aiwa Retro Boombox CD Player with Cassette Recording, Bluetooth 5.0, FM/AM Radio, USB/SD/AUX Inputs, VU Meters, LCD Display, Dual 40W Speakers - Yellow

So 'I've been looking for a decent "real" boombox for a while now. What I mean is, not a Bluetooth speaker. My Aiwa CSD-EL33 quit working some time ago. I've had it since 1999. I took it apart and tried to repair it but it is possessed. I don't know if the caps went bad or if a chip got corrupted. It doesn't respond to the buttons most times, or it does something entirely different. Plus the cassette belts dissolved. I may give up on it. In the meantime while finding out that there are no real brand name boomboxes anymore, I found this. I know this Awia is not the same as old school Aiwa, just the name that some Chinese corporation bought who also makes toasters, but I thought just maybe it would be decent enough. We'll, let me tell you, it is! The only thing that disappoints me is the tape deck. Like all, and I do mean ALL, cassette tape decks in 2025. It's a piece of trash, and the makers should be ashamed of themselves. I could write another thousand words about the awesome technology and quality of tape decks we had back in the 80's and 90's, but it won't change the fact that NONE of them are being made anymore. Just this ONE mechanism in EVERY cassette player made now with its cheap play head and it's permanent erase magnet for recording. It is truly an abomination compared to what we once had, to what is in my 1999 Aiwa CSD-EL33! The tape playback is tolerable and is in stereo, but recording to tape is a nogo. The Aiwa backtrack weighs in at 17.8 lbs with 8 alkaline D cell batteries installed. Its kinda heavy, and its kinda big. It doesn't fit in the front seat of my 1987 Suzuki Samurai big. Which is GOOD! And it sounds good too! Excellent actually. (Except for that tape recording thing) And it's LOUD! On volume 25 with treble set at 4, Bass at 4, and bass boost off from 10 feet away listening to Geddy Lee lament about FM radio on our local FM radio station (Rush-The Spirit of Radio) my free app sound meter on my phone measured 80db. 84db from 5 feet, and 90db right in front of the speaker. Same results from Bono singing In The Name of Love with more noticeable bass of course. That's loud enough for me. The volume knob goes all the way to 32 and still sounds good with no noticeable distortion. The sound is very good, and the bass has an impressive kick for a plastic boombox, a much better frequency response than any medium sized 80's or 90's equivalent that I can remember. The tuner is clear and consice. It tunes in stations very well and 'STEREO' appears on the display when tuned to a stereo station. It also plays in stereo. There is a distinct Left and Right separation and the VU meters coorespond to this as noted by playing Spaced Age Love Song by Flock of Seagulls. CDs sound great also, as does Bluetooth pairing, but the loudest volume I've experience comes from a well tuned in radio station. I have not messed with the SD card or memory stick functions yet. When I do I'll update this review. The microphone inputs work great. The echo effect will make anyone sound like a monster truck event announcer. SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY! A bit of advice if you're going to sing along. Use Bluetooth pairing and the volume from your paired device/phone to adjust music volume while the mic volumes and main volume (I turn the main volume all the way up) can be used for your voice. Otherwise the music will drown out, you. If you are looking for a 'real' boombox. One with a cassette player, CD player, and radio like in the olden days that actually works, and sounds good. Go ahead and buy it. It works pretty good and has the added benefit of Bluetooth plus the SD stuff. Yes its 250 bucks, and while I think its expensive for what it is, so are my groceries! Look at it this way. For the price of half a basket of food you get a rad boombox that will impress the chics, and it won't end up in the toilet in a week. I'll update this review for longevity from time to time.

I wanted a good Bluetooth speaker set up for the tunes on my phone. Previously I had bought a no name speaker that failed after a couple of years. I might be able to fix it, maybe not. I have always wanted a large ghetto blaster like I had back in the day and had looked on ebay, but of course those are mostly parts or museum pieces costing ten times what they cost new. Besides, the modern stereo usually has Bluetooth and other modern music storage options. Aiwa has always had good products in the past, so I figured I would take a chance, even though everything is now made in china. As stated in other reviews, the thing is heavy. I mean it is SOLID. Good heavy plastic on the case. The knobs look a little cheesy but no problems found. FM in my area is pathetic with only a few strong stations and they were not producing high quality signals anyway. I don't listen to subscription music or chart music anyway. The unit is impressive with the amount of crystal clear sound that it reproduces. Remember, the quality of recordings/files/downloads is the starting point of quality reproduction. I listen to HQ or HD videos streamed from my phone through the Bluetooth feature. The Bluetooth works flawlessly. The sound doesn't distort with increased volume. I have not tried the tape deck or CD player as I listen to digital recordings. I like the option of having USB, SD, AUX, microphone jacks and other features but I may not ever use them as my phone does all the storage. The old school look is even better in real life. I will get some rechargeable batteries for it just because they are so handy and reliable now. The price is really not very high for a sound system of this quality and functionality. I have always been pleased with Aiwa products and it looks like this one will be a good product too.

I'll admit I've been a big fan of Aiwa for 30 years. When I went to college, I put a lot of my hard-earned part-time high school kid income into a Aiwa stereo receiver. When the brand was revived, and they made the Exos-9, it was thrilling, and I bought it immediately, and never looked back. It's like a Fiat: overall it has many flaws, but at its core mission, it is BRILLIANT. And Exos-9 is/was. This one, okay. They had enough enclosure space to make a LOT more out of the 5.5" or so woofers (or I should say, midrange drivers) than they did. This is NOT a bass-producing product, although it could have been. For the first time in my entire life, because I love deep and resonant bass more than anything, I am giving 5 stars to a speaker due solely to its soundstage. I'm not joking. The treble is Good to Very Good, the Mid-highs are a bit muddy, the mid-bass is clear and distortion-free, and as I said, the woofers are far more than capable of driving deeper, articulate notes. It is unfortunate that they thought that a silly 1980s boom-box design (which I absolutely love) was the end of the job. They could have driven 2025-quality sound very easily, given the extremely generous form factor. This is the first, and single wireless speaker I have ever given extra stars due to soundstage alone. The treble is between "decent" and "ok". Mid-bass, vocals, are fairly accurate. Bass is, as I said, lacking. But the soundstage is almost unbelievable. I wouldn't say stereo separation is as strong as the width of the soundstage. And, I'm not sure if this was a design intent. But if you could put this on a table on one end of a room, the soundstage is so broad that you'd hear the same mids and highs standing right beside the speaker, as you would directly in front of it. I'll pair it with a subwoofer at a party. But credit where credit is due. I have speakers 5X as expensive that produce comparable 5KHz+ tones, but cannot come close to the soundstage that this thing produces. You just have to hear it to believe it. This, then, marks the first 5-star review I have EVER left for ANY speaker, active or passive, due almost entirely to its soundstage.

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