First photo. Top left hand corner the pink rectangle shape next to capacitor.

Ok , thanks , i will check this aera , now not right now , imagine when i was recapping my second 707 i just missed.... one last cap ! The 505 had eaten all of my 220 4v i had to re-open it to take off one...

Wow, very glad to have found this very informative thread on the AIWA

JX303.  I'm also incredibly impressed with everyone's incredible vast knowledge of the complete electrical and mechanical inner workings of this great model.

I just have received today a nice loose JX-303 from Japan , it is grey and almost fully fonctionnal sold for parts but only paid 7€ ! Just something to check about tape operation , it sometimes work well but sometimes stops , may be the belt or caps of course.And to my surprise it sounds much better than my old european 303 ! In fact i had used it a lot back in the days then stored it in the closet for about 4 years and then 4 years after i noticed the week sound problem , then i've found this nice site and changed all the caps , now it works perfectly but i've always thought it was sounding way better before , now i think i was not wrong BUT then what's wrong ??? All caps were changed so why don't i get back with a wondeful sound ? MB had a lot of acid on it remember but i thought i had well cleaned. Well , my new 303 has a better frequençy response i think,more deeper bass , and what , more sound spatialization , but i'm sure i had all this with my old 303 before the caps leakage appeared. Any idea what should i check ? All caps were changed , board cleaned at my best , sound is heavy , absolutely everything is functionnal but i'm sure sound was better before,just hope that it is not some electronics parts other than caps...

edit: or could it be the volume pot i took from a J505 that could be lower quality ? I had in mind to take the one from that new cheap 303 but i can't definitely not now...

edit 2: it seems minor tape problems are going away , may be it had to awaken after a long sleep , oh my , imagine , only 7€ ,sold for parts !!! And god what a sooooounnnd !

Pictures of my new japanese 303 , the battery pack is from my old 303. Screws are new so it was unopened.

Very nice! As you got it from Japan, it's probably a JX30 in fact.

About the differences in sound-quality, are you sure about the quality of the new caps you installed? I recapped one JX505 using audio-targeted Nichicon aluminum electrolytic capacitors (like the UMW0G221MDD 4volts 220uF for example... as I don't have the service manual, I don't know which ones are on the audio path and which ones aren't, so all the caps I have put are of this audio kind). I'm sure the quality of the sound is at the level of what it was when I bought it in the autumn of 1990, and I do mean it's truly excellent. Though, like 25 years ago, the motor's hum can be heard during quiet parts at high volume levels. But to be honest I prefer PX models for listening to cassettes, and I only use the JX505 to listen to the radio.

One thing that is different from the old days though, is the DSL: the basses are just too emphasized when it's on, far too much for being pleasant except with classical music. And yes I guess those caps are the culprits indeed. I'm going to recap the other JX505 in the coming days, I'll see how it goes (though I plan to use two 2 volts 470uF caps like Plop once did, so it won't be exactly the same either).

I don't know JX30(3) as I don't have any. In fact I don't see the point in biding on one when I already have two JX505: they feature the BBE processing which is lacking in the JX30(3), and I don't see what feature this one would have that the JX505 wouldn't.

By the way, I've once won a remote for the JX30(3) and I don't need it of course. I'd want to trade it for a JX50(5) one.

Yes you're right , it has to be a JX30 I will check what caps brand i used but there wasn't too many choices since i could only find them at digikey , and if i remember well there was not many choices for those tiny caps either. About the sound of my old JX303 wheter it is the volume pot i took from a J505(not JX) or some electronics parts i don't know. I've serviced like you a JX505 and two JX707 , they sound great ,and using the same caps so i suppose the caps brand has nothing to do with it. My JX303 motherboard had lot of caps leakage on it since it was stored vertically for about for years(not a good idea but how could i know.).

I understand you prefer the JX505 since it was your first high end model i suppose. My first one(high end i mean) was a J08 , it was great but there was something annoying with it , the head alignment , i could never get it to be good on both side at a time , yet it was a great sounding walkman.When it died i jumped to the JX505 but the one i bought(new!) was sounding horrible(really!).Then i tried a second hand JX303 and i've been happy with it for years.I recently bought a 505 and some 707 and i love them too,may be i have a better headset today,i don't understand why i didn't like it the first time, although it was so tiny so beautiful compared to my big J08.i never owned the JX101 and i don't want to own one today,i don't like it's design and as you i don't see a reason to own one. The heavy DSL was useful with cheap headset and/or bad record , but i agree that with a good headset there's no need for DSL and today you can get a "cheap" but really good headset.

the miracle with my JX30 is that it is fully functionnal with plain sound , how can it be ???

edit: did you know that JX30(3) and JX50(5) share the same remote ? There is just some cosmetic difference.

edit2: by the way i'm in need of a second battery pack , could someone please tell me wich models share the same exept the JX505 ? The "J" line had a different battery pack not compatible.But may be some PX ?

