Panasonic RX-D55GC-K Boombox - High Power MP3 CD AM/ FM Radio Cassette Recorder with USB & Music Port High Quality Sound with 2-Way 4-Speaker (Black)

Review updated December 8, 2022I now have two of these units, and will comment on both.This is a high-quality compact stereo system. There are 10 watts to each speaker whereas cheaper units come with only 1-3. The manual is detailed.Take care of the remote, you will need it for certain functions.To turn the player on, push the AM/FM button. To turn off, push TAPE/OFF.The sound quality is very good ... however, this player excels in playing music. The vocal audiocassettes and CDs I have require tweaking the equalizer, as the native sound tends to be a bit too muffled.The first one of these I have, via the headphone jack, is connected to older larger Bose powered speakers to excellent effect.There are several presets to tweak for various kinds of sound. The most basic are five equalizer presets: "heavy", "soft", "clear," "vocal," and "off." You can independently tweak the bass and treble.The virtualizer feature projects sound, and there is a "re-master" option, which reproduces the frequencies lost during recording....RADIO:You may want to install four fresh AA batteries to back up radio presets in case of power outage. If you do that, diary to check batteries every so often. I found the AA batteries leaking a year before the date they were stamped to expire. I don't use the larger batteries, just the AC cord.There are 16 presets each for AM and FM. Start by tuning to the lowest radio frequency. On the remote, hold the forward arrow button down for a second and it finds the first station. Say you want a preset there; press "program"; then the number buttons to assign a number to it (eg., press #1) and that is your preset. Push the forward button to find the next station you want; press "program" then the number buttons (eg., #2).Alternatively, you can use the "auto preset" button and presets for the strongest stations in your area will automatically be set.To listen to a station, press its number on the remote's keypad.Update on the radio: Now having another of this boombox to use in another room, I've discovered that indeed the radio reception tends toward the weak side. I'd thought it was just the location of the first one (plus that I'm not in the perfect location buildingwise for radio reception), however, trying out the newer Panasonic in another room still fails to achieve strong reception....CD PLAYER:This is full-featured. You can start on any track, program the order of tracks, skip tracks, and repeat the CD. Use the remote to program the CD player or the Play button on the unit to just play it.Con: I find it inconvenient that this boombox does not turn itself off after playing a CD....USB DRIVE, MAX 8 GB SIZE:The main thing I've used on this unit is the USB port and flash drives to play MP3 music. Back in the day, we could hear about 5 songs on one side of a 33 RPM and then wait for another one to flop down from the spindle. Contrast that with listening to hundreds of songs that play automatically.When you turn off the player, it remembers where it was on the USB drive and takes up in that place, as long as the unit stays connected to power.There are a couple of ways to get music onto the USB flash:1) Synchronizing with Windows Media Player - In Media Player, you can rip CDs to your computer as MP3s, enhance the quality of the MP3s up to the maximum (320 KBPS) and add to a flash drive.2) Direct copy and paste of each MP3 - In this method, you insert the flash drive into the computer's USB; open My Computer; open the flash drive; open your Music folder; copy and paste the files - just the music files not the folders and sub-folders - into the flash drive window as you would any other window.Adding Auto Volume Leveling to Music on USB Flash Drive:When listening to music, do you ever find that one song will be too quiet so you turn it up, then the next will be too loud, so you have to turn it down again? Adjusting music volume is called leveling, normalizing, or changing the gain. When it works, the overall volume is similar from song to song without coming in at different volumes. Windows Media Player has Volume Leveling available but these features don't transfer to your flash drive.If you're somewhat "tech savvy," you can use a free program called MP3Gain. Google MP3 Gain for the You Tube demo videos and the website.If you install MP3 Gain, please read the Help file first; I recommend setting it so that your original copy is not overwritten but a new copy is made with the gain adjustment. Or just keep a backup copy of your music library.If you like the program, please make a small contribution to the author.Update on USB Function:After several years, the USB player stopped playing the songs that normally played at the end. Unsure why this happened.To solve this, purchased a San Disk Clip Jam MP3 player and copied my music to it; attached it to the Pana via the 3.5 mm "Music Port", and the result sounds fine, plus, the Clip Jam holds more music and has extra features....AUDIOCASSETTE PLAYER/RECORDER:If, like me, you have the older cassette tapes, it is getting hard to find players for them anymore. This unit has that capability. Unlike cheaper players I have, the Panasonic handles even the longer tapes (longest I have is about 50 minutes on each side)....If you have read this far, thank you for reading, and hope this has been of some help to you. Enjoy the music!

