hello all, what the title refers to is my 1 owner (me) aiwa cs-880u that I purchased way back in 1984 finally being back with me. when we moved to Florida back in 96 I left it in NY in my dad's basement, where it sat undisturbed until last friday. My wife who was on vacation up there loaded up out titan with a whole bunch of my old stuff, includng the cs-880u and a wholoe bunch of old home audio magazines, 1 of which has a comparison article on 4 or 5 boomboxes. I know this isn't a tech question yet but it will be.

Anyway just letting the respective Aiwa experts out here that I'll be on asking questions trying to get my 880 back up to 100% working order. The tape deck isn't working at all (needs new belts), on a good note I just finished disassembling the 2 halvesand removed everything from the front half and was very suprised to see the woofers & passive radiator foam fully intact. I wiped the cones down and they almost look like new.

Ok gotta get going I'm about to start plastic polish the blue behind the grille and try to get the front aluminum panel a little cleaner.

sorry such a long post I guess I'm a litle excited now that I'm finally reunited with an old friend. TONY

The front speaker grill can be remove, but it is a B____CH!!!!! Good luck on restoring it,were here to help you too.....

Thanks, I already had the grille off when I wrote the first post, it was a bi--h to get off. what is that little spring for that goes from the tab on the grille to a clip that goes over the plastic clip that holds the aluminum faceplate on for? I know that sounded generic, lol. I went outside and spent 10 minutes cleaning all the belt residue off of everything, figured out why the power light was on when the power button was off, it all has to do with that big belt that is missing, I guess the radio was still thinking the tape was playing but it wasn't ( with no belt it couldn't), but I turned that big roller by hand until the heads dropped back down and the light went off. How do you replace that wide belt? I already unscrewed the tape deck from the rear case but it looks like I have to break it down further to get the new belt on?? The blue looks reaaly good after I hit it with the plastic polish. thanks, any help is appreciated.

restoration pics:

guess I have to resize them pics,LOL my first posted pics, sorry so large.

Great pics and a nice looking 880. You are inspiring me to get to work on my 880.

Wow she looks great ahardb0dy!

I meant to add captions to the pics but forgot, anyway the last pic of the grille is just a rust treatment I applied last night as a base before the final color ( which I have no idea what it will be yet), the 2nd & 3rd pictures just show the foam surrounds being intact, 1st pic shows the blue front after cleaning and plastic polish I think it came out really good myself. thanks.

WOW your 880 looks great. I guess having bought that unit new and storing it so many years must have kept it minty. Very nice!!!!!!

should have seen under the grill before I cleaned it, but didn't take any before pics, except for the rear, see below

my method of organizing screws, lol but it works

inside rear half untouched: