Conion C-100F

The C-100F (also known as just "C100") was sold by Conion ("Coney Onkyo") during the early-mid 1980s. It is one of the most iconic and recognizable boomboxes from that time period, and for good reason. It's huge, loud, and flashy! Its image has been used to adorn everything from album covers to clothing to smartphone cases. Many collectors say it was the loudest 1-piece boombox of the 80s. When they were new, they sold for about $450, but today they can sell for anywhere from $400 to $1,200 depending on condition. To help you protect your investment, it has a alarm system with a proximity sensor located between the LED meters.

Conion C100s offer four different audio sources:

• Tuner: AM, FM, and two shortwave bands.
• Aux/Phono: This allows you to connect turntables or other music sources, even modern devices like MP3 players.
• Deck 1: This is the lower deck with the big door. It is fully-featured including music search, and tape type selector.
• Deck 2: This is the upper, slot-loaded deck.

The Bass and Treble knobs change the low and high frequency output by plus or minus 8 dB. The Loudness switch bumps up 100Hz output by 6 dB, and 10 kHz output by 4 dB. There are two stereo modes: Normal and Wide. Wide stereo injects a slightly delayed version of one channel into the other to produce a unique effect.

Most Conion C100's were made in Japan, but some were made in Korea. The Korean ones must have been lower-priced, because they're missing several features including the VU meters in the upper left corner, the dial light, the editing button, MSSI music search, the recording level knob, the LED tape run display, and the FF/RW buttons for the upper tape deck. They have a different amp setup too, and different speakers (for example, the outermost tweeters are cheap piezo tweeters instead of cone tweeters).

Another important fact is that there were a few re-branded versions of the C100, including the Clairtone 7980, the Helix HX-4635, and the Riviera PST-10000 which was sold in Venezuela. There was also a special, limited-production "gold" version, shown below (pic provided by Boomboxery member "Transistorized").

When it comes to working on one, there is good news: There is a lot of room to work, since the components are split across five different circuit boards. And there is an access hole allowing you to adjust the azimuth screw on the upper tape deck. This hole passes through 2 circuit boards above the deck.

Disassembly is fairly straightforward, but there are many connectors. Below are diagrams to help you. They include a chassis wiring diagram and LED meter board schematic (both drawn by Boomboxery member "caution") as well as the main schematic (scanned by Boomboxery member "m40dotcom").

Full wiring diagram

LED meter diagram

The following parts have been reverse engineered by Boomboxery member "caution" and are available as 3D-printed replacements HERE.

Knobs
Switch caps
Tape door
Tape door cradle
Spare tape storage drawer
Spare tape storage drawer locking cam
Spare tape storage drawer locking pin
Spare tape storage drawer guide brackets
Foot covers
Battery cover

CONION C100 ADVERTISED FEATURES:

• Stereo 4-band radio double cassette recorder
• Total 45 watts music power (RMS 30 watts), 10% total harmonic distortion (THD).
• A burglar alarm uses infrared rays to detect approaching forms. Place this device close to valuable objects to prevent theft.
• The three-way speaker system, including 20cm woofers, is powerful enough to reproduce sounds ranging from low to high frequencies.
• The double-cassette mechanism allows dubbing. The tape 1 section has a full auto-stop function, and the tape 2 section has auto-reverse.
• The MSSI (Music Start Search Installation) function repeats or quickly finds any desired music.
• The LED tape running indicator allows checking of tape movement (Utility Model applied for)
• The advanced auto-stop mechanical logic control unit included in the deck facilitates soft touch operation. The one-touch recording mechanism is also very convenient.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Dimensions: 754mm(29.7") wide, 401mm(15.8") tall, and 204mm(8") deep

Frequency range C-100F C-100FL
LW 150 - 280KHz
MW 530 - 1600KHz 530 - 1600KHz
SW 6 - 18MHz
SW1 2.3 - 7MHz
SW2 7 - 22MHz
FM 88 - 108MHz 88 - 108MHz

Power source AC 120-240V, 50/60Hz
DC 15V ("D" size x 10 batteries)
Car battery 13.2V

Woofers: 20cm, 5.4 ohm, 15W max, part number 1SP032
Mids: 6cm, 8 ohm
Tweeters: 5cm

Output power:
148W (PMPO)
45W (MUSIC)
30W (RMS) at 10% total harmonic distortion (THD)

Tape wow & flutter: 0.09% WRMS for Deck 1, 0.2% for Deck 2.
Tape frequency response (same for both decks): 100-10,000 Hz with Normal tapes, 100-12,500 Hz with Chrome tapes, and 100-14,000 Hz with Metal tapes.