[StereRowe]

I've seen them virtually given away at car boots and the like and some of them would have been quite impressive in their day.

Well their time may not have past.

Many new devices on the market advertise they come with a ipod dock or one is available to buy. Many of those old 'ghetto-blasters' have 'line-ins' either phono or Din. Buy the appropriate lead to connect your mp3 player - at the fraction of the cost of a dock - and away you go.

[Alex_kingsley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by StereRowe

I've seen them virtually given away at car boots and the like and some of them would have been quite impressive in their day.

Well their time may not have past.

Many new devices on the market advertise they come with a ipod dock or one is available to buy. Many of those old 'ghetto-blasters' have 'line-ins' either phono or Din. Buy the appropriate lead to connect your mp3 player - at the fraction of the cost of a dock - and away you go.

And a fraction of the quality..

[Robert__law]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex_kingsley

And a fraction of the quality..

I think you will find that the quality is far superior , most modern portabile sound systems you are lucky to get 2wats per channel also the compressed quality of MP3 is crap compared to traditional analouge systems

[AlanO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert__law

I think you will find that the quality is far superior , most modern portabile sound systems you are lucky to get 2wats per channel also the compressed quality of MP3 is crap compared to traditional analouge systems

That they have a relatively low power output does NOT have a bearing on the quality. The output quality will be affected by the quality of the electronics and the speakers.

On that basis is a 20 year old, relatively cheap radio cassette likely to be "better quality" than a more recent product ? probably not.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanO

That they have a relatively low power output does NOT have a bearing on the quality. The output quality will be affected by the quality of the electronics and the speakers.

Except that generally low power means it has crap electronics and far crapper speakers. Nothing to stop low power and high quality, but it doesn't happen - no incentive for it.

Quote:

On that basis is a 20 year old, relatively cheap radio cassette likely to be "better quality" than a more recent product ? probably not.

Depends on what it cost and what quality it was back then - but there were some VERY good radio cassettes about, high power, good speakers, sub-woofers built-in. However, they weren't cheap by any means - in recent years there seems to have been a complete lack of any quality portables though.

[AlanO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Except that generally low power means it has crap electronics and far crapper speakers. Nothing to stop low power and high quality, but it doesn't happen - no incentive for it.



Depends on what it cost and what quality it was back then - but there were some VERY good radio cassettes about, high power, good speakers, sub-woofers built-in. However, they weren't cheap by any means - in recent years there seems to have been a complete lack of any quality portables though.

On the low power subject - look at high end Hi Fi equipment and frequently some of the best amps have 20 or 30 watts / channel - nothing like the 50 + supposedly "good" systems claim. And as I said, the speakers are equally important.

Completely agree the original quality is important, but if you were to compare a branded (Panasonc / Sony / Sharp) unit costing £ 100 from 10 years ago against a brand new one from the same manufacturers for the same price, I'm sure the newer one would be the better one. For no other reason than production costs have come down over that time. The same will run true of the less expensive options as well.

[bobcar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanO

Completely agree the original quality is important, but if you were to compare a branded (Panasonc / Sony / Sharp) unit costing £ 100 from 10 years ago against a brand new one from the same manufacturers for the same price, I'm sure the newer one would be the better one. For no other reason than production costs have come down over that time. The same will run true of the less expensive options as well.

Yes but the original point about the old ghetto blasters being a good output for an MP3 player still stands and they are likely to be better quality than what is commonly sold now for the same purpose.

True they may not be hi-fi quality but then MP3 itself is most definitely not hi fi quality anyway.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanO

On the low power subject - look at high end Hi Fi equipment and frequently some of the best amps have 20 or 30 watts / channel - nothing like the 50 + supposedly "good" systems claim. And as I said, the speakers are equally important.

20 or 30W isn't low power for a radio cassette, it's higher power than has ever been available.

High quality amps with those sort's of 'low' outputs though are generally class A, which is why they are so low.

I've always thought speakers are the most important part, you can make much greater improvements changing the speakers than anything else.

Quote:

Completely agree the original quality is important, but if you were to compare a branded (Panasonc / Sony / Sharp) unit costing £ 100 from 10 years ago against a brand new one from the same manufacturers for the same price, I'm sure the newer one would be the better one. For no other reason than production costs have come down over that time. The same will run true of the less expensive options as well.

Except you wouldn't have got a decent quality one 20 years ago for £100, and you can't get decent quality ones at all these days.

[AlanO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

20 or 30W isn't low power for a radio cassette, it's higher power than has ever been available.

High quality amps with those sort's of 'low' outputs though are generally class A, which is why they are so low.

I've always thought speakers are the most important part, you can make much greater improvements changing the speakers than anything else.



Except you wouldn't have got a decent quality one 20 years ago for £100, and you can't get decent quality ones at all these days.

Disagree with the 'can't get a decent one for £100' comment - this example below does seem to be exceptional, my parents have got one.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...+IPOD+DOCK.htm

and for only a little more

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...I+POD+DOCK.htm

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanO

Disagree with the 'can't get a decent one for £100' comment - this example below does seem to be exceptional, my parents have got one.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...+IPOD+DOCK.htm

and for only a little more

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...I+POD+DOCK.htm

Those both look pretty naff to be honest

And neither meet the criteria for what we are talking about, they are small home stereo systems, not radio/cassettes - which are portable.