BNIB '90s Aiwa HS-PC202 Mk III *Personal Stereo* - Unboxed & Tested

[@BillyPilgrim1959]

I always imagine Mrs techmoan rolling her eyes when another package arrives

[@LaurentValette1234]

Mrs Techmoan ? Oups....

[@BillyPilgrim1959]

@Galactic Traveller Mrs mainwairing, er indoors or maris

[@Halliday7895]

thats funny i always imagined Mrs. Techmoan was blind.

[@gonnathrowyouatomato5304]

@@Halliday7895 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨

[@Tadesan]

Isn’t it lovely how deeply women fail to care about men?

[@mushroomsamba82]

nothing screams "QUALITY" like a giant gold sticker slapped on the front

[@strebornayr]

In the 90s, stickers were what sold everything!

[@dj_paultuk7052]

80's Quality right there. Lots of stickers and fancy fonts. What more do you need.

[@CharlesHepburn2]

You can't just fake a sticker like that... it has to be earned through extremely hard work and diligence to excellence. The Sticker Police would throw you in jail if you put that sticker on something of only satisfactory quality. Ahhhh, simpler times. [THIS COMMENT IS THE HIGHEST QUALITY]

[@RCAvhstape]

The sticker is an extremely advanced engineered EMF shield that prevents fluorescent lights from influencing the Dolby C function. Apparently, the sticker on this example must've been damaged.

[@amcghie7]

Seems like classic 80s tackiness haha, a lot of old things used to have that but tbh it didn't usually mean anything either way

[@magreger]

I personally watch all Techmoan videos regardless of age.

[@ndehdischeen7053]

Me too...i love this channel

[@wozlaser]

yeah i gobbled up all the audio ones long ago. not haten' on the camera ones, just grabin' the stuff that's for me.

[@Brutikus32]

It's not like there's much danger of the featured retro-tech suddenly going obsolete.

[@nikodemoka6585]

its interesting you felt the need to share that with others

[@magreger]

@@nikodemoka6585 ditto

[@deadeyedave444]

I actually like your outro. I find it to be well done, and the music coupled with the simple grace of the machines you've chosen makes me somehow recall an intangible feeling of well-being.

[@MrButtonpresser]

Dear Sir, I must complain that the outro music was spoiled by some bloke talking! ; )

[@thomassndergaard3481]

Wow, that’s a blast from the past. This is the model I had back in the day and I really loved it! Great little machine and the metal and density of the machine makes it feel really premium.

[@MA-naconitor]

0:52 - "... really, AIWA was the one to have as far as AIWA's concerned"

".....as far as I WAS concerned". LOL! (missed the connection the first time!)

[@bigdukem69]

Yup, good catch. I didn't connect it either at first. Funny!

[@althejazzman]

I was just about to post this. I reckon this was a subconscious pun where Mat's brain made the link and caused him to say it without realising!

[@SiriusXAim]

Aiwa tried to compete with Sony with features. They couldn't get their electronics and mechanisms to match those of Sony so they went full out on sleek design and features. Want a featured packed walkman? Get Aiwa. Want one that's near indestructible and sou d's amazing? Get a Sony.

[@agfagaevart]

Walkmans break too.

[@garyroffey511]

The outro always makes me feel slightly sad. It reminds me of a time when technology was fun and physical, rather than the boring boxs of incomprehensible magic available today.

[@KevKlopper]

I feel it was magic and still is, in 30 years they will tear an iPhone apart and will talk about how simple yesterdays technology was

[@commodoresixfour7478]

Cheap new technology is allowing us to reproduce old technology.

[@StormadoMan]

Yeah! Exactly this!

[@mal2ksc]

As someone who repaired stuff then and still does now, the modern equipment is neither boring nor incomprehensible. It's just that back then, miniaturization was done to the point where repair became difficult but not impossible, and then they stopped. Today, they glue them together so that taking them apart does more damage than whatever was wrong to start with.

