Morning everyone
Well i finally received my Aiwa CS880 in the post today was really excited cause id been waiting over 27yrs to get my hands on one again, well the excitement quickly turned to disappointment when i heard a rattling sound whilst i was opening the package.
The face of the Passive Radiator was loose and there behind it was another speaker, i was well disappointed, i then started going around checking everything else, Tape deck (not working) but can hear the motor running Loudly, radio was fine, but while i was checking over the AIWA i accidentally broke one of the Antenna, so i need one of those plus of course a Passive Radiator.
Theres the usual scratching type sound u get, i figure the circuit boards & buttons have dust on them and just need cleaning, overall the body work looks ok, just need to spend a bit of time on her.
I'll post the pictures of what the seller showed me and then what i actually saw.


See now the pics above do look impressive don't they. Now this is what i actually got below.

well done on your 880 glen there are a top box ,  the circle round bit of the passive has rotted away from the foam by the looks of it . take your time taking it apart its easy to break  switches/wires when lifting the front part of the case .

Northerner, thanks for the reply, all was good advice especially about the tape deck cause its exactly what u said.

But do me a favour & check out these pics & tell me that im not going crazy but this is definitely a speaker where the Passive Radiator should be. i'll know for sure when i open it up later on. 

Check this out:

Doesn't that look like some kinda cone. Look carefully!!

looks like the circle front of the passive has been glued to a speaker and come away ?

Guys, where can i get replacement Aerials from, originals preferable. 

the speaker that has been put in inplace of the passive should have no wires to it as its been plonked there and the circle bit as i said has been glued to it , 

Deliverance: Cant be just plonked there as u say cause its moving as if its wired to the other two speakers.

it will move if its had the coil removed off the back of the speaker no wires go to the passive .    put up pics when you have the front case off then we can tell you more .

ahh i've been waiting patiently for this day Glen, so it's a good and bad day in one then.

i really don't know nothing about the 880 so can't help you i'm afraid, but i'm sure you'le soon be sorted with help from these great guys.

anyway a huge congrats on getting her, now we have to wait to see you get her 100%, hope that won't be long mate, best of luck getting the parts

Hey Guys. Just connected an MP3 player via the auxiliary source, result, couldn't hear anything except, a lot of crackle. I tried the Phono that works perfectly.

Lol, your right Lav Loo a good and bad day in 1 indeed. I just wish the guy who sold it to me was a bit more honest in his sales pitch.

But @ least ive got one now, just gotta put some work in. i suppose it could be fun once the Beast awakens properly.. lol

Btw, how u feeling now, u good?

Congrats Glen on getting your CS-880, the passive radiator looks like a common problem with this unit, and should be an easy fix.

Looks like it was bought from Blasterpunk.

Typically though, unless you paid an absolutely fortune, you are going to get problems that are going to require fixing.

Someone has been inside that one by the look of it. Be careful as you go and try to establish what has been done. Lay out the screws on the table in the orientation you take them out, take photographs of conenctors and wires. If that speaker in the middle is just sat there I would personally remove it and work on refoaming that passive radiator in place to make it as original as possible. The rest sound like cleaning duties on the record arm of the tape deck, switch, controls, headphone sockets, mic sockets, external speaker sockets and any other switches on the back you can find. Use contact cleaner from Maplins.

I think the deck on these are a doddle to replace the belts, likely you will need to clean the goo of the old belts off before replacing.

Ultimately, be patient with it and take your time. Fixing it is part of the glory of owning it in the first place.

I would be interested to know the price though, if you paid a high price then this thing sohuld be working in the first place in my opinon.

i'm feeling a lot better now Glen, thank's for asking.

as you say you wish the seller had been a lot more honest in the sales pitch, i totally agree with you, there's nothing worse than being sold something under dishonesty

agree with docs....and congrats on you're 880 glen

Yeah your right, i did get it from Peter but i'm pissed off with him @ the moment, He should have checked the machine out throughly before he sold it on to me, thats why im pissed with him.

Thanks docs, u always give sound advice.

Congrats on reuniting with your youth memories Glen !

Fingers crossed for you mate that you get it fixed !

Thats what this hobby is all about !

Exactly  Deech, i couldnt agree with you more, if u put in the work you will reap the rewards.

I think I will take the risk and disagree.

You got a great, if not awesome, deal for that Aiwa 880. If I had known Peter was selling it for such a great price, it would be with me now.

No offense, but it seems you have no idea of boomboxes at all, Glen.

Breaking off an antenna out of rage? What the heck, dude?!

And then speaking of dusty circuit boards that cause scratchy sound in the knobs...no comment on that one.

Dude, just send it back to him and get a full refund. Apparently you are not the right owner for it.

Better keep on searching for a perfect one for cheap.

Here's a thread with internal pics of what the CS-880 should look like. Click.

Hey  mmcodomino, hows it going?

Right let me clear up a few things, cause it seems u don't really know what your talking about.

