Hi Found this site through searching the web for any reviews on my new purchase yesterday of a Panasonic RX-5500 at a local auction. It looks in mint condition and comes with the original box. Is there anyone else on this site that has one and any tips for a newbie. I remember when it came out in the late 70's especially the ad with Earth Wind and Fire and always wanted one but my parents brought be a cheap Akai boom box as these were well expensive at the time.
Hello from Bournemouth. We were planning to visit Jersey last Easter but obviously that couldn't happen. A tip regarding the website is to use Google rather than the inbuilt search. I'm sure the Earth Wind and Fire advert is on here somewhere. The reason I joined Stereo2Go years ago was to point out how expensive boomboxes were in the late 1970s / early 1980s. My bottom of the range Sony was 1/6th the price of my new Honda motorbike back then.
Hi my son was at Bournemouth Uni last year so had many trips there, love it there. Picked it up at lunchtime and it's practically brand new with original box, owners manual, free blank cassette and even the original 8 batteries. I have been looking for one for years but they go for silly money and most are well used and tatty, tonight I will go in the loft and get some of my old mix tapes out. I remember the original ad so well from back in the day, here it is.
Bournemouth University which is actually in Poole. I am actually in Mudeford, Christchurch, but nowadays the town names are really just lines on a map (all under the same BCP Council) and it is easier for people to find Bournemouth on a map. regarding prices have a look at this thread http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/cassette-boombox-bargains-back-in-1980.4337/ The adverts don't list the RX5500 but do list the Rx4350 at £179. What's more those are discount prices thought to be worth advertising not RRP. £179 is 1/3rd of the price I paid for my new Honda CB100N back when I was earning £25 a week. Regarding the Panasonic, don't be surprised if the rubber belts inside have turned to goo, although I have a Sanyo which my Mother bought in about 1973 which was still OK last time I tried it.
@Shivadread - Welcome to the club! Here is my RX-5500 Disco Mac, bought it for ~$30 from Japan so had to repaint most of the oxidized chrome, fixing busted Left channel was more challenging, but the end result sounds very nice! Challenges pile up from the very start: to open her up you have to remove cassette door. Unless you follow Service Manual closely (contact @Reli to get one) you may break the tabs. Warning - a spoiler:
Welcome! Great purchase, it's amazing how boomboxes came and went and they were such icons of our youth. Hopefully yours works, but it shouldn't be too hard to get new belts installed. This is a very nice box, if you open it up do it carefully and if parts don't want to separate, look for more screws.
Thanks for the posts, found a mixture of tapes last night that have been in the garage for over 20 years, so didn't have much hope for them. First up were a couple of mixtapes I taped from Radio 1 2003-2005. These played perfectly all leds working and FWD & RWD all good. Next up were some original tapes brought in the 80/90's that started playing good but a few seconds later started to slow down, so FFWD and RWD them a few times and all were good with them. All in all I'm happy as pig in sh#t and this weekend will venture up to the loft to see what cassette gems I have. Oh by the way the wife loves it as it looks aesthetically pleasing
I get in that zone, I find some of my old tapes that haven't been played since the early 90's, I rebelt a shelf queen and yep, it turns into a nice evening. And like you said they look pretty cool playing the music, and they get a lot of notice.