[@stevesstuff1450]

Mal-2 KSC: Yep...quite so! I was selling similar gear, and Hi-Fi/TV's, Cameras etc way back from 1979 in a retail sense, and even back then we were thinking that we'd reached a 'peak' - how much further can this equipment go? And then of course, the 'next' newest thing turned-up...but we could never have imagined that a complete hi-fi rack system could basically be reduced down to an extra feature on a mobile phone! Y'know? Bluetooth your phone to a suitably equipped receiver, or even portable speaker, and you 'can' get full and true hi-fi playback! Maybe not to the same levels that 'purists' would like, but it still beats some of the old systems that we sold back then in the early 80's - and I'm talking decent Technics, Sony, Kenwood-Trio etc....... so yeah.... much as I love the old 'tactile' feel of old analogue, I still love the incredible almost 'magic' of your phone being your hi-fi system! As an aside, I still have a decent modern Denon receiver, several good turntables - Rega, Pro-Ject, Technics, that I use for what I call 'proper' listening! That little Aiwa though brings back happy memories of my first 'walkman' - a silver aluminium Aiwa from around 1979/80.... that was fantastic quality through good headphones back then....it was one of the first 'walkman' types in the country!

[@3rdmm]

As I recall, Dolby C was very dependent on tape head alignment being exactly the same between machines to avoid the dreaded weird sounding playback.

[@ostar22]

Agreed. Dolby C is very sensitive of head alignment. With a slight misalignment Dolby C amplifies the reduction of high frequencies.

[@zoomosis]

That could explain why I had a similar issue with a Realistic cassette deck in the early 1990s. Cassettes played back on the machine they were recorded using Dolby C on sounded heavily noise-gated. In the end I just turned off Dolby and put up with a bit of extra hiss. I was never really sold on the old Dolby NR stuff.

[@mfbfreak]

This is absolutely true. Dolby C uses both the pre-emphasis and compression of the higher frequency bands. It works incredibly well on the machine you recorded it on (until you re-align the heads on that machine...) Once your playback level is off, the expansion system gets out of whack. With your bias or head alignment off, the pre/de emphasis gets out of whack. DBX is my favorite noise reduction system (it works well on both my DBX cassette recorders) closely followed by DNL (Philips' playback only system, try it out if you get the chance, works surprisingly well). I've never bothered with Dolby B or C. Never sounded right on my portable machines.

DBX-recorded cassettes were incredible; of course, you HAD to play them back on a DBX machine. But, that was as close as cassettes would come to sounding like higher-quality reel-to-reel. I never liked any Dolby NR....just never sounded that great to me.

[@mfbfreak]

The fun really starts with semi-professional cassette decks that run 9,5cm/s. My Tascam 234 running at 9,5cm/s surpasses most reel to reels running at 19cm/s, approaching 38cm/s quality.

[@andrewgwilliam4831]

Hang on... if you used a time machine, how has it been sitting in its box for 28 years? 🤔 I'm now starting to question whether Mat even has a time machine!

I was given a lovely Sony machine in the late 90s, which I would never have bought myself. I used it for quite a few years very heavily and absolutely loved it. It had a rechargable cell, but I generally used the screw on pod for batteries. I still have it and must see if it still works.

[@SnowBunneh]

Because of you Matt I have a dash cam in my car, a dedicated hi-fi set up, and love of cassettes. I am slowly turning into a hipster thanks to you :3

[@Cyba_IT_NZ]

All hipsters have dashcams :p

[@Da40kOrks]

I have a dashcam after watching many car crash compilations...

[@therongperson]

Thanks to Techmoan I have a DAT player and a breakfast sandwich maker.

[@Killzilla6]

Thanks to Techmoan I have a Rollie Eggmaster and a Tefifon.

[@fordtechchris]

Hmm... I didn't realize I had a problem until right now....

[@CriticalEatsJapan]

What? Who can complain about such petty things? They should be happy you've doubled up the list of credits or it might be twice as long... ;)

[@williamk3702]

Techmoan is monumentally great. Got to say, I love the minimal design of the Aiwa packaging, very classy. I'm nuts about the packaging of audio-viz products. There was a shop in Rusholme, stuffed to the rafters with all kinds of stuff of that ilk. Going there was a thrill!

