Recommendations for under-$100 boombox?

[RichardP]

I would like to buy an inexpensive boombox to keep in my garage, where I occasionally spend time on various projects. I don't spend enough time there to justify an full blown stereo system, and I just need something that will play radio stations and CDs. Has anybody purchased one in the past year or two that has held up to normal use and can provide a decent sound for a 22x20 garage? I say "past year or two" because manufacturers change models so often, and some are only found at certain stores, etc., and I probably couldn't find any older models still available even if they were good ones. I would like to keep it in the garage all the time, where temperatures can range from extremes of 0 to 100 degrees, with moderate temps and fairly low humidity the norm, but will keep it stored in a temp controlled room if absolutely necessary.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Colin]

I would look for a used vintage receiver and speakers at Goodwill or a yard sale. Look for weight – the heavier, the better. My harmon/kardon 330B was $5.00 at a yard sale and it sounds surprising great with big ole horns.

I found a pair of Altec-Lansing Model Ones for $10 at Goodwill. Added a $50 pair of new mid-range woofers and they compare very favorably with speakers costing as much as $2K! Look for big and heavy. I recently bought a no-name pair of speakers for $10 just because they had a horn tweeter, and they sound OK. They don’t have the bass of the Altecs, but they are more clear in the top end.

Add a $40 CD player from Walmart and you have yourself a very nice system. When I compare it to my sophisticated, complicated and expensive big ole horn set-up in the same room, I am shocked at the quality of the sound for the price.

[RichardP]

I will probably go with your recommendation, Colin. I found an inexpensive receiver, and I already have a portable CD player. I also have a pair of KG .5s that I am not currently using, but was wondering about the effects of the unregulated temperatures in my garage on what are intended as indoor speakers. Although the .5s only go for about $70 (which is what I paid), would being in a garage (closed most of the time) inevitably hasten their demise, so to speak? And, would it be a rapid demise?

Has anyone else had any experience, good or bad, with speakers in an unheated garage?

THNX

[BLSamuel]

Richard,

I've used a pair of Radio Shack Minimus 7 (something like that, small aluminum box) in my garage for several years with an old car stereo in our unheated garage in north central IN and they've worked fine. I would think the KG .5s would hold up fine (and sound a lot better than the small Radio Shack).

Ben

[Bill H.]

OR you could buy some Klipsch Outdoor speakers (on the bay)...............that way you wouldn't have to worry...............

[DrWho]

I wouldn't use the KG .5 outdoors because it's using MDF for the enclosure - which will swell as it picks up humidty (which is gonna happen in the garage). The drivers themselves probably aren't going to get affected though....you could always just use them until the cabs wear out and then build some new cabinets later on down the road.

[Trey Cannon]

Doc is right. The cabints may not hold up out there.

[WMcD]

Well, I don't know about problems with the specific MDF in the speaker.

OTOH, I use MDF or the like from HD as a table top for B&D Workmate units. They've been in the garage in Dallas for several seasons. Temps only go down to 20 F or so and up to 110 with a lot of humidity. They get beat up as work surfaces but I can't say there is much else going on. I'm sure others use the stuff in other garages with even more harsh conditions. Consider the storage cabinets in garages in general.

Also, I doubt the stuff gets any special teatment in shipping.

Gil