Awesome thorough review. I'm shocked they wanted £250 for that thing! Even at £100, that feels like too much. I really felt like you were more positive about the GPO Brooklyn than it actually deserved! I would have been much more harsh :-)
@@Agri458 Patreon. Go to the site and search for Techmoan. Then you can sign up to support his channel with a monthly fee, you then get early access to videos etc.
13:28 you know it's been 1,166,832,000 seconds in my life and I finally find a CD player that tracks time like I do, just had to wait 808 seconds into this 2,039 second long youtube video,.
lol, yes, even the domestic reel to reel tape recorders counter often only related to the amount of times the take up reel turned and not actual time. Very accurate counters are only really needed for editing or for professional use. But my oh my if you try to sell a recorder with a dodgy belt expect all hell to be let loose :)
So many of these Alibaba, generic Chinese audio devices out there. Too bad quality is a thing of the past for these devices. The retro styling is interesting and the included speakers are almost impressive (big magnets). As usual, very thorough review...great job!
@@WesTheHunter that's a bit harsh. Shit piece of audio kit is shit, i think you may be overly sensitive to go from that to 'that's why I hate life', unless of course Life is the name of a product that represents all you loathe about shit audio stuff. Perhaps Life have a reputation for making things which have hardly at all useful features that ostensibly appear like a different probably more useful thing. Like cars that appear to offer a handy display which tells the user how much fuel they have remaining, yet the display is actually a pollen count meter.
We need Japan and Korea to start assemble stuff again, not just design them. They've made the quality things back in the past with rigorous quality control.
Let's face it Matt you were so diplomatic reviewing this you should work for the U.N. So I will say it for you " this is a pile of plasticly crappy overpriced trash"
Gotta love that “counter”. It’s like the people who designed this didn’t know why one would want a counter on a tapedeck and just thought people liked watching a number go up while listening to music.
If a Chinese product lasts a couple years it was over engineered. It should last only long enough to make it out of the packaging before being thrown in the trash. What do you know. Communism produces trash.
@@SlocketSeven I doubt the system of Government in PRC is in any way communism - private enterprise seems pretty rampant. If there wasn't a market for crap like this, then it wouldn't be produced - I don't in any way blame the manufacturer, it's been made to spec, with the cheapest components to maximise profit - that's pure undiluted Capitalism. Also, lots of really good quality stuff is made in China, like your iPhone for example.
@@the_failed_states in China the government still effectively owns and controls all the companies, but they are quite light handed when it comes to interfering, but companies in China are expected to share any product designs they create, which is why you see so many slightly different clones of the same product. Individuals can run companies and reap the rewards, but the government has the final say and total access to anything that happens. Not capitalist, but definitely not communist either.
And then a butler comes in to inform you you're wanted on the telephone because a talking steam locomotive you own got into an argument with a bobby over not having a cowcatcher.
@@benholroyd5221 You should be grateful, though. The places I’ve worked it’s usually Capital or Kiss FM. You’d be begging for the sweet relief of boring Radio 4 after a few minutes of that, let alone all day, I can assure you.
I have seen another review of this crap on youtube and sorry to say, the reviewer loved it. My last great radio/cassette recorder was an Aiwa TPR990 and it was a beauty.
I think a boombox that actually does what this one says it does would sell quite well. I'm getting nostalgic for original 80's/90's electronics, but it's hard to find one in good condition
It's really depressing when you see the amazing engineering in the older quality hifi sets. It's a shame that kind of technology is pretty much redundant nowadays.
"Who wants to play cassette tapes anymore?" I recently came across several tapes that were stashed away in my deceased father's possessions. Many of them contained the Christmas music I heard around the house as child, and it was great to hear those tapes again.
We found some old tapes that had recordings of my grandfather interacting with us back in the 1980s. We converted the tapes to digital to preserve them. But, we sometimes play the tapes as we feel closer to him because we were listening to HIS tapes.
