We have talked heating, lighting, storage, flooring for shops, and now I
would like some input for a durable boombox-type solution.
What are you guys using?

Heading into the Christmas season (SWMBO was in it back in April
already) friends and family are all very busy trying to find out if
anybody has any particular wishes.

The kid? Easy. She would like a cell-phone. She'll be 12 a week before
Christmas, and we're allowed to 'double-up' the gift in order for her to
rationalize the concept of greed looking like need. She has confided in
me that not all phones are created equal. Although her mother is
perfectly capable to set her own VCR, swap video cards, string ethernet
cable through the house, and other technical high-wire acts, the kid
still prefers to discuss those matters with me as I have a better idea
of 'toy-value'. She has arranged a folder on my business computer with a
whack of bookmarks all set to take me to the sites which feature all the
latest phones. "Well, dad," (whilst rubbing my shoulders) " The one I
listed with FIVE asterisks, will need a bigger memory card, otherwise
all you get is about 20 seconds of 1.3 megapixel video, and if you
already have 100 iTunes downloaded, well, you get the picture, right
dad?" *squeeze, rub, and hug and a kiss* "Oh, by the way, is there
anything YOU would like?" I heard a snicker from up the stairs. Little
****'s visit in my office had a dual purpose...she was on a spying
mission. "I want better sound in the shop" I said without any part of
that utterance having gone through my brain.
She lit up: "Like a Blaster Boom Box??"....."COOL!!" She was gone, in
two strides, up 13 steps to where she had heard her mother snicker
earlier.

When you want to know what's on sale in Hong Kong, my trusty Grundig
will dial in a SW radio station that will tell you. As is the trouble
with so many geek-radios, they'll suck in a walky-talky discussion from
two scientists swimming under the South Pole ice-cap, but the sound
quality invariably sucks. Mine has a tone control, which changes the
sound from awful/screech to awful/grumble. It is, however a capable
piece and built like a tank, it just has a rough time setting my foot to
tappin'. Music is in my blood. I have the bruises to prove it. Just a
few days ago, Little **** and I were in the mall walking past a store
which sells things you can poke through your skin/lip/ears. The music,
at that particular moment was Joey Ramone's version of Wonderful World,
I automatically switched into headbanger mode and made a few dance steps
culminating into a sharp pain on my upper right arm. Looking to where
the punch had come from, I saw Little ****, with her eyes bigger than I
had ever seen them, hands on hips: "DAD, somebody here might recognize
me!!"

Better sound for my shop. Needs to be loud, good low-end, preferably
detachable speakers, so I can spread that image out a little. I have
lots of speaker parts lying about, so I could cobble a few speakers
together and go to the pawnshop and find me an old Technics receiver
with 100 watts per side.....BUT... I don't have the
time/will/inclination to go through that exercise. I guess I do want a
boom-box. I wrote off the iPod idea as on a previous occasion, I found
the earbud wires were getting snagged all the time.
Bosch makes one, Milwaukee makes one, DeWalt makes one and I have seen
others. None jump out at me. The Milwaukee sounded a bit better, but no
CD, CDR or MP3. Bosch scored points, big time, when I found a video of
them literally kicking the **** out that radio, throwing it down
concrete stairs, no less.... but anemic sound---no balls.
Those job-site radios have stuff in them I don't need, GFI plugs and
chargers, work lights and a 12-pocket tool pouch. *G*

So help me out here, folks.... please

TIA

Rob