What’s wrong with the GPO Brooklyn Boombox?
I shot this review immediately before the video you saw last week but I held this one back because I wanted to release the far more positive clock demo video instead.
I felt like there’d been an unfortunate run of underwhelming tech recently and there’s only so much of that anyone can stomach.
This week though I’ve found myself bogged down by a repair - and so far have very little to show for all the hours spent on it. Therefore now seems like the best time to release this overlong review of a new boombox. It’s either this or nothing.
Hope you’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Its been a lovely sunny day today. I spent most of a day on the road. First there was a two hour round trip to pick up a classic boombox from a chap at the motorway services and then this afternoon/evening there was another two hour round trip to the coast with the Mrs capped off with fish and chips for tea. She even managed to get her hair cut...not that I could tell.
Definitely the best day of the year so far.
RE-EDIT Now live as of 17/4/21 13:45
Comments (97)
I appreciate how thorough you are in trying every feature and observing every detail, inside and out, even with a device that you know isn't going to be very good. You didn't just "review" this thing, you tested it in every way you could think of, opened it up, inspected, analyzed, gave a summary and offered alternatives. You could have done 1/3 as much work and still reasonably called this a "review". Good job.
But does it BOOM? You have not turned the thing up until it crackles. Which kind of is missing the point of a boombox review. So tell us now - oh mighty TechMoan - does it? Does it boom? Also: Did you notice how the "output power" flickered on the constant sine-wave? I almost thought it was responding to your voice. Which would not be too strange if they'd get "the level" from a built-in microphone on "the meter" itself. Just add power! No need to fuss with all that audio-signal, eh?
Awww. love the pretty lights. I remember something similar from the 80's by Steepletone who I once worked for. They had lights which flashed with the music (Sound to light) in the speakers. Dire.
Then the Aux input must be really terrible indeed :o
I agree with other commenters that your PCM recorder is probably overloading the Aux input. Nothing to do with recording level, just the input stage being overloaded. Can one turn the output level on the PCM recorder down, and did you try that?
It's outputting normal line level output - when I turned it down the bars didn't reach the top. There's a *lot* of experimentation you don't see on camera. What I show are the results, not the half hour of playing about with different settings before getting the best and most accurate results to show on camera. Notice in the video that the maximum volume of the highest bar does not get to the red peak at the top - whereas it does when it's plugged directly into the spectrum analyser - the volume doesn't max out the input. Then again if this is the only thing putting you off buying one - I'd say that the terrible cassette, useless counter, weird CD display, echoey boxy nasty sound, weak radio reception and high price might be worth considering in the equation too.
Watched this for a second time this evening and what stood out was how hard you were trying to keep to your word and be positive. Have a feeling a lot of the Americans especially won’t notice a touch of sarcasm and irony through the video. And thank you for never asking people to Smash the Like button! It means a lot
It really isn’t a good device and I hope that viewers come away with the understanding that I’m not recommending it. However sometimes with these things I get a feeling that I’m kicking something while it’s down. I feel it’s probably enough to say ‘well that’s that...but here’s what I’d recommend instead’. By the way I’ve been playing around with the animation and it’s looking good. I’ll try it out in a couple of weeks.
Wow, £250? No way I would pay that! Mind you, I wouldn't buy it at any price to be honest, it's heinous.
Does anyone have any tips for buying a reel to reel machine here in Australia? I would like 10.5" reels, stereo and different speeds but the prices are from 100s to over 5000. I would love the refurbished revox but I can't afford it. I have many minidisc decks cd players, a couple of ok turntables, heaps of speakers and amps. I just wanted a r2r to record from lossless or MD. Are there 1/2 or 1" r2r machines that are not popular? I don't want to buy ore recorded
Hello fellow Aussie :) This is a little hit and miss, but I'd look up the local cash converters (and other pawn shops) in your area. It's very hit and miss, but occasionally you'll find a vintage gem. Never been into reel to reel so I can't tell you if there's ever any good stuff, but I remember seeing the odd reel to reel machine in my local cash converters (Eastern suburbs of Sydney). I also find that the secondary websites that sell stuff, like Gumtree, also yield surprises occasionally. Oh, and finally, Vinnies also has some interesting stuff occasionally.
