Aiwa CS880 pick up

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T-STER

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Jul 14, 2014
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So I picked this up on epay, arrived Friday like this:

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Listed as non working but did power up. Well the good news was upon plugging it in the tape motor was running permanently so at least that was working. No radio however and volume was permanently loud even with the volume turned right down.

The first thing was to get it all running properly so i rotated the flywheel until the heads reset and this solved the motor running, i then cracked on with belts, fresh lube and a clean. Deck was working fine.

Volume turned out to be bad solder joint although it was a pain in the ass to get to with the tuner board stacked on top. Radio i fixed kinda of by accident as i noticed tapping the chip made it come on, i have no idea what joint was bad but i did them all on the chip and fm was now fine.

Cosmetic wise i have resprayed the grill BMW sapphire black with a couple of clear coats.

All i need to do now is order a kit to refoam the speakers including the center passive. It was also missing a pause key, and several knobs and switch covers, if anybody has any spare i would be grateful.

Here she is after some work:

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Reli

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Nice score, glad you were able to get the radio working as that's often a pain on digital units.

I recommend using a rubber sorround instead of foam on the passive, because the factory passive "farts" too often with rap or R&B music even on light volume. So I would recommend using stiffer surround material (like rubber instead of foam). Or you could put some acoustic matting inside the box to slow down the bass so that it doesn't bounce back onto the passive so quickly.
 

Hisrudeness

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Mine 'farts' too so there's a lot knob tweeting involved depending on what your listening to.
It plays evenly on both channels Tre?
Good score...... man! you've got some big projects going on at the moment. How's the 920 going?
 

T-STER

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Reli said:
Nice score, glad you were able to get the radio working as that's often a pain on digital units.

I recommend using a rubber sorround instead of foam on the passive, because the factory passive "farts" too often with rap or R&B music even on light volume. So I would recommend using stiffer surround material (like rubber instead of foam). Or you could put some acoustic matting inside the box to slow down the bass so that it doesn't bounce back onto the passive so quickly.
Good advice thanks Reli, I will look for a decent rubber surround then.


Hisrudeness said:
Mine 'farts' too so there's a lot knob tweeting involved depending on what your listening to.
It plays evenly on both channels Tre?
Good score...... man! you've got some big projects going on at the moment. How's the 920 going?
Hey Rudey, yep she plays evenly on both channels now, its funny because even without the surrounds done it still sounds really good.

Argh, the 920.... well i have recapped a good part of it now but i think the issue is on the volume board. I was hoping not to recap that as it is a bitch to get to but it looks like i will have to. I haqve been waiting for a few days off work so that i can strip it and leave it overnight if i don't get it done. It's a big job.

I haven't given up though. It's frustrating as i get boxes like this 880 that appear to be on deaths door and i can bring them back but i just cant get this 920 going. Cosmetically it is looking good though as i have done a lot there.

I still love it, im desperate for a working 920 so perseverance is key :yes:
 

stereomad

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Nice work so far tre.....you should be able to get the missing parts fairly easily as other awai's share the same knobs
 

Radio raheem

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Great score Tstar, hey don't you have a scrap 770 those knobs are the same, had my 880 on all night great box
 

blu_fuz

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The 880 is a true good looking machine. Let us know how the re-foam goes, and nice job.
 

JVC Floyd

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You need two 5 inch angled attached foams for the outer speakers and one 6 inch flat attach foam for the radiator I would suggest getting the stiffest possible foams for these speakers you can also counterweight the passive radiator to tighten up the sound. These boxes are bigger and heavier than most people think and the build quality is top-notch another weak point for these is the volume pot and the DSL switch both must be cleaned or else you'll probably get intermittent contact. You have to go deep to lubricate these switches. But it's all worth it because these are awesome machines.
 

Helmar

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Dec 21, 2015
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Hello T-Ster,

regarding the turning knobs I can offer 4 similar ones (taken from an Aiwa ca-w10). They are a litte smaller in diameter, but they fit (see picture: I put one of them on the bass knob). Better than nothing - until you get the original knobs.
The mentioned ca-w10 offered also two fully functioning md-3 tape units which are the same as the 880 uses. However the buttons differ. Btw: why is the missing pause button not inside the box? It cannot pop out ???
For the vertical switches we are in competition - I am also looking for 2 original ones.

Regarding the speakers
I ordered here:
2 foam surrounds + glue 22€, www.audiofriends.nl
I also replaced the capacitors on the tweeters against high quality ones which improves the audio quality noticeable - no voodoo!

The radiator was built from scratch by using a CD which is (even with the hole closed 3 grams lighter than the original radiator. This gives some room for tuning. Making it heavier lowers the frequency which is amplified by the radiator. Having it a little lighter also reduces the "farting effect" and highers the amplified frequency - which makes more sense to me for a relatively small speaker.
I ordered here:
1 foam surround for passive radiator 10,50€, www.adko.de

I also added a bigger capacitor to the power supply (for some people this is audio voodoo.
I ordered here:
[SIZE=11pt]1 decoupling Capacitor 1,69€, 6800uf/35V www.conrad.de[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]FullSizeRender.jpgView attachment Passive Radiator V2.pdfIMG_3239.JPGIMG_3240.JPGIMG_3176.JPGIMG_3175.JPGIMG_3181.JPGIMG_3269.JPG[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Best regards[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Helmar[/SIZE]
 

T-STER

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Thanks for the replies guys and Helmar thanks for the post, very helpful.

I'll definitely take the knobs if possible and maybe even a tape deck, can you pm me some prices? Much appreciated thank you.

I have no idea what happened to the pause button, as you say there is no way for it to come out but it was not inside :(

I'll look into the foams now so thanks for the links. Your two look awesome, mine will be there soon!
 

Helmar

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Dec 21, 2015
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Thanks! The left one took me more than 60 hours. Some small pieces of the puzzle are still open like the missing original vertical knobs. I will make a picture of the spare md-3 unit and let you know on the weekend.
Helmar
 

Reli

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Ha ha a CD, that's a cool idea. Someone should use one of their favorite artist.
 
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