Aiwa Exos-9 tribute to the Aiwa 880 *UPDATE* with NEW "blu_fuz Custom Handle"

[mancardo]

As most of you know, I recently bought the Aiwa Exos-9 Bluetooth speaker. And like many of you, I wasnt in love with the "modern look" Here is what I started with...

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I had an idea in my head before the E9 even arrived, to pay respect to the old school Aiwa 880.

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So I ordered up some vinyl wrap with a blue brushed metallic look, and some Spaz Stix paint and got to work.

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The rings around the tweeters do not simply pop off like the others do, so I left them alone and on the E9. Once the other speaker trim rings were removed, I measured and roughly cut out some holes in the vinyl to prevent it from sticking to the foam speaker surrounds.

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After applying and smoothing out the vinyl, It was time to trim off the excess. My Xacto knife came into play when it was time for trimming.(excuse the bad lighting)

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After patiently trimming the vinyl, I did a dry fit with the soon to be painted trim rings.

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Time for paint. My first attempt at the tweeter rings were done with a paint pen. The result wasnt what I wanted, so I masked the E9 up, and decided to spray paint them instead.

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All of the trim rings were 1st sprayed gloss black, and set aside to dry for 3 days before applying the "chrome" paint.

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After the chrome paint is dry and cured, it has sort of a dusty haze to it. So using a soft microfiber cloth or, I gently buffed off what looks like overspray, until it shined up.

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All trim rings polished up nicely and were put back into place. DONE. Although this will never look exactly like an 880, I think the appearance changed dramatically. Its an AMAZING sounding Bluetooth box, and now it somewhat has some new attitude. I placed the grill on just to see how it looks, but to me it hides too much of the color.

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So I will leave the grill off.

So here it is, the finished product, enjoy, and if you ever have a chance to hear one of these, its well worth a listen. Long live the Old School, hope you enjoy my tribute to the Aiwa 880...Cheers!

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WOW! ....Great job Steve ...it looks 100% better

 

[SLO]

WOW! ....Great job Steve ...it looks 100% better

Thanks bro!

 

[Smeats]

Soooo much better than standard, it now looks like a direct descendant of an 880! If boombox manufacturers made new boxes that were a tribute to their classics (like car manufacturers did with the VW bug and the mini) I'd be very tempted to buy a few
Great job

 

[SLO]

Soooo much better than standard, it now looks like a direct descendant of an 880! If boombox manufacturers made new boxes that were a tribute to their classics (like car manufacturers did with the VW bug and the mini) I'd be very tempted to buy a few
Great job

Thanks bro, and I agree with ya 100% So many of us have said the same thing, Im curious to see if Aiwa builds a box with an old school twist to it in the future.

 

[trippy1313]

Dude great job! Many compliments have already been said, I agree with every one. Looks fantastic. The 880 is one of my favorite looking boxes (Don't have one), and you did a nice job duplicating the image.

 

[SLO]

Dude great job! Many compliments have already been said, I agree with every one. Looks fantastic. The 880 is one of my favorite looking boxes (Don't have one), and you did a nice job duplicating the image.

Thank you trip, I have not had the pleasure of hearing an 880 live yet, and I'd love to find one for the collection someday. One day my friend, one day!

 

[Reli]

Good job dude. Now someone needs to take it a step further and take theirs apart and get the case hydro-dipped with a camo or carbon fiber pattern. Another, simpler idea would be to plaster it with a bunch of stickers.

 

[Martin123]

Reli do you have an Exos? Are you planning to get one?

 

[SLO]

Good job dude. Now someone needs to take it a step further and take theirs apart and get the case hydro-dipped with a camo or carbon fiber pattern. Another, simpler idea would be to plaster it with a bunch of stickers.

Thanks Reli, I was tempted to take it apart but I didn't want to f*** something up like crack the case or something. Looks easy to take apart though. Just a few screws on the face of it as far as I can tell.

 

[SLO]

Joe and I had been doing a bit of brainstorming so that he could bust out a sweet, custom, "real" handle for this little thumper, and I gotta say, Joe, you farkin nailed it!

I cut out a cardboard template of the exact shape of the E9, took some measurements, and sent it all to Joe, and from there, he did all the hard work and customization to make this one off piece of coolness. Im more than happy with the way it came out, especially with the sweet aiwa logo cut out from the top of the handle.

Heres a few shots of the dry fitting I did, and man I cant wait to get this handle on here permanently. I plan on using hardmens method of using some really strong double sided tape to adhere the handle to the sides of the Exos. But these pictures will give you a good visual of Joes BADASSERY! Thank you again Joe, You went above and beyond my expectations brother...
View attachment 27869

 

[hardmen]

Maybe I will order joe for a FREAKING handle like that...

If you use the double side tape in yours, looking for that they used for fixing in cars.

Mine still glued.

Awesome job you and Joe make out there.

Cheers.

 

[SLO]

Maybe I will order joe for a FREAKING handle like that...

If you use the double side tape in yours, looking for that they used for fixing in cars.

Mine still glued.

Awesome job you and Joe make out there.

Cheers.

Bro it fits the angles of the E9 PERFECTLY, you'd love the way it looks. I will look for that high quality grade tape like you mentioned, and post a few more pics after the installation is complete.

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

That handle looks great - is it made of steel? Must be a strong material as much of the material has been removed from the logo area. You wonder why Aiwa don't make a cool handle like that?

James....

 

[blu_fuz]

Yes James, it is CNC plasma cut 10ga steel powder coated matte black. Since this is a prototype, it does have its quirks. The material is a little thin for having that much lettering cut out. I can't make the logo smaller because then I will loose detail in the text with our machine tollerances. We came up with an idea to put a finished block of material spanning under the handle across the logo and attached with counter sunk screws from the top. The handle really looks good plain and flat, like the box it attaches to. Maybe if I bump the material thickness up to 1/4" we can eliminate the need for adding additional support under the handle.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I felt like that handle was a perfect project for me to tackle at work that really could be applied to anyone's Aiwa. Finishes off that 'old school' look. Thanks to Hardmen too for the initial idea of sticking a handle to the sides of the case. Hopefully just the 2 sided automotive grade trim tape will hold for the long haul.

 

[Reli]

Wow, great job. The text looks factory! And looks like you had to angle the sides inward to match the sides of the Aiwa

So I guess it's kinda just for show, or is the tape strong enough to let it be carried short distances?

 

[blu_fuz]

If it was my radio, personally I would use some kind of countersunk fastener through the handle and into the radio case. Tape might hold it there just fine, but there is always that 'what if' scenario....... Yeah, the vertical arms of the handle are bent at the angle to match the side of the case.

 

[Martin123]

There is alot of talented members on here! blu_fuz/Slo inc.. $$$$

 

[baddboybill]

Awesome that looks so professional and original like it belongs 😎👍👍👍


Bad Boy Bill

 

[SLO]

Yes fellas Joe did so good on this cool handle. Like Joe mentioned, I had thought about using some type of fastener to attach the handle, but Im afraid of drilling holes into the E9. hardmen swears by the double sided tape he used for his handle, and he carries his E9 everywhere all the time. The Exos isn't super heavy, so I think the adhesive tape method will do fine. We shall see...

 

[hardmen]

Try to find the same double side tape, as used on Wind Car Door Deflectors.

When you glue, make in steps.

First you glue on side, put some heavy thing above and let the glue acting like six hours (make this process for each side).

When you finish the "gluening" process, try to find some leather strap in blue or red, glue below the handle for better "catching"...

And, off topic: I need a Broken I931 to buy, if somebody have!!!

Sorry for the Hijack and keep us updated...

Cheers.