[@craigavonvideo]

I never knew that BNIB stood for "Brand New In Box" until this video! I used to have an Aiwa walkman with built in radio and full recording functions. It was a great piece of kit for its time (early 1990s) and really was never superceeded to this day. Even portable minidisc recorders didn't include FM radios - I had to wait until the 2010's to get a Sanza Clip Zip MP3 player to have truely portable FM radio recording once again.

[@dj_paultuk7052]

Awia were quite good back in the day. I think I had 3 while I was at school, and all the other kids had Awia's as well. Had to be fancy ones with Graphic Equalisers on the front lid panel !!. Back in the day when they were brand new, and with some decent branded earphones the sound quality was not bad at all. At least from what I can remember from wayyyy back in 1982-88 my school years.

[@CarlosPerezChavez]

Yeah! I used Aiwa cassette players in the early 90s in my College days.

[@fearlessjoebanzai]

What's Awia? Is that like budget Aiwa? You must be from Cumbria or East Yorkshire.

[@video99couk]

I really doubt the problem is with Dolby C itself. It's going to be a problem with low tape output level and azimuth differences between the machines. Dolby B and especially C will compound any playback problems caused by other issues. If you can do an azimuth check on both machines I suspect you will get closer to the real problem.

[@persimon8249]

In the case of AIWA I found back then that the magnetic head didn't come out enough and it didn't have enough pressure on the tape and that muted some high frequencies. some manufacturers did this because they argued that metallic tapes wore out the heads, so metallic tapes played better on those players.

[@johnlee7164]

I like the outro, it show tech thru the ages. Makes you appreciate the progress of technology.

[@pdrg]

The "change the caps" mantra only really applies to electrolytic (metal can) ones which have a liquid electrolyte, and they're generally through-hole. Other styles will generally be just fine as there's nothing to leak/dry out. It's rare that you'll need to touch a surface mount capacitor unless it has physical/liquid damage. Deep stirrings of recognition when you showed that Aiwa line up, no idea where it is now, but that was a great ally at the time!

[@TheRestartPoint]

How about the Panasonic range from the 90s too? They made some lovely premium Walkmans. I owned many Aiwas and Panasonics

[@amnril]

Just bought the Aiwa new, will be interesting to see how it works out. Great video, subscribed 👍

[@shaneduncan2924]

Thank you Techmone for posting all this great equipment you test brings back memories of some of personal cassette players I've owned back in the 80's and 90's

[@antzpantz]

I LOVE the Credits song and your timing of your videos to the song, especially when the automatic record player's tray closes! That's the best part of the closing sequence... don't take it out! :)

[@freeecountryy]

I found out about these on Tapeheads as well, and grabbed one. I still have it and it's still chugging along. Really impressed with it. No issues almost 5 years later!

[@TimothySielbeck-1]

I always watch till the end to see if you used the puppets.

[@mal2ksc]

I always hover over the time bar to see if there are puppets, so I know whether to jump ahead or just stop.

[@elhistoriero1227]

Don't call them puppies that's offensive. Call them ventriloquist dummies.

[@briebelbus1524]

Loved the talk during the outro. I'm hooked to your channel. Always interesting reviews

[@SnowBunneh]

I watch the videos to the end because of puppets and the relaxing music with technology.

[@DarkDennis1961]

My first personal stereo was also an Aiwa. I lived in Japan in 1983 and it was an amazing gadget. i watch videos with "next" on auto. i always see the vids to the end

[@andyjohnson4907]

I like the outro tangents because it's a few more minutes of Techmoan.

[@Zerbey]

My aunt bought me an Aiwa for one of my teenage birthdays (14th I think), having only owned really crappy tape decks before then it was quite an eye opener to see how well tape could sound.