Entièrement d'accord ! :-)

I don't understand one thing though: I also recapped two JX70(7) and the DSL is clearly not as powerful on them. Of course the capacitors are different, being surface mounted, and I didn't source any audio grade ones of that kind. When I think about it, the sound with DSL on them is even not as nice and bass-complete as the sound (without DSL) on the JX505. I do like JX707, but I must confess that I listen to them far less from the day I managed to salvage my good old JX505. Furthermore, the tuner is better on the latter.

If you say that the remotes are the same but cosmetics, then I have a problem as (my old) JX505 doesn't operate with the remote I won (which is for JX30(3)). I'll try it with my recently-acquired JX505 once I'll have serviced it. After all it could also be the remote that would be defective.  As you can guess I lost my original remote, though I still hope to find it at some unexpected place some day...

Battery packs are the same on those 30 and 50 series AFAIK: JX30(3), JX50(5) (and EX50 and JX2000 of course), PX30(3), PX50(5), PL55... and probably some others but I don't own them so can't be sure.

Is my english so bad ?   Well in fact i think i never tried to swap the remotes but i may be wrong , yet they look like exactly the same , just some printings on them are different.

The DSL on my JX30(3)s is very loud not on the other ones including my 505 , you mean it should be as loud as the 303 ? It's been recapped and nice sounding but i can't barely hear a huge difference with or without DSL , although i can live without it.

Thanks for the info about the battery pack.

Edit: by the way... has your JX505 the auto-azymuth thing ? If not then my 303 has something your 505 is missing  !

I don't see anything to say about your English, why do you say that? Now I'm not a native English speaker either...

So I guess you were asking if I knew if the remote were the same, and not if I knew that they were the same. TBH, all that I know is that my RC-30 doesn't operate my old JX505 at all.

I don't know either of course what the DSL should achieve at a normal level on the JX303, but I clearly can't use it on the JX505 apart of some classical musics. On the JX707 the difference is sensible when it's engaged, but I would like it to be a "position 1" and that a "position 2" existed after that.

And yeah ;-) both my JX505 are early ones, with auto-azimuth.

Don't mind it was just about some french you used , i'm french...

I'm happy your JX505 has the auto-azymuth , mine doesn't but it doesn't matter , it's well built so not a problem(to me).

About the remotes , in my mind they were the same , but they may differ inside.

So my 505 has still problems with DSL , again, cleaning the board , recapping is not enough , but didn't you said you used two caps (or higher capacity) instead of one inside one of your JXs ?

I should soon receive a second JX505 so i will compare both of them. My two JX707 sound exactly the same , one is european , the other is japanese.

OK let's clarify it: I'm French too and I knew that you were. I thought you knew too that I was, hence my two French words... some kind of private joke that failed desperately as it seems ;-)

I would be interested if you could try your RC-30 on a JX505 (and trying your RC-50 on your JX30(3) would be interesting too). I don't think it can do any damage, but I'd understand of course if you thought so.

So far I only recapped one JX505, my old beloved one, using audio-grade Nichicon aluminium electrolytic capacitors that I ordered at Mouser's. I can find exact references if you want. I used the same capacity and voltage as originals, except for 2 volts ones that are not available anymore anywhere I know of, and those were swapped for 4 volts ones. This difference in voltage might be the reason for the excess in DSL behaviour I guess. That would explain why I didn't notice any change in DSL behaviour when recapping JX70(7)s, as there are no 2V ones there, so the new 4V ones are no change for that matter. But I also recapped one PX50 and two PX101 without noticing any change in sound even when 2V original caps were changed for 4V ones. So there is still some mystery...

But indeed I will soon (perhaps this evening?) recap the other JX505 that I recently acquired, and I'll try to mount two spare 2V 470uF that seem perfectly OK so far in place of the two 2V 220uF original ones. They come from a totally dead (so far) PX303. We'll see how it goes, I'll keep you informed here if you want.

Ah ah ! No i didn't know that mon ami. 

Well , i don't think i will swap the remotes. If you want me to test it , just send it home and i'll do with the dedicated walkman.

Do you really think Aiwa ever used some audio grades caps ? Yes , tell me please about your next recapping.

I didn't mean that AIWA used so-called audio-grade capacitors. In fact I would think this naming is a recent commercial thing. But that doesn't mean those kind of specifications didn't exist before, and I guess AIWA engineers did cleverly choose the ones they used. They most probably couldn't expect the leaking problems at that time.

