Grundig Stereo Concert-Boy Transistor 4000 Radio

Well, here it is. My latest toy. As if I didn't have more than enough radios around the house already! Yes, that's a genuine Grundig Stereo Concert-Boy Transistor 4000 radio. I'd guess it dates from the late 60s or early 70s, and if they'd had boomboxes back then— which they didn't— this would've been it.

First ran across this radio a few weeks ago, up in La Crosse on my day off, bumming around, when what should I run across but a downtown antique mall I'd never noticed before?! Spent a long time browsing around therein, sighted this radio— ah, a Grundig! Noted for their legendary audio quality, you know. But I couldn't bring myself to impulse-buy it, even though it was going for dirt cheap.

Drove back home. Thought on it. Fretted. Paced around.

Given that I'm a compleat radio fanatic, you know how this is going to end: this week, on my day off, I drifted back up to La Crosse, and bought the radio. Big! Heavy to tote, I'd guess purner 15 pounds. 19" wide by 9" high by 4½" deep. Stereo speakers. AM band, FM band, two shortwave bands, and even a longwave band. (I have quite a thing about longwave radio.) I got it home. And it works like a dream.

Legendary Grundig audio quality indeed! In that department, this radio blows away anything I've got, except perhaps for my stereo system. Amazing sound. And loud: big, booming, driving sound, fills the room, makes your bones shake. Audio on FM like you wouldn't believe. Even shortwave sounds great, audiowise, on this radio.


Late 60s or early 70s, I'd guess, this radio. One website says 1968. It has that look and feel of radios from the days, back in my youth, when I was first getting into listening to distant and curious voices over the ether. At the same time I find it somehow vaguely reminiscent of the Zenith Trans-Oceanic, on which I was first exposed to shortwave lo, back in that magical 1968. Look close up at those knobs, at that dial plate! Signal strength meter. Glowing red "stereo" light. Separate dial and tuning knob for FM— and (clever touch) that second dial serves for bandspread fine-tuning when you're using the second shortwave band.

If I wasn't in love with this radio already, consider this: at night the dial plate lights up in the dark!!! Like a fireplace, like a classic radio of yore.


The Grundig Stereo Concert-Boy Transistor 4000. FM booming out of the speakers with beautiful audio quality! The BBC, on shortwave, booming out of the speakers with beautiful audio quality! The only other radio I have which plays shortwave with such audio quality is my Grundig Satellit 700 (by no coincidence, also a Grundig), which I bought new in 1995.

There are a few minor items I ought to take care of, as with many an older radio. The AM band tends to cut out, unless you manually keep the AM band selector button pressed down. The needles on the radio dials could stand some alignment, they're off a bit. But overall the radio's in good shape for its age. And cheap!


They just don't make radios like this any more.