I've had a lot of turntables that passed through my hands and even though some were excellent turntables without a recognizable brand name, I do not think I've ever called one a "sleeper" turntable. But, if I did, I take back my previous statement.
This Aiwa turntable sat on my local listings for about a week, when I initially looked at it, I didn't think too much. Aiwa is a brand I rarely came across but, the metal tone arm gimbal kept intriguing me. The black colour scheme didn't help it's appeal as it could easily be mistaken as a "cheap" turntable. But, upon initial research, the specifications are really interesting.
Furthermore, the more you researched the more you realized the Aiwa is actually a competent turntable and quite well made. Apparently, in Australia it had an MSRP of $269AUD in 1979. It was an decent mid-level turntable of the time.
Let's begin with some basic specifications, it is a direct drive with semi-automatic return. Some interesting features are the separate 33/45 speed controls, height adjustable feet and (yes), length adjustable feet. What does that mean? Well, it means you can shorten the overall stance of the table to fit on wide or narrow shelves (according to the manual). The rubber insulators are also in great shape.
Overall, the condition of this unit is excellent, the owner(s) took very good care of this turntable. All it needed was a bit of the usual servicing, cleaning and replacing of the strobe light (that was a bit of a pain to do).
What's even more intriguing is the motor. It uses a Hall-Effect Direct Drive motor. There are only two other companies that I know off the top of my head that had these motors: Sony and Pioneer. "Under the hood" I initially thought Pioneer because of the motor. However, I do believe this was made by CEC, just the mechanics and how the platter was designed gives me an inkling that CEC made it. Also, CEC was one of the biggest produces of OEM turntables. Though, I could be wrong but, I do not think so. The automatic return mechanism is resemblance of an older Hitachi belt drive unit where the cog/gear is actually part of the platter, rather than having a polymer cog/gear on the shaft of the motor.
The original headshell is quite nice, definitely better than a lot of OEM turntables, it's nice and solid.
Let's talk about the plinth, the Aiwa weighs 6.9kg, so it's quite hefty. The plinth is a combination of polymer and rock wool insulation from what I can gather, so it's quite dense. It's quite easy to clean but, a finger print magnet due to the colour.
Now about the arm itself, definitely different from the norm of a typical Japanese turntable. The weight is for a "rough" adjustment. This arm can accommodate various different cartridge weights. In front of the gimbal is where all the fine adjustments occur. Just like how you adjust for a normal tone arm at the rear of the gimbal, the front actually slides the shaft at the rear forwards and backwards for the fine adjustment. Quite interesting, if you ask me. This is how the Aiwa can accommodate various cartridge weights. Very neat feature!
Now, it didn't come with a cartridge so I looked into my extremely sparse parts box, I tried an Audio Technica AT-10 but, the cantilever was slightly off. Had fall back to my usual favourite: Shure. Had a Shure M70 with a new Astatic needle. It might be a conical but, it sounds really good.
Overall I am quite impressed by this turntable, definitely a "sleeper."
This Aiwa turntable sat on my local listings for about a week, when I initially looked at it, I didn't think too much. Aiwa is a brand I rarely came across but, the metal tone arm gimbal kept intriguing me. The black colour scheme didn't help it's appeal as it could easily be mistaken as a "cheap" turntable. But, upon initial research, the specifications are really interesting.
Furthermore, the more you researched the more you realized the Aiwa is actually a competent turntable and quite well made. Apparently, in Australia it had an MSRP of $269AUD in 1979. It was an decent mid-level turntable of the time.
Let's begin with some basic specifications, it is a direct drive with semi-automatic return. Some interesting features are the separate 33/45 speed controls, height adjustable feet and (yes), length adjustable feet. What does that mean? Well, it means you can shorten the overall stance of the table to fit on wide or narrow shelves (according to the manual). The rubber insulators are also in great shape.
Overall, the condition of this unit is excellent, the owner(s) took very good care of this turntable. All it needed was a bit of the usual servicing, cleaning and replacing of the strobe light (that was a bit of a pain to do).
What's even more intriguing is the motor. It uses a Hall-Effect Direct Drive motor. There are only two other companies that I know off the top of my head that had these motors: Sony and Pioneer. "Under the hood" I initially thought Pioneer because of the motor. However, I do believe this was made by CEC, just the mechanics and how the platter was designed gives me an inkling that CEC made it. Also, CEC was one of the biggest produces of OEM turntables. Though, I could be wrong but, I do not think so. The automatic return mechanism is resemblance of an older Hitachi belt drive unit where the cog/gear is actually part of the platter, rather than having a polymer cog/gear on the shaft of the motor.
The original headshell is quite nice, definitely better than a lot of OEM turntables, it's nice and solid.
Let's talk about the plinth, the Aiwa weighs 6.9kg, so it's quite hefty. The plinth is a combination of polymer and rock wool insulation from what I can gather, so it's quite dense. It's quite easy to clean but, a finger print magnet due to the colour.
Now about the arm itself, definitely different from the norm of a typical Japanese turntable. The weight is for a "rough" adjustment. This arm can accommodate various different cartridge weights. In front of the gimbal is where all the fine adjustments occur. Just like how you adjust for a normal tone arm at the rear of the gimbal, the front actually slides the shaft at the rear forwards and backwards for the fine adjustment. Quite interesting, if you ask me. This is how the Aiwa can accommodate various cartridge weights. Very neat feature!
Now, it didn't come with a cartridge so I looked into my extremely sparse parts box, I tried an Audio Technica AT-10 but, the cantilever was slightly off. Had fall back to my usual favourite: Shure. Had a Shure M70 with a new Astatic needle. It might be a conical but, it sounds really good.
Overall I am quite impressed by this turntable, definitely a "sleeper."
