I just saw these popping up on the bay, is Sansui finally turning things around and now building top-notch audio equipment? The listing is headlined SANSUI RADIO CASSETTE SCR-B2(RD) RED MP3/SD/USB/Bluetooth and they are shipping out of Japan.
It looks suspiciously similar to the Maxtek boombox sold recently by Aldi and reviewed by Techmoan. http://www.stereo2go.com/forums/threads/nostalgic-feel-of-the-90s.1214/#post-9839 a few new bits of information since his review are that someone found these on a Chinese website at a ridiculously low price (about $1 each) if you bought a 1000. Techmoan also said in his review of Sony boomboxes that he had since found out the Maxtek is mono (so should it be Mintek ). As discussed in the thread on Bush http://www.stereo2go.com/forums/threads/bush-br8411.1908/ brand engineering seems to be getting worse. Fancy an Akai toaster ? https://www.idealworld.tv/gb/pp/aka...MI8vrGle_r1wIVqZPtCh18BwMpEAQYAiABEgJU9vD_BwE The only thing Akai about it is that someone has paid money to be able to stick the name on the front. In the case of the Bush name lots of money http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ds-sold-to-Argos-owner-Home-Retail-Group.html. On the plus side at least someone recognises the value of the brands. When I see something like a Nike watch I always think, "show me the Nike factory that makes these". It would be amusing if things worked the other way round and you could buy Timex branded trainers.
WOW! Ummm...I agree with everything you just said. You have definitely done your homework with those links. Guess it's still amazing that they are even trying to appeal to a small audience. They will never put the same emphasis on a cassette deck anymore unless there is a huge demand for it (and I don't see that happening worldwide). Heck they don't even put the same quality in the new hot items on the market these days. They want stuff to break which is non repairable because they want to sell you more garbage. I'm sure there are a few devices out there that are built decent but when it comes to portables...throw away etirely..mostly.
A year or too ago I saw a hilarious comedy sketch in which the comedian recreated a sketch between a Chinese supplier and a Western Importer which went along the lines of Chinese "Have you got enough crap yet" Importer "No we need another three boat loads" On a more serious note people with environmental awareness joke about "Another Boatload of Landfill". Of course even high end companies like Apple make things very difficult to repair. Making things repairable isn't that difficult. My 2009 Sony Satio cellphone has a removable battery, upgradable storage and when the Touch Screen started playing up I was pleasantly surprised to find that undoing two screws made replacement a two minute job. A shame that the Symbian OS is all but obsolete. Going back to Boomboxes the question is, would anyone be prepared to pay 1980s prices these days? The Maxtek costs less today than something like a Sharp QT27 did in the 1980s. In real terms a QT27 would be about £140 in todays money. Certainly not ridiculous but way above the Novelty Impulse buy level of the Maxtek.
The Maxtek! The links don't go to the box anymore, so here's a photo. I don't see much of a resemblance.....
No more Sansui, the brand was sold like many others to China: it is part of Grande Holdings, a Chinese Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which also owns Japanese brands Akai and Nakamichi.
