that boombox. Thanks for the demo. Seems like at least they took care of some of the W&F issues of the other cheap Chinese transports.

[@tarstarkusz]

I have a GP2X handheld emulation/games machine from 2006. It was made in Korea for the major shops of Korea (and advertised on TV and mainstream stuff in Korea) and I think it was sold in Europe as well (GP32, which was its predecessor was definitely sold in Europe). Very high quality machine, built very well (still works fine after all these years). It came stock with the left and right speakers reversed. It affected every single one. That's over 50k units. I call it a emulation machine only because it more or less failed and so emulators and homebrew are the vast majority of the software. It was intended to compete with the Gameboy Advance in South Korea. it's really not the end of the world, especially on such a physically small portable stereo. You really cannot get any degree of separation on such a physically small machine unless the speakers are on the side and facing away from each other. The speakers are just too close together to really matter. Headphones is another story. Most people will never even know.

[@MorgoUK]

That homemade track sounds, in the same genre, as “Rutherford & Fry’s Curio of the Week” intro. (A Podcast on BBC Sounds IYI)

[@laranaarana]

I still have (and use) my Sony CFS-65S that my father bought for me in 1981

[@80s_kid.]

i've just bought one of these but it hasn't been delivered yet. it looks smaller than i thought, it looked bigger in the pictures. i have my vintage boombox collection on my channel. about 30 boomboxes.

[@Mister-Salieri]

Good retro look, and also the stereo playback head is a plus however, I wouldn't put a good quality cassette into thing.

[@kforkrish]

I wanted to see it's guts inside, And maybe speaker upgrading and definitely fixing the reverse connection of stereo head.😅

[@jaredjackson8526]

Thank you for this. I personally think they should have put the VU meters on the input level and the LED meters on the volume level. If they went a stage further and did manual recording level / auto switch they would be almost at the high end. You could improve the quality a bit for a few quid. It would be great if there was the option. Otherwise the speed stability and accuracy is encouraging.

[@CassetteComeback]

That's the Chinese. Just enough done to make you buy...they have never cared about making anything of good quality.

[@c128stuff]

@@CassetteComeback I've dealt with Chinese manufacturors for a long time, and they are interesting... They totally can make things of good quality, but that requires actually asking them to do so, and sending back everything which isn't what was agreed quality wise... Left to their own devices, they totally go for the cheapest that is still acceptable to a large enough group of people to make it worth doing.

[@samuelfellows6923]

Chinesem crap 😠…. I could see the meters were incorrectly configured; the LED meter is supposed to be a mono power meter and should react to the volume setting, the analog meters are supposed to be a pair of stereo VU meters “as stated on their decals” 🙄 monitoring the input level. And as for the 2-channel/track play/record head having its [stereo] wires crossed over and not sounding right… as to be expected with these “polished turds” I know you have already said it… I would prefer to buy a vintage one from the 70s/80s/early 90s stated as “used” on eBay and only the cassette recorder needs to be serviced.

[@dimitarlazarov2094]

​@@samuelfellows6923, you forgot to mention the dual band short wave tuner which should not have been there if the Chinese knew what they had to do

[@plan7a]

Sort of looks the part (a bit overly 'speakered', perhaps, where they don't serve a purpose). The madness of the wrongly wired head is a bit of a shame. The Vu meters also are a bit of a shame, with a bit more attention made to them they could be better, I noted a lot of 'negative' bouncing and not much in the way of actual playback there. But, unlike most of the new ones made these days, they seemed to actually work and were linked to the sound output, to a degree. The MP3 playback showed them at a much higher level than tape playback; so this was a bit of a shame too. It is great that they are independent of one another and actually respond as individuals as opposed to just being for show and completely unrelated to the output sound as most these days are. A stopper to ensure it doesn't bounce into the negative would be an easy fix - or boosting it more into the positive, would help. A valiant effort, perhaps one of the best for years? But with its flaws - some of which could be easily sorted, perhaps.

[@CBitsTech]

Not good, but good enough. Good enough for the target market. I can't see retail price here being £60, especially including VAT. I think they'll fit off the shelves at £80, but I'd guess they'll go for £99.99.

[@mardellshepard697]

Try the audio crazy I think u will be very impressed it’s version looks identical but has all its features and built in rechargeable battery and option to use store baught batteries it also has working tweeters so that’s four speakers and bass boost short wave 1 radio feature am / fm u will be impressed and it’s same price in some cases cheaper try it

[@_____.__]

I think the LED meters show the linear signal level while the pointer indicators show the loudness at the speakers. No?

[@TechBaffle]

This looks VERY similar to a Crosley CT201A-BK boombox. Either this boombox is "inspired" by the Crosley one, or worse, the Crosley is literally the same thing with a Crosley badge stuck to it!

[@CassetteComeback]

Yeah, looks like they both come out of the same factory.

[@Nickword1]

Where do i buy one before it gets to expensive and sells out?

[@kos232323]

Great Video