The Rexol and aiwa are the same Leotech Boomers, and it seems like the Bumpboxx is also Leotech. I can't believe they raised over seven million dollars! I know they want to do the M90 next but that's a huge chunk of money to come up with.
There was a big bump in sales from the Aiwa label being sold at Costco. I'm tempted on getting the B90 from Bumpboxx (enjoying my BB-777). What's missing from all these units is there is no reverse engineered Dolby B. I have all these cassettes that are encoded with Dolby but I can only play them on vintage units. And it's not about the "hiss", it's about decoding a Dolby encoded tape to hear its full range.
And I suppose using a playback device with an equalizer can only partly compensate for the missing Dolby. My 1986 Aiwa HS-J9/09/600's fortunately have both.
They spent well over $500000 getting the moulds for the BB777 made so without Kickstarter it would have been difficult. Regarding Dolby I am surprised there have been so many excuses. It is out of patent and many 1970s decks implemented Dolby B using discrete components like transistors. The only problem would be using the name. However, "BB NR" would be fine.
So let's go down this rabbit hole a bit further. What would it take, say Bumpboxx, to use the Dolby logo? Would they just have to pay royalty fees to Dolby Laboratories? Would Dolby Labs verify that indeed Dolby B is working as intended on new units? What was so vastly "simple" in the 70s, 80s, and 90s now seems impossible.
I found an thread in Tapeheads discussing this. It seems a channel of Dolby can be done with six transistors. As for using the Dolby name I think the answer would be similar to if you asked Apple if you could stick their name on a reproduction Apple II. Would anyone at Dolby Labs still know how to check a noise reduction circuit ? In contrast I can imagine the negative publicity if a new deck with the Dolby logo on it turned out to be rubbish. Someone reckoned that new old stock Dolby ICs (from Hitachi) are readily available. However, the datasheet states that you need to buy a license from Dolby to use them. Dolby completely ceased licensing the technology and certifying existing integrated circuit (IC) chip inventory for production around 2016. One option seriously discussed would be to grind off the original part number and Dolby logo and call them something like BB NR IC.
Comparing the Dolby on the Aiwa HS-J36 and the much more expensive and coveted HS-J09. The J36 was a slightly later release, and made in Singapore instead of Japan. The J36 has a larger cheaper plastic case, but the electronics are almost the same and they use the same mechanism. A big difference is that although the Dolby electronics are the same or substantially the same, the J36 Dolby is on a separate board, while the J09 Dolby is integrated in the main board. The J36 Dolby uses a NJM2063A Dolby ic and one transistor. The J09 uses a BA1102F ic and one transistor. Why the difference? Is it cheaper to mount the Dolby circuitry on a separate board (aided by or requiring the larger case)? Was it a way around licensing?