The 80's boy in me is sad... in those days we really worked and saved for our JVC/Victor/AIWA whatever, adjusted for today's dollars they were really quite expensive. A sad shadow of what we had... or still have. My RC-M70 and -60 are still near-mint and fully serviced and functional, and still worth every penny I've put into 'em. Thanks again as always.
@SteelRodent Yes, my Panasonic RX-FS430, which was a lower quality beginners boombox with only a radio and one non-dolby cassette deck, still works great (after maintenance). The sound quality of the speakers and the mechanism was ok'ish back in the day and still outperforms all the boomboxes of today in terms of sound quality I think. With a bluetooth cassette adapter I can connect it to my phone and get some nice retro "bluetooth speakers". The FS430 definitly was on the low end of Panasonic's catalog at around 1990-1992, but that makes it to me even stranger that today's machines sound so bad...
@SteelRodent nah, there was low end stuff back then. Brands like Yorx and Sharp and such sold low cost, fairly trashy copies of whatever Sony and Technics were making. As much as we may choose not to remember it, there is always a sub-market for lowvend crap.
@SteelRodent Oh, I don’t know. We had Amstrad, Saisho etc, available in your local Dixons (which I actually did my work experience in, in the late 80s). That was bad gear. My brother was a hi-fi nut, so even then I knew it was crap and actually advised a few customers not to buy it. Needless to say, I didn’t get a ‘salesman of the month” award. 😀
@@andreasklindt7144 Some of those RX Panasonic’s were good. I had an RXC41-L and loved it. You can pick a tidy one of those up for about 70 quid now, probably only needing a bit of ‘Techmoan style’ maintenance. No CD player, but had an AUX in for an external one. Either way, it would beat this pile of nonsense hands down.
There are people you ask to draw a clock face and they draw only the right half or all the numbers show 1 or they are backwards or in a straight line... Hemispatial neglect and other brain problems... Seems like this was designed by one of them.
the Yertub channel named Forgotten Weapons showed a few Chinese pistol copies from decades ago that were just like that. 'It's like somebody saw one of these automatics and didn't know what any of the buttons on it did, then invented uses for them when they copied the design.'
"bruh shut up you built like a M̶̡̡̡̡͈͈̠̪̼̖̱̠̼̬̺̈̈́̈́̓̅̋̚͝͝ͅṀ̷̨̛̜̤͇̰͚̳͛̿̀͝M̶̧̨͇̰̮̙͙̰̖͍̮͖̲̻̤͇͓͓͔̓̊́̂̿̌̑͛̊͜͠M̵̢̛͍͔͔̲͕̪͇͍̾͂̑̄̿̊̈́̄̏̕̚̕͠͝͠ͅM̸̱̠̩͇͖̳̚͠Ḿ̴̢̧̢̛̲̻̻̺͓̤̠͓̜̌̒̅̉̄̍́̐̾͋̀͛̾̂͌̀̈́̚Ḿ̷̱͓͈̫͓͍̘͊̌̈́̀̓̈́̎̒͝M̴̛̰̠̰͚̜̯͖̮̱̥̜̥͔̤̥͛̄͛̈́̓̉̄̒͐͋͛̈́̄̀̔̿̽̎͜͝ͅM̵̢̨̢̦̞̗̣̗͈̜͂͋̔̑́̐̆͝M̸̯̜͙̫͐̍̋̑̓͆͋͂̔́̂͋̚͘̚ B̴̩͖͎̠̘͓̄̀ͅE̸̜͠͝E̶̠̥̔̿͛̅̃͋͝P̴̨͇̻̑̿̄ ̷̜̻̇͑̄̂͑̄B̷͖͔̂̃͗̂̅̎̿Ę̵͖̞͖͇̜͒ͅE̴͓̺̮̥̠̩̝̤͌͊̔̀͑̌P̷͓̱̪̣̪̝̐̃̍̂̈͗͜ͅ ̷̛̖̳̥̞͙̑̒̔̿B̷͔̈́͆̐̓͋̄͊Ë̶͇͙̅͗̿͜͝E̴̛͖̫͔͖̣̥͖͂̾̇̌͌̅P̵̧̣͓͎̑̎͒̑͠ ̴̢̺̭̟̀̾̀̊̔̓͊B̷̟͙̑͊͊̎̑̚͝Ȩ̵̹̭̤́̌͆̈̅Ẽ̷̖͛͝P̶̨͇̗̆̌̐̀̔̍̚
Well. The people in the UK sent the logo across as an email attachment, requested it be placed on the front and back optional locations, thought up the model number and provided the address for the label on the back... That qualifies as "designed". Doesn't it? It doesn't?? Ooh you're so picky!