[@hyfy-tr2jy]

i actually enjoy the outro and always look for the "six million dollar man" sound at the end...LOL

[@HarryLoveTV]

I always loved Aiwa cassette players, I bought a lot of their Walkmans and found they had both great playback & record. I got an aiwa all in 1 hifi & the doggystyle CD for xmas 1993 and to this day I am impressed how great the recordings were on it no matter what deck I play them back in. The same went for the recordable ones I got, I found the added functions would often reduce overall quality in most other brands even including the ubiquitous Sony (I think there was a lot of exaggerated hype with a lot of Sony products, certainly not all, they made incredible stuff and also badged a lot of crap as if it was equal quality to their best stuff)... Aiwa had some great Walkmans with record, radio and beautiful playback even with Dolby B & C. My guilty pleasure is recording with Dolby B and playing back with Dolby disengaged 🤫 In the last decade I’ve managed to get a long coveted Nakamichi and also discovered the excellence of Marantz of which I’m now a bit of a hoarder lol. I also have a friend who recorded the brilliant Tribe Called Quest show at Subterania in 1994 and he told me he used an Aiwa recording Walkman which was a lovely affirmation of 3 of my favourite things in the world (tape and tribe... plus the sp1200 which tip was performing with). I wonder if you have any experience with a beautiful Sony hifi I was incredibly fortunate to find on the roadside - the Sony V901 range. I was amazed to find that the amp sounded beautiful and had 2 x optical inputs which have no latency (unlike the Sony str-db840 receiver I recently got - unfortunately only analog is latency free). I like to use all these old bits of hifi to enjoy music but also really love incorporating it into my production rig so I thought this info may be of some interest to others like myself or big techmoan himself. Lots of love, merry Xmas Make a mixtape for someone you love

[@4468]

I nearly always let the outro play 'cos I love the music, wouldn't be a Techmoan video without it.

[@SlickNicktheruller]

My dude I love how considerate you are to your viewers. Thank you.

[@samglaim4274]

The old tech didn't sound too bad really... good news that the device worked, right out of the new/old box :-)

[@orinokonx01]

I always watch the outtro out of respect for those who can afford to support you through patreon. And because I like the puppets and always look for them...

[@tonep3168]

Great video as usual, now you have forced me to buy one of these, as I have been watching that listing for some time! But I wanted to say that the Azimuth is set differently/incorrectly on the Aiwa, compared to the Sony deck, it was very obvious during your demonstration. I suggest an alignment on the Aiwa, and possibly the Sony as well, if it has never been done before, assuming you have an Azimuth alignment tape, which you really should have anyway, if you are reviewing tape decks and sharing tape between machines. Azimuth alignment is absolutely critical for good Dolby C tracking/playback.

[@Kee-Lo]

You should be proud of all your videos Mat, they're all top notch!

[@-abacchus]

When ever a quality cassette player is shown, I'm always surprised at the clarity of the sound.

[@musicfanatic2009]

Only it's converted to digital here and compressed to a low bit-rate

[@grpowell]

Love the video and even the outro. I've been going through your back catalogue of videos and I have enjoyed every one of them. You certainly should be proud of them. You even inspired me to buy a Nixie tube clock for my mom's birthday!

[@paul_grimsley]

Blather or no blather, I'll keep watching unless I have something better to do, which I don't. And as Eric says.... there may be puppets!

[@kiza3004]

I love your videos, when I'm free from work I sit in morning and enjoy them with cup of coffee. relaxing and interesting plus learn few new tricks and things. perfect

[@LargeWayRound]

Long time subscriber , I also watch to the end in case of puppets .. LoL But I have a question! the beeps right at the end has always made me curious. Could you enlighten ?

[@Techmoan]

*There's a bit more information about this in the video description text box.*

[@sonickrnd]

It does sound like Slow-scan television or data transfer.

