GPO BROOKLYN PORTABLE BOOMBOX / Unboxing & Full Review / Ghetto Blaster 

I can't believe more companies aren't making classic style boomboxes. It's such an iconic look.

I became my „Ghettoblaster“ today. I am so in Love with the Radio. Thank you so much for this splendid review

You explained very well what people exactly want to know about this boombox....I like the similarity to the real 80s box...Definitely a nostalgic reminder of a great music era...!!!

Sadly great designers worked for JVC back in the 1970s and 1980s and have long since retired if not died of old age. I'm looking for an old restored and upgraded JVC Ghetto Blaster. I saw this boombox on Amazon and it does look nice just not on the same scale as the old school JVC Boomboxes. I didn't look but it would be awesome if it has HD Radio considering its from GB I know HD is a big thing across the pond. I may have to settle for this radio not bad just not as great but It does look pleasing the more I look at it. You did a fantastic job with the unboxing and review. Keith from Phoenix, Arizona USA.

I got one a year ago here in America (no DAB lol, which is fine). LOVE IT!!! I have many friends that sell music digitally, on vinyl, as well as cassettes. It was a surprise gift because someone noticed I was purchasing cassettes but couldn't play them. I listen to my GPO everyday. Having updated capabilities is just golden.

I immediately recognized the enthusiasm of your voice at the beginning of the video! coming from your airsoft channel! great vid mike!

I just bought a JVC egg shaped CD/Radio/Twin Tape remote controlled portable for 50 notes. In 1994 it was in the Argos catalogue for 199.99! The important thing for sound with these things, for me anyway, is having separate bass and treble controls or at least a 7 bar graphic equaliser. The ones with just a tone control knob seemed to sound just terrible. This GPO only has one modern thing I'd like to see on my 25 year old beauty and that's the USB function. You can keep your Bluetooth and DAB, they're too flaky for my taste. Great review and good to see some legacy media (cassette tape) making a sort of come back, cheers for this!

Thanks got mine today and is charging right now 😎

You did very well representing this video. And yourself. Speaking very well. You did a great job. And I appreciate it. I'm going to pick up this one to have in my collection. I have the old school JVC boombox radio. A classic from The 1975. And I was only 15 years old. And it is 2021 now. And my baby is kicking strong. And nice and smooth. I have people offer me 500 to a thousand dollars. But I said no because this is from my childhood. I was a break dancer. As well as an actor. My breakdance name was sideswipe. I was the leader of my group. Undefeated. We was called One Nation under groove. Brooklyn boys. I knew some members from the Rock steady Crew. And we were good friends. But I'm trying to collect these other two boombox from 1975. Because I have one of them. They come in Gray with metal brass all around. And it's three different versions. Thank you for representing my brother. I appreciate that. One love and God bless. From America 🇺🇸. ❤️🙏👼🦾🏆💪🎉🤼⚖️🧘🌍✌️😇❤️

Good god! Looks exactly like my JVC from the early 80s, even has fairy lights. I don't half miss my old JVC. Would love to get one. Good video.

Great review, I got one about a week ago and love it, it’s exactly what it’s intended to be.

The true Blaster's had all the key controls on top so you could slid your fingers up and down the handle to adjust what was playing while on your shoulders doing some moves down the street.

This is a one of a kind throwback

That is so cool. Clear sound even for the rock snippet from your bluetooth device. Very nice. I had a Hitachi ghetto blaster from around 1980/81, which lasted until about 1994. Brilliant machine with bass and tweeters, radio with fm and tape deck. Silver colour with black speakers. Wish I still had it. Been looking on the internet just to see if there's pics of the actual model.

Thanks for your in-depth video bro,I've just purchased a used one & going to check out now! No Skool like Oldskool bro Thank you 🙌🏼🤜🏼💥🤛🏼🤘🏼

Plus I want a Lasonic & the massive sharp Vs series with the record player in the front 👊🏼😏

now that how i recall a boombox when i was a teen!!!!!!! i keep seeing people calling small radio with cassette recorders all over youtube a boombox lol. if they say this a boombox small like that we make fun them back then. thank you for this video this was sick i love it.

Thank you for a very detailed review, you have helped me make my decision!

The sound quality is absolutely amazing on them. I was blown away by how good it was (literally).