Back in the 80's and 90's, 'cheap' still had to sound decent to non-audiophiles, since that was who was buying it. These days, audiophiles are off being scammed with digital devices with lots of gold on them for no actual reason. (As I like to point out, digital either works or it doesn't. The 6$ HDMI cable works precisely as well as the 150$ one. It might be more prone to failing on repeated disconnection and reconnection, but then, a gold-plated one might actually fair worse there because softer metal will wear faster. Yes, you can plate it with a harder gold alloy, but actual quality isn't what's being gone for in the audiophool market.)
I've got a Sony boombox one speaker radio with 4D batteries in it and I bet even in the condition it's in now it can run rings around the GPO something or other on this video. When the tape deck actually worked it would have one hands down.
@@evensgrey thank god somebody else shares the opinion that the audiophile market is bollocks I got into an argument with one about how tapes only sounded as good as they were recorded. And there would be no point recapping an almost brand new product for a "clearer" sound.
@@couldntmixapotnoodle but it IS worth renovating classic era analog audio gear for warm, rich sound. Go ahead and pump digital media through it if you like, it will still sound better. Wider range, deeper lows and higher highs. And you'll still save a bindle over the new high-end stuff.
The guy at my local landfill pulls audio/electronics for me and I go down once a month and toss him a few bucks. I've gotten some absolute treasures over the years.
@@MartinOmander A brand new in the box Philco tape recorder from the mid 60s, never even opened. A crate of JBL tweeters for a concert hall, they're huge, like 20 lbs a piece.
I found 2 Audiomaster monoblocks with preamps sitting on the side of the road. EL34 valves with Partridge output tranformers. Changed grid coupling capacitors and now the monoblocks work and sound great. Someone threw out Grandpa's old stereo.
That "tape counter" is hilarious. It's like the designer had seen something incrementing numbers on an old deck at his gran's house, so decided to implement it without understanding what it was/how it works.
The other problem for the 'designer' is that there is no existing tape deck mechanism on the market with a tape counter option built in. It seems all the Tanashin tape transport mechanisms are the same, and none have a counter. Its too bad all the tooling for any decent kind of tape transport is probably long gone, thrown in the dumpster along with any designs and drawings locked up in some vault as intellectual property with a price tag too high for anyone to consider. I wonder if Nakamichi still owns and has any of it's designs or if they were bought off and are now locked up somewhere with some random company that specializes in intellectual property.
@@marcusdamberger There are several different mechanisms actually. In fact, there is a solenoid driven logic controlled version of this particular mechanism that TEAC/TASCAM currently uses in their TEAC W-1200 and TASCAM 202mkVII respectively, with a proper tape counter. Yeah, it's not a proper mid/high end mech, but it's not the trash tanashin (or more often clones of it) that we all know. And, since we have the Philips patent with the specifications for the compact cassette, there is no problem designing a proper high end mechanism these days, in fact, I am working on designing one. Probably it's not going anywhere, it's just a hobby project, but still. With today's 3D printing tech, we can build some good mechanisms if we want.
It looks like the whole boombox was done by someone who doesn't understand what boomboxes do... Like the distorting sound input. The designed didn't understand that the output is supposed to play the same music that goes into it, not some kind of distorted copy.
@@truesoundchris Making an analog counter would be more difficult nowadays, but it wouldn't be THAT difficult to add a piece of foil on take up wheel and a simple light sensor.
