Aiwa CS-600U: Flawed Yet Fetching (SALE CALLED OFF)

IN COSMETICALLY GOOD TO VERY GOOD CONDITION​

DIMENSIONS (AS SEEN ON eBAY):


20.5 IN x 12 IN x 6 IN​

MUST CAUTION:

THE CASSETTE DECK DOES NOT WORK; THE TAPE-HEADS MECHANISM DOES NOT RETRACT (FOR SOME REASON), SO THE UNIT WILL NOT EVEN LET AN AUDIOCASSETTE FIT PROPERLY INTO THE TAPE-DECK WELL, LET ALONE PLAY AUDIOTAPES, RECORD TO THEM, ETC.; REPAIR EFFORTS UNSUCCESSFUL; SIMILAR PROBLEM DESCRIBED WITH OTHER CS-600U SOLD ON eBAY IN AUGUST 2012

FIRST PHOTO':



Well, this is the first of the January 26, 2017 photographs taken, with a Nokia Lumia 521 smartphone, of the first Aiwa CS-600U that I dubiously ordered from the eBay seller wattek58 in August 2016. (Shouldn't malign her, though.) Technically, this is the original shipping box of the Aiwa, some weeks after I (sort of) repackaged the boombox after since given up on trying to repair it myself, even with the help of boombox-collecting repair experts here on Stereo2Go (and over on BoomBoxery). A bit of the box of my Helix HX-4633N is showing in the corner of the photo' (taken on my bedroom floor).

SECOND PHOTO':



Second photo', same date. The box, again, is on my bedroom floor. This view is an overhead one (and hopefully without any "Big Feet" sightings, though one can sight my address label ...)

THIRD PHOTO':



Beneath this "bed" of Styrofoam "peanuts" lies the first Aiwa that I ordered after winning an eBay auction for it (some "win" that turned out to be). The gadget was dressed back up in bubble-wrap -- though not as intensely as when it got here. This photo' was taken the day after the first two, sometime in the morning. (Couldn't send any more e-mail pictures the previous day; the WiFi connection or whatever was acting up. And in any case, do I have to unpack the machine for pretty pictures for ... hey, for you guys? Why not? )

FOURTH PHOTO':



A labour of love: after an occasionally half-sleepy while, digging through the Styrofoam "peanuts" and the bubble-wrap while Johann Sebastian Bach played on the Emerson PD-5098, out finally comes the Aiwa CS-600U, the (ahem) star of this thread. I made myself clear the bedroom desk to take this picture with the stereo alone atop the furniture (with the overhead lights on for the star). Obviously, the carry handle, the telescopic antenna and the power cord are retracted, lying flat, tucked away, etc. (You'll excuse that former-owner left-speaker scarring, won't you? )

FIFTH PHOTO':



Look into it: this January 28th photo' -- taken not long after midnight -- stares into the popped-open cassette-deck well of the Aiwa. (Yes, the tape-deck well that is as stirring in EJECT mode sound as it is wanting in the other modes: PLAYBACK, FAST FORWARD, RECORD, etc.)

SIXTH PHOTO':



In this second Day 3 photo' of the Stereo 600, parts like the handle, the antenna and the power cord still aren't "up and about." (Soon enough, though.) I literally carried the Sharper Image desk lamp in my lap to use it to get what I felt was the right lighting for the photo' (with the Nokia camera clicking off once or twice, apparently deactivated by the bright light).

SEVENTH PHOTO':



Yep, I fussed over this Day 3 photo'. I took picture after picture of the rear data plate of the CS-600U, dissatisfied with the lighting, with the tilt of certain horizontal lines in the image, etc., until I decided, "Oh, hell, just go with this one." Was I too eager to use the "lamp in lap" technique from the previous rear-panel photo' hours earlier? Maybe; any "beginner's skill" didn't seem to last. Anyway, one still sees it all: from the brand name to its power-up needs. Saves me from listing all that data -- and saves you from ennui.

