Sencor S-4800

The Sencor S4800 is one of the most unique ghettoblaster designs. It has a pair of sturdy, metal grab handles on the sides. Combined with its industrial, military appearance, it looks like something that came from the deck of a submarine!

It has a total of 5 display screens. First, there is a digital alarm clock at the top. This clock needs two UM3 batteries.

Then we have 2 meters at the top which measure voltage and tuning strength (or VU levels when playing a tape).

The meter at the lower left is intended to help you set the FM preset stations.

You set the presets using the little twist-dials on the front of the box. Sencor provides a small red plastic "driver" to do this, but you can use a small screwdriver instead.

Here are the buttons for the FM presets.

The meter at the lower right is the main tuner dial. The numerals are printed onto a rotating cylinder. And it has a light bulb inside, which is permanently lit when the boombox is powered by mains (AC). When the boombox is powered by batteries, you need to press the Light button to light the dial.

The tuning knob has a very smooth, silky movement, unlike most boomboxes. One finger is all it takes.

Functions include Loudness, Stereo Wide, and separate bass and treble.

Line input is possible, by connecting a 5-pin DIN cable to the Aux port on the back:

The amplifier chip is a Panasonic AN7145M, the same chip used by the Crown CSC-850. According to the Sencor owner's manual, output power is 2 x 4.6 watts into 4 ohms when using AC (or 2 x 3.5 watts when using batteries). Sound quality is pretty good. It has good bass, even at low volume levels. Stereo separation/imaging is very good.

It measures 52cm long, 32cm high, and 19cm deep. The woofers are 16cm and the tweeters are 5cm. It has a voltage selector for 110 or 220 volts. It also can take 8 D-cell batteries, and 2 AA batteries for the digital clock. It weighs 16.5 lbs (7.5 kg) without the batteries.

Variations of this model include the "De Luxe" version which has a different color, but no technical differences:

Another version is the Sencor S-4850, which has extra knobs for L+R Rec Volume. However, it is missing the FM Preset buttons. So Sencor removed the preset frequency meter, blacked it out, and made the tuner dial black as well, to match.

No schematic or service manual has been found for any of these models. If anyone reading this knows where to get it, please let us know.
Here are some links with photographs showing a complete tear-down of this model:
http://www.stereo2go.com/topic/sencor-s-4800
http://magnitolia.blogspot.com/2013/05/sencor-s-4800.html

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