I miss the comedy skits... please bring those back.
The main issue is having a good idea for the gag, lot of work for it to go nowhere and adds time to then cheese videos
For what it's worth, the markings on those speakers — SW918 — is likely the true model number of this monstrosity: https://fccid.io/2AGLC-SW918 The other FCC applications by Shenzhen Sunwin Technology Co., Ltd. reads more like a rap sheet: https://fccid.io/2AGLC
They almost seem to have tried with this one, a better DAB module (even a Keystone) more work on the cassette part (inc that silly timer) and recording Stereo WAV's or even 320Kbit mp3's would have gone a long way to making this a compelling buy. Speakers, case design and even the general look seems pretty good overall! Strange the battery is so miserly too, "up to 4 hours" is hopeless. likely a common back cover for a 3-cell 18650 bank and they just cheaped out.
That video will be a boomer. 250k, maybe 300 and counting. Let's see...
I could really do with a hit - April is over 50% down on how March was at this point. Actually a miracle might be more what’s required. Still I shouldn’t complain- there’s a lot of stuff out there that’s trying to catch everyone’s attention.
No, you were right, they are all wrong, those ARE resistors. (I have no idea, I just wanted to introduce some balance into the comments. After all determination of electrical components should be decided democratically, I am sure you'll agree.) BTW is that a stray unconnected ribbon cable behind the display section at 24:25? Maybe that's for connecting one of the alternative display types you showed in one of the illustrations? Great video as always - have a wonderful weekend. PS Mushy peas?
Thanks for the video Mat. I don't have a fish and chip shop in France. But we'll make our own tonight (Friday). Get in touch if you need advice with repairs it would be a pleasure to help.
Will do, many thanks.
I found myself wondering what kind of Boom Box you would design and how a sketch with your ideas would be a video I would look forward to watching. It's been a joy watching you evolve as a film maker. Thanks for all the extra effort you put into these videos.
It’s very kind of you to say I’ve improved. Sometimes I feel I’m going backwards. As for the kind of Boombox I’d design, I suppose it’d be hard, knowing that the components I would need just don’t exist any more. I end up looking at the old models to find one with a CD, MD and K7.
Nobody can say you didn’t try, but no diamonds in that particular dung heap. Another retro device for people who weren’t here for the original product.
It's a student project made for stage props of high school drama presentations, to be seen but not heard.
Yes it's like when you see those scientists recreating the ‘face of a man from ten thousand years ago’ by scanning a skull in a computer and then mashing a few buttons. Out pops a face of some geezer with blonde curly hair and a uni brow and blue eyes - all stuff they just blagged because they didn’t have a clue. This is the boombox equivalent - ‘see the kind of boombox the beat boys danced around to hippy hop music in 1981’ and none of it looks anything like it.
This box is so bad I literally had to laugh a lot watching the video. Google translated languages on the box, the foam behind the 'glas'. Hilarious.
When using the Bluetooth it had BT on display so GPO and British Telecom. Was part of same company.
"It's got to be good, they built the Post Office Tower!" I just see GPO and immediately categorise them in the same tackiness bracket as Crosley. It's a strange world where I'd actually consider Lloytron and Steepletone as superior brands. Having said that, there is that Maxim CD "boombox" with built in B/W CRT I have, and that remarkably packs a pretty decent sound. (Not my photo) https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/274724486886_/Retro-Maxim-MX11-17-CRT-13cm-TV-CD-player.jpg
I'd have to think that if you went back 40 years and showed this to people, they would be very confused just like we would today if you had Comcast brand sneakers.