One million subscribers can't be wrong. You, Techmoan, are the RU-vid king of technology! We are so grateful for your kindness in choosing our new album, Second Sight, to demonstrate the compact disc and cassette recording features of the GPO Brooklyn Boombox. Although this device misses the mark in build quality, it does seem to hit the bullseye for being a cool-looking new retro portable paperweight. Thank you, Mat, for another informative and thorough product review video. Signing off with massive love, respect, and appreciation. Sincerely, Candy Apple Blue
Makes you wonder about the disparity in prosecution. Lots of large companies including amazon churning out unsafe and possibly illegal products with no visible consequences. I guess someone is turning a blind eye... Yet if you had a little shop in your local town and did the same they'd probably lock you up!
@Marc Carran Yeah I suppose someone in the UK decided what logo files and box art to send to the Chinese mfg on alibaba and you could argue that was "designing" the boombox 😞
There was a lot of crappy "fantastic plastic" back then too though. I remember my mother having a stereo console made by Soundesign and it was *horrible*. The big name stuff, Kenwood, Pioneer, Sony, Denon, Onkyo....were all usually good quality...with the exception of Sonys CD optic laser systems.
Love watching your videos, they're absolutely brilliant. Can't wait for your next upload. Keep up all the great content, all the best from Vancouver Canada 🇨🇦
Not sure if it's been mentioned, but the distortion you saw when plugging the recorder into the input is likely a clipping problem - reduce the volume on the source to see if it goes away. When you clip a digital input, you get square wave distortion, resulting in peaks at each harmonic - just like what you saw. While I expect a lot of loss in the recording, it didn't fail the test as hard as it seems =)
That "tape counter" cracks me up. I couldn't stop laughing when you showed that. This clearly proves this device isn't for anyone that actually used a real tape player or boombox back in the day. This is for a younger audience that just wants to have something that looks boombox like and has never really used or seen a real one.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make such a detailed review. I spotted the Brooklyn in BigW today (Australia) for $199 (about £99) and this review was perfect. I may still consider the Brooklyn as my usage is to have some 80's poor quality sounding playback (yes I want it to sound poor lol) but also as a backup cassette player to load 80's computer games from. So what interests me is the wave form test and drift and warble, which actually seemed fine. There are cheaper players but most suffer from irregular speed which kills game loading. If I can get hold of that Panasonic here though, that may be the better option. Thanks again. Great info and channel. Subbed.
it might've actually been designed in uk. Its not uncommon for factory to immediately start selling design contracted by brand "on the side", unbranded by cheaper if they like it - or simply "leak" all design docs to another factory which starts unbranded production. because of this one of long known rules to follow was - never contract single factory to do whole thing.
Great, avuncular manner about him, that guy, could listen to him all day, haha! :) Just this afternoon, I returned a GPO Brooklyn boombox to the retailer for a refund. A number of problems. I tried the radio first, and when I pulled on the left-hand antenna to extend it, the endmost section came away in my hand! Broken through. Wow. Great start. The cassette deck struggled to play [several different] tapes at a satisfactory speed. Then after a short period of playback, the STOP/EJECT button wouldn't fully depress, thus I couldn't stop the tape. I pressed down on the PLAY button momentarily, then STOP worked, but that shouldn't be necessary, should it? Also, on the model I received, there was no cue/review function, which ticked me off, 'cos the seller's feature list and photos boasted such. Then, insult to injury, after 24hrs or so, the LED clock display went bonkers and quit on me. In short; the GPO Brooklyn looks cute, but it's cheapo Chinese rubbish. Although not cheap ENOUGH! I'm surprised the features list on the box doesn't begin with: 'Magnificent and Noble in Shape!' Now, I still love the IDEA of this thing. If, say, JVC were to make a similar-looking product - with all the integrated components of far higher quality and better functionality - then I for one would be all over it, albeit no doubt at greater expense. The tweeter casing should be rectangular for a truly retro look, but I'm just geeking, haha! Was fun to try it out, but not a keeper.