Excellent work ethic. Thanks. I'm glad they include everything. Will break in few weeks. Want big speakers. More bassy. I can hear it crying for more bass.

I like the rca out. Run that to any mixer or pa for your house speakers 🔊 💥

It’s an amazingly powerful battery, but there’s no replacements available!

Wow great product - brilliant presentation Mike. I am seriously considering getting one on the strength of your presentation. Nicely done!

i am really impressed with this review, well and clearly explained ,

Thanks so much for reviewing all the features, pros, and cons. I'm looking for a CD player to gift and this is the best input by far. (My 1996 JVC is still going. RIP 80s Panasonic.)

Ok so the most important part. How good is the cassette since there has yet to be a new cassette player that isn’t the tinashi garbage. If the cassette deck is good quality I will buy one immediately

In the US, we listen to AM for Sports and Talk Radio!

Good review homie! I saw this is available in new colors too. Black, green, red, etc.

That reel to reel style cassette looks awesome, never seen one before!

It's $254 USD that's pricey but it has a lot of features. Converting your CDs and cassettes to MP3s is huge.

Oh if only it wasnt so expensive. I want one so much

I’m kind of surprised. I only know of GPO through rebadged Crosley Cruisers so I’d expected this to be more of the same - really cool-looking but also really low-quality. But it seems as if it’s not too bad. I’m sure the tape mechanism in them is that exact same kind of crappy one that’s in all new tape players, but given it’s afaik the only one being made these days that’s not really something that can be helped.

Lovely boombox.. The ghetto blaster..

For your USB stick, use FAT32 mostly, FAT for very old compatibility. And forget NTFS file system. This is Microsoft copyrighted rarely used by Hifi or TV system. To change the file system of your USB stick, you need first to backup all the files to another drive, reformat your USB to Fat32 and get back all your mp3 and others. By the way, thanks for your presentation. Kiss from New-Caledonia.

Can you record to tape from the USB and bluetooth?

Thank you for that review it give a good idea of the product!

You’ve just persuaded me to buy one now, thankyou

My Mrs would love this.. bit pricey at £270 though isn't it

I’m savin up for this but I only got 15 bucks😭

Great Video and unboxing man. Greetings from Germany. Markus

I would assume the usb needs to be formatted properly in order to work probably in fat32

It doesn't seem to handle the Bass too well. Also, there is just one company still making Cassette Decks, and it's probably the same Deck that you will find on a $50 Stereo Cassette unit! I wish there were other choices, because the competition would be good for us. I think having a second Battery Pack would be good to buy along with it.

Looking at this on Amazon, wondering if it's good or not. RU-vid to the rescue! Thanks for the awesome review, and love your accent!

Fantastic review! It's pretty cool, but, I prefer the black one, I personally think it looks a lot more premium! One other thing I noticed when you were playing the CD, is that the timer didn't count the time played in minutes, but it went beyond 60 seconds, counting the time in seconds, rather than in minutes and seconds. At what bit-rate does the USB recorder record the CD and cassette at, and what's the sampling rate? Again, great review, and thanks for uploading. Watching from Trinidad and Tobago.

Tried my used one recently & no faults at all report like ive seen on other posts with issues or problems,maybe a bad batch were product? My only fault is the clumbsy prevoius owner has lost the blue battery pack/ block 😢 perhaps ill be able to pick one up somwhere? Thanks again

Porfect teyp amazing tape

Outstanding review!

Nice review, bro! Thank you for video. I think buy this thing. (sorry for my mistakes and hello from Russia =) )

I would like it to also get Short wave so I can get instructions from "Fearless leader"!

Damn the sound of the 80,s is banging,who is it by , the first one I mean.nice review I love it

top review man, considering of these

it realy looks just like a lasoinc trc 920 was a monster i miss mine my girlfriend bought me one for my birthday way way back 1984 now on ebay their going 350.00 ^ or more for one in great mint condition that g.p.o has that real classic look amazing !

Nice editorial 🔥

Absolutely wonderful ahh man they much better than today's cheesy peazy housey mousey crap " these HIFIs played music and it was extroverted for to share with all,dance with all and to sing with all

Awesome review! What an amazing boom box. Quick question; Can the cassette deck record from the aux in rca source? How about the cd player, can you record on a blank cd from an aux in source? Looking to get this to mix and master down from an old school Tascam multitrack cassette based recording unit.