The GPO logo looks completely incongruous on something that is presumably meant to look like a relic from the 80s. £200 for this is insane.
It's like they managed to procure something half decent, or at least not utterly terrible, but GPO decided to charge way too much money for it. Those also looked like capacitors on the tweeters; I suspect there as simple low pass filters?
What crap for the money. Don't worry about being negative if the thing is totally shit.
You mention the Philips and Panasonic (with panasonic being the better choice with regards to casettes) as good alternatives to this. What about the Sony CFDS70B that you also reviewed? Where does it stand. In my area I can get the Sony at half the price of the Panasonic or the Philips. Are those two so much better (again with regards to casette - for radio and bluetooth I have plenty of devices) Thanks!
The Sony is OK and better than the Philips for tapes but worse than the Panasonic. I don’t recommend the Philips - it’s more about if you want something that does everything the GPO does - ever so slightly better (but still bad) but for £100 less.
Matt, that's a capacitor between the woofer and tweeter not a resistor. A very cheap/common crossover filter method - it just filters out the low frequencies.
I can see the azimuth adjustment screw (the one covered in the red booger glue) but I have a feeling if you tried to pop the door off to get to it all the plastic bits holding the door on would snap off.
That tape player is just so awful. The recording you made on it sounded like a AM radio. It just had such a limited frequency response.I’m afraid its predictably landfill.
Well, this makes me appreciate my JVCs a lot more! Really hoping that you post a video of your classic boomboxes.
The industrial design of that thing is so weird! It's a clumsy jumble of old and new styling. I imagine that it would alienate the group motivated by nostalgia for vintage boomboxes and the group that wants a fresh modern-tech take on CD/Tape players, equally.
After watching this, I was, just for fun, looking on eBay for “fully refurbished” 80s era boom boxes. It’s absolutely INSANE the amount of money some are asking for them. I got a wonderful one for Xmas back in 85 (LOVED my parents that year) and now I wish I had held on to it....just to sell it to one of these guys who fixes them.
Same here - I got a lot of use out of my '82 Panasonic growing up. My mother made me put it on the curb when I moved overseas. Wish I still had it.
That red Sanyo boombox you showed is nearly identical to the silver GE boombox that I bought new in 1986. Using common components among various radio/tape player manufacturers is something that was done in the classic boombox era as well. Also, nice to hear that you're able to get out and about more and enjoy life a little more than we've been used to.
The problem is people aren't prepared to pay for quality with consumer electronics these days. My first Boombox was a Sony CFS45L which was their bottom of the range box back in 1980. It cost £80 back then, which according to the BOE inflation calculator is the equivalent of £350 in todays money. That was for a basic box with an analogue tuner and a cassette deck with permanent magnet erase. I'm not sure what the red single deck box you showed was but a similar Sharp QT12 was £80 back in 1984 the equivalent of £262 today. Of course today people have other priorites and things to spend their money on. Apple don't seem to have any problems charging £1000 for a phone.
Yes the market for anything decent has largely evaporated. It's just progress - things move on.
I have a very minor criticism about the editing on this one. You set up a mystery and then don't resolve it. You call out the misprinted balance knob on the box and say "I'll have to see if mine is printed up like that."
I’ll take it out when I edit it again.
I was half expecting to see the CD try to eject and get blocked by the handle.
About midway through I thought "so it's an expensive movie prop." And then near the end you say as much!
Having been asked to review this BoomBox this is, to me, as fair an assessment as anyone could have asked for. I thought you were more than fair on a device that, to be honest, is more expensive than it deserves to be. Great work, as always!
So no cassette music search feature then either.
Well you could get someone to hide your cassettes in the garden - but that’s about as close as it gets.
I can't figure out how anyone would expect a GPO branded product to be anything other than absolute pants. On a brighter note, sounds like you had a great day today. Hopefully we'll get to see your newly acquired OG boombox in the fullness of time.
Yes it should show up at some point. It needs a belt change so that’ll be something I should try and show.
