Found this gem by chance. It was offered to me as a part of a lot. I'm not a fan of this model, and, to be honest I didn't know anything about it further than several pics of it I saw on the internet. Battery terminals were a little corroded, therefore, I couldn't test if it worked before buying it. Moreover, some pieces were given to me separated inside a plastic bag, between them, the triangle for the ffwd function, a spring and another litlle pieces I didn't know what they were for. Once I cleaned the battery terminals, I tried to turn it on, nothing happened. Several days after, when I was inspecting it, a thin steel bar dropped from inside, unlocking it in some way, giving me the opportunity to turn on the radio. It has a very good sounding and doesn't share the usual aiwa's leaked caps troubles. However, the tape functionality didn't work, as the belt was melted. I ordered a new one to Fix Your Audio. It was necessary to desolder two ribbons, that's not an easy task. Finally, I cleaned the mech, the belt was everywhere melted. Once I was done, I found out that the thin bar was for the triangle fix. Surprisingly, there aren't any pieces missing, everything in is place, and it works perfectly fine!
Great job These are pretty rare and highly collectible items. Even non-working examples in japan are crazy money some sellers asking £500-£600 for them. So if you got it cheap well done!
Actually was a bargain, I picked up a lot of three walkman for 50€, an Aiwa HS-J505, an Aiwa HS-PL-77 and the Toshiba, all as non working. I managed to get all working fine. Sometimes you loose, sometimes you win, I think all have exemples of that
Well you have just multiplied your investment 10 fold on one of those walkmans. The aiwa units are pretty good aswell,especially the j505. You have done well,i usually get my pants pulled down on pure basket case walkmans that need serious investment to get working again. well done.
Actually the one I was searching for, was the J505, a really nice model, not sound when I bought, I changed the big smd capacitors, now it sounds loud and clear, the bass are very loudly with DSL engaged, a little out of control for my taste, morover listenig fm radio, the battery not longlasting with such amount of bass.
