Boom Box - Design

Design

Technically a boombox is, at its simplest, two or more loudspeakers, an amplifier, a radio tuner, and a cassette and/or CD player component, all housed in a single plastic or metal case, with a handle for portability. Most units can be powered by AC or DC cables, as well as batteries.

The basic boombox consists of an AM/FM receiver, a cassette player, and two speakers. As they grew in popularity, they also became more complex in design and functionality. By the late 1980s many boomboxes included separate high and low frequency speakers and a second tape deck to allow the boombox to record off the radio and off of other pre-recorded cassettes. They began to be installed with equalizers, balance adjusters, Dolby noise reduction, and LED sound gauges. In the mid-1980s, the bigger and flashier the boombox the better; it became a status symbol among young urbanites which in turn called for increasingly extravagant boxes. The introduction of the compact disc (CD) in the early 1990s led to the introduction of the CD player in standard boombox design. As the 1990s continued, boombox manufacturers began designing smaller, more compact boomboxes, often made of plastic as opposed to their metal counterparts from the decade before. The rectangular, angular, chrome aesthetic of many 1980s models were replaced with black plastic in the 1990s, and modern designs are dominated by curves instead of right angles. The designs of older models are a source of much interest amongst enthusiasts and collectors. The larger feature-packed models, and rarer models, are often the most sought after. Most boomboxes today come with iPod docks to access MP3 technology (in place of cassette players), and some even come equipped with integrated or removable satellite radio tuners.

Various boombox designs differ greatly in size. Larger, more powerful units may require 10 or more size-D batteries, may measure more than 760 millimetres (30 in) in width, and can weigh more than 12 kilograms (26 lb). Some take a 12-volt sealed lead-acid battery, or can be a portable enclosure for a car audio head unit.

Audio quality and feature sets vary widely, with high-end models providing features and sound comparable to some home stereo systems. Most models offer volume, tone and balance (left/right) controls.

Most brands were manufactured in Japan, including Aiwa, Crown, Hitachi, JVC, Lasonic, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba.

More sophisticated models may feature dual cassette decks (often featuring high-speed dubbing), separate bass and treble level controls, five- or ten-band graphic equalizers, Dolby noise reduction, analog or LED sound level (VU) meters, larger speakers, 'soft-touch' tape deck controls, multiple shortwave (SW) band reception with fine tuning, automatic song search functions for cassettes, line and/or phono inputs and outputs, microphone inputs, loudness switches, and detachable speakers. A handful of models even featured an integrated vinyl record player, an 8-track tape player or a (typically black-and-white) television screen, although the basic radio/cassette models have historically been by far the most popular.