Home > Consumer Reviews > GPX BCD1806 Boombox with CD Player and AM/FM Tuner

I ordered this for my nursery to play a CD once in a while. I plugged it in, forgot about it and when I went to use it a week later, could not get the CD to play. I tried everything. The radio worked fine but no CD player. Wish I could send this terrible item back.

For under twenty bucks, you've got to love it (and who's to know yours isn't a Cambridge, Bose, JBL, Harmon-Kardon, or Boston Acoustics mini-stereo but a GPX? I repeat, not even a Colby but an ignominous GPX? Too hip, I say). It's fairly compact, has a solid look and feel, convenient analog controls (sturdy but not tight flywheel tuning and large, secure volume control), boasts a brightly lit LED for CD tracks (visible across the room), and isn't loaded up with "extras" that you never use and wouldn't know how to anyway (bass boosts, random/repeat/custom programming, etc.). The sensitivity and selectivity of the tuner are about average, the sound of the speakers is fairly transparent--bass deprived and slightly "tinny" at high volumes but fine for occasional, casual listening.

Not recommended for listeners who insist on heavy bass or who plan to use it without AC (the required 8 batteries will most likely be short-lived and not worth the expense or trouble). Also, if you've been using a pricey, high-end radio like the Tivoli, don't count on being able to pick up those FM stations from 50 miles away. But as a reasonably effective bathroom or kitchen radio, or boombox for the child's room, or as a convenient way to quickly go through a stack of CDs (for a reviewer doing 20 or more CDs at a time, it's ideal), you can't beat this one at the price.

(Later.) After several more days, the tinny sound is increasingly dissatisfying, prompting me to sentence the thing to the attic and save it for my granddaughter. But even though I haven't quite attained the American Dream--i.e. of becoming the quintessentially satisfied consumer--this GPX dream machine is ample testimony that there's still hope out there for other aspirants who, apart from a shoeshine and a smile, have little more than 15-20 extra bucks to spend.

And best of all: it doesn't come with those cheap headphones that clutter up desk drawers until there's nothing to do but dispose of them to make space.

Can't tell you how well it works as it was broken! The cd lid does not close!

The radio for the boom box worked. The CD player did not work. I had to return it to be repaired or replaced. I do not have it back yet.

Received the boombox today and am happy with it, but I wanted one with a headphone jack and although the product description says there is one, there is not. I will keep it anyway because it has great sound and will serve my purpose, and the price was right.