Aiwa 880 question

What other models fit the outside speakers? I have a 770, but dunno if they will work.. will have to take it apart and see... I need to have chrome centers on whatever I replace it with.....


A good idea to make a passive (basically a dead speaker that helps generate more pressure/hence bass freq's) Is to find a nice speaker and cut a poster board (2x-3x thick) liquid cement them together and bond it the speaker on the inside of the foam lip (I use black rtv silicone, looks good ad holds great) you can paint the center a nice silver color and be done with it, factory NO...sounds good and looks even better... did it years ago on a wx1 project.

The CS770 speakers will not work in your CS880. They are a different size,the CS770 has larger speakers that are 6 5/16" compared to the CS880's 5 9/16".
Also the CS880 has very unique woofers specific to that model. They are very robust and high quality.

Johnny. There is more to making a passive radiator than installing a dead speaker with a jury rigged cone. You would have to remove the magenet and voice coil assembly which will put a drag on the cone. Also, installing an additional cardboard panel on the cone might make it look better but it's going to add mass to the cone and will change it 's resonance characteristics. Why not BUY a true passive radiator?

with what is said above. Purchase the passive radiator.

Superduper is correct again, he is a wise boombox troubleshooter and you would do well to listen.

I am not disputing that it would not sound as good, but does work. It is just way to cosmetically look correct. Besides finding a passive radiator for a 880 is the proverbial needle in a hay stack

Finding an "original" passive radiator for the CS-880 would indeed be like searching for the holy grail. Although the look might not be identical, replacement 6.5" passive radiators are available all day long on the internet and on ebay. They would work correctly, and your boombox should sound great. Might not sound identical to the originals since I'm sure there are going to be variations in the design, specifications and tuned resonance but who's to say it wouldn't sound better?

If the most important thing to you is to make a cosmetic restoration, then go ahead and do that. I'm just saying that I think a dead speaker with the original magnet structure and voice coil present, would not make a good passive radiator, and capping the cone with a flat panel so that you have dead air space trapped between the cone and new external "radiator" panel wouldn't be a very good idea. If you do decide to try this, do let us know how it sounds.

One of the things everyone says about the CS-880 is how good it sounds. That's what made me interested -- not how it looks because in truth, I always thought it looked a little like one of those cheap ubiquitous magnavoxes. So what I would be most interested in is in creating as close an approximation of the original sound as possible (or even better perfomance), which would be more important to me than whether it looked 100% original. But that's just me. We are all free, of course, to pursue what matters most to us.

Agreed, and please post a link to 6.5 passive radiators. I have an original - foam excellent , just need outside speakers.

Lookin' for a hay stack

Johnny said:

Agreed, and please post a link to 6.5 passive radiators. I have an original - foam excellent , just need outside speakers.

Lookin' for a hay stack

Click to expand...

Weren't you just talking about making one? If you already have one, then what was that all about?

I bought a pair of the passive radiators from ebay. There are some on there right now, 6.5" polk audios. If you don't like those, there are some other ones that are flat panels, which might be more to your liking. The guy wants $25 shipped, each. They are all black but I painted my cones white. Of course I'm only using 1 so I have an extra one now. As for the side speakers, I am gonna wait until I get the case completed. When I reassemble, I'm going to try some aftermarket ones and if I like them, I'll make my refurbed side speakers available. You can't put just any speakers there. The originals are very high quality with large magnets and high-xmax. I think the high xmax is necessary to drive the passive radiator and produce the deep bass.

Here is what the Polk radiators look like after I painted it.

BTW, what color are the original radiators supposed to be?

I was just posting what I did in the past to a beater wx1, it was okay I thought - correct no... but okay

Yes I have a 880 with the original passive and would replace it if the polks were better, I really need input on what outside speakers are a direct bolt it - same impedance and chrome center a must.

As far as color - looks like a high metalic silver.

Well also please ebay your refurbed speakers if you do decide to sell 'em... I offer $50 right now

Johnny said:

I was just posting what I did in the past to a beater wx1, it was okay I thought - correct no... but okay

Yes I have a 880 with the original passive and would replace it if the polks were better, I really need input on what outside speakers are a direct bolt it - same impedance and chrome center a must.

As far as color - looks like a high metalic silver.

Well also please ebay your refurbed speakers if you do decide to sell 'em... I offer $50 right now

Click to expand...

I'll let you know Johnny. Just give me some time. I'm not married to these speakers. I just want to make sure that I can get replacements of equal or better quality. These are gonna be hard to find. First, replacements with chrome center caps are non-existent so you are limited to swap outs. The problem is that boomboxes with 5.25" speakers are gonna be inferior quality. Maybe the one on big ben? I'll have to check and see what size they are but I doubt they are going to have the correct impedance. Other than big ben, any high end boombox of any kind of quality are going to employ 6.5" to 8" speakers. So again, if chrome center caps and 8 ohm impendance are MUST have requirements, then you are going to be pretty much stuck with these Aiwas. BTW, yes, they are 8 ohm impedance.