The Imperial Typewriter Company brand must be available, if anyone's looking to market - oh I don't know - a new fridge that _looks_ a bit like a good one from the 1950s, only with a video streaming twist.
When I was growing up in the 80s, I thought, "We have such cool music gear, and with companies like Sony, etc., imagine what cool stuff we'll have a few decades into the future!" 3 decades into the future:
I had a proper boom box AM/FM/cassette/AUX. with actual functional switch for tone, stereo/mono, casette type, Dolby, etc. with 6” woofers, 1” tweeters, actual analog tuning. It could easily serve as the primary house stereo. It took 6 ‘D’ size batteries. The main thing is, it was heavy, and it sounded full and wonderful. Nothing felt cheap.
@@RCAvhstape Damn, I'm trying to think back to when I last saw a radio with short wave capability. I think it was in high school, back in the 1980's. I haven't gone LOOKING for one, but the internet has largely done for short wave services these days. It's so much cheaper for a broadcaster to just offer their foreign service as a stream.
As a sexagenarian who's always been interested in HiFi and stuff, I would say that even in the 80s the general quality of audio gear had begun declining slightly, compared to the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Most of the brands that existed back then, and are still around now, are a travesty in my opinion.
Feels bad man. I bought this because i've collected cd's and cassettes as a hobby, but i've never considered myself an enthusiast for quality. It had many input options so I figured it'd be a jack of all trades, master of none. Though it sucks to know I essentially got scammed by an ali baba repro, it does what i need it for adequately enough for me to be satisfied with it. But yes, the aesthetics were a big part of the decision too :p
The sad thing is that young people will probably never know what quality items like this are really like, they are only seeing cheap rubbish. These days seem to have only top quality or junk, not a lot in the middle, the 80's and 90's had a huge variety of good quality mid-range products.
To be fair, an arguable dead device category like the portable boombox may not be the best basis to judge this on. For what a decent one cost back in the day, you could probably assemble a playback system that'll beat the pants off of most old boomboxes in terms of sound quality, e.g. using some active "studio" monitor speakers (maybe JBL 305P, ADAM T5V or Kali LP6, or some iLoud Micro Monitors for something small and cute) and maybe a USB audio interface or DAC and a Raspberry Pi as a streamer.
I can see some truth in this as a young person myself. Most consumer electronics are built like shit, even expensive ones are a gamble as to whether they cared or just inflated the price tag. Tools are particularly bad. The model now seems to be to manufacture something that breaks quickly, but is cheap enough people don’t grumble too much about buying another one. The they fleece you on the batteries. Older tools might not be battery powered, but they were far far better built. You can still find good quality tools, but it’s not as simple. Everything seems to be value engineered to last just long enough, and the amount of rubbish this kind of practice ends up producing is and should be criminal. Companies ought to be held responsible for basically selling rubbish.
@@genekwagmyrsingh9433 Of course it still exists. The real question is if any current manufacture is providing quality products. If Techmoan's videos are anything to go by then the answer is no.
i bought one of these from a friend for £50 about a year ago, good part - not bad sound and the DAB isn't bad, bad bits, everything else, not very loud, crappy unreliable cd player that jams up, poor quality cassette deck, low grade digital insides, LED's don't even go to the beat, they just do kind of a fake uniform flash, as for the 4 hour battery life, BS, you can fully charge that, switch it on and turn it up the thing will cut out before long. and if you leave the battery in it will drain whether you use it or not. i modified mine with a battery on/off switch.