While observing the most recent changes that are occurring in the world of portable stereo systems, the older units continue to be replaced using new ideas that keep pace with the very popular Smartphones for streaming audio (and even video) data from the Internet. It's nice to see that the boombox industry is still alive and well and that there are a few newer introductions that actually do live up to the idea behind what a boombox portends to accomplish. Smaller units combine radio, CD, and tape players and have been on the decline for a few years, and most will find a stationary place in the home or in an office environment with intentions to improve the sound from a laptop, tablet, or phone. Increasingly, others target the big spenders and are somewhat expected to take on some resemblance of the space age complete with flashing lights, and they must provide some specialty service using Bluetooth, NFC, or a PA system, while over-rated sub-woofers offer megatons of bass. There is a rather wide following for the several that are currently in production, and there are many groups that depend on them to provide the music during their various events like dance or exercise sessions. It is this continued demand that will keep these big blasters in production and nearing professional status. However, there is one other alternative world class model available that so happens to retain its conventional design (Panasonic RXD55GCK), and after several years there still seems to be a big demand for it despite the absence of Bluetooth, a sub-woofer, flashing lights, or wild exaggerations about how it performs.The Panasonic RXD55GCK can fit into the daily routine in many ways as a central entertainment system with its varied assortment of components and potential for add-ons. Many prefer a good powerful boombox over a complex home stereo system simply because of its simplicity and by its very nature to bring along a source of entertainment where it has never been before. One persistent winey complaint about boomboxes has always been “it’s not loud enough”, and that is probably one demand that is never going to be fulfilled entirely. But improvements are taking place, and as the Bluetooth standard continues to expand in versatility, so also will the integrity of portable sound be improved with new component designs. Otherwise, having no built-in Bluetooth can also mean that the add-on potential continually improves as Bluetooth itself improves.For improving and extending the audio from your laptop or Smartphone, a boombox is still an excellent choice. This Panasonic however is also a natural for outdoor events or when attending small get-togethers like workouts or classes in a studio or gym. In fact I am getting superb results from it in a busy warehouse where I work. Spacious areas have a tendency to fade or dilute the sound from sources that would otherwise fill a room with music. Yet the clarity of the Panasonic remains excellent as the volume is turned up, and I have yet to increase it to its full maximum setting of 50. The RXD55GCK meets all of my expectations at less than max settings and it is nice knowing that a little extra boost is always still available.I can appreciate this small but potent power house that wears the Panasonic name. At about a third the size of the Sony Explod it is much easier to tote around and at an honest 10 Watts per channel has even more to offer. While retaining smooth appealing lines on the outside, all the complexity was built into the circuitry inside, and Panasonic included an all-important remote control for more than just convenience sake. You see, without the remote only the basic settings are possible on the boombox itself, so to get down to the real nitty-gritty of experiencing everything it has to offer requires having the remote controller. It may not be the most potent or the most versatile system available, but the price is nice and this RXD55GCK boombox certainly does have a following that appreciates its above standard performance.

We loved everything about this unit except the tape deck, which stopped working after just a few months of light use. Took it to our local tech, who said it was a faulty motor, with no replacement parts available.On the positive side, the sound is great, with more heft than you might expect from a unit this size. While it's no old-school boom box for bass heads, it does create pleasant and full sound with adequate bass and midrange our kitchen. The CD player and radio tuner were both working well for us 4+ years after purchase, but we've now replaced it with a smaller Sony unit (the CFD-S05), which has a smaller footprint and thinner sound but offers a functioning cassette deck and possibly better FM reception.