OK I see, I just watched the video last part, I think you agree with me, the output level looks strange. In my eyes, the level is beating with music wave, i.e. beating with the volume of music, however, it has its own animation. What do I mean? If you play a continuous tone without any changes like volume and frequency, I think the output level will still shake with its own rhythm which had set by some engineers. however, the top point of the output level will follow the volume of the tone. Just my opinion, thank you!

Very nice detailed review of the GPO Brooklyn Boombox. I just received mine in lack like you show at the end of your review. I am in SE Florida USA, and just received mine two days ago! It sounds great, having had the original version Boomboxes in the late 70's and then onward. It cost $300.00 US about what your price was at 230 UK Pounds. There was Tax, but no shipping charge here. There is no DAB here in North America, but some receivers, mostly in autos have Digital channels on FM called HD in the US, on the regular FM stereo frequencies, but very few receivers are available here for FM/AM HD anymore. The AM reception, here 50 miles north of Miami, is not very sensitive in it's reception, but FM reception is good. I too like that CD's and tapes can be recorded to USB chips or sticks. The shorter battery life is a bit of an issue too. The VU meters when on, from another video review, only move from receiving external sound, maybe with a built in microphone. I agree they should be dampened not to run up high to easily.

Dude so fire..... i remember being a wee tike. And my gramma was waklkin down market street in san francisco where i lived and seeing those bad dudes with those aural assault weapons onthdir sjoulders that theyve clealry grown immune to after so much exposure lol always wanted one

We need this!!!

hello that good video and excellent explanation I will have it tomorrow my wife gave it to me and I swear to God that I like it so much as a teenager I could not have it but now yes 12/15/19

The rechargeable battery capacity (or lack thereof) is the primary downside of the GPO Boombox; make the battery capacity at least as long as a typical notebook computer, 8 hours at least. Need to be able to charge the battery independent of the boombox, with a USB connection, its own stand alone charger or compatible to other USB battery chargers. Need a low battery indicator on the front of the boombox.

I've never heard of DAB. I live in the US.

DAB is not used within US, HDR standard used for digital FM radio here, they are not compatible. They should have made HDR instead of AM in US version but apparently did not bother.

The tape counter counting nothing and the plastic looks really cheap for a $400 stereo. Also does anyone know what types of cassettes will it play? guessing only type 1, so no chrome or metal

So damn impressed of this speaker🥵

I know it's a lithium battery but it still looks a bit small for a 80 watt boombox

Nice video. The best repreduction I have seen, almost done right! I wish they put a little more quality into the finish, metal knobs for example without any wiggle, metal grills etc. I wish they put a better quality tapedeck inside with soft touch control, dolby is impossible because it cannot licensed anymore (damn!). The big plus of this unit is the battery, you can replace it easily or take a second battery with you. I think it is possible to replace the battery (extend battery life) with three 2600mah 18650's in parallel or customize the battery compartiment with a 18650's holder so it will fit 3 round batteries (like the old days :-D ). Be careful with 18650's, shorting these guys or wrong polarity connection can cause allot of damage! Buy protected ones if you plan to do this. The USB problem is, I quess, a formatting problem. I don't think it supports NTFS and no different FAT32 cluster sizes, the cluster size must be right. In the manual are no specifications at all, that is really surprising so I am not able to check my thoughts. I wonder what the quality is of the recorded MP3 files (or is it WAV?), mostly this is pretty low quality. Have seen 128kbs or lower. I wish they added WIFI internet radio instead of DAB. The DAB standard is pretty lame, also the DAB+ variant, especially in the UK (search Techmoan's channel for this). Internet radio is overal much better quality and more stable without strange noises. Because there are no specs available (and one single battery) I don't think the amplifier is many watts, just a couple of watts, let's say 2x3watts or 2x5watts. If you know the $1 PAM8403 class-d amp, it is only 2x3Watts however this can be pretty loud with decent speakers. Do a teardown on this puppy, to see what is actually inside (what chips are used) and to watch the build quality inside (especially the cassette deck). Overal, a great review, thanks for sharing!