[@jochenstacker7448]

I remember the beeping from another video, some kind of data encoded on a tape

[@jochenstacker7448]

Seems I was wrong kzbin.info/www/bejne/a36WXo2MapKEeq8

[@kareno8634]

Techmoan is a Genius! Thanks Jochen Stacker for the Input! = ]

[@PictureProductStudio]

Those BASF CSII cassettes are very satisfying visually: I recently got a few and while I'm yet to find a proper way to test them, they look rather amazing. On entirely another note it's interesting to see end credits addressed and over end credits, no less. I am, perhaps, one of those fewer people who watch the videos till the very end without skipping: it's my general attitude towards any media I watch, but in this case I also can't quite bring myself to stop or skip the credits because editing on those is top notch and the music is calming enough. And, of course, if anything happens to be on or after the credits, I enjoy that, as well.

[@IgnoreMyChan]

The fact that the batteries are made by (read: in the factory of) Duracell, doesn't mean they have the same quality (control) as Duracell's. They just rent out their factory time to a different brand or use a cheaper procedure for a B-type brand of their own. This is very normal in the industry.

[@frederickleo2386]

Im totally obsessed with your channel!! I do listen to them all the way through just so you know! Im so overjoyed about the electronics you review, i remember a LOT of them and learn about new ones everyday! PLEASE keep it up...you're the best!!

[@PedalingPrince]

I've always liked your outtro music. It's unique, oddly melancholy somehow...

[@kodoyama]

I remember exclusively buying AIWA personal stereos back in the early 90's, as did all my friends who were music and tech connoisseurs. The best models were extremely well made and beautifully designed.

[@andrepost7571]

I still have a working AIWA cassette player, same model but without Dolby C. I stopped using Dolby noise suppression after I noticed some cases of audible compression with playback, on the same machine as recorded. Also the interchangeability was worse.

[@lizichell2]

Andre Post Dolby S is the best but a personal cassette player with it never existed

[@14Mew]

I'm always going back and watching your old content. Theres a lot of useful information in all your videos. And i use it as reference when i theres an interesting fact about something i want to share with friends/family.

[@SkipjackUK]

didnt know about the Kirkland Duracell batteries, thanks

[@JacGoudsmit]

I was thinking "source required" when he said that. I used some of them in kids toys and they seem to last a lot shorter than Duracell or Energizer, they start leaking a lot faster than branded batteries and they also cause more damage when they leak. I'd rather spend a little more and have batteries that work better and don't poop the bed as quickly or as much (and Costco sells Duracell branded batteries in large packages too, so you don't even have to go to a different store).

[@Techmoan]

Source: Costco CEO Craig Jelinek - He states that Duracell make the Kirkland Signature batteries for them at two minutes and twenty nine seconds in this video www.wsbtv.com/news/2-investigates/costco-ceo-shares-tips-with-clark-howard-to-help-you-save-money/465720155 Also see this comparison of batteries. - Duracell & Kirkland results are pretty much identical. www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/855y7m/11_different_brands_of_aa_batteries_tested_in/ I do agree though that the Kirkland batteries do seem more prone to leakage if left in an unused device for a long time. I suspect they use a cheaper coating to wrap them in. So perhaps avoid putting them in things that you don't use regularly.

[@russellhltn1396]

Just because they're made by Duracell doesn't mean they're built to the same standards. Typically, when you custom order your own brand from a major manufacturer, you have options to pick from as far as build quality.

[@anononomous]

Worth noting though that (as far as I know) Duracell are hardly the be all and end all when it comes to Alkaline batteries.

[@ukkev7056]

anononomous So what is the best alkaline battery brand ???

[@EMCF_]

I really enjoy your ending credits. Nicely synced music to captivating visuals.

[@VincentVader]

I miss the cassette days.

[@enzoperruccio]

At least you were there. I was born after that era 😔😫

[@strebornayr]

As kids, our hi-fi had a dedicated biro.

[@julosx]

I don't, even though I still have a working Sony cassette deck (with a Dolby C NR !) and most of the cassettes, the older ones (my first ones, already coded with Dolby C) being recorded as far back as August '83.

[@Sierra747]

Cassette days are still here for me. I use them everyday in my car and even had to fit a Sony car cassette deck in my glove box as I couldn’t fit one in the dash!!! As for sound quality they don’t sound terrible at all especially when recorded on a decent deck. As I side point I never bother with Dolby at all I prefer the slight hiss on quite songs rather than having all the treble killed of and sounding flat.

