This Is Legal Right? Boombox Edition

Natalie and I got this Sanyo M9935K boombox at the Brimfield North market on Memorial Day Sunday this past weekend for $20. It was raining steadily the whole day and there were very few patrons which is perfect for me. Evidently people saw this coming and Saturday was /huge/ for the vendors, so we were glad it was worth their while.

But on Sunday? They just didn't want to pack stuff back up. We saw tons of awesome retro computing and gaming hardware for very good prices even on day two.

Anyway, we asked if the radio worked and the guy literally said: "You'd proooobably be better off making something out of it". And: "The radio works, and the tape works with the right tape..." And: "The power cord is cut, and there's another cord, you'll see".

And I'm like "I got a whole drawer full of cords it's fine". And we just walked out with it.

Other boomboxes for scale. It's not that huge, like 20" x 13" but definitely bigger than I thought:

It wasn't until we were home that I spotted some key flaws. The handle was only doing Handle Things on one end. The other end was floating freely. It functions as a handle but it's just because it's slamming into the top of the slot. Noted. This thing was someone contractor's "truck radio" for quite some time if I had to guess.

The power cord is permanently attached from the factory, so that's super cool thanks Sanyo. It's cut in the middle and spliced together with wire nuts to a 2 prong plug that was like 20 years old when this boombox was made. It's also got several areas of exposed copper.

I decided I didn't have time for this thing to be in my office this week, so I had my super secret Ace Hardware mole get a NEMA 1-15 plug kit. I cut the main cord above the damage, screwed into the terminals, attached a standard extension cord and mounted in its ultimate resting place. 10 minutes, fits like a glove in its spot.

The real shame of it is is that this radio sounds GREAT. Maybe I should rescue it before any lasting humidity/mold damage happens to those speakers and clean it up it for the actual barn where it stays nice and dry.

Actually. Yeah, fuck it. This is now the Patio Radio. Sold. I'm just gonna drag an extension cable out there anyway so the short cord is perfect.

The search continues for a radio crappy enough that I don't care if it's in the basement forever but sounds decent enough and won't burn down my house.