Worst Systems

[Buckeyefan 1]

New thread to name the worst systems you or a freind/relative owned.

My choice is Sound Design with the turntable on top and one way tower speakers with the passive radiator and chrome voice coil cover.

When we were kids, we used to rate systems by how slow the cassette drawer opened.

Heck, even junk systems you can currently find on ebay would be neat. Any 8 track systems out there?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48649&item=5762652611&rd=1

check out the fat dude in the photo
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48626&item=5763701148&rd=1

are you kidding me?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48626&item=5764194033&rd=1

 

[MacManNM]

Panasonic boom box, that had aux input. I took out the woofers and replaced them with killer radio shack 5 1/4" drivers, installed a radioshack 200w power booster, and hooked it into my cig lighter in my chevelle.

 

[trevorgray]

I took an old Pioneer 6 x 9 car speaker and stuck it (literally) in a piece of wood. Then ran the speaker to the bathroom of my dorm room. 8 ohm had nothing on me (besides, it was my roommates receiver).

That doesn't even compare to my Realistic stereo that 8 track (Rewind and FF feature) and a turntable.

 

[patnshan]

New thread to name the worst systems you or a freind/relative owned.

My choice is Sound Design with the turntable on top and one way tower speakers with the passive radiator and chrome voice coil cover.

When we were kids, we used to rate systems by how slow the cassette drawer opened.

Heck, even junk systems you can currently find on ebay would be neat. Any 8 track systems out there?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48649&item=5762652611&rd=1

check out the fat dude in the photo
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48626&item=5763701148&rd=1

are you kidding me?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=48626&item=5764194033&rd=1

I can barely get back on the chair I was laughing so hard

That last guy must be doing some of the drugs that were popular back in the day! $265!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pat

 

[NetGeek]

Next to my Sounddesign 8-track combo

I had a car system where we were using those speakers you hung on your car window in drive-in Movie Theaters. We "liberated" the speakers after drinking a couple of bottles of MD 20/20 while watching "Jailbait Babysitters" at the Thunderbird drive-in in Houston. 24 ga. speaker wire was used for power the radio, a short circuit latter fried the wire and almost suffocated us while driving.

 

[corysmith01]

I'm not okaying it or condoning it, but while all of you are laughing, the guy selling that Lasonic is laughing all the way to the bank...Boomboxes, or "ghetto blasters" as they're known in the inner circle, are big business right now. They're being sought with the same furvor that old school/reissue sneakers are being sought. It's a club, a big hobby right now. To them, having an old, rare box is the equivilent to us coming home after dropping 10G's at our local audio retailer on some serious gear. To each his own I guess. Check this out, if you want to be up on your classic boombox history...some of this stuff is a trip:

http://www.pocketcalculatorshow.com/boombox/birth1.html

 

[djoxygen]

When we were kids, we used to rate systems by how slow the cassette drawer opened.

RAWK!!! We did the same. The slower the better!

My 2 favorite worst systems were...

1) My Sears brand (supposedly rebranded Fisher) all-in-one with AM/FM, turntable, cassette, and 8-track player/*recorder*. (Never in my life have I seen a blank 8-track tape, but if I had, I'm one of the few people in the world who'd have been able to do something with it!) After most of junior-high and all of high-school with this rig, I got a JVC CD player, opened up the back of the Sears, and jacked it right into the guts of the system!

2) Sometime in junior-high, my sister and I pooled our lawn mowing and babysitting money and split the price of a little AM/FM/cassette boombox. I can't remember the brand, but the "woofers" were rocking 3.5" drivers (paper, I'd wager). I'm not sure how the "loudness" button even did anything with those. The best part is that the cassette transport was actually a portable walkman-style player that had its own battery compartment and headphone jack and *docked* with the main unit. I'm sure you can guess how ugly the fights got over who got to use it.

 

[patnshan]

RAWK!!! We did the same. The slower the better!

My 2 favorite worst systems were...

