And the band played on
Written: Mar 14 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Can withstand bong hits, a little fire a little water and lots of Velvet Underground
Cons: Doesn't have the greatest sound, the buttons are weird
The Bottom Line: This thing is indestuctable!
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| pugslyaddams's Full Review: Koss PC 38G Boombox |
First off the model that I own is the Koss PC27 digital filter processed compact disc player. It also has a tape deck and AM/FM tuner abilities but I primarily use it for the CD function. Because it is not the exact model that I'm writing about the epinions picture does not apply. Mine looks similar but it is round and bubble shaped. The front is a couple of shades of grey and the back is black(I feel like AC/DC saying that.)
This is the toughest CD player I have seen. I am notoriously bad with electronic equipment. I have smashed, with my bare hands, at least four CD players to death(and two VCRs.) This CD player avoids my wrath by working the way it's supposed to(even after extended abuse.)
I used to have a closet. It was a walk-in closet. I renovated and put a mattress on the floor, which fits perfectly from the back to the door and on both sides. The door opens in to the right with the mattress on the left. There is a window in there that is pretty unusual with a fairly deep ledge that is hidden behind this cool red fabric I put over it. The window is opposite the door and slightly to the left. I have decorated with pictures my friends and I have taken of everything from each other to groundhogs to industrial equipment from a mill. I have a poster of A Clockwork Orange, a very good drawing of Thom Yorke by Chad Durnford and a painting of the pope that made me fail an art class. I thought it was the best thing I ever did. I also have a stolen amnesty international poster promoting education. This is a hotbox.
I smoke Marijuana in there with my friends. It started out because I didn't want my mom to know that we were smoking weed in the house when I was sixteen(she found out and yelled "you're killing yourselves in there".) I live in Canada and in the winter it can be cold and windy, making it difficult to smoke a bowl outside. Now we stay in there because of sentimental value and it's just pimp.
It wouldn't be so cool if there wasn't tunes to fill the specially designed atmosphere in there. Unfortunately that atmosphere is destructive to the music reproduction devices I use. In the first year I went through two CD players in there. One the next year. So I decided to buy a cheap crappy CD player because I knew it wouldn't handle the strains of playing the Velvet Underground on repeat for days(I like being able to go in and feel like I never left...it's an escapist thing) and having the thick polluted air stick resin to all the vital parts. But I was wrong. I've had this CD player for two and a half years and it has withstood more tortures than the other three CD players combined.
I like to pull it out so I can take it to the kitchen when I do the dishes(which I don't do nearly often enough so when I get down to it I'm there for a while.) I used to put it on the counter but it got wet once and gave me a small shock to let me know not to put it there anymore. Fair enough, I'll put it on the toaster oven from now on. This worked for a while until one day I left it there after I had finished the dishes. My sister came along and started using the toaster oven with the CD player on top. I guess she didn't notice for a while because the bottom was burned and melted. I thought that was the end but nope, still plays fine.
The speakers have an aluminum grid thing over them which is really good for us because in my house things get broken. There are all kinds of dents in the screens but it plays on. My brother has the nickname "Dangerboy" because if there's anything in the room valuable it's already in danger. This kid has broken more glass pipes than anyone I've ever met. He went to my friend's glass blowing studio and broke three pipes in five minutes. Imagine the bumps and bruises he could inflict in two and a half years on a portable boombox. It still plays on.
The music quality is alright at lower levels. Once the volume is maxed out it becomes flat sounding and sometimes has a bass buzz that's annoying. In the hotbox though it's usually too mellow for super loud music anyways. If I want to listen to something loud I play it on the Stereo in the living room. There are no adjustments that can be made for equalization, treble or bass tweaking or anything like that, just volume.
The design is strong and fairly lightweight. It can run from batteries but I've never used that feature. The main problem with it is that the buttons for the tape player are big and on the top where the CD player door is and the CD player buttons are on the front face where the cassette deck is. The CD buttons are pretty small but they do the trick. there is a play/pause button, a stop button, seek/tracking buttons and program/repeat functions. The tuner is analog and the lines don't match the actual frequencies but I've never seen an analog tuner that does. At least it gets decent reception so it's not too hard to find the stations you want.
There's a strange switch beside the headphones jack that says "beat cut A and B." I have no idea what it is for but if someone knows write me...It's perplexing. It doesn't seem to do anything, whether that's because my hearing is faulty or it just doesn't work I don't know.
Overall this is a very fine piece of electronics equipment. It is very simple and durable, two things I prize when it comes to anything. I don't think they sell this model anymore but the PC38 seems to have fixed the buttons and made some other minor improvements. If your hotbox needs some jams so you can rock out to your favourite band, pipe in hand then maybe this is the one for you.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pugslyaddams
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Member: Michael Warrington
Location: Cambridge Ontario Canada
Reviews written: 42
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
"Are you surprised when I touch the dwarf inside?" - Ween
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