Just a little correction. The "resister" going to the tweeter is actually a capacitor, which acts as a high pass filter to form a basic crossover allowing only the high frequencies to go to the tweeter. That really doesn't matter, though as the unit doesn't have much in the way of high frequencies anyway. Couldn't believe the harmonic distortion of the aux input. You would have thought the tape playback of the sweep recorded on the better quality deck would have shown the same distortion, but didn't. it played the tape back better than the directly connected input. Weird.
What he said.
Fascinating, Mat. It would appear to be perfect for a child because they are not that discriminating and it's pretty look at, but at 200 pounds, it's an expensive toy.
If I had the smarts I'd kickstart a decent cassette mechanism (and a reference player). I know Dolby doesn't license noise reduction but at this point the patents have to have all expired and well documented, so it could be implemented independently.
A lot of the Dolby decoding is integrated in to a chip. Find a NOS box of those and you are set for at least a small run of players. They effectively serve as the decoding and final amplification stage. Once integrated circuits came in to hifi, signal chains became quite simple. I have a tape deck from the early 90's and the sound goes through a few transistors, the Dolby chip and an output level knob. The "legal "way would be to sell the deck as a "kit" and have the end user source the Dolby chip and plug it in to a socket. Perhaps have it ship without Dolby and have a conveniently unlabeled socket to plug a Dolby chip in to.
The people who bought the GPO logo seem to have wasted there time on this one. Nice to see Sony making a Radio that works and Good old Panasonic still making reasonable stuff.
And for a "cheese sandwich" video, it was very robust! My brother is looking for a Photo Scanner (for turning boxes of photos from the 80's forward into digital images). Do you review photo scanners? Also, is your cheese sandwich hot or cold? And what cheese? I saw an article online today that says Grilled Cheese Sandwich made with American Cheese is unique to the US. The seemed odd to me. so I am asking you as a person not in the US.
My cheese sandwich logo was supposed to be a cold one - just a basic slice of cheese between two pieces of bread - it was to signify a very simple snack. As for American cheese, well in the U.K. we have hundreds of cheeses to choose from so I’d imagine if you made a list of the top 100 then the first American cheese would likely be Monterey Jack at something like number 70. We have Paninis and once upon a time Breville sandwich makers which often contain melted cheese but the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is relatively uncommon and you’d be unlikely to see it on the menu in any restaurant or snack bar.
A very nicely done review of -- I think it's fair to say -- a really bad product. :-) Also "Who wants to play tapes?" :-D
Some people still do. Bootleg tapes from concerts in the 70s
My take away from the video of the internals is that the people that make the parts for these devices are continuing to innovate in ways that save or don't cost money. The ribbon cable in one shot would have been multicolored in the past, but instead had many distinct patterns, not just striped and not striped. I am guessing this is to save money on printing the cable and to enable color blind workers to assemble the devices. The way that these devices will improve is for companies to offer better components that fit in the same space. If there was a choice of a "better" cassette drive, I am sure someone would include it just so they could charge significantly more. But that is just my opinion.
Searching the web I've found an unbranded tape mechanism which seem to be a spare part for an existing mini hifi systems, has auto-reverse and it's completely controllable by a microcontroller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqxajT8Cmhc It's not even expensive on Aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000302101597.html What I don't know if it's just a limited stock or they do make these new. It can be both. But if it's new, they could make better players around this.
I wonder what they used these in. Perhaps it's similar to the one in the Sony CFD-S401.
Sure will, will try and match all the timing also so it’s easier. It’s very weird walking around that scene in person in full 3D after seeing it so many many many times on TV.
I can run the audio a few seconds longer to allow more time for the animation. Originally I wanted it to run a second or two longer. I’ll send you a link to the audio file as soon as I find it.
