If only it had a decent amp and speakers. I can't stand tinny speakers with no bass, and I will use a real deck if I want to connect it to other components.

True, but at least the direct output is good. A speaker and amp upgrade would certainly help but at least you can always connect it up to something else.

Really hopeful to see more and more artists release their things on cassette. As it is, I think maaaaaybe 10% of the albums I like from the last 10 years had cassette releases, and most of those were within the last 3-4. I'm younger, I wasn't really around when cassettes were mainstream, and a lot of the music from that time isn't the sort of thing I listen to a lot so there's no real nostalgia reason for me to get into them. I just think they're neat :p

And cassette decks with good quality, to be able to build a wonderful sound equipment as well.

@@josearqco yeah, there needs to be manufacturers like Sony, Technics, Phillips, even Pioneer, which I don’t know if they still make audio equipment anymore because Audiovoxx bought out Pioneer.

and the best feature would be a high quality full auto stop mechanism (doesn't just stop in playback)

Actually - a minimum of three speakers (three channel stereo) would suffice as then these would be genuine 3phase electrical circuits, and transmit all the sounds of the recording, using the least amount of battery power. Balance power usage it's called, not unbalanced two phasing that normal two speaker stereo units like these are only capable of. Two phasing a three phase supply will NEVER turn a three phase motor, yet two phasing the audio devices called boom boxes, was supposed to give good (booming) bass? Yeah right - NOT.

A/C bias and erase well worth a few dollars more.

Then maybe throw in feather touch buttons? Lol

@@QUIX4U The AC inlet is only single-phase though. No 3-phase power for you. Though I'm sure if you put 440VAC 3p into this, it would definitely go boom.

Yes, www.softrockradio.net is one of my favorites.

Love this era of music

@@sf-dn8rh 1978

The fidelity bar in 2023: Stereo, and less than 10% W&F.

Audio signals are quite easy. You can probe with headphones like a doctor and hear it all (instead of a multimeter). Maybe have some resistors around if you check the amp parts.

After Kevin's comments about the color scheme I was expecting him to swap the cases.

@@MrDuncl Just what I was thinking (maybe resolder the speakers from the old into the new also?). That might make an improvement - but who knows?

And so they should pay more attention to the tech youtubers otherwise they won't be getting my custome.👍

@@lucasRem-ku6eb Even when they used analogue recording in the studio, from 1979 onwards the signal was passed through a digital stage (the "cutting delay") when the vinyl master disk was being cut. So for those who want to hear genuine analogue audio, listen to LPs from 1978 or earlier.

@@lucasRem-ku6eb You're not going back far enough. In the 1970s, digital recording systems did exist. It wasn't until the late 1970s that they produced audio of high enough quality that could be used for mixing and mastering (sometimes in analog). One system in particular was 32-tracks of digital recording and some of those recordings were either nominated for or won Grammy Awards. That was in 1978 and 1979. The sample rate was rather low on those systems compared to today; the highest sample rate of those early systems was 50 kHz. As an aside, nearly all remasters I've seen released in the last 30 years to consumers are worse than the originals. They almost all have severe issues, most of which are flat lined positive and negative DC samples caused by clipping and phase cancellation. Remastering is not a bad idea if done correctly. Sadly, it doesn't seem to have been most of the time.

Me too

@@9852323 me too didnt know modern songs are coming on to cassets

I almost wonder if there's some sort of way to solder in some better speakers....

​@@tev866of course you can replace the speakers and even improve acoustics of the case but it might cost more than this boombox itself.

They shoul add PWM bias (that is not difficult any more) like it was on on hight speed duplicators in 1990s, that will give 10dB bus with out NR.

Plus A/C erase.

@@georgebliss964 Definitely they need to do away with the permanent magnet head and go A/C head as well? Definitely agree.

Speaking of Retekess, I actually found a video of someone demoing a Retekess CD, radio and cassette player, and the cassette player had a manufacturing defect where it would eat tapes, because a bit of solder got into the gears driving the mechanism.

@@RealEpikCartfrenYT Retekess sent me a CD/cassette boombox for review but I didn't end up making a video about it because the FM radio and cassette were mono. I briefly demonstrated it in my video about the TEAC W-1200 cassette deck.

@@vwestlife Yeah, the guy who demoed it, also took it apart to inspect it, the FM radio board is literally the size of a credit card, and is held in place by the tuning dial. Very underwhelming for what it is.

I got a V115 and the sound is pretty amazing. I think they are using speakers similar to those full sounding ones in the mid tier tablets these days plus a few amp filter/EQ tricks. Direct entry shortwave for under $40 is pretty kewl!

and tbh loads of indee now realse on tape . its cheap^to do and they look unique most of the times.

