What is the flashiest, most obnoxious looking receiver/amp of the 80s/early 90s?

andx0r

Well-Known Member
Now, when I say the 80s, I don't mean that early 80s transitional time that produced things like the Galaxy Commander

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or the Z-9000

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which were definitely trending, but still a bit stuck in the silver era.

I'm talking firmly into the black plastic 80s.

What am I looking for? Shiny black plastic? Yes.

Lamps and lights and LED's all over the place in various clashing colors? Yes.

Grids and other patterns on the clear plastic parts of the displays? Yes.

Words all over the front, proudly proclaiming things like 'SUPER XL-1 TYRANNOSAURUS AUDIO MEGA BLAST PROCESSING'? Yes.

Bright splotches of yellow/red/blue/pink/neon green/etc. paint liberally used for details? Yes.

BUTTONS! Buttons everywhere? YES.

This Aiwa is a pretty good start:

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But I'm certain that the era of Roxette and Poison did much better than that.

What are some other notables of bad taste?
 
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I agree that the Galaxy Commander probably is the king of gaudy flash, but it's from the Journey era.

I'm looking for it's equivalent from the Poison era.
 
I don't see anything particularly ugly about any of those receivers pictured. In fact, due to their standardized boxy shape, component-type stereo equipment has never really had an ugly era. By contrast, boomboxes and shelf systems started looking ridiculous in the 1990s, like so ...

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... which continues to this day (example).
 
And don't even mention car stereos...

And car amps. Most of the ugliness in car audio got started in the early 2000s. While boomboxes and shelf systems were falling from the ugly tree and hitting every branch during the 1990s, car audio was in its golden era. Most of the head units still had a classic look to them (and taking the classic look to the extreme in the 1990s was Nakamichi; their top-of-the-line one from the late 1990s was the best looking head unit ever in my opinion). Most of the amplifiers in the 1990s just looked like big heat sinks, which was classic and functional. For example, the old Kicker ZR series:

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And the old Rockford Fosgate "barbecue grill" style Punch series:

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I guess those classic designs weren't "X-TREME!!!" enough for the cell phone generation kids.
 
God help me, aside from that wacky Tron-like grid, I would love to have that Galaxy Commander in my music room

It even has a clock!

Sorry, I started getting my short n curlies in the early '80's. That's right up my tacky alley.
 
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That's hilarious. Is that a real product or is it a one-off that someone built around a Sound Design receiver and turntable? It looks like a cross between a video arcade machine and an oven/cooktop range, complete with hood. The chrome T-molding is a nice touch.

It's real, SoundDesign Disco-Tek
 
Maybe the closest thing so far, but it still doesn't look like something Ferris Bueller might have had in his bedroom.
 
How about the Kenwood KR-V127R from '88-'89...

Lots of buttons - and the remote control had another 105 buttons on it.


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