Sorry to pop on here being a pedant, but I wanted to point two things out here since I'm sure you'll get the young puppet writing comments on YouTube about them once this goes public. The harmonic distortion may have been caused by your field recorder being turned up too loudly when you recorded it to the cassette. If you tried to lower the level in recording and you're still getting distortion well obviously that a problem, but that wasn't mentioned. The components on the tweeters appear to be capacitors, which is actually a fairly clever (if cheap) way of creating a CR high pass filter to remove the bass from the signal. In this circuit the driver is acting as the resistor :) Sorry again, hope these are helpful to hopefully avoid the pedantry once it goes live.
The harmonic distortion wasn’t off a tape - that section is showing digital file played on a digital recorder to line in to headphone out to spectrum analyzer. No tapes involved. There’s a demo shortly after with a pre-recorded sine sweep tape played in the machine.
Thanks:). Drop me a message if you would like the model file uploading to use for anything, I’m going to be switching out the monitor for the TEAC reel machine with your channel name later or tomorrow in the same style and see if I can recreate the whole intro.
If you ever do something like that let me know. I wouldn’t know what to do with the files myself - I’m more a ‘ready made’ kind of chap.
Thank goodness a new video, seemed a long week so whilst waiting I recreated the Intro Sequence in Virtual Reality. https://youtu.be/CVtJOXfnV_w
That’s incredibly impressive.
It must take a lot of effort to design and make something that crap.
They’ve got it down to a fine art.
lol whisper "It's not going to be alright"
I watch these videos for these candid insights. LMAO
Another device for me not to buy. I listen to audio books on tape so many you still cant get on cd or mp3. I live on the coast and it's definitely starting to get busier though tourists is way of life in a seaside town, glad you had nice trip. Often watch your back catalogue, so many amazing videos
So nice to have a close look inside. These parts at 23:12 that you called resistors are capacitors. They are there to filter out the low frequencies that should not go to the tweeters.
I’ll do a re-edit to fix the cap/resistor mix-up, thanks.
I always like watching these kind of videos, especially when the device is being opened: gives me the feeling: "it's horrible, but I want to improve!" 🤪 But it looks kind of cool, definitely! A few comments about the contents: - I notice that many people think that without tape selector it is impossible to play back other tapes than Type I, that's definitely not true, a 70 µs equalised tape might sound a bit too bright, but the question is if you can hear the difference anyway on such cheap equipment. (for recording, it's of course true, as you don't have the higher bias and erase current needed for Type II and Type IV) - the thingy on the tweeter is a capacitor, not a resistor (sounds stupid, maybe you might correct that before the video goes live on YouTube
I’ll do a re-edit to fix the cap/resistor mix-up, thanks.
The tape 'counter' was a literal facepalm for me. Enjoyed you pointing out all the things we'd expect it to do that it doesn't :)
The irony that all of the counters acted like a tape counter apart from the cassette was brilliant. I can't help thinking that there are probably car stereos in the landfill with all of these features and better quality sound in all areas. Edit: I went searching and found a 2008 Lexus stereo with a Minidisc player below the CD. Oh my.
How close are you to this landfill?
It is so catastrophically poor that it is fun.... for a video
"A two hour round trip to pick up a classic boombox from a chap at the motorway services" sounds like a lyric from a rarely-heard Smiths B-side.
....and then a trip to the seaside town that they forgot to shut down.
Anyway having seen your previous "boombox" video's I think I have a pretty good Idea of the complaints with this one.. I'll make a bingo card
Not that I could tell... 😬😂
Haven’t watched the video yet but glad to hear you and the Mrs. had a nice trip to the coast! Very jealous of those fish and chips.
Same about fish and chips, especially as a person who ate fish n chips only once and my local fish in chips In my country are inedible compared to british
What's right with the GPO Brooklyn Boombox? Not much I'm guessing!
Unfortunately it is all very predictable.
Great to see things are going better over your side, you deserve it!
I’m still steering well clear of everyone and everything - but it’s nice just to walk around on a sunny afternoon.