Interesting! Aiwa Marketing Japan - I am wondering who owns it, no links to our ol' good Aiwa? Found something only in Russian, could be translated via Google: https://www.salonav.com/arch/2024/08/aiwa-audio-nostalgiruet-po-sovremennomu.htm On Ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/376063190644
You have to love the ebay photo, one VU is in the middle, the other is dead but the center LEDs are both out. It looks like it's owned by Jenesis who has a big footprint in IT. https://www-jenesis-jp.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc It looks just a hair different then the Ion Boombox we see over here but the keys are on the front and not top on this one so maybe it is different but I doubt it.
The store my son works at has a heap of Aiwa products … all phone and speaker type stuff. this boombox looks ok from the front , the top controls look pretty cheap though.
I just got this box that is branded aiwa however, there are lots of different names for this style. It actually thumps quite nicely.
Nice, do the VU's actually work? That one is from Leotec, I think AIWA regrouped and maybe got all it's IP back, I haven't looked at the Leotec Website in a while to see if they still brand them aiwa.
The Aiwa company that re-brands Leotec stuff is an American firm called Sakar. They're just a trademark owner. I think they own the Altec Lansing trademark too. The Aiwa selling that little silver box is a totally different outfit. Here's another one of their models, with 4 speakers, 1 subwoofer, and 2 passive radiators! aiwa | 製品情報 | aiwa audio -G SPU1
The VU meters work with volume output versus signal input. They are back-lit so they really get the job done in the visual department. So far, I love mine
Who says tech listening and watching us is bad?, shortly after this video popped up on my YouTube Feed! It explains the aiwa forks.....
That actually was an informative video Mr X. All these defunct electronics / audio boombox manufacturers seem to have died similar deaths. Suddenly the demand just seemed to drop away. No one wanted to pay more than $50 for a boombox and everyone already had a walkman or clone. Plus the market may have been saturated with devices that lasted a bit too long so no replacements were needed.... Then it was into the MP3 era and the rest is history.
With all the electronics that came out you'd think they'd have a few big sellers over the years but that didn't happen. One of the things that made portables great was the amount of competition, imagine if phones had that today although some of the phones coming out of China can be very interesting. I am noticing a lot more YT Videos on how minimal design is starting to die, people want a little more clutter in their homes, the office waiting room look is dead.
