New Aiwa 770A + new pics of old boxes

I've always been more the wait-and-see kind of collector rather than hey-everybody-I-want-these-models. Ofc I have a wish-list but I've never put up any wanted-posts (well I have now). I always preferred waiting and getting stuff for good prices rather than asking. So my progress has been good, 5-6 new boxes per year perhaps, as I would only go for those I wanted/those that looked really cool for good prices. But my wish list is getting shorter with the arrival of the latest one: The Aiwa 770A ! Been after one for ages and only seen two for sale ever, one was an Italian douchebag who I refused to deal with , but this one came from a nice (well..) Italian. Arrived a few days ago and it took a while for me to figure out how to remove the grillz to clean it .. It's smaller and lighter than expected and I'm a bit disappointed by the build quality, this is the closest thing to the flagship 880 ? Maybe I'm just used to Sharp, Sanyo and JVC. Also it was damaged in shipping, so you can't change the radio station, the wire is loose from the tuning wheel. Might fix that later. Deck doesn't work, but I knew that. It sounds great tho, really nice for such a small box . I'm not sure the DLS system (buttom on the front) actually does anything, when I press it I just get a humming sound. When the music is loud, this is good for the bass and overall fullness of the sound, but I'm not sure it's working right. Anyone had one and can tell me ? A few wires came loose from the front, so the display with numbers etc. isn't working. Anyone has a picture of the inside for me ?

PICS














BONUS ROUND:
New pics of my Super-minty fully working M70 I got over a year ago :













EXTRA BONUS ROUND !! dingdingding one more level:

Lasonic TRC-931 totally non-working circuit board is being replaced and it's annoying as *** because it looks so great . And sorry to say but it's so plastic it's scary.











Peace

"...... it's annoying as *** because it s so great . And sorry to say but it's so plastic it's scary......."


Never quite heard it phrased that way before but, that IT IS, hehe.

Great looking boxes.

Nice pics SL, I have the normal version 770 and ive got say the DSL on mine is virtually un-noticeable also, I figured it was broke.
I mean when compared to the DSL on my 600, that's a massive difference.

Uh, DSL made a noticeable difference on my 770, so yours must be damaged. Either the wire broke loose or there's a contact problem at the button.

You should leave the grills off, it looks way better that way IMO. Can't stand mesh grills, they block the view of the speakers. Grills with round holes are the only grills that should exist.

Great radios SL!!

Still need one of those 770. Agree with Reli about the grills, looks sick with them off.......

Got two of the grey version and one came from Germany and one from France. They both came banged up in transit and had to take them to a tekkie. There's a board on the front and some re soldering had to be done. They've both come back fully working now and I think they're great. The DSL is not noticeable when your up close to it but it makes a nice difference from a distance.
The good thing about these 770 is that they have a nice deep sound without the 'farty' rattling and vibrations of the 880.

If the digital display is not coming up when tape is on then something has come loose in transit. Aiwa's don't travel well!

I just love that acoustic lens design that the first Aiwa has! One of the main reasons I had to buy the Palladium.. I think it evens the sound reproduction, though it may also drop the sensitivity, don't know for sure. Lot of the 80's big home speakers (and some monitor speakers) had those. For example some JBL:s and Jamos.

Line Out said:

I just love that acoustic lens design that the first Aiwa has! One of the main reasons I had to buy the Palladium.. I think it evens the sound reproduction, though it may also drop the sensitivity, don't know for sure. Lot of the 80's big home speakers (and some monitor speakers) had those. For example some JBL:s and Jamos.

Click to expand...

Yeah they definitely look cool, but I've never understood the purpose. Seems like they would deflect the highs down to the floor, instead of to the listener's ear.

Also, if they were really such a good idea, how come the vast majority of home hi-fi speakers don't have them?

Well, it doesn't shoot to the floor, or at least is not supposed to. In fact, what i've read, JBL was the first to install these on a movie theater systems back in the 50's-60's. They were added to horn tweeters back then. It seems their purpose was to "throw" the sound further and maybe increase the volume also. Anyway, they modify the radiation pattern. There seems to be very little info about these. One Hifi-magazine in Finland had a small article about vintage big JBL 4341:s that had these lenses, and were removable. But the article was mainly about listening, the lenses were just mentioned.


After a bit more searching, there is more info about the JBL lenses
Brochure:
http://www.jblpro.com/pub/obsolete/Acoustic_Lens_Family1.pdf
Interesting read:
http://forum.speakerplans.com/what-made-jbl-slant-plates-obsolete_topic35423.html

"...great effect in rooms that were wider than deep. Not only did they give good dispersion, they didn't seem to blast you if you were on-axis. Their sensitivity was a few dB less than the pure radials of the era, but I thought their sound was worth it. I don't want to get into audiophile/wine-taster type talk, but they sounded consistently smooth to me as I went around the room. My definition of "smooth" is my ears don't get tired of listening to them, even at high volumes."

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That sounds like a thing that would suit well to a boombox.

I like the blue of the 770. That's the blue I am considering on for the next GF1000 Burgundy and Black is possible as well
That TRC is like a mirror. Awesome luster

Line Out said:

Well, it doesn't shoot to the floor, or at least is not supposed to. In fact, what i've read, JBL was the first to install these on a movie theater systems back in the 50's-60's. They were added to horn tweeters back then. It seems their purpose was to "throw" the sound further and maybe increase the volume also. Anyway, they modify the radiation pattern. There seems to be very little info about these. One Hifi-magazine in Finland had a small article about vintage big JBL 4341:s that had these lenses, and were removable. But the article was mainly about listening, the lenses were just mentioned.


After a bit more searching, there is more info about the JBL lenses
Brochure:
http://www.jblpro.com/pub/obsolete/Acoustic_Lens_Family1.pdf
Interesting read:
http://forum.speakerplans.com/what-made-jbl-slant-plates-obsolete_topic35423.html
That sounds like a thing that would suit well to a boombox.

Click to expand...

Very interesting......although I'm having a hard time understanding what they're talking about. I guess they're trying to say they disperse the sound wider? But, if your ears are above the tweeter, you're screwed.