Those boomboxes rock next cash I get I want to get one bad

Hi Mike. Many thanks for a very comprehensive and well thought out review. Hoping to purchase one of these soon - for nostalgic reasons. Years ago I bought a similar device (minus DAB, Bluetooth, etc as they hadn't been invented). This was a Sharp unit with twin cassette decks. Twin cassettes were just being launched to enable creation of compilation tapes without the need to connect an external tape player. Sadly I flogged the unit at a car boot sale several years back.Do still have a sort of ghettoblaster, namely a 1990 Panasonic machine. Radio, CD, twin cassettes AND remote control. Still seems to work OK but doesn't have the essential look of the 1980s equivalents. To round off was most taken with what looked like a pretty impressive equaliser on your phone. Is such a thing readily available? To round off, will look out for more of your videos and thanks again. All the best. Allan

I am saving up for one 😊

Boom! shake-shake-shake the room ... :-)

Arra lennék kíváncsi hogy a kazettás magnó másnál is folyton kikapcsol-e a lejátszás és felvétel üzemmódba? Mert ez lehet tervezési és, vagy gyártási hiba.Én már a negyedik készüléket cserélem és mind ugyan úgy működik. Ezért valószínű hogy mind ugyan olyan hibás. A magnó mechanikája javíthatatlan. Ezt egy szerelő mondta.Egyébként a készülék hangereje sokkal gyengébb a hasonló nagyságú készülékek között.Ha jól megfigyeljük akkor a hangszóró rács mögött sokkal kisebb hangszórót építettek be mint amekkora lenne a hangszóró rács átmérője.

I’m from India and a retro music freak! All of the English from the 70’s, 80’s and the 90’s and I love this thing!! I wish to buy this! Price?

I need one of these!

It's like a Sanyo M9935K but not so close

Great review to help me decide. Thanks

Great video 😎👍

Excellent presentation! It was better before. Todays boomboxes are ugly and without style(I actually have a such one JVC you show of in the video). And at least when it comes to bass it's superior to all the 80s boomboxes. But I actually don't think it's much the better when it comes to sound quality. I miss the 80s and I consider to get this boombox. But I am just a bit concerned about the placement of the disc insert; may it cause problem with dust in the player after a while?

Bought one of these and suddenly there's no audio from the speakers nor the 3,5 jack. Output level is blinking and it seems to be playing, just the audio not working. I have a video on my channel displaying this, do you know why it won't work?

@Techmoan must watch this video. What a pice a kit. RCA in and out plus a line in? That's rare. Also with the outs, allows you to hook up DAB to any system as an upgrade.

I got one of these Boomboxes ok! But the damn power unit adapter was missing from the packaging or the box it came in !!!?? 😕😰😭🤦🏻‍♂️

I love mine Christmas present from hubby all 80s stuff played on it.

What app are you using at the 25 mark for playing music thru bluetooth? I love that spectrum analyzer!. I'm torn between the GPO BROOKLYN and the JBL Extreme bass bluetooth only jambox. Battery life may make my decision. But thanks for awesome review.

Cool 😎 Factor =10!

Where can buy radio like this..i like it

Good price on these . Good value considering all the functions.

Thanks so much for this video, I just found the output level looks a little bit strange, are you sure it is beating with music wave you are playing? Thank you!

I am looking for a boombox/ghettoblaster for the lowrider cruise when weathers good.

Excellent review

What a product.

Era pra ter mais variedades desse modelo, se as grandes empresas fizessem seria muito bom, como esse bombox estilo vintage ,ADOREI! 👍👏👏👏

Hey guys. Need your help. I recently baught the USA FM/AM version. But after unboxing I noticed that I'm unable to select and change from Aux to tape, CD, Bluetooth etc. Its stuck in Aux and I'm unable to select the other audio options when I turn the dial. Help!!!!!!😭

Türkiye'de uygun bir fiyata satılır umarım. Çok iyi bir ürüne benziyor...

AM is still a big thing over here in the States and Canada even if it's a dying band but it will be around for another couple of decades yet. Also, does the file system that the USB sticks are in Fat 32? Sometimes these sorts of players don't recognize exFat. Great video.

Very good review . I'm trying to find out if it has an alarm clock and a sleep function?? Thankyou.

this seems really cool. do you think it's worth $260?

Coool

Where can you buy the power brick adapter for it ?? 😕😰🤦🏻‍♂️

what sample is that in the intro?

this is really cool i hope you enjoy it