I can't tell , but the smallest they could find for sure.

I've checked the remotes , they're named RC-J30E and RC-J50E , both are european , the only difference is in font size and color printings(sometimes) , light blue or green , but really they look like the same. I can show you a photo if you want.

Thank you! Mine is named RC-J30 (without the 'E') and it's a Japanese model indeed, with the "TV" position (instead of "FM ST" IIRC). Yesterday evening I wanted to check the continuity from the connector to the traces of the board, so I opened it... To my surprise the board is named J50 inside! Continuity is OK so I guess it's working as it should but there is some kind of incompatibility between Japanese and European models, or between RC-J30(E) and RC-J50(E) packagings (I've noticed two empty places on the board where resistors could be put).

It would be cool to see how your inside boards look like if ever you open your remotes one day. Those empty places on mine would particularly interest me on yours, to know if they are populated or not. I've made photos of course, I should be able to publish them there this evening.

And I've started to recap my new JX505. I had to stop (sleep) while cleaning it, after having unsoldered the old caps which had almost all leaked (as expected). But all in all I'm confident, as the board seems quite clean. I will publish photos of this all when finished.

I can show you inside the remotes , it's not too long to open ,i will do that for you. That's what i was wondering about your remote , may be a kind of country lock but it is not of course. You know there are so many common points between 303 and 505 that it would be strange a same looking remote not to go with one or the other. My 505 board was clean too , very few tracks of acid , may be a bad new cap somewhere ? Don't forget to tell me if DSL is loud.Mine is as discrete as the 707 one.My two 303 have a loud DSL. I recently changed surface mount caps on a game system(NEC PC Engine DUO if you know...) and a brand new cap has leaked when i checked monthes later ! Could it be old stock caps from the '90 ? Possible. 

edit:i've read you had a JX101 ? Tell me why you don't want a JX303 ? Is it a G08 you're looking for or a J08 ? So you ruined your 707 , that's sad. i myself ruined my beloved JX849 but couldn't get it to run again sadly , caps didn't leaked but were replaced, belt was changed ,it then would go a bit better but there were still problems playing/rewinding etc... i had to go deeper inside and i ruined it. I never understood what's wrong with those , i wish someone tell me one day.  

edit2: by the way , do you sometimes record the integrated radio ? I'd like you to do a test please, you own multiple JX so , can you tell me if the record level from your 505 is weak ? Not extremely weak but weaker than others , that's my case and i'm wondering if that's normal or not. It came from the same guy who sold me his JX707 and i had to adjust speed(on 707) like he had touched it... The higher record level come from my 303 i would say and i think he does the best job , although a good working JX849 does a pretty good job too , they all sound different in fact.

Thank you! I'll put the photos of my RC-J30 here this evening so we'll be able to compare.

A new cap that leaks in a few months, that's really embarrassing indeed. Let's cross fingers for not to encounter such a disappointment too often!

I bought a JX101 some years ago, at that time it was very cheap on Ebay and it came complete. In fact I've been in love with it's design since I saw it on AIWA catalogues back in the eighties. Well... I can't say I love its sound, and there is no DSL or BBE there: it's plain and you have to do with it. But I'm not satisfied with this explanation as there is no sound tweaking on the PC202 either, and I just love the sound of it.

Now, the JX101 seems to have been the latest one to feature the "MS" (music sensor?), that finds the next song or comes back to the beginning of the current one. It's just so useful, I love it and I can't understand why it wasn't maintained on later models. And at least on the JX101, I've never had to change the capacitors.

Yes I have been looking for a G08, and I've found a grey one and a red G8 (the Japanese model). They don't work yet though, I'll have to dig in those problems later but they are quite different beasts from the models I'm used to. My avatar comes from the back of the G08 BTW.

Don't worry about my JX707: I've been searching for dead units that would provide the said solenoid, and I've bought two JX70 in that aim... One of them was sold JPY 1, can you believe it? And the other one for JPY 100, coming with an external battery pack... Well believe it or not, one was in an absolute pristine condition, and the other was in about the same condition as my JX707, just a bit less good. And they only required new capacitors and a new belt, that's all! With such bargains, I'm not too worried about the JX707's solenoid. I've bought another Walkman for JPY 100 (don't remember the one now) as I've read somewhere that it came with the said solenoid, and yet again its only problem seems to be the capacitors' state! But this one will probably serve its purpose though, as it's only a cassette player with Dolby B, i.e. not really something I'm after.

I'm really sorry to hear about your JX849. About its problems of playing/rewinding: I've experienced things like that with my PX50. And the stop button would never operate on first attempt. The solution seems to have been to properly resolder the plate of the contacts for the external battery pack. But I've been extremely lucky, as it was a blind attempt, as the solderings looked perfectly good. Not sure if it's worth anything for you though.

Edit: I'll try to test the recording levels, but I'll have to find a cassette for that (I'm short of blank ones now)... Please give me one month or two.

I remember of MS music sensor or music search on my J08 , it's been back with the JX849.

Et Voilà !

Sorry , being busy this evening i only give you the links , hope this will help.

http://imageshack.com/a/img835/3811/5e1z.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img811/1658/o9pz.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img850/3535/0zzn.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img546/341/8n20.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img32/4541/ifv1.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img837/3972/7pv5.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img163/9342/q9dk.jpg

A little anecdote , the guy who previously owned my old JX303 had a... big SONY tape deck from the ES series. At the time i was happy with my J303 , when i first listen to his JX303 i told him that i prefered sound from my J303 ,then he put the tape in the big tape deck and made me listen , then he put the tape in the JX303 , then he asked "do you hear any difference ?" and i said "no!" and i got back home with the JX303. Funny no ?

edit: by the way , talking about audio-grade caps , could you find them all at the same size ? Of course not the 2 volts like you said , we all use 4 volts instead.

Thank you very much for your photos!
Here are the ones of my RC-J30:

So let's open it...




So you have a RC-J30E and a RC-J50E, and they both have a board named J30, though they are different. And I have a RC-J30, with a board named J50... Now tell me where is the logic?

Anyway your boards and mine look quite similar. But there is no resistor where I did hope to see one (either in R7, or above R4) on yours. So I guess I'll have to accept your proposal to test it on the dedicated walkman.

No , i only showed the 303 remote at this point.

There are some differences between the european and japanese 303 , for example , on the main unit , where is fm stereo position on one , it is tv band on the other , and fm stereo position on the japanese is where is located metal or dolby position. It's strange you have a J50 board in a J30 body , really i don't want anymore to do a test , sorry , that remote is for ??? I really don't know. Wait for i open the other remote , those are precious walkmans , don't want to do blind tests , do it yourself please.

OK that's not a problem. Perhaps there will be some good news on the pictures of your RC-J50E then. Strange indeed, but as you said before those two models look quite similar anyway.

Thanks for understanding , would you have wanted me to test the original european RC3

0 on my euro JX303 or in your case on my japanese JX303 i would have said yes , but knowing now your remote has a 505 board , i'm a bit afraid. You think there's no danger but you're not sure.The best unit to test it is a japanese 505 ,or wait until i show you the inside of the european RC50 board to see the difference and why not rewire it properly.

Photos of the european RC-J50 remote if that may help.

http://postimg.org/image/ljfm0jeal/

http://postimg.org/image/kot2ei6fx/

http://postimg.org/image/wrye22hi5/

http://postimg.org/image/ndnv4jbx9/

http://postimg.org/image/jdlb61au5/

It does really look the same inside , even the wiring seems to be identical ,may be the difference is in the walkman , don't know why it doesn't work in your 505.And i still wonder what this board does in a J30 remote...

Thank you very much for sharing those pics. Those remotes (your RC-J50E and my RC-J30) finally look the same inside indeed, apart of the printings. So we don't have an answer why it doesn't work on any of my JX505/EX50. I don't think the walkmans' PCBs are damaged, at least they don't look so... I should receive another JX505 from Austria tomorrow, which comes with a remote (RC-J50E). I'll report the results of the tests.

OK just got and tried my RC-J50E with all my JX505 and it does work with all of them. Next thing to do will be to compare the values of all resistors between the two remotes...

I've already checked that , they are all the same ! Even the board seems identical , it has the same name. You'd better check the wiring ,may be some parts are dead.

Welcome ! If i remind well it was the flat PB-3 lead acid battery but you won't find it anymore neither a replacement. You now have to use the battery pack that uses AAA batteries or have to find one , when equipped you can also use any Aiwa 2 volts power supply unit.

Well , i guess you'll have to buy another walkman to get a battery pack , it was designed for various models so you can look at less expensive models.

After receiving a JX30 from Japan , i took its volume potentiometer and put it back in my JX303 wich was living with a J505 one , remember ? The J505 was living with my JX303 one but it was damaged although i could use it and hear the sound , and guess what ? First , the J505 got it's potentiometer back , the sound wasn't as good as before , and when i listened to my JX303 with "new" pot , it was way way better , as good as my JX30 never serviced , so...  I guess it's the same thing with J303 and J303 mKII (released 2 or 3 years later if i remind well) that i owned back in the days, the sound wasn't as good , may be just because of a volume pot ???