Maybe just my interest grew on cassette players but I also believe that in this uncertain world simple things like having the music in a physical format (Lp or cassette) simply gives us a false sentiment of certainty. I mean, I have two decks, planning to buy the third one, three walkmans and one great record player and 95% of the time I am still listening flac's or YT music. But those 5 percent are extremely important to me. Just sitting in front of the shelf and choosing the album to be played makes all the sense in the world
@@mycosys I am no audiophile for sure. I have a jvc td472 and an onkyo integra with a pioneer on the way. Not Nakamichi but for sure not Ion tape to usb. Both of them are fully cleaned, libbed, checked and calibrated. Truth being spoken only ferric and chrome tapes on them, no metal ones. I have a hearing well over medium being capable to hear 23000 hz as per the doctor two months ago (this is the reason why at work inside the office the noise is killing me). Because of this I enjoy listening more the tapes because I do not feel the ears going fatigued. But this is due to the lack of highs. True, the sound is warmer due to this, I like it because is not like cutting the highs from pc, the pioneer amp is superb, the woofer adds a little pinch of warmth but the reality is that at least these two types of tapes are not as close to reality as a CD or FLAC. I enjoy them more? Yeah. Are over the bluetooth music streamed by youtube? Yes...but we also should be honest with ourselves. It is something we like more, not something better. And it is fine just like that
For the amount of technology that resides within it I would say it's pretty cheap. The public has got way to used to getting complex electronics for peanuts.
@@jonathaneastwood2927 At the volumes these things are churned out at it probably cost £5 in electronics and £10 for the rest tops. £250 for something that costs under £20 to make and doesn't even work properly is the definition of a rip-off.
I don't know how they managed to achieve this, but the product photo at 00:30 on the packaging already screams "NOPE!". Let's see if they can improve upon the first impression. Edit: Good Heavens, they couldn't...
It would be OK as a radio for the workshop at, say a fifth what they're asking for it, which looks like it would still make them a profit. But at the price they want...
@@Jehty_ Perhaps I should say "CD player" rather than "Radio," but a receiver may be just not god enough for the particular circumstances. IIRC, Techmoan's home isn't in a great spot for analog radio reception, and the room he normally shoots in is particularly filled with electronic noise (to the extent he had to go elsewhere in his home to do the reception recording test).
@@evensgrey he had to go into another room because of his router. Every house has a router in it. Most commercial buildings have much worse things than routers. And on top of that most factories/workshop are steel frame/sided buildings. If you can't get a reception in a stone building you won't get any in a steel one.
If the price were lower I could forgive it as a bit of retro style over substance *except* the retro styling is unconvincing to me. That output level meter size and font looks completely wrong for an 80s design from 20 feet away.
I've been disappointed by a plate of mussels once too often to bother again. Once you've faffed around getting all the mussels out of the shells and binned all the shells off - you get the equivalent of a small handful of edible food. It's a small snack that blags like it's a meal. But hey don't let me put anyone off - we can't all like the same things - if we did there would be no need for a menu at restaurants.
@@Techmoan See, over here the come in giant pots and they definitely do make up a proper meal! With some truly delicious sauce they've been cooked in. Truly a shame if shops over there, or tourist traps here short you on the edible biomass! Quite frankly a crime!
The ability to record to USB is actually kinda cool. I wanna see if I can find something cheaper that can do that. Wasn't even something I would of thought about.
Was curious about the actual speaker specification so i searched "sw-918 sunwin" as Matt found on the speakers, and found out that Sunwin technology are the original manufacturer and that sw-918 is the model number for this model.
That counter reminded me of the story of the kid who saw a 3.5" floppy disk and asked "Why do you have a model of the save icon?". Apparently that kid now designs retro consumer electronics.
I used to have the JVC DC-7 boombox when I was 14 years old in 1984. When loaded down with all the D batteries, it weighed around 50 lbs. Or 22.68 kilograms. It was a beast to carry around. It was best just keep it plugged in because the batteries only lasted about 2 - 3 hours and were very expensive. I thought it sounded fantastic! You would think things would improve over the years, it certainly has not! I can hear the wow & flutter with the tape during the playback at 16:56 . At least RU-vid is still using standard Play Back Timing. Wow and flutter is going to be off the chart! This thing really is garbage compared to what I grew up with. It's a shame because, there is so much potential if they would just integrate today's technology with yesterday's technology!
