Bose, Beats, blah blah blah, it's all the same crap; Give me the classic, tin can tone of mid century radio hardware any day. If you don't need your music to carry through a half dozen walls and pierce the ears of your neighbors across the street, ancient speakers still hold up remarkably well, as is the case with this 1950s Motorola antique. Originally an AM-only tube radio, this magnificent beast now has a trick its original creators couldn't have dreamed of: iPhone connectivity.
Underneath the original Bakelite, the guts have been given new life by Etsy merchant BoxTrader. But while a headphone jack and Bluetooth have been added, the rest of the hardware remains original, including the speaker. It no longer has its AM radio capabilities, but there are about a dozen iOS apps that can take care of that for you anyway.
The price of pristine nostalgia is a bit steep -- at US$349, it's one of BoxTrader's more expensive restorations, and there are many others -- but you're not likely to see another like it as long as you live, which certainly can't be said for the speakers lining the shelves of the Apple Store.
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