advertisement


Old ghetto blasters worth HOW MUCH???? Did I hear that right!?

Arkless Electronics

Arkless Electronics

Trade: Amp design and repairs.
I have in an 80's ghetto blaster of the type that could break your shoulder etc (4 x 6" speakers plus tweeters etc! twin cassette decks and maybe 10W RMS per channel. The biggest that were ever made) and thought it odd that anyone would want to pay the going rate to repair an 80's, plastic, boom box... something which the innards of would be similar to those found in an Amstrad all in one system or a cheap music centre... all horrible naff gaudy "chrome effect" plastic etc... I wouldn't have given a tenner for it...

I recalled the owner mentioning in passing "they're getting collectable". Out of curiosity I googled it.. and nearly fell off my seat! Average working ones... wait for it... £1500!!!!
"NOS" boxed etc... £3000!!!!:eek::eek::eek:

The world really has gone mad.... talk about form over function! I can only guess that no matter how shite technically, no matter how gaudy, no matter how plasticky, no matter how intrinsically uber naff (IMO)... the fact that they were in the background in early hip hop videos must have made them "desirable":eek::rolleyes:o_O:confused:
 
Arkless Electronics said:
The world really has gone mad.... talk about form over function! I can only guess that no matter how shite technically, no matter how gaudy, no matter how plasticky, no matter how intrinsically uber naff (IMO)... the fact that they were in the background in early hip hop videos must have made them "desirable":eek::rolleyes:o_O:confused:
Click to expand...

It is "authentic" :)

The kids who were 17 in 1985 are 51 now.
 
Julf said:
Is it any different from people paying premium money for old cassette decks, turntables, speakers and FM tuners?
Click to expand...

YES! When new those items were/are quality, well engineered items of hi fi that were state of the art in their day, precision engineered and not made of plastic! And this is apparently worth more than most old high end hi fi (not to me!)
This is, after a good examination, basically the innards of a cheap to mid price music centre transferred into an all plastic box... the speakers say "8W Max. 4 Ohm" and are the cheapo pressed steel type of the thinnest metal and with small magnets.. the amps are a pair of chip amps such as found in music centres and car radios. One pair powers the speakers labelled "subwoofers".... also with "8W Max. 4 Ohm" on the back of them.
From the metal tape facility but no mention of CD on the aux in sockets I date it as roughly 1981 - 83. It DOES have a phono stage! All the more evidence that the innards are from a music centre...
 
Last edited:
The value of old ghetto blasters has been high for some years but the prices mentioned by Arkless are ridiculous.

Blasters are 80s design icons but they're by no means hifi, nor meant to be. I picked up a nice one from a garage sale for bugger all and could have made a few dollars on it had a small child not staved in the tweeter domes with her finger.
 
It's not worth anything as a hi-fi, but I can appreciate it as 80s mixed-media art. I grew up the 80s and something like that was as cool as a pair of air Jordans.

The Sony in my avatar is really dumb because it has a handle but only runs on mains power. Supposedly it's something like 30WPC RMS. I got it for $5 which is good value.
 
I had a Pioneer SK700 when I was a teenager.

Took it to the dump in about 1993. Now worth about 2.5k!
 
I chucked my Sharp from my teenage years because it stopped working.

I think I still have the one I mentioned before. IIRC it can run on half a dozen D batteries. Together with a Discman it was my music system while we had no power for a month because of an earthquake.
 
Durmbo said:
I chucked my Sharp from my teenage years because it stopped working.

I think I still have the one I mentioned before. IIRC it can run on half a dozen D batteries. Together with a Discman it was my music system while we had no power for a month because of an earthquake.
Click to expand...

A full dozen for this one! It's huge... portable in as much as it has a handle....
 
Ha, the same model Amstrad I think I still have went for £120 with a non-working tape deck and a missing battery cover.

:eek:
 
We still have rather a nice Philips unit from a duty free somewhere in the Middle East, I think the CD playing portion is long gone but I used to love the lively sound. I agree that £1000+ for one of these is just nuts :) But people like different ways of spending their time, if they want to give you the money, why argue?

edit: something like this one, but older, and with a tape deck on the front:
s-l1600.jpg
 
Julf said:
It is "authentic" :)

The kids who were 17 in 1985 are 51 now.
Click to expand...

That's me and my two mates. Only one of us could afford the Ghetto blaster we used at college to practise break dancing to and it wasn't me! I'll give him a heads up about how much they're going for now. It'll give him a heart attack! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top