The first boombox was developed by the inventor of the audio compact cassette,
Philips of the
Netherlands. Their first 'Radiorecorder' was released in 1966. The Philips innovation was the first time that radio broadcasts could be recorded onto cassette tapes without the cables or microphones that previous stand-alone cassette tape recorders required. Recordings of radio were still subject to interferences from automobiles and other vehicles nearby with the same frequency, limiting their overall quality. Although the sound quality of early cassette tape recordings was poor, improvements in technology and the introduction of stereo recording, chromium tapes, and
Dolby noise reduction made hifi quality devices possible. Several European electronics brands, such as
Grundig, also introduced similar devices. In East Europe, they also gained some popularity, and were also manufactured in eastern countries. Most well known were in the Soviet Union and East Germany, but also in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, Romania, both under license or own designs. Usually they were less sophisticated, but some of them could compete at some point with average western boomboxes. Boomboxes have been sold in Japan since 1967. The first three manufacturers were Crown, Matsushita (currently
Panasonic) and
AIWA, and AIWA's TPR-101 was exported from Japan. The Japanese brands rapidly took over a large portion of the European boombox market and were often the first Japanese
consumer electronics brands that a European household might purchase. In some cases, there were even Japanese boomboxes manufactured as O.E.M. for European brands. Japanese brands innovated by creating different sizes, form factors, and technology, introducing such advances as stereo boomboxes, removable speakers, and built-in CD players. of Japanese corporation
Onkyo at a
Chicago Pride Parade ca. 1985 The boombox became popular in America during the late 1970s, with most then being produced by
Panasonic,
Sony,
General Electric, and
Marantz. It was immediately noticed by the urban adolescent community and soon developed a mass market, especially in large metropolitan centers such as New York, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. The earlier models were a hybrid that combined the booming sound of large in-home
stereo systems and the portability of small
portable cassette players; they were typically small, black or silver, heavy, and capable of producing high volumes. The effective
AM/FM tuner, standard in all early boomboxes, was the most popular feature of the early boombox up until the incorporation of
input and output jacks into the boxes, which allowed for the coupling of devices such as
microphones,
turntables, and
CD players. The development of audio jacks brought the boombox to the height of its popularity, and as its popularity rose, so did the level of innovation in the features included in the box. Consumers enjoyed the portability and sound quality of boomboxes, but one of the most important features, especially to the youth market, was the
bass. The desire for louder and heavier bass led to bigger and heavier boxes. Regardless of the increasing weight and size, the devices continued to become larger to accommodate the increased bass output; newer boombox models had heavy metal casings to handle the vibrations from the bass. ==Design==