This is part of the reason I have stuck with CD’s they are less than half the price of vinyl now

It would be much more useful if it had a tone control to turn down the treble, just like cheap boomboxes from the 1980s often did.

Dosent look better than my early 2000s Sony cd cassette radio which myvmum passed to me. All working and looks great. Older cassette section too.

which ones? early 2000s boomboxes doesn't look cheap and still sounds better

@@yorkemar My 1970's (Sony) WALKMAN cassette player with an FM stereo radio section, had more BOOM than these useless units, as they at least had a better bass filter section, plus with their stereo 3.5mm phone headphone/line-out sockets you could at least get all THREE usable stereo channels, if feeding these correctly through a two-phase to three-phase splitter, to regain the full-form surround sound these always had. The two phase t three phase splitter was the old original amplifiers with their grounded earth return, common speaker channel / chassis earth, that enabled one to get all three channels from a two channel device (ask your local power board how they get your houses fed with all three of their single line phases, as well as all commercial 3 phase switchboards fed, whenever they PULL one leg out, of their three phase distribution transformers, that then ONLY run two phasing ? It's exactly the same as getting all three channels of audio from your 1970's style Sony Walkman's etc., when given just two phases (audio channels) via the 3.5mm phone outlets. Plus here's a kicker, with the right device IN-LINE with the headphone output - you can even get the FRONT/CENTER MONO (genuine front channel MONO - being the same as an old AM radio's single channel gives you) and the rear SINGLE REAR CENTER surround channel - directly from a 3.5mm outlet when playing back anything stereo. In other words, instead of being a dumb listener, somewhere out in front of the stage (center of house), you can hear what AN ELECTRICIAN HEARS, from either side in the wings, or when up in the GODS (being that area in the rafters of the concert venue where the stage lighting is suspended from) that allows us to hear BACK of stage sounds - as well as those from the FRONT of stage (front of house), where we hear everything that is played both on stage as well as in the studio when remastering takes place, and thus where everything the mics pickup, is recorded in the original recordings, that most commercial outlets / vinyl & tape or CD/MP3 etc., NEVER replay via on-air broadcasts or in TV or KZfaq modes, as they expect you, the listener to not actually know you are ONLY getting 57.7 % of the available recorded medium, instead of it's full 100 % total surround sound. Why do you think the youth attempt to use bass filters and ONLY play very loudly, the bass they are able to hear in the front center channel - when all they need is another (rear center) bass speaker that allows them to amplify all the frequencies of audio - that are 90% out of phase (and thus completely unheard when playing via two frontal speakers)?ALL of the actual reverbs sounds and the better part of bass drums / guitars etc., is played at the BACK of a concert stage, where the band's drum kits are positioned, so why attempt to play loudly - only that which is heard from out front (by filtering out the lead singer and all other front of house sounds) ??? Why not play at the same "loudness" as the front speakers, via even just one of the speakers at the rear - where those bass sounds are made, by having a center rear speaker? One that plays everything you cannot hear in a two speaker headset or a two speaker stereo car set? Even your stereo (two frontal channels) house stereo destroys your ability to hear anything at the rear as even that doesn't replay that area, just the sounds from the front. Having just single speaker at the back of the car, or house room (or on the back of a boom box) allows the listener to hear all sounds that the musicians made on the day of recording, or which were superimposed in the studio before the final mastering? Why not hear the missing 42.3 % of audio - that a two channel stereo device cannot make ? All it would take is for these el'cheapo stereo boom boxes, to have a rear facing center channel speaker at the back.

@@goodnightmoon 1996-2009ish design is ugly the rounded shape of that era is so ugly.

@@QUIX4U I have a 4 Band ITT radio from around 1976 that sounds good and also looks great.

Came looking for this comment as soon as I saw that.

Maybe if you did it in a separate room? 😉

I don't want to Hijack the Video but I have this on my Channel that answers your query. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y95pkqSC0KiyeH0.html

If you're handy, it should not be a problem to install a line out yourself. If the volume control is a traditional potentiometer, you can intercept the line signal there.

And a blinding blue LED to illuminate your ceiling at night.

@@volvo09 admittedly, a red LED would have looked nicer

@@RealEpikCartfrenYT If you're handy with a soldering iron...

for voice recordings is fine i guess, but they might have been so crappy that even voice sounds bad

@@namesurname4666 There are some out there right now so bad that one might believe they are actually rim-drive recorders.

Your videos are what inspired me to get a copy of it.

@@vwestlife C'mon, really?

@@bbishoppcm Yes!