@@andrewgwilliam4831 But then, unlike an actual stopwatch, *this one* will display nothing (instead of freezing on the time that you stopped it on), correct?
Thank you for a very useful and informative video. Despite the great looks, it seems that one has to avoid this piece of equipment. But there is one issue that was addressed and with which I respectfully disagree, namely that practically all boomboxes from the 80-s are not worth considering anymore. Indeed, if not serviced these will definitely malfunction. But if they are technically maintained in good condition - belts replaced, mechanics oiled, caps replaced if appear defective, etc. - these machines will last until the generation that admires them expires itself. The sound and built quality of this machines being far superior to what is on the market now, the effort of maintenance is worth the result. JVC RC-M70, National RX-7000, Sanyo MR-X920, JVC RC-838, Sharp GF-96969, to mention a few that I keep, all work fine. And belts and other parts are easily available on Ebay and not difficult to replace, service manuals and guidance being available on the Internet. As for me, I do not regret my choice, but of course it is all a matter of taste.
Lleva usted toda la razón; son solamente malas imitaciones,de los que ya no veremos y escucharemos jamás, los auténticos Japoneses seguramente seguirán funcionando,,un abrazo desde España y muchas gracias por subtitular este gran vídeo, por supuesto me suscrito 🤠🤠
Companies that buy the rights to use the branding of a highly-respected, but now-defunct company (Singer, Bell & Howell, Crossley, Dual, etc.), should be legally required to disclose this, and state that they have no connection whatsoever with the original company.
Singer is still the original company... I do agree with that idea though, you should have to put something in the name or logo to show it's different. I guess that's the way the free market works.
The huge magnets on the back are probably there for "magnetic shielding" - they used to have to glue a magnet to the armature in the opposite polarity to stop the magnetic field spreading outside the speakers too much and distorting the image on old CRT monitors.
They even have the union jack upside down. (And before the smartarses weigh in, yes, it is called that even if it's on a cardboard box rather than a boat).
It's the tape deck that doesn't go beyond 6 kHz. It could be an out of azimuth head or a poor preamplifier. The auxiliary input had wider bandwith despite the weird harmonics.
This device reminds me of that "Mr Mann" character from Little Britain who's always going into the shop asking for the most obscure items you can think of: "I'm looking for a 1980s style boombox that has a red light display that constantly counts seconds upwards for no apparent reason." "Margaret!! Margaret!!.. Do we have a 1980s style boombox.... etc"
First Thing That I Do, When I Buy A Brand New Boombox, Is Open The Tape Deck and Check What Type Of Tape Heads & Tape Mechanism It Uses. I Get Disappointed These Days With New Tape Decks. Especially When There's a High Wow and Flutter, Inaccurate Tape Speed, Muffled Sound, As If The Playback/Recording Head Wasn't Adjusted Properly. It Feels Like They Are Paying Less Attention To Tape Mechanisms These Days. I Got A Portable Tape Player/Recorder For My Birthday In 2021, This Year, And The Tape Mechanism Is Even Worse Than Traditional Tanashi Mech. The Tape Started Playing Pretty Well, But Soon As It Got To Fourth Track On The Tape, The Mechanism Started To Slow Down, With Allot Of Wow and Flutter. After Pressing Stop, It Started Playing At Correct Speed, Then, Again, Same Problem. So I Took It Back And Exchanged It For A Different One. So Far This One Is Playing At Correct Speed, The Way It Should. But The Tape Mechanism Looks Well Cheaper Than Tanashi One. Especially With A permanent Erase Magnet, To Erase The Tape During Recording, You Do Realize, These Permanent Erase Magnets Record Awful Thunder-Like Noise, While Erasing The Tape.
It would be interesting to see a review of the Teac w-1200 cassette deck, given that it looks fairly decent and claims to have some form of noise reduction.
@@cdl0 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0zTexDhUq1A.html Unboxing and Audio test and review. And you can hear the noise reduction on the shoot out video.
