Crown – 1980s cassette boomboxes from Japan
The Japanese company Crown has been producing audio equipment since the 1950s, but the peak of its popularity in the world came in the eighties, when the company’s cassette recorders were successfully sold in various countries. In the Soviet Union, the company’s products were known a little less than the audio equipment of other brands, while among the company’s boomboxes, there were very interesting and original models. We have collected the best of them in this article.
Contents:
Crown CSC-850
The company’s most popular ghettoblaster, launched in 1981. It sold especially well on the European market. It contained everything that we love so much in the technology of those years – large knobs and switch knobs, dial gauges, 20-cm woofers. The declared power was 2 x 3.2 watts in the range from 100 Hz to 20 kHz (maximum 2 x 5 watts), the Panasonic AN7145M integrated assembly was responsible for the amplification. It is curious that the radio tape recorder lacked a carrying handle, together with it there were rings for attaching a shoulder strap. The sound of the radio was soft and spacious, with good bass. The boombox weighed 6.5 kilograms, and the cassette deck supported Dolby B.
Crown CSC-980
This radio was an enlarged and improved version of the 850th model. The main difference was the use of other speaker systems and a more powerful amplifier based on the Panasonic AN7158N microcircuit. The maximum power was 2 x 6 watts, there was also a Stereo Wide stereo expansion function. The sound of the model was balanced with even deeper bass, although in terms of absolute loudness the Crown CSC-980 was inferior to the leaders of that era from JVC or Conion. The weight of the radio tape recorder was 7.1 kilograms; of the shortcomings, one can note the absence of an auto-reverse in the cassette deck.
Crown CSC-350
A unique and rare boombox with an original speaker system built on high-quality full-range speakers with a high-frequency cone. Each broadband driver 12 cm in diameter was supplemented with a passive radiator, and the pair for each channel was contained in its own acoustic volume. The cassette deck supported various types of tape, including Metal, and was equipped with a Dolby system, and a five-band graphic equalizer was present in the pre-amp section. The maximum power of the radio was 2 x 7 watts, the dial gauges were located in the same window as the tuner’s tuning scale.
Crown CSC-970
This imposing model, released in 1981, is considered the best cassette boombox in the company. The deck with logical quasi-sensor control worked with all types of cassettes, two eight-inch woofers with wide suspensions were responsible for solid bass. The signal level indication was LED and the maximum power output was 2 x 13 watts. A carrying handle was already provided here, the radio tape recorder could work not only from the mains or batteries, but also from a car battery. The boombox weighed 7.5 kilograms.
Crown CSC-950
Another very popular model from the 1980s with many chrome parts and handles. It had 16cm woofers and 3cm tweeters, as well as a fairly simple mechanically controlled cassette deck. The output power was 2 x 3.4 watts, the weight of the boombox without batteries was 5.7 kilograms. But the tuner worked in four bands – CB, HF, DV and FM.
Crown RX-9800
This boombox is a real rarity. The leather attaché case housed a radio with a full-featured tuner, a cassette deck with support for all types of tape and pause search, and large illuminated arrow indicators. The model works both from the mains and from batteries, and you can turn on the power and start recording from the microphone by pressing one button under the handle of the suitcase – 20 meters of film have already been tucked into the recording device. The microphone itself is located on the top panel of the case next to the telescopic antenna.
Crown SZ-5100
The bright boombox, released in 1988, was equipped with two cassette pockets, one of which had a slot loader. There was a five-band equalizer, a 20-cm cone woofer and a four-band receiver. Apparently, this late model was already only being developed in Japan, but produced outside of it.