[@telecomcrypt]

Under care, you can easily replicate CD quality on a good tape. New old stock works rather well..

[@stumblepuppy606]

I like watching the end credits. I like watching you play with stuff

[@wildbilltexas]

The amplifier in my Aiwa HS-J470 went bad a few years ago. I never recorded Dolby C because my Pioneer car stereo only had Dolby B. And I also liked the treble boost Dolby B gave.

[@allanredford6070]

...presume treble boost was playing a dolby b tape with dolby switched off. . noNR benefit that way, in fact noise floor would be higher-noiswill be higher-worse, that way.zo get azimuth match, record fm radio inter station noise, align playback head on all decks/players for max output (loudest by ear), if 2-head recorder used to make recording, the RP head will be in same position, so correct azimuth assured. adjust heads on other players to get max output(loudest signal. if mplaying pre-recorded cassettes, you want a good average setting, whereby most tapes play with good clarity. just like when setting up a phono cartridge on a record player, so most records track/reproduce clearly, with minimum surface/groove noise, miniminimal noisstorsion, across most of your records. my 2 cents.

[@KWatson1984]

All my audio gear was Aiwa back when I was a teen and young adult. I had Aiwa portable tape players, portable CD players, multi speaker stereo systems, VCR, car stereos, and alarm clocks... some I bought new, some second hand. I bought a new portable tape player with digital tuner first and liked it so much I spent the money I worked all summer for on a 5 speaker stereo and sub for my room. $500 was a TON of money for a kid but I loved that stereo and used it from 1999 to 2008 when I upgraded to an Onkyo. I used the Aiwa sub for a few years more with the new stereo before it stopped working. I still have Aiwa units all over the house, including powering the speakers on this PC.

[@libertyfighter76]

Good old Aiwa, they made some pretty decent and affordable audio tech back in the 90s, bought quite a few of their personal cassette/cd players, headphones and midi systems. If you couldn't afford a Sony then Aiwa was a solid second choice, this HS-PC202 was probably one of the last good personal stereos that rolled off the production line and it's always nice to see Techmoan unbox new old stock like this, brings back fond memories for a lot of people.

[@jeffjefferson7384]

Agreed. Sony and JVC stuff was amazing but generally overpriced. Aiwa cassette players were my mainstay for sure.

[@nighthawk45750]

I keep going back to watch a few of your older videos at a time. I don't want to run out right away xD

[@GeoNeilUK]

I think the wiggling in the flutter is being caused by parts of the belt that have been stretched around the various wheels as opposed to being stretched between them. And I'd love a manufacturer to release some new quality mechanism for lesser used formats, even it is at high price and low volume. (Also, I switched to Edge for watching KZbin as its frame skipping is better than other browsers, but if you try doing anything and watch a video at the same time, the Edge window with the video you're watching disappears. Something that doesn't happen on any other browser. It's almost as if Microsoft have forgotten that Windows is supposed to be a MULTITASKING operating system. Seriously, sort it out, Microsoft)

[@Nomaran]

One of my favorite videos you’ve done was the re-enactment of that Netflix show intro. Really well done.

[@Techmoan]

I'm glad you liked it. That one was a major flop.

[@QLTD]

I miss these mini cassette players

[@teacfan1080]

The outro is awesome, showcasing all your cool stuff!

[@Brookspirit]

I bought an AIWA HS-PX101 new, it's great, it cost a lot of money at the time, i'd just started working, but it was worth it.

[@collinsngangula4039]

Techmoan is my best friend. Thanks for fueling my hobby and love for old electronics.

[@windowsrules2302]

Watching this, I immediately thought of the Aiwa that Marty McFly had in Back to the Future part 1 :-)

[@EzraKnickelbine]

hey you know what? i love your end credits sequence. it's kinda mesmerizing. I usually find myself watching through the whole thing anyway.

[@pauljs75]

Next up? Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sanyo...