1) My Sears brand (supposedly rebranded Fisher) all-in-one with AM/FM, turntable, cassette, and 8-track player/*recorder*. (Never in my life have I seen a blank 8-track tape, but if I had, I'm one of the few people in the world who'd have been able to do something with it!) After most of junior-high and all of high-school with this rig, I got a JVC CD player, opened up the back of the Sears, and jacked it right into the guts of the system!

2) Sometime in junior-high, my sister and I pooled our lawn mowing and babysitting money and split the price of a little AM/FM/cassette boombox. I can't remember the brand, but the "woofers" were rocking 3.5" drivers (paper, I'd wager). I'm not sure how the "loudness" button even did anything with those. The best part is that the cassette transport was actually a portable walkman-style player that had its own battery compartment and headphone jack and *docked* with the main unit. I'm sure you can guess how ugly the fights got over who got to use it.

I had a Emerson one of those. The loudness button made the THD go from 5.0 to 25.0!


Pat

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Amazing. I still have a Sony in the garage with an eq and detachable speakers from that era. Kept it b/c it sounds good. I got rid of a Toshiba because the cassette deck broke. Had auto reverse and directional lights telling you which tape was playing. The latter Sony's with the square woofers sounded very good. I remember the Lasonic's and Helix's. They were Japanese models with 8" drivers that didn't impress me that much. They distorted very quickly but sounded good at moderate volumes. GE made some of the best sounding boom boxes back then. Great site. Thanks for the link!

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

That doesn't even compare to my Realistic stereo that 8 track (Rewind and FF feature) and a turntable.

Oh, man! You had an 8-track with your's? I just had the turntable/amp with speakers, not even a radio! Lucky dog.

A friend of mine helped me take an old car cassette stereo, we attached a cigarette lighter plug, and took the speakers from the realistic and put them in the back area behind the back seat of my mom's bug. Man, that thing cranked!

And I could put it in any car I wanted.

 

[farscaper]

Love this topic.
I had some 2nd hand stereo stuff as a teenager. My Dad's friends knew i liked to tinker with stereos so they gave me crap that if i was lucky, still worked. Radio Shack was my friend.
When i was 14, my Dad bought me a new all-in-one stereo. It was an Emerson.
On top was a motorized am/fm receiver. You had to push a left/right botton and wait till the dial motored to the radio station you wanted. No memory buttons.
A 5 band equalizer.
A double cassette deck w/dolby nr.
And a turntable at the bottom.
The turntable was also motorized. You press a button and the whole turntable mechanizm would slide out. Press again to go back in.
That thing was indestructable, nothing ever broke down. It even lasted through two of my younger brothers. I think it was finally mercy killed by my father.
Ohh the memories.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I actually had this receiver. It was handed down to me by an uncle. The thing actually sounded pretty good. Ugly. Check out the weight of this monster! The tuner rope inside broke. I tried getting it fixed, but it broke again and now it's retired.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50596&item=5763707363&rd=1#ebayphotohosting

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

um.

What's wrong with that receiver? I still have my Sx-780 and it works perfectly. I don't think it's ugly. To me, this metal on metal industrial stuff they sell now looks ugly.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

um.

What's wrong with that receiver? I still have my Sx-780 and it works perfectly. I don't think it's ugly. To me, this metal on metal industrial stuff they sell now looks ugly.

Nothing. I loved that receiver. It sounded great and was built like a tank. A roommate in college had a similar Technics that we used for 3 years powering 4 stacked 3 way 12" floor speakers. It would shake the entire dorm. Amazing stuff back then. Those receivers have a totally different sound - more crisp and a rolling depth. Now that power was underrated IMO.

 

[Red]

Pioneer SX series

I bought the Pioneer SX 750 in 1976 when in college...a great piece of equipment. We were running a pair of 3 way DIY speakers with 15" woofers and a pair of 2 way Infinity's with 8" and we had a tendency to play everything LOUD.

And I agree with Shadow_Ferret, not ugly at all, in fact I think it is classic look.

Still have it today, my son uses it as the center of his fledgling system. Just a great and durable unit.