EIGHTH PHOTO':



Broke tape deck or not, for me it's something of an event to plug this Aiwa in: in this case, for the last picture, a RADIO function view of the boombox. I was wondering: "What to listen to, what station to tune" even as "Weekend Edition," the National Public Radio (NPR) program, was on WJCT-FM (89.9 MHz). In fact, I wondered so much that I fell asleep in my increasingly worn-down black swivel chair, feet propped up on the bed and all. I probably woke up once or twice, but stayed awake after waking up sometime after -- what, 11:30 AM? (Shrug) The NPR show "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" was on. Desperate to take a good photo' or two before I was "relieved" of the Nokia (mildly put), I tried tuning this frequency, that frequency, mostly referring to that TheCityOfJacksonville.com list of radio stations broadcasting from or into northeast Florida. You know: trying to find a radio station playing some mid- to uptempo jam that would convince me to take a photo' or two of the Aiwa while it played the music, with the MODE set to STEREO and, of course, the Dynamic Super Loudness (DSL) switched on. Easier said than done, hence all that indecisive snoozing earlier on. But there it is ...

LOCAL PICKUP ONLY

​

 

PM me if interested. I'm asking for $110 for the Aiwa. I'm obviously taking a loss, but I have to staunch the cash loss at some point.

 

Iv just thought easthelp, is you're first 600 set to the correct voltage, if not there might not be enough power getting to the deck lad, just a thought mate

 

Well, Reno, uh, yeah; I mean, the stereo operates well in RADIO and LINE IN mode. So that should mean that the voltage selector is set correctly to the 110V - 120V range of that right-side-located switch ... right? In any case, parts of the cassette-deck mechanism are somehow "seized up," jammed against one one, as I've written about for a while now on this machine. It's not necessarily obvious to most people -- that is, to non-repairers like me (sigh) -- when one glances into the tape-deck well. But that annoyance becomes clear when one tries to fit an audiocassette into the well. In the Maxell, TDK or whatever goes. But there's no closing the tape-deck door with an audiotape in it. That pleasing whirr of the tape-deck door when it opens starts becoming quite annoying when one keeps hearing it while one keeps trying and keeps failing to get the darned thing to close with an audiocassette in it. (Scowl) Not sure that clicking such a switch will un-jam anything. (Shrug)

In any case: surely you're not asking me to unpack that kind of neatly repacked, stowed-away CS-600U just to gaze at -- and maybe photograph -- the voltage selector switch? No offense, but come on. It's half as bad as opening the boombox itself (LOL) ...

 

lol ok leave it in the box, it was just a thought, i diddn't realize the box was packed away

 

Okay, let's take it down a bit It's now ready for $105 -- again, if you're able to stop by to pick it up.

 

Why not give the box to someone lad, thats what i would do

 

Disenchanting suggestions from our Reno notwithstanding, I just stopped by to say (clear throat):


The price is now one hundred dollars. To make like Mr Marley and lively up this dance, one naturally has to stop by these Jacksonville, Florida neck of the woods.

 

The Aiwa CS-600U can be yours today for ninety dollars. Part with some cash and you get to carry off this pleasingly polygonal, "Wounded Yet Winsome" shortwave-tuner with a (hopefully) repairable tape deck.

 

No takers yet? The one-piece portable -- with a pleasingly squared carry handle -- can be taken from here for eighty-five dollars. Minutes after you show up, it's yours.

 

OH, NEVER MIND: maybe the Aiwa CS-600U is a keeper, after all.




In October 20 tests, the cassette-deck functions of the Aiwa were mostly properly working, as the repairer stated would be the case in his e-mail to me, but the darned REWIND function acted even worse than he cautioned might be the case. It took so many tries for it to start rewinding a 90-minute Fuji DR-II audiocassette back to the start -- after I had played only about the first five minutes of side A. (The audiotape is mostly dance/R&B and club/R&B, probably recorded about fifteen years ago by one of my sisters.)