Wow, the German on the box is hilarious. Maybe that's another retro touch. Reminds me of Chinese instruction booklets from the 80s. I thought they had advanced from that by now. :)
Wow, that new boombox is a total joke when compared to some of the better ones from back in the 80's or 90's! Lol!... I'm sorry to say that the younger generation is missing out on SO MUCH really cool technology of yesteryear, even though records (and cassettes to a lesser extent) are becoming more popular again, due to the tech being "retro cool", however the performance of modern day playback equipment for both of those formats is just pitiful and laughable when compared to the way the older stuff worked when it was new, because now everything is made so crappy, from cheap quality parts with almost NO refinement or quality control, especially in stuff like this boombox in this video... Electronics nowadays are basically expected to just be used a few times for about a year or so as a "fad" and then just thrown away and forgotten about... It's a really SAD state of the electronic world nowadays, especially with most portable bluetooth speakers not even producing the most basic part of fully engaging sound... true STEREO sound!... Anyway, I guess if they don't know what they are missing out on then that's one reason why people are subscribed to your channel... to discover (possibly for their first time) what really cool stuff there was in years past... MUCH more quality in many areas than what is out now in the consumer mass market, especially with the poor quality stuff from China! (BTW, that boombox in this video sounds harsh and shrill to the ears probably because it uses a cheap quality class D amplifier circuit I'm sure, and there is absolutely NO way that thing could put out anywhere even close to 40 watts per channel of clean, undistorted sound! LMAO!... It probably produces about maybe 2-5 watts MAX of relatively undistorted output per channel, (as "clean" sounding as cheap class D amps can be anyway), but the only way it could put out 40 watts per channel is if it was driven into 100% distortion/clipping and it started on fire as a result! LOLOL!! Anyway, "it is what it is", I guess... a total gimmick radio, mostly just for the "retro" look, but it's not even great at that! Oh well... For comparison, I still have one of the better sounding AND performing, FULL featured boomboxes of yesteryear... the Panasonic RX-DT680, with a fully programmable CD player, AM/FM digital tuning radio with presets and direct tuning, full logic, full auto reverse, (including recording), dubbing cassette decks, detachable, bi-amped speakers, equalizer with super X-bass control, plus a wireless remote control, and of which was pretty awesome in its time, and especially by today's standards of portable audio! This thing could get plenty loud without any noticeable distortion, even for a small party! All I've had to do to it over the years is replace the belts on both tape decks, keep the tape heads and rollers, guides, etc. clean, and keep it in a clean, dry location, and it still sounds really good now, some 30 years later! I also have an even older Aiwa boombox from the mid 80's, with AM/FM tuner and a "soft touch" control tape deck, (the predecessor to full logic), and with really big, loud speakers, kind of like the old Lasonic portables from that era... But the main reason I keep that old beast around is because of its tuner... Not only is it one of the most sensitive tuners I've ever owned, (including a few really nice, relatively high-end home stereo component tuners), and it's able to pick up both AM AND FM stations from over 100 miles away in some cases, but it also has shortwave 1 & 2 bands on it, which, when combined with this radio's super sensitivity, I can literally hear shortwave stations from all over the entire WORLD at night, (when the sun's interference on shortwave signals is considerably less), so it's quite entertaining sometimes if you come across an interesting radio program from another country!... I'll probably always keep that radio, even if only for extreme emergencies, where like if the "shit really hits the fan" in the world! LOL! (even worse than covid, like a major, worldwide natural disaster like a meteor strike or maybe even something worse)... Of course that's provided I'm still alive, but if so, I might be able to still hear important news or something, even if TV, the internet, and cellphone service is all lost... and, NO, I'm not a "doomsday prepper" or anything like that, but I save that radio just in case something major happens and the world ever has to go back to the non digital world... You never know... and in the meantime, even if nothing like that ever happens, I still get a kick out of listening to worldwide radio programs every once in a while when/if I'm really bored... ones you can't find online.
They should just sell the shell of that thing as a decoration or prop. Although, I suppose they wouldn't be able to get 98% margin selling it that way.