[@julosx]

I still have my 80s Fisher…

[@syntaxerror9994]

Ive watched your outro 100s of times and never get tired of it.

[@ricovali9245]

Good lord. People always think they know better how to run YOUR show.

[@espeon200]

I generally watch through the end of the videos because I keep hoping there will be a puppet skit at the very end. I love those puppet skits.

[@zuti071]

Outro music is PERFECT !!!

[@StormadoMan]

I always watch to the end! The tune is great! I get quite nostalgic seeing all that tech float past, reminds me of my mispent youth hanging around second hand shops. Long live the end!

[@lucifermorningstar4606]

I always skip near the end when the credits come up to see if there is the puppets... I am disappointed around 75% of the time. But then again, if you added them to every video they wouldn't seems as rare and cool.

[@NetworkXIII]

Lucifer Morningstar I always watch the end credits for my name.

[@FabioGnecco]

i have a AIWA, one of those with cd, tape, aux and radio in one thing, and it's a breeze of fresh air ! pretty cool to have one

[@kb968]

Your outro is ASMR for the eyes

[@andysim232]

ESMR

[@maxproskauer9272]

that end credits scene is EXACTLY what made me check out the rest of your channel when I first found a video

[@steelscooter]

I was waiting for you to pull that sticker off. I hate those kind of stickers on electronics, DVDs and games etc. 😆

[@porkmancer]

I love the outro, often listen to the whole thing all the way to the end as I love it. Reminds me of the end of a old TV show when the credits roll. Pls keep it up.

[@Jahmhury]

fan from kenya,AFRICA

[@strebornayr]

In case you confuse it with Kenya, CANADA. Ding.

[@gilsteinling8776]

Back in 1988 I had the Aiwa HS-J600 (or HS-J09) which was an amazing walkman with a very sensitive FM tuner, Playback and Recording with auto reverse, 5 band graphic equalizer and feather touch control. It came with 2 AAA NiCD batteries and a dedicated charger which was also a power supply for the walkman. However, it broke after a few months and I moved on to portable CD players. A few years ago I managed to get that Walkman and repaired it, and now I have a working unit again :-) (too bad thought that there's nothing interesting to record off the radio).

[@uniwasamistake6334]

Why not match Koss Portapros with these old cassette players? The design is ACTUALLY form the 80s and the thing is a decent headphone.

[@AndyOdish]

The outtro commentary made me chuckle. I love your videos

[@mistermatix8241]

Aiwa from that period were very good, a little later on, as far as I'm concerned, they went very plasticky, and the quality took a sharp decline. I remember buying an Aiwa personal stereo from this later time as a student.....bloody awful build and dreadful sound, went straight back to Dixons the next day. Bought a Sony Walkman, dolby, mega bass, etc, absolutely brilliant

[@Pichustrikesback]

Major Mo you are right! Aiwa products from the earlier years were amazing, it was late in the ninties when all brands went for silver coloured plastic and all quality started to decline.

[@frederickevans4113]

I owned several AIWA cassette players from the early 1990s into the early 2000s. Among the first "personal cassette stereo" ones I had were a handful of broken ones I acquired in a mixed lot and was able to repair the majority (of course, one or two were sacrificed to facilitate repair of the others). Although they were different models, I seem to remember them all using the same cassette mechanism inside (making swapping parts easy as 3.1415926....). I always preferred stereo earphones to headphones, and 9 times out of 10 they were AIWA too. The last AIWA cassette deck I remember buying was a single-DIN car stereo I probably bought around the autumn of 1999 to put in my 1989 VW Fox (North American version of the Brazilian VW Gol) 4-door sedan (saloon in the UK). I replaced the factory VW speakers with a pair of Pioneer 4-inch coaxial 2-way speakers in the dashboard and a pair of JBL GT0-602 6-inch 2-way speakers in the rear deck. The sound was far better than most people expected and I had to open the trunk (boot) to show a few people there were no hidden upgrades. AIWA systems always produced good, clean sound with good amplification and low distortion, as far as I could tell. Audiophiles were never blown away, but for the average listener, the sound quality was well above average, excellent when the rather reasonable purchase price was factored in. Same for JBL speakers. Always good bang for the buck.