(Testing about to commence...)


I stopped playback with the tape counter at the 100 mark, but the cassette mechanism kept fast-forwarding, not rewinding. It took maybe over twenty rewinding attempts -- and a tentative FAST FORWARD engagement after maybe REWIND attempt 18 or 19 -- to finally get the '600 to start rewinding.




Worse still, I didn't seem able to test recording. The RECORD function key was worryingly loose, just like the one on another Aiwa CS-600U that I bought, also on eBay. That other one was in cosmetically better condition than this one is in, but I didn't realize that one has to simultaneously press the PLAY and RECORD keys to start recording, just as is the case with many other boomboxes across various brands. I sent that other Aiwa back in frustration, just days later in January 2017. (Fortunately, the seller suspended his "no refunds" policy to suit me.)




I sent e-mail and made follow-up calls to the out-of-state repair shop; when the ringing 'phone was cut off during my second attempted call today, I wondered: were they now avoiding me? But I got the assistant with the third try. She put me on hold (no music) and the owner came on, the first time that I have spoken to him.




In the twelve minutes-plus that he was on the 'phone, he was genial enough and said something that I had started to suspect (but not dare attempt on my own): that I had to push PLAY and RECORD to record with that boombox. He was a bit startled that I actually used a Fuji DR-II audiotape to record with that (if not with any) boombox, apparently thinking such tapes are too high-quality for boomboxes.




With him on the 'phone, the REWIND function again misbehaved -- but far less this time. Better yet, I made what sounds like a decent recording, from WSOL-FM (101.5 MHz), of part of the ‘90s jam "Are You That Somebody?" by the tragically late Aaliyah. (God rest her soul.)

 

Hi, folks. Does anyone here know which wired microphone – or, perhaps more affordably, which microphone adapter – will fit well into either of the MIC jacks in the back of an Aiwa CS-600 (photo’ six, above) and will work (or enable a microphone to work) and let one record one’s voice, ambient sounds, etc? The RadioShack Unidirectional Microphone (cat. #33-3019) that we have doesn’t work at all in that setup. Thanks if you can help.

 

Here's the Aiwa CS-600U. It got back here OCTOBER 19, 2018 from the electronics-repair firm in Tennessee that I'd sent it to in February 2018.

In this photo', it's on my cleared bedroom desk, at night this past Sunday. Here it's recording the '80s hit "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" by the band Yes. (Yep, that's the song's and band's name; I just checked.)

The Sony ICF-SW40 is still tuner-skittish. But here it's able to pipe those yesteryear jams from WWJK-FM (107.3 MHz, "The River") through the '600's LINE IN jacks. It's helped by the Monster Standard Interlink Portable 200 Y-adapter cable.

A pity: it looks like both condenser-microphone recording and recording with a plug-in microphone are a no-go. (No fair!)

By the way, the mike I used was a RadioShack Unidirectional Dynamic Microphone (catalogue #33-3019; also mentioned it in the post before). With or without the octagonal, 1/8"-to-1/8" adapter, the STEREO 600 got no pickup at all of that hookup. (That join did feel shallow and loose in the MIC ports.)

And the twin, notch-in-slit condenser microphones couldn't even pick up a whisper from me -- or any ambient sounds when I tried recording that way October 20. (No logging my self-conscious vocals with this boombox, I guess.)

In this photo', you might notice a kind of error: I forgot to switch to STEREO mode while recording the song that goes "Owner of a lonely heart / Much better now," etc. (I did take another picture after quickly switching on the accidentally left-off Dynamic Super Loudness function.)

The antennae of both the Aiwa CS-600U and the Sony ICF-SW40 are obviously raised to "style and profile." Didn't help much, though, with my reckoning the amount of tape left for recording on side B of the TDK D90 cassette: it R.O.O.T (ran out of tape) way before Yes could finish wising up any lonely heart out there. (Shrug)