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

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.

This is the perfect mix of old and new. The tape deck, the CD player and then you have Bluetooth. It's the quality product we've always expected of AIWA. It's heavy duty. Its retro look is amazing too. It takes you right back to the 80s and 90s. I like the fact it can run on 8 D cell batteries but also has a cord. The sound quality is fantastic! You can play with the base and treble to get just the right sound. I've already dug out all my old tapes and CDs to try it out. One word of warning, just so you don't break it. The CD and tape deck have a slow open release. I thought at first they might be broken when they didn't just pop open, but that's just they way they work. Don't pull on them. You have to give them a good push to close them as well. Zero buyers remorse on this. I'm going to use this all the time.

O...M...G...!! This thing is HUGE!! I had medium sized boom boxes back in the day, maybe 14 to 19" long,.. this is a whopping 2'4" long. It's about 14" or more high. Weighs almost 20lbs. I figured it was expensive because they just don't make quality cassette players anymore. I've purchased at least 4 cheapo ones the past 10 years. Each progressively more expensive, but shuffling out the same poor quality. So yeah, this is a BOOM Box! As big, as any of the largest ones, back in the day. It gets good FM reception, the cassette player seems to play decently, so far. The sound is actually really good. There is a good amount of bass with no settings applied. Anyone who disagrees with that is just looking for someone to rock the floor. It's not that, it's good sharp quality base, not tinny at all!! Once you apply the bass boost switch, it kicks in a bit more, not a lot. If you use the bass control know, all it does is make it muddy, not a true bass boost, however, if you raise the treble, it cleans it up pretty well and you have some nice heavier bass. With the bass boost on, it does vibrate like it's got it. And with the bass control also. It's just not gonna rock you out of your seat, or, if you've ever heard cholo low riders bass booming in the cars on the street - those, will make YOUR car rock, so yeah, it's not that. And I think that is what some of these people are looking for. So I'm pretty happy with this, I guess,... I mean, I hate that it is so huge. I wanted a medium sized BB, not a humongous one that HAS to be held on the shoulder. If you were to manage holding this by the handle beside you, the handle, being nothing but hollow plastic, is eventually going to break anyway. Not 5 stars due to all the plastic -especially the handle, and probably shouldn't rate it down due to the size, but I am, so there you go. :D

This reminds me allot of the Sharp Sharp GF-575Z from back in the days. I am not going to sit there and bash this boom box for not being exactly like an 80's boom box , because I feel that for a company to go through the trouble and manufacture a product like this with modern tech is awesome. There is no one making the old-school cassette mechanisms like those of yesterday year. But remembering how I used to record cassettes from the FM radio using cassettes that fit my budget, yeah those Maxwell UR series tapes or even cheaper no name tapes back then. Man this sounds great when playing tapes that I recorded using higher quality equipment then playing it back on this AIWA. Thankfully I have not had any of the issues others have mentioned in their reviews with my copy and I have been putting this boombox though its paces. CD plays with no issues and sounds pretty decent. The cassette player sound pretty decent depending on the quality of the recording and tape. There are sometimes I noticed the wow and flutter minute speed differences (If one pays really close attention.) But hey. Did we really pay attention to that as kids walking our boxes on the streets? Not this guy........ FM radio receives station very well in my area AM stations came in as well but in my area there is allot of interference on that band , this is not the fault of the radio but my are. USB and SD card recored lengthy audio mixes from my computer and had no issues. It does how ever only seem to record MP3s at 128Kbps so there is a noticeable difference from the original when paying close attention but again at a party or walking the streets who will really notice. Build Quality: To me I think they nailed it, styling and feel just like those budget friendly boom boxes of yesterday year. It is not an M90! lol but looks just like a modern take of a SHARP GF-575-Z and that was nice radio for its time. Volume: I compare it to some boomboxes of the 80's it gets loud but it will never compare to a modern BIG USB speaker with plenty of power. It depends on where you are actually , indoors it has nice volume, outdoors its like a typical boombox of the 80's. (AGAIN not comparing to those boat anchor class boom boxes) :-) Taking 8-D Cell 12V boxes of the past. Over all I love it. I would definitely recommend just keep in mind , it will never be the early 80's again.. :-)

I purchased this not only for the heavy nostalgia factor but also to actually use all its functions. So will breakdown each here. It's been a mixed bag / still not certain if I'm going to keep this. Cosmetics : It's definitely as advertised and what other reviewers have stated. It's fairly heavy, feels sturdy and looks like something almost like it was dropped from the late 1980's. No real concerns there. Sound quality overall: Also as advertised and I would rate it above any boombox I've owned in the past. Volume is good and not distorted, and good bass as well. BT seems to work just fine, if perhaps not too much range to it and the radio is fine / I didn't expect to use that too much anything. VR meters are a nice touch but just for aesthetics. But I did plan to use the CD / cassette / USB functionality and this where things get generally worse. The CD is...OK. I like that it does playback MP3 data CD's but the vertical setup doesn't always work 100% where you may get some knocking depending on the CD inserted. And a few of my really old first generation CD's don't seem to play on it, for whatever reason. No CD text either that I can see and that leads to the USB / microSD. MP3's only (I think WAV / WMA also but I didn't test that -- no Vorbis or FLAC), and no text on the LCD screen to pickup track names...that's definitely an annoyance given that it has an LCD where this could have