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Aiwa

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As you may or may not know, Aiwa is owned by Sony. They made some very nice cassette decks. Some members have some and I am sure they will chime in. There was a series where the controls were all mounted vertically on a step at the bottom of the front panel. Great decks, and some were dual capstan closed loop design, but it was problematic in that the controls collect dust and need periodic cleaning. If you had it in a closed cabinet it wouldn't be an issue.
Here's a link to a photo of one of these models, from the Vintage Cassette Website:
77610
 
I have several models of their 80's boomboxes and walkmans and a couple tape decks, the boxes and walkmans are highly sought after.

aiwa = Sony (maybe 1992+) AIWA = the good stuff....
 
Never been a huge fan of Aiwa due to the difficulties in servicing them. Some of them have tricks that, once you discover them makes it easy to do things, like change belts. But without this trick they are VERY difficult to work on in comparison to a lot of other decks on the market. It would have to be a pretty special Aiwa to make me stop and look at it, I mostly pass them by, even the free ones.
The decks of that age with the controls on the bottom horizontal panel I like even less for this reason, they are over-complicated compared to other manufacturers and have very small plastic parts that like to fail. Some of them have very small rubber idlers that are very hard to fabricate if they have turned to goo, which they usually have by now.
Cheers
Tony
 
I will agree with difficult to service, on the earlier Aiwa decks. An AD6800 appears to be over complicated and none of the cables connecting the various PCBs with heads, motors etc is socketed (!)

A much later model, AD-F800, appears to be rather conventional, meaning well thought.
 
I bought an Aiwa C50 and P50 pre and power amp at the Goodwill for cheap. The pre has MM/MC and the tiny amp weighs like a cinder block. Want it to be a travel system with Minimus 7's or some small ADC's I have. Might be crap but the amp seems robust. Seemed like a no brainer to grab it and run it until it belches smoke.
 
Aiwa Was one of the greatest tapedecks Brands. It rivals teac, sony, pioneer, etc.

And one can only say that it's below nakamichi, tandberg, and revox after seeing the entire line of decks.

As you can see in this hi-fi fan :
http://www.niji.or.jp/home/k-nisi/
(see tapedecks - the previous-to-las group)

There are some aiwa decks on the hall of fame. And probably the AIWA XK-S9000 is the greatest deck of the last generation.

http://k-nisi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ad-wx99.htm
http://k-nisi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xk-009.htm
http://k-nisi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ad-ff90.htm
http://k-nisi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ad-f600.html
http://k-nisi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ad-f80.html
http://k-nisi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/xk-s9000.html
http://k-nisi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ad-ff8.html
 
 
the aiwa adf-XXX range seemed pretty good..the adf-350 was my first tape deck..a budget model..but it made some really good recordings nonetheless.. higher up the range their machines were always well regarded in the press and often considered on par with the likes the better denons and akais.
i think just beyond the mid priced range is well worth a look nowadays for some discounted gems
 
dr*audio said:
As you may or may not know, Aiwa is owned by Sony. They made some very nice cassette decks. Some members have some and I am sure they will chime in. There was a series where the controls were all mounted vertically on a step at the bottom of the front panel. Great decks, and some were dual capstan closed loop design, but it was problematic in that the controls collect dust and need periodic cleaning. If you had it in a closed cabinet it wouldn't be an issue.
Here's a link to a photo of one of these models, from the Vintage Cassette Website:
77610
Click to expand...

i have this deck, can't comment until i get a belt kit though. i really dig how it comes out on the bottom.
 
They made this one. I gave it to a collector friend of mine. He was quite happy. I didn't keep it because I like my Revox, and this thing is the worst deck to change the belts on I have EVER had. A gem when it runs right, though.
 

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In 1978, I bought the AD-6800 cass.deck. I still own this deck, and it is still operational, although nowadays, seldom in use.
 
I've got an Aiwa XK009 Excelia.

Changed the capstan belts, but the playback belt is in a stupid place which requires taking apart the whole damn transport.:smilemad:

But hey it's a keeper and the best tape deck I own.
 
Tinman said:
They made this one. I gave it to a collector friend of mine. He was quite happy. I didn't keep it because I like my Revox, and this thing is the worst deck to change the belts on I have EVER had. A gem when it runs right, though.
Click to expand...

That's a 6900. I've got a couple of them, and a 6900 MK II. They are *very* good decks, although as you note, a nightmare to change belts on. I changed them on one of mine, and I am in no rush to do the other two..

Aiwa also made some fine mini components. The 22 series is very good quality, and pretty good looking too.

Aiwa also made one of the better Walkman units, a real metal cased unit that cost $200 in 1980 or so. I've still got one of those too.

HTH,

bs
 
I own A F770 and a F660. Both are 3-head decks with dual capstan, Dolby B, C, HX Pro. Very good decks. Solid performers. Belts are hard to get on, but I used a L shape knitting needle when getting the belts on which made it easier.
 
My main deck is Aiwa XK-S7000, I haven't heard yet a better sounding deck (probably XK-S9000 would be even better but at the current price level it will be a while till I can afford one :( ) and I have about 50 quality decks in my collection, including Revox B-215S and several Nakamichi decks (thought not the very top of the range - BX-300, Cassette Deck One, 482).

Alex
 
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