1. Peter did a really good sales Pitch to sell me the AIWA CS880 but what Peter forgot to do was check out the machine throughly before he sold it to me, get this, he sold me the machine without checking it, He said & this is his own words. ( But please understand, that i didnt look inside the Aiwa cause it looked more than perfect to me. It lookks complete original) Now what kind of trader does shit like that??? He had that machine 3days & he didn't notice about the speaker behind the Passive Radiator< Pleeeeeeeeeese!!!!!!!!> It took me 5mins.

2nd. U say i dont have any idea about Boomboxes, WELL DONE SHERLOCK HOLMES i don't, why do u think i joined this s2g website for??? u have to start from somewhere, i'm learning as i'm going along. Just think back to the time when u didn't know shit about Boomboxes, well thats where i'm @ right now, been here since 19th of Dec so thats about 6wks if my calculations serve me rightly.

3rd. Breaking off Antenna out of rage, well that was an accident, i was checking the machine over got a bit too over zealous & bent the Aerial by accident & not out of rage.

Primal word CHECKING, something that Peter didn't do.

4th. Dusty circuit boards, mmcodomino when u service  a machine have u never opened it up & vacuumed the circuit boards before?? well thats what a member told me, he also said to  clean the buttons & knobs & switches too.

5th U say i'm not the right owner for this machine because in your somewhat opinion, i got a great deal, so tell me mmcodomino what deal was that then????? i never told anyone what the deal was so u obviously know Peter then. Right/Wrong?

What was it u said: 

Dude, just send it back to him and get a full refund. Apparently you are not the right owner for it.

Better keep on searching for a perfect one for cheap.

Naaaaaaaaah!!! dont think so... i'll think i will keep it. it will be my 1st project.

Btw, aren't u the dude that sold skippy1969 an AIWA CS880?

No wonder u wanted to buy it off Peter, u most probably would have fixed it up & sold it on.

mmcodomino do me a favour, seeing as u know Peter & your all up in his ASS tell him thanks a lot for selling me a Boombox w/o even checking it over & which was not what it seems, i think thats called mis advertising.

mmcodomino next time, No offence, MIND YOUR OWN FRIGGIN BUSINESS!!!!!!

Yeah, i remember seeing this actual vid, some old Dude from the states wanting to replace his midrange speakers for Sony ones...

Hi Glen!
Thanks for asking, I am doing pretty good over here.

I think you are mistaken once again when you think I do not really know what is going on. Yes, I am friends with Peter and he sold me many great boxes. Yes, I do know the exact 880 you got. I saw the listing where Peter bought it from. I talked with him on the phone about it and I heard it through the phone.

So, you accuse him of not completely checking the boombox before he sold it to you. That statement surprises me a bit. Didn't you get plenty of pics from him? And it was indeed working (and still is). You just have to reattach the plassive disc. That it was attached on top of a speaker is something nobody could see from the outside. And, please correct me if I am wrong, it is absolutely not a normal thing to open up every boombox you sell just to check if it looks okay from the inside.

Secondly, if you do not have any idea about boomboxes as you admit yourself, please do not bother and try to restore this 880. It does not deserve that. When I was a newbie in the boombox business, I did gather my knowledge carefully for a few months before I decided to actually buy a boombox and that was for 20€. In my first year of collecting, my biggest investment were 300€ in a fully working VZ2500 and I never even dared to open that one up until a few months ago when it needed servicing.

Let me emphasize again that if someone is not able to extend and antenna on a boombox without breaking it because they are to clumsy, it is really not a good idea for them to go ahead and open one up. Believe me when I say there are plenty of even more fragile parts than an antenna in there.

I have successfully serviced many boomboxes in my life and the circuit boards were never very dusty. Cleaning all the knobs and switches is much more important in order to decrease any crackling sounds.

Given the recent prices, I think your deal for 450€ plus 50€ shipping was more than great. Another thing you did not tell anyone here is that Peter offered you a free repair of the tape deck in his local workshop! If you would not have been impatient like a 12-year-old and wanted the box immediately, the workshop would have in fact noticed that there is a speaker behind the radiator and would have either fixed that or Peter would have told you.

When it comes to boomboxes, patience is a virtue.

To answer your question: Yes, I am the Dude (his Dudeness or also El Duderino) who sold Skippy his Aiwa 880. However, what I sold him was a defective unit that needed refoaming and he did the resto job on it.

Glen, aside from working on your anger management, I would crtainly give you the advice to send this unit back to Peter. Especially because he offered you that option from the very beginning. No normal eBay seller ever does that so you really got a special treatment because you are new and Peter and I know that people who are new in the boombox hobby can sometimes be disappointed by what they get because they expected something else.

I for my part cannot tell from the outside of a box if anybody has ever been inside of it. I know what to expect when I buy a boombox from Peter and that is nothing but a great deal and a great machine.

One last thing that does not concern boomboxes: I have noticed that your location is London, UK. I do not mean to be a grammar nazi here but for a native speaker, your English really lacks a lot of quality.