A classic twin speaker setup, but at 30 inches long, this was a true metallic monster.
monster 80s boomboxes
Here is a roundup of collectible boomboxes, currently being auctioned on ebay. The mannerist nature of 80s ghetto blasters could not be more different from today’s minimalist trends in consumer audio gear, lead by Sony and Apple. Because of this, these devices now look obviously obsolete and different and are starting to become collectors items. Ugly, but interesting, and representative of their time, some are perfect examples of pointless feature driven design, something which still plagues software.
| Permalink: |
This machine is so consistently and extravagantly cheap and ugly that in a world of Miesian, minimalist Apple products, I want to own this for the sheer perversity of it.
Boom-boxes grew so giant that the Sharp VZ2000 could integrate a vertical turntable player with relative ease.
A relatively rare but perfect example of skeuomorphic design in consumer audio. Skeuomorph refers to shapes that are used for pure styling, such as the fake speaker bolts and decorative tweeter horns which are used along with audio performance graphs, to give this box the impression of professional, rugged studio gear.
A 4 inch black and white TV puts into perspective how much things have moved on since this was made. <p /><p />It is in the late era Boombox phase, with detachable speakers (or at least the same style as detachable versions) and red accents on black.
This somewhat austere design is almost like a cartoon of what a boombox should look like, as such it has become a collectors item, fetching several hundred dollars.
National RX models seem to be getting some interest from collectors. This is one of the last machines to feature a partial wooden chassis, before metallic plastic took over completely.<p /><p />It has a distinctive and unusual look, since the radio band is at the bottom.
Inserted here more as a curio, and to show the variants on the classic front facing boombox style.
This is the more unusual of the detachable speaker type of boombox. The speakers are attached below the receiver, rather than at the sides. The needle meters combined with late 80s boxy styling make this difficult to date just by looking at it.
A good example of the trend for square speaker design, this box devotes a full quarter of its interface to a completely meaningless graphic equalizer.
This is the kind of thing that fossil hunters go mad for - a transitionary species. The RC-838 is actually a 70s machine but is one of the first devices to capture the symmetrical 80s look of giant stereo boxes.<p /><p />It still has needle meters which disappeared from consumer devices as cheaper electronic indicators were sold as being more advanced.
Late 80s styling again, this one with plastic grilles over the tweeters, that would normally appear on speaker units with several hundred times the output. This style has continued into car audio gear, today.
