Last month i posted a thread about buying an Aiwa CS880 and how i was disappointed that there was a speaker where the Passive Radiator should be. I got my Aiwa back this Wednesday after being serviced and I decided to start playing some music just to test out the speakers, well as you would imagine from a 34year old machine the surrounds started disintegrating so i decided to open up the unit to refoam the two woofers and this is what i saw, take a look below. (Btw play the Mp4 at the bottom of the page as well)!!

So i'm reaching out to each and everyone of you to help find me a Passive Radiator Pleeeeeeeeeeese, i'm desperate...

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news glen but passive radiators are NOT available.....just re foam the one you have....it's quite easy as long as you have the outer frame the passive fits onto...good luck mate

that is the passive radiator in your hand .....just screw it in and your good to go.....and re foam the outer speakers while you're at it

Radio Raheem i have ordered two rubber surrounds for the woofers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-CA...sd%3D380428230676%26

That fake passive is a problem, u see the aluminium plate has been glued on to a speaker as i keep telling people, if u turn around that fake Passive you would see a speaker and a membrane, now i would have to cut away the membrane so the Passive becomes flat but then this is not the true design of the Aiwa, the true design is this below.

i know i have had 880's my friend...smile.....do you have the plastic circle

that you glue the passive onto.......i have had aiwas with the passive and with a fake speaker installed like yours....personally i found no difference in sound between the two

well actually you have the pass radiator complete just remove the speaker that is glued to it and you are set.  (dont freak out man.)

Dude come on man if it was that easy as your saying dont u think i would have done it already???????????????????

Look carefully at the pics below, look at how its made, i'm gonna have to use an electric saw to cut off the chassis membrane.

All you need, is, a piece of thick card, cut to size, spray it silver, glue a round piece of thin foam to the back, put a rubber surround on, voila. That`s what i did on one of mine.

So how was it held in? Did u have the original  Frame for the makeshift Passive u made?

Sorry glen i don`t. One 880 i got. The owner, had cut a piece of plastic out, and, glued it to the frame, without a surround. Took me ages to scrape all the glue off. You really need the plastic surround though. Unless, you can make one, somehow, with a metal frame?

Glen
I really hope you get it sorted soon dude as you deserve a fully functional 880 after all the effort you put in to getting one

Thanks stereo mad, so do i. lol

welcome back rich son

Hey Everyone what do u think of this, i managed to get rid of the speaker and the chassis from that Fake Passive that was in the Aiwa,  i was thinking of using a piece of foam to put on the back of the makeshift Passive Radiator, this foam is normally used in a fan oven extractor,  it will help to dampen the sound so it dosen't sound hollow.
Of course, i'd have to cut down the foam even more thinner than what it is now, but i think it will work. 
Oh yes i'm gonna also refoam the woofers too.  

i think that may be the way forward there glen,i think it may be worth keeping the foam the thickness it is as it will most likely give it a deeper sound....those passive speakers tend to flap and fart at the best of times!

You really think so, i thought that by adding to much foam would absorb the sound. But if u feel that the BASS would be signifcantly enhanced then i'll leave it the same thickness then.

Thanks for the heads up on that.

Passive Radiator's explained

     The ONLY way to signifcantly enhance the bass would be to upgrade the Woofer speakers to More efficient specifications than what came with this unit originally.  

     The Foam backing to the aluminum disc of the passive radiator is there to provide stiffness to the ( aluminum disc of the passive radiator ) being that it is simply glued in place it add's rigidity to the disc and is lightweight, as you wish the disc to be as stiff and as light as possible to allow the disc to Move In & Out as quickly as possible in 180 phase to the woofers.  IF there was No foam there on the backside of the disc, then the disc would deform to the bass note's applied to it, and muddy your bass responce.

     Sometime's it is necessary to add weight's to the backside of the Radiator to make it heavier to slow down the movement of the radiator to make the bass more tight, need to experiment with this yourself to your own ear's

     Actually you might have been getting a better sound with the ( Third woofer ) in place of the radiator.  There are Two way's you can go about this simply;   

     1. Remember that a woofer in reverse can act like a microphone with it's wire's connected to a mic input - yes it's not very good but it will work, like a microphone inducing current generated by the movement of the voice coil through the permanant magnet of the speaker.

     1a. reinstall the woofer that was there, and it will work Like a radiator only taking up a bit more cubic inches than just the radator itself - the only loss would be miniscule bass reaction area taken up by the mass of the additional 3rd speaker.

     Question, Was there any wire's attached to the (speaker-aka-radiator) that came with your Aiwa CS-880 or was there no wires period? 

     How did it sound with the (speaker-aka-radiator) in there?

     2. Reinstall the woofer that was there & SHORT the voice coil terminal's together eliminating the Woofer from generating any current through the Voice coil caused by the movement of the ACTIVE STEREO woofer speaker driver's.  This will cause the UN-Powered woofer to be very STIFF  Versus being free or unloaded with the terminal's NOT-Shorted or open thus allowing more free'er movement of the speaker-aka-radiator

     Yes I have built quite a few Custom speaker applications for customer's in my time but the end result is the customer's ear's, not Mine.

Well i'll think i'll stick to the original idea of a free moving Passive radiator with the Back covered in foam,  apparently it will help to dampen the sound so it doesn't sound hollow.
No there was no wires connected from the 3rd speaker.
How did it sound? CRAP!!!!!!!!!!  Distorted when volume was added with Bass.  so this makeshift Passive i've made now should be able to handle added volume with Bass.
I was thinking about changing the speakers to higher powered ones  but someone said to me that the current speakers were designed with the drilled hole in the Magnet for a good reason, so that airflow is created to drive the Passive Radiator which will in turn push lower frequency sound (BASS) to the front of the Box, so i figured that i best just refoam them and try this method out. If i dont like it then i may consider using higher wattage speakers, but of course they would have to be drilled right through the centre.

Looks like things are coming along nicely glen, sorted.....the distortion you most lightly heard is because the 2 main speakers need doing.....honestly they will sound much better when done...as i have been through this procedure many times with boxes now

I really hope so Radio Raheem, well if & when i finish the job i'll post some pics & a vid too

The most important advice that can be given when reforming the main speakers glen...which nobody has given yet is this......when setting gluing the foams onto the main speaker frame...make sure before completion that you have no voice coil, centre rubbing....you will hear it feel it.....the speaker must be set bang on....its not hard or as daunting as it sounds...i would have offered to do them for you but i just wouldn't feel comfortable doing somebody else s speakers.... the voice coil needs to operate smoothly and freely...good luck

Traveler check out the above thread and this will show you what ive done to make the makeshift passive. I now need the original cause I can feel air coming out the front. Just a sml amount.

ok  followed directions

Ok so go to my previous threads by double clicking on my name then go to Received my aiwa cs 880. Part2

and here we are

     Now: 

Can you Define what you mean by air is coming out of the front?

That's the whole point to doing all this is to move air

Hi Traveler, yeah i can explain what i mean. there is air escaping from the front of the makeshift Passive where it slots into the front position of the box. The frame of the passive has a very tiny gap. i'll have to plug that tiny gap somehow.

get the speaker gasket off of the speaker you removed that was in place - when you first recieved this box and use that, or malable silicone window sealant - the kind that will dry so that you can sand it down and paint it type, or any other circular material that you can find to use as a gasket or make a gasket out of cardboard like the stuff you can get at the autopart's store for making your own gasket's for those hard to find design's

But thats the point traveller i am using that gasket off the speaker that was in place. but i like the idea of the silicone window sealant, that should work a treat.

Bondo  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondo_(putty)