The GPX C975BI2 Boom Box: Get Your Hands on this Small, Sexy Lil' Monster!
Written: Jul 02 '02 (Updated Jul 02 '02)
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Pros: Light, sturdy, somewhat powerful, cool design, nice audio, Bass Boost, inexpensive.
Cons: Bass Boost slightly kills sound quality, needs a graphic equalizer.
The Bottom Line: This boom box isnt quite for hardcore audiophiles, but casual listeners looking for a small, inexpensive, portable stereo should consider this.
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| madtheory's Full Review: GPX C975BI2 Cassette/CD Boombox |
Man, this Epinions site is truly a life-changing place. Before becoming a member of this site, I never would have dreamed of trying out someone’s birthday present before I gave it to them. Nevertheless, the entire time I was driving home from the store with a roll of wrapping paper and a brand-spanking new GPX C975 Boom Box I was thinking, “I can’t wait to test this out and write a review on it!”
I bought the model with the striking “blue ice” frame (hence the “BI” acronym in the unit’s title) with silver and black highlights that when coupled with the roundish body design really make the unit look exceptionally stylish. Full range speakers are hidden behind black metal grilles on either “corner” of the unit, spaced and aimed at outward-pointing angles to really maximize the stereo effect. It’s a very intelligent and effective design. For private listening, the boom box does have a headphone jack, though no actual headphones are included. Not even the crappy earbud ones. No big loss.
The GPX stereo seems like it would be heavier than it actually is. The unit is extremely portable; even a small child would have little difficulty carrying it. Of, course it does weight slightly more when the 8 “D” sized batteries (no, they’re not included; what are you, new?) needed to operate the unit are installed. Surprisingly, it’s not a battery vampire like many of the cheaper boom boxes I’ve used; I was able to get several good hours of play out of it (without the bass boost activated) with almost-new batteries. But naturally when it does eventually leech the energy out of those dry-cells, you can always just plug in the included AC / DC dual power line cord to the nearest outlet and you’re ready to go.
The CD player is on top of the unit with the control buttons (play, stop, skip, etc.) cased in silver plastic and housed near the top-front edge of the device. The front-loading, soft-eject cassette deck is housed at the front of the boom box, with its control buttons housed in a recessed in a small area below the deck itself. The cassette player is a that has the capability to record from the radio or CD player, though I don’t know if anyone dubs tapes from CDs anymore (that was big in my high school days, everyone rips now… man I feel old). A sliding switch that allows the user to alternate between devices is kept on the upper left-hand corner of the top panel.
Selecting the radio station is done by turning the manual dial located on the top, right-hand side of the unit. It’s kind of difficult to find a station using the manual tuner, but not any more difficult than with manual tuners on other radios. I guess digital tuning with more expensive systems has really spoiled me. The GPX unit did include an attached extendable antenna for better radio reception as well.
Each individual component, the CD player, cassette deck, and radio tuner, all have the normal functions that have become the standard for boom boxes on the market. The top-loading CD player has all the normal functions like play, song skip, search, pause, and stop. The current track number is displayed on a bright, red 2-digit LED display at the front of the boombox. Additionally, the device has the capability for 32-Track Programming, which is fairly easy to perform. Anyone capable of reading the manual should have little difficulty getting the track programming done correctly.
Whenever I purchase a boom box or stereo, I always try to get one with the Bass Boost option to add the necessary lower end to my music. This GPX does have DBBS (Dynamic Bass Boost System), but unfortunately, using this option does actually deaden the rest of the sound slightly. I haven’t really heard too many other units do this with the extra bass option, so that is unquestionably a negative aspect of the stereo. Though I like extra bass, I didn’t like the diminished audio quality after the button was pressed, so I left the boost off for the most part. If the designers knew the Bass Boost was going to kill the rest of the audio like that they really should have added some equalizers so that the user could adjust the levels manually.
In my experience with the GPX, I had virtually no problems using or operating the unit. It was light, clear sounding, nice-looking and doesn’t suck batteries. It’s definitely not the best choice for the super hard-core audiophiles out there, but it would make a great gift for a teen or college student with limited dorm room space, or just for someone looking to take some tunes on the run for a barbecue or picnic. It’s a great unit at an even better price.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 49.99
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Epinions.com ID:
madtheory
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Location: Dallas,TX
Reviews written: 487
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About Me:
DON'T CALL IT A COMEB... wait. I guess you actually can call it a comeback.
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