[@Juliuswwss]

I suspect azimuth mismatch. Also the Sony deck needs at least a good cleaning as it wasn't sounded very good when played back its own recording

[@aksting]

I like the outro. It is like vintage electronics eye candy. It is a great homage to the technological advancements of yesteryear.

[@l3p3]

Blathering over the outro is way better in my opinion! Just stick with that.

[@Jako1987]

But talking over the music is not optimal and outro music is way too cool to remove 😁 Either way these videos are awesome 👍

[@duemrol]

Outro Music is good, but outro talking is much better!

[@wozlaser]

+1 outro blather. bonus hangout time.

[@NetworkXIII]

Agreed, this “bonus content” is much appreciated.

[@remo687]

I always start off my mornings checking for a new Techmoan vid.

[@vintageyamahasquid]

I watch for the puppets

[@rich_edwards79]

This video inspired me to dig out my old mid-90s Aiwa PX-297 Walkman from the basement. Dropped an old Ministry of Sound Annual cassette from about 1996-ish into it and, well... I haven't listened to a tape in years and compared to 128k MP3 it sounds great, really rich and warm, with all the different tracks coming through really clearly. This particular machine is a bit later and has full logic control and DSL but otherwise seems designed around a similar 'keep it simple' philosophy, with an all-metal shell and powered by a single AA. I might have to dig out my old Sony twin cassette deck, hook it up and start listening again to some of the stuff I recorded from the Sunday night charts in the early 1990s :) That TDK CD-ing cassette brought back fond memories of receiving packs of 10 of the things as Christmas stocking fillers, and the joy of unwrapping one and dropping it into the deck for the first time. Back when the charts were actually worth taping...

[@nobodynowhere163]

Aww man, no puppets?

[@sanches2]

I love the outro! i even found the track and added it into my favourite music playlist. Thank you for all the effort to put these vid's together!

[@andrewgwilliam4831]

Constructive feedback is one thing, but quibbling over the length of the outro?! The mind boggles...

[@Cofcos]

I love the music you have during the credits... For some reason it makes me incredibly nostalgic for the 80s...

[@andrewsimmons3874]

Some of Aiwa's products were good but not reliable as Sony. Later Sony took over of Aiwa and maintained as inferior quality line of products compared to Sony series. Akai was an underdog compared to Aiwa but had some good audio equipment. We had Aiwa Boombox and the cassette mechanism failed. Later Aiwa discman with tuner which also failed. I only came to know your channels since a few months ago and do watch the older videos randomly.

[@boeyworld]

Thanks for the upload. What a classic equipment and old brand name that brings back memories of those high school years!

[@morebetter7901]

If you can't stop a video you should be disqualified from the internet and given an AM radio receiver.

[@maxcelcat]

I like the outro! Reminds me of all the bizarre things you've featured. Like that tape deck with the circular holder on top with the dozen tapes in it!

[@TC-tn9tb]

rechargeable AA would last 100's of hours i don't understand why people buy single use batts your just wasting money.

[@ThatWolfWithShades]

Rechargeable batteries in my experience are pretty crap. As far as I'm concerned, using a camera or a music player on the go, you're better off with alkaline cells than the rechargeable ones.

[@enzoperruccio]

Rechargable cells are generally worse than alkaline ones. They don't last as long (in most cases) and are expensive (and that's without including the charger).

[@TC-tn9tb]

They are rechargeable it doesn’t really matter how long they last but a decent set of 2500mah batteries last just as long as alkaline batts, they do cost 3 times as much but you can recharge 1000 times so you end up saving money.

[@ionstorm66]

Rechargables have a lower voltage which can cause issues on lots of devices.

[@charlescampuz5812]

Because $30 for a 2 pack of rechargeable batteries is a complete waste if they’re ending up in something like a TV Remote, which barely uses power.

[@Sporejunge]

Hey Matt thank you for putting together all your videos. I‘ve probably watched all of them by now.