Hi there,

Recently I found what I think is a truly rare walkman, a museum piece: a completely new, never used (NOS, New Old Stock) AIWA J2.

It was the most advanced model from AIWA line back in '82, with advanced features (at the time) like Auto reverse, Anti-rolling mechanism. It also features 3-way recording (line in, integrated mic or radio), AM-FM radio, dolby B and up to 30h of playback with an external battery pack.

Hope you enjoy:

Folding headphones are cool:

The volume dial shows separate scales for each channel, but I didn't find the way to adjust them separately. It seems to me that it's only fake independent volume dial:

the plastic case:

Suplied stereo mic:

hope you enjoy.

(I'm not sure that I want to keep this model in m collection, so maybe I sell it. If you find it interesting, you can send me a PM).

Oh Hugo, up to your standard National Geographic quality photography! What great unit you've got there.

Incredible little stereo......like the antenna...must have cost good money back then...

Great pictures.

Now, that's nice.  First boxed one of these I've ever seen.  I know what you mean about the styling, I'm unsure about it too.  It's too early and utilitarian to be up there with Aiwa's more stylish units & it does have that 'made up as it went along' design.  I like the way it has so many switches, I can't think of another unit with quite as many.

My father bought one of these at Christmas a year before he died. It was a US version, of course, and didn't say "CassetteBoy". The sound seemed very impressive to me at the time. It would mean a lot to me to have one...

(His came with orange foams for the earpieces and microphone, do you have these too?)

Somebody stole the foams!

Thanks Brutus, retrodos.

Yes, it's a super rare piece indeed.

@ AO: First one too . Indeed is a nice piece but it's not one of my favorite walkmans but it's clear that is a very special unit, specially considering its age and that it's completely new.

Walkgirl: no, I think that they simply disintegrated and the owner cleaned them. I've seen this in some older models...

Happy to consider a swap, if there's anything you're after?

Yes, we can talk, AO. By PM?

HI hurodal: I just joined a few days ago and this is my first time in. doy still have the HS-JO2 and is there a chance that you would sell it. if so plese reply and I will pm you with my E-MAIL. I am slmost 70 yrs old and I would like to fine a nice one before I die. I bought one new in 1983 but my family wore it out and I miss it. thanks COOPER.

Hi cooper.

Welcome here.

contact me by email and we can talk.

regards,

HI hurodal: I tried to use the E-MAIL posted in your profile but I am not sure that it went through even though I have not recived a notice that it was not a proper e-mail. thanks COOPER.

Wow, I had one of those without that cassette boy. Memories are flooding back. 

I bought it on my first Interrail trip from London. I still have some of the cassettes I recorded with it. 

I always remember London when I hear the song Jump by Van Halen

No idea what happened to that Aiwa? Got lost somewhere or sold it like most other gadgets I had. Hard to collect anything as I live in a mobile home. 

Hello Hugo, Agreed with AO that is FIRST BOXED player of that model I have EVER SEEN !!  Wonderful bright packaging too.   There is a MOST UNIQUE feature of this player you may have missed.  I only know because one of my two players still has the original Giant door sticker that states "AIWA'S NOISE REDUCTION" as this player does NOT use Dolby but a similiar circuit so Aiwa did not have to pay License fee to Dolby Labs for this model.  I dont know of another Aiwa that has this feature.  Also the twin volume rotary dials DO spin separately on both mine for balance control.  Yours are probably frozen together from dried lubrication would be my guess.  Because of the unique Aiwa noise circuit and boxed you should not let this go.

Also mine came with the 2 D battery add on belt clip and the A/C mains adapter that the plug in transformer is very small compared to most.   Were these in your box ?  Here is photo from orig. auction as at moment the accessories are stored away and I dont have photo I took of all together.  Forgive poor quality I did not take shot.

AIWA HS-J02   NOTE on sticker wording AIWA'S NOISE REDUCTION

ROTARY DIALS ARE BALANCE CONTROLS SET AT OPPOSITE ENDS OF SCALE EACH.

The aiwa hs-j2 that HUGO had belongs to me now, it had to have a new belt and inside the fm radio wheel that rotate the stations well the wheel that holds the tension spring hooks over a tiny piece of plastic that is common on the AIWA models to brake loose and that had to be repaired this is hard to fix but it can be fixed. I have fix (2) of them, on one the tiny piece was still inside the radio and I just super-glued it back and on the other (CS_J1) I had to glue a tiny nail -head in place and it works very good. good day COOPER.

There is one model I can think of that actually has more switches/features than this Aiwa.  The Panasonic RX-1960 here is link to Topic on this boxed model.

index.php?board_oid=193392314111653483&content_oid=287410859108370309

COMPARISON OF FEATURES  Aiwa HS-J02 and Panasonic RX-1960

                                                    AIWA         PANASONIC

Tape Counter                                  NO                 YES

Noise Reduction                             YES                  NO

Stereo Mics                                    YES                YES

AM/FM RADIO                                YES                YES

External Antenna                            YES                YES

Pause                                             YES                YES

Low/Hi Tone                                    NO                YES

Mode Stereo/Mono                         YES                 YES

Selector Tape/Radio                       YES                 YES

Band AM/FM                                   YES                 YES

Tape Selector Metal/Norm              YES                 YES

Stereo Mic Jack                              YES                 YES External and twin Internal Mics

Mic/Aux switch                                YES                  NO

DC in 6 volt                                    YES 

DC in 3 volt                                                           YES

Twin Rotary Vol Dials Balance         YES                 YES

Stereo Extension Speaker Jack         NO                 YES Box came with powered Spkrs

FM Stereo Indicator Light                YES                 YES

Recording Indicator Light                 NO                 YES

Battery Indicator Light                    YES                 YES

TOTAL FEATURES                          15                 17

It is so TOTALLY AMAZING that back in earliest years here 1982 that a Cassette Portable Walkman could have 15 features and more incredible 17 Features !!!

For 1982 the Aiwa to have its OWN Noise Reduction system is Big accomplishment.  

One must note that the JVC CQ-F22K release 1982/83 had the ANRS noise reduction but it was still a Dolby licensed feature on this model.

The Infinity Intimate RS-002 was the FIRST Dolby noise reduction Walkman released in 1981.

QUESTION :

DO ANY MEMBERS KNOW OF EARLIEST NOISE REDUCTION SYSTEMS THAT ARE NOT Dolby or AIWA?  Any other Aiwa's with the same Aiwa Proprietary Noise reduction circuit like the HS-J02? 

HUGO did your box come with owner manual?  Do you remember what it said about the Noise Reduction for this model?  I am curious as did AIWA make Decks same time period with their own Noise reduction circuit for recording like Dolby as you had to record with dolby B turned ON wonder if same for Aiwa .  Maybe when recording tape on this Aiwa model you turned on Noise reduction and it encoded the tape like dolby and decoded when played if noise reduction switch turned on in playback?

John, impressive analysis you've made between those models!

Yeah, it came with user's manual.. but it's completely in japanese. I managed to scan, OCR and translate it and it looks that it only says that it's a "noise reduction system" to reduce the tape noise.

but if someone has the original in english it will be better. However, if there's any japanese here I can post the original scan so someone can help...

This NR system is also present in the P02 model, BTW.

Hugo,

I owe my (now happy days to HUGO for letting this go, this is the one I like best and my next best is my CS-J1.BYE COOPER

Be sure to replace every single leaking electolytic cap and the remnants of the belt if you expect it to function

Hi 2tires,

Normally that advice is for models of the late '80 and arealy '90s, not for the early '80s. Those from the early '80s are known for being one of the best internal quality, as well as SONY's ones.

The more years later, the more cheaper components inside were used... 

Regards,

Cooper, I'm glad that you're enjoying your new J02 as much (in fac, more) than me 

Good to know that it has found a new home and will serve you for years. 

Thank you Hugo for compliment on comparison of the two models features.  Until I did that list not realize a Walkman could come with so many functions/features/switches.

In their time these little marvels truly were packed with technology of the time.  Even today my friends that see some models are impressed especially some of the smallest ones and how good they sound compared to friends IPODS. 

As to leaking caps I agree with Hugo that its very rare to find this problem on 1980 to 1985 Walkman of any model.   Seems Aiwa's higher end models of the early 90's are the most notorious for countless sound problems from caps leaking damaging PCB.

I agree with you, John. Many older models offer pretty good sound. I remember that the J02 has an impressive sound, specially when using radio. I believe that this is thanks to the amplifier, that is probably much more powerful and rich than most modern MP3 players.

The Aiwa J02 is my first walkman day back to 3x years ago when I was still in school.  At that time I & my best friend could only afford to buy display unit from AWIA shop in Hong Kong.  We both bought one, but after many years of use.  Both were already out of order and discarded.

I am very surprising you can still find a new unit in market.

Could you talk me where can I find a new one or two.  It will be interesting if I can buy one and send over to my friend living in Switzerland now as a gift.  It do recall our old memory and friendship for years.

John

Hi John,

You'll be very lucky to find one in this condition but these aren't rare and often crop up on eBay.  You might want to post in the 'wanted' section, you never know what people have stashed away.

Hi John,

As agentorange said, it's extremely rare to find one in new condition. Even rarer a boxed one. But sometimes it appears someone in used condition at eBay. You just have to keep an eye on that.

Regards,

wow, is all I can say !

Hi,i bought one of these in 1982,it served me well,one or two minor repairs,but speed became unstable in 1995.It cost £109 or there abouts.I had a HST 303,the radio packed in three years ago,three months ago cassette started squealing,wondered if someone still repairs them at reasonable cost.Alternatively where can i source the capacitors.Thanks.Nigel.   

HI JOHN LAM: Where are you located. I am the guy that owns the one on this thread and maybe I can help you if you are in the USA. COOPER

Hi Cooper:

I am in Hong Kong, but I have a US address.  I often buy camera & photo accessories in US ebay, and send to my US address.

Do you have new old stock of the Aiwa HS-J2?

HI JOHN: No I don't have new old stock but I do have (1) new HS-J2 that is pictured up top that I bought from HUGO and it will never ever be for sale because they are just too hard to find new. I have some used HS-Jo2 that I installed new belts on and cleaned up pretty nice but there is a problem with the volume and balance wheels but  I have made a way to still use the cassette by using a (3FT.) extention cable that controls the volume and plugs into the radio on one end and the headphones on the other end and it works. but they are used and work good. if interested send me an E-MAIL its in my profile setup. COOPER.

Hi Cooper:

You are so lucky to get the one from Hugo.

Since I want to buy one as a surprise gift to my best friend, therefore I would like to find a decent unit.  Nonetheless, thanks for your proposal, I shall hunt from ebay.

Would you mind to talk how much you paid for the Hugo's unit.

Have a nice day.

Best Regards,

John

John,

You may yet have a chance to surprise your friend.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayI...me=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

Wow, that's the very first one I see in three years in eBay. A real rarity!

Wow, although the price is normal for the item, the shipping price is huge!

I think that's a rip off and is against ebay rules. 172$ for shipping a small box!!

Even when I bought my Nakamichi Dragon, which is a VERY big box, with two-day delivery, insured and all the bells and whistles it did cost me no more than 60 euros.

@John

Oh well, at least you found a more reasonably priced unit for your budget range.

@WA

Yes, I know $172USD is the quoted price to us unlucky people in Europe, and perhaps a purposeful discouragement to bid for it? Compare that to only a measly $15 if sold to someone in good ol' U. S. of A.

That model AIWA HS-J02 is not really that rare at all, I have 5 of them sitting around awaiting repairs, two brand new in the box with everything, but low sound and one channel out. The problem with these is they have major capacitors issue and in the worst ways, as their a couple capacitors right by a pre-amp IC somewhat towards the middle top, were the capacitor leak out badly and the capacitors electrolytic eats thur those traces by that IC and makes for a complex repair. theirs quite a few other areas to on this one that capacitors cause havoc. Plus their over 20 thru-hole capacitors and some being next to impossible to find.

Just don't pay over the top for theses as they have serious issues for the most part. The $172 for shipping listing to avoid eBay fees?  Once reported he wll be taken care. 

Yeah, totally agree. In fact, the seller may have forgotten that for us is even more interesting, knowing the rate change dolar-euro...

Cooper, or anyone,

I have an HS-J02 I bought new in 1983.  I put batteries in it for the first time in 25 years tonight (and plugged in my iPhone earbuds).  The radio works great, and the motor spins, but now I remember that the belt must have broken back in 1988 when I replaced it with a newer AIWA.  Is it rocket science to fit a new belt?  Where does one get a belt?  It would be so cool to get this old workhorse operating again.  I made tons of amazing stereo street recordings during travels back in the mid-eighties.  Cosmetically mine is less than pristine, as the painted finish on the case has decomposed in areas.  Still, I'm thrilled that it partly works.

apotheoun, that is very common. Just search for a thread where DOCP sells belts. Do a search here and you'll find a lot of posts relating to that matter.