D8814 is the most impressive animal in my minicollection of Big Boys:
Unlike all other beasts, the Elephant was singing from Day One, but he still needed a few minor fixes. Continue reading Elephant surgery: Philips D8814 restoration
Category Archives: Boomboxery
JVC RC-550 “El Diablo”: Sermon of Restoration
these days it is next to impossible to find RC-550 for under $500. I got mine off eBay, it was in such poor condition that no self-respecting collector wanted to bid against me. Here is the happy ending for El Diablo: Good efforts prevailed over Evil elements of Time and Indifference
Continue reading JVC RC-550 “El Diablo”: Sermon of Restoration
Philips D-8444 Restoration
Philips D8444 and its American incarnation, Magnavox D8443 are big and good-looking creatures. With the same “minor” flaw as D6800 Discman: by now they are all dead because of one failed gear. I bought mine in working condition, and learned about the infamous gear the hard way, after spending a few weeks on restoration. Continue reading Philips D-8444 Restoration
Sencor S-4800 restoration
Boomboxes from Sencor are the only Swiss boomboxes out there. “Designed in Switzerland”, made most probably in Japan. Well, at least the label for Sencor S-4500 says “Made in Japan”, whether this applies to S-4800 nobody seems to know. By looking at cassette mechanism it may be easy to tell who made these boomboxes for Sencor: JVC, Philips, Sony,… I am not in the know, but maybe someone looking at the photos will be able to recognize the mechanism.
Here is the final result of Sencor restoration with a bit of extra beautifying:
Below are my efforts to restore S-4800 to its original state, Continue reading Sencor S-4800 restoration