God bless the day in which I discover this wonder exists....! They are more than 30 years old, but nothing to be ashamed of.
This one looks really cool ! I remember seeing one or two like these on ebay, but at the time did not know it was made in Japan. I recently discovered there were at least 2 versions of the PC-202 MKIII: one with Dolby B and one with Dolby B & Dolby C. What I find interesting is the one made in Japan had Dolby C from the first generation. Do you know more about the history of all these models and what are the exact differences between them ?
I didn't realize these were considered rare now, had one with dolby c, scrapped it to repair a high end aiwa walkman, anyway nice example dude
they even sell the complete kit of capacitors and belt for pc202 Set riparazione per AIWA hs-pc202/PC 202 MKII-con tonproblemen, Inclusa Cinghia | eBay
If you observe carefully, they are not exactly the same model. The one with Dolby C, like the one I have, is a "PC202", while the one with only Dolby B is a "P202". That's the main difference. About the PC202 I can bring you here a piece of text taken from The Walkman Archive website: "Special mention should be towards the (both very rare) HS-PC202 and the HS-PX410. The former is a less-known model which is very small and doesn't catch the eye by its design, but... holy god, it really catches your ears when you hear it. I don't know how can such a tiny thing sound so great. Even with Dolby C! Definitely a highly recommendable model. The latter versions (PC202MII and MIII) are more or less the same." As far as I know, MII and MIII were made in Singapore, although we can also find units of the early PC202 with the label "Made in Singapore". At some point during the production of PC202, AIWA moved its production plants to that country. That's why we can find these units (the early PC202) saying both "Made in Japan" and "Made in Singapore". And also as far as I know, there are no differences among them, appart from that in the external design. The internal mechanism and components do not change. If someone has a different or more accurate information, I would certainly appreciate it.
I've been posting some AIWA Information in the Boombox (and Walkman) Archaeology Thread. AIWA, JVC and a few others started adding production in Singapore as early as 1974 but it took off in the 80's with major factory investments. I've got my beautiful AIWA CS-440H, made in Singapore mid 80's, that externally is as nice as any of the Japanese Builds. I've passed on some units similar to yours because of the build country and not knowing the quality. With AIWA, they really went downhill around 1992 when Sony positioned them into entry-level units. About 1/2 way through are the AIWA Articles http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/boombox-archealogy.2424/page-19
Exactly Mister X. With Sony acquisition of AIWA, the beginning of the end of AIWA's high-end era came to stay, marking a "before" and an "after". Very good post of yours with an excellent research. Thanks for taking your time and patience for that. Greetings.
Thanks kanamaster, my day job is pretty physical so sitting at a desk using my brain a little bit is relaxing for me.
It's still not part of my little collection... actually I haven't looked for it yet.. the latest arrivals are these i'll try to look for one
The picture doesn't match but it says AIWA HS-P202, these are two separate ads from 1988 Singapore, roughly $131.00 USD.
You know what? It happens just the opposite to me. Working hours long with the computer. And for relaxing, learning a little more about almost everything, communicating with family and friends, staying up-to-date with news......... more computer.
