Hello fellow boom box peeps. I'm more of a Walkman nut but also love a good boom box now and again I have an opportunity to purchase an Asahi RD 1216. It's in quite clean and good condition so just wondering if these are something that is collectable? What is a fair price for one in good to very good condition?
If by collectible you mean that it is considered valuable by collectors, I doubt that your unit falls into the category. Asahi, as far as I know, usually produced akas. Its best known and sought after unit, the RD-820, is in fact a replica of the famous Sears SR-2199. The Asahi RD-1216 is a double deck mini with a couple of extra-speakers on top -- not everyone's cup of tea, but certainly an original feature. I've never seen one in the flesh, but from the images available on the net, it seems to be a crossbreed between, say, a Sanyo M-W24K and a Sanyo M-7740. It's definitely not an aka of either of them though. Difficult to think of a fair price for this unit. You say it's in good to excellent conditions, which is a plus; but it doesn't look at all high end like the above used for comparison. In fact, the RD-1216 may be the aka of a Tensai I saw on ebay a couple of years ago (I forgot the model number and cannot find a picture I thought I had). It went for about 50 euros, but I can't say if it was in good+ conditions. If by collectible you mean that you'd get yourself one, it's another story entirely. If you like it -- and I see why a walkman guy may wish to have one -- , go for it. If instead you are after something valuable, you should probably look elsewhere
Samovar explained it very simple and clear. To me collectible is what I like. (unfortunately what I like is hard to find). When it comes to boomboxes I prefer the one with single deck more than the one with double deck. Asahi RD 1216is a double deck box. If you like the look of this Asahi i recommend you to look at the better box Sanyo made: (Sanyo M-S400) http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/sanyo-quad-speaker-minis-m-s400-and-m-s540.343/
Though early on in my gathering of these boomboxs I bought the double cassette boombox only to discover how cheaply the 2nd deck was designed and lousey frequency response from it. Ever since this I have concentrated on ONLY single well decks within a boombox as the manufacturer concentrated their efforts on making the deck the star of the radio after or before the radio again depending on various factor's. In the smaller boombox size the Only benefit in have a second deck was to allow a bigger cabinet to allow for a somewhat better bass response if you didn really use the second deck & most double cassette decks used ONE MOTOR and lots of belts to make it all work but the BETTER? models used a individual motor per each deck, the only advantage here was I one deck went broke the other would still play but then the recordeing deck had the better frequency response and so it goes.
Well then go for it! Not everybody loves this feature, but so what? I remember a member of the old forum who detested it entirely and even messaged me in private to reiterate his view after I proudly showed a picture of my red Sanyo M-W24K... But tastes are such a personal thing that you can't argue with them. And, as Si pointed out, it's a nice-looking box. Who cares if it's not collectible in the sense given to the word by (modern) antique professionals?
If it is red like this one https://www.avito.ru/rostov-na-donu/audio_i_video/asahi_rd-1216_823053875 it does look rather different and attractive. Was it you who was trying to collect red boxes ?
A top sounder for sure. More bass than an M70 at low volume levels. http://wikiboombox.com/tiki-index.php?page=Sears+SR-2199