Any decent portable 2 channel available?

mgalusha · « **on:** 19 Aug 2003, 04:08 am »

There isn't really a circle for this but it is two channel, so this is where I'm posting it.

My brother is trying to purchase a portable system he can take to the beach or the mountains. For the most part this means a boom box. A visit to Best Buy and a local electronics retailer prompted him to call me asking if there are any audiophile or at least decent quality portables.

I said there is probably nothing of audiophile quality and all of the portable systems I have seen in stores recently have styling from a video game and pretty damn awful sound.

So, does anyone know of a portable system with at least tolerable sound? It needs to be battery operated and the ability to play both CD's and cassettes would be good.

TIA - Mike

bubba966 · « **Reply #1 on:** 19 Aug 2003, 04:29 am »

Mike,

I can't really tell you how they sound. But 2 years ago when I worked in the electronics department at Costco for 9 months I did sell a hell of a lot of them (Probably 30+ a day). And the Panasonic boom box/mini systems (or whatever the hell you want to call them) had the least amount of problems.

The Aiwa's on the other hand would break all of the time. They were by far the worst. #1 Aiwa problem was that the CD tray wouldn't stay closed after 50-100 hours of use. So no CD playback. That was a waaaaaaay to common occurance with the Aiwa's.

I'd go try to look at some Panasonic models and find something that fits his need. But I doubt any of them really sound amazingly better than the others. So reliability would be on the top of my list.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 Aug 2003, 10:22 am »

I was in the same situation recently, wanting a boombox to take to jobsites so I could play CD's rather than the repetiitive FM that we get here. I wanted a CD changer so I could shuffle-play and listen for long periods. Like you, I only found the video game looking bells & whistles portables at Circuit City and the like. I ended up begging a thrift store owner to sell me a JVC 10CD boombox they were using in the store:
it's basic black with minimal flashing lights, 10 CD changer, detachable two-way speakers that sound pretty good.

This unit was just $40, but retailed for $400; if I hadn't lucked onto this, I would have been forced to buy one of the video game boomboxes, I guess.

Carlman · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 Aug 2003, 01:13 pm »

The older JVC's are excellent. I have a single disk, single cassette (manual), no remote, but, with detatchable speakers. It actually images a little. It has a nice, mellow, rich sound but, no slam. I bought it for $99 about 7 years ago. It doesn't look dated and hasn't given me a single problem.

This is the second JVC I have bought. The only reason I bought a new one was because the old one didn't have CD. The old one still works and it's about 15 years old.

Keep it as simple as possible and you will have less problems. Avoid units with remotes, motorized cd-drawers, etc. This will not only help the unit last longer but, save weight and space when transporting it... oh, and the batteries will last longer.

Good luck with your search....

I did find these that might be good:
At Amazon
Something a little beefier:
JVC2

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #4 on:** 19 Aug 2003, 01:27 pm »

Quote from: Carlman

The older JVC's are excellent. ...
Keep it as simple as possible a ...

You're right about simplicity: I had another JVC 3CD changer boombox, but the complexity of the changing mechanism contributed to its demise (also the dust from work and the abuse it got from transporting).
I've already had to disassemble my 10CD changer to dislodge a CD.

Still, for me, the convenience is worth it and I expect to have to replace the boombox at some point. I tried a single-play Philips boombox, but my abuse killed it rather quickly.

JoshK · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 Aug 2003, 02:16 pm »

Second the advice to stay clear of Aiwa! I had one that's 3 disc carousel misaligned itself after 1 year of light use and won't play discs anymore.

My sister's Sony has lasted for years.

Sa-dono · « **Reply #6 on:** 19 Aug 2003, 06:13 pm »

Quote from: JoshK

Second the advice to stay clear of Aiwa! I had one that's 3 disc carousel misaligned itself after 1 year of light use and won't play discs anymore.

I think it either depended on the year manufactured, or how much care you used. I have one of those Aiwas that is 7 years old, and still works fine for my friend.

bubba966 · « **Reply #7 on:** 19 Aug 2003, 10:59 pm »

Quote from: Sa-dono

Quote from: JoshK
Second the advice to stay clear of Aiwa! I had one that's 3 disc carousel misaligned itself after 1 year of light use and won't play discs anymore.

I think it either depended on the year manufactured, or how much care you used. I have one of those Aiwas that is 7 years old, and still works fine for my friend.

True, older Aiwa's are fine. But since they were bought out 4 or 5 years back (by Sony I believe) the quality level has gone down the crapper. I saw a great deal of Aiwa's go out the door during my stint at Costco (would guess 5,000+ units in about 9 months) and saw a great many of them come back broke down.

The Panasonic units rarely if ever came back. While not many JVC's went out the door as we didn't have them all of the time, I don't recall any of them coming back.

Thump553 · « **Reply #8 on:** 20 Aug 2003, 02:12 pm »

Not for the beach, but maybe the mountains-rip the music to a laptop (lossless system such as SHN or FLAC, please) and then use a decent set of powered speakers. With a battery powered headphone amp and headphones (or headphones that don't need amps, like Grado 60 or 80) an electrical outlet is not needed.

Not the cheapest or easiest route, but the most flexible and with the right speakers (or better still headphone amp and headphones) you can get surprisingly good quality audio.