Question Toshiba RT-140S Boombox with my own music

[HoomanXD]

I was casually looking in my grandmother's garage, to find this boom box that was released back in the 80s or 90s (can't find the date on when it was released for some reason.) I try to look for connectivity for me to play my own music instead of listening to the radio, and found RCA mic ports on the back of the speaker, and I was wondering if I could get a male RCA to male 3.5mm (to plug into my phone/computer) to listen to my own music? Just because I'm not a huge fan of the radio, and lofi isn't on the radio in general, and the speakers still sound amazing.

 

[Alabalcho]

What exactly are the labels on these RCA connectors?

If they are RCA, I doubt this is microphone input, it could be either "line-in" (for recording), or "line-out" (to connect external amp). Another option would be something like this cassette adapter

You'll break nothing if you try that cable.

 

[DSzymborski]

Red and white. Left and Right channel

What does it say on the boombox? You haven't told us much about the actual radio, so we have to only go from your descriptions; we know what the red and white RCA cables are. From the time period, it's unlikely that these are actual inputs. The options were usually driven towards exporting audio to a more robust audio system, not importing from elsewhere, with the exception of the mic from audio.

 

[HoomanXD]

It says mic in on the back of the boombox, i just assumed that it was RCA.

 

[DSzymborski]

It says mic in on the back of the boombox, i just assumed that it was RCA.

That would have been quite unusual as an input. It would most likely be the standard phone connector still widely in use, but it might have a 1/2" connector. Again, I can't see your gear and I don't know what it is, so it's leaving us guessing in the dark! And not all boomboxes would play the mic input over the speakers, for many it was just for recording to the tape.

 

[HoomanXD]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/357697100122947595/719379664765845504/IMG_20200607_213211.jpg

Here's the picture, and it seemed too big for the standard phone connector.

 

[DSzymborski]

That link doesn't work for me at all. Can you post it to a normal image site like imgur or postimage?

 

[HoomanXD]

https://imgur.com/a/q1PFsmp

View: https://imgur.com/gallery/q1PFsmp


See if this'll work.

 

[DSzymborski]

(I can't believe I missed the model in the title! My bad)

It looks like a normal jack to me -- though having left and right mic inputs isn't something I remember coming across, though it's been awhile. It's hard to tell from the scaling, but have you tried a bog standard stereo jack? If it's too small, then I'd look for a 1/2" adapter.

 

[HoomanXD]

I haven't tried a bog standard stereo jack, simply because I don't have that connector here with me. But a 3.5mm cable fits in, kind of. And look for a 1/2" stereo adapter?

 

[DSzymborski]

Something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Stereo-Jack-Adapter-black/dp/B00142BZSY

Is it too big or too small? You say kind of! If it's too big, it might be a 2.5 mm jack.

 

[HoomanXD]

The 3.5mm seems like the perfect size, but the port is slightly bigger.

 

[DSzymborski]

The 3.5mm seems like the perfect size, but the port is slightly bigger.

I'm not sure I understand, if the port is slightly bigger, then how is it the perfect size? I'm just not following.

 

[HoomanXD]

The 3.5mm cable is slightly too small for it to fit in the rear mic ports, meaning I would need something bigger for it to fit properly in the rear ports.

 

[DSzymborski]

The 3.5mm cable is slightly too small for it to fit in the rear mic ports, meaning I would need something bigger for it to fit properly in the rear ports.

Well, if a 3.5 mm won't fit and a 1/4" won't fit, then I'm definitely out of ideas. I don't remember any other similar mic jacks at the time; it's been a while. It won't hurt anything to try an RCA cable, as odd as that would be to work. It's too bad your grandmother didn't also store the manual in the garage too!

 

[HoomanXD]

I did try it with an RCA cable, and the outer shell on the cable was preventing it from going in all the way. Now is a 1/4" stereo jack smaller than a 3.5mm headphone jack?

 

[DSzymborski]

I did try it with an RCA cable, and the outer shell on the cable was preventing it from going in all the way. Now is a 1/4" stereo jack smaller than a 3.5mm headphone jack?

Larger.

 

[HoomanXD]

Might be 1/4" Because I was looking to see the different types of mic jacks, and I found the old jack connectors, and I think I found it. http://connectors.nexus.com/viewitems/microphone-plugs-and-jacks/microphone-plugs

 

[hang-the-9]

That almost looks like the airline adapters

I doubt you can find a manual online but you may want to find a forum dedicated to old stereo equipment (there are plenty of people that love the 70s and 80s HiFi stuff) and see if someone there knows.

 

[HoomanXD]

I found another solution to that, and it was a Bluetooth cassette tape that you can hook up to any cassette player.