GE 3-5258

The General Electric 3-5258A is an attractive, mid-sized boombox from the early-mid 1980s. It measures 18 inches wide, 10.25 inches tall. It was made in Taiwan and takes 8 D-cell batteries. Its features include Loudness, Aux Input, Stereo Accent (similar to Stereo Wide), and MLS 3-track music search. Disassembly is straightforward, just remove the 8 rear screws (2 are in the battery compartment), pull off the 4 front control knobs, and pull off the front case. If you need to lubricate the controls, the main circuit board slides out for easy access (it is held by slots carved into the case, no screws were needed).

This model has a Sanyo LA4185 amplifier, 12cm woofers, and 4cm cone tweeters which are very crisp. On most boomboxes I set bass and treble to 100% if I'm listening at low volume, but on this one, 50-75% treble is plenty. Anything more would be too bright.

As for the "Stereo Accent" toggle switch, yes it makes the sound more "dimensional" I guess, but I don't think they designed it quite right, because it cuts the volume by half. So you will need to double the volume to compensate.

FM reception is very strong, but AM was weak on the one I tested. Aux Input works well. As for the tape deck, it suffers from the broken nylon tape head bracket syndrome, like the GE Blockbuster. If this part is broken, it will prevent the head from going up and down properly. To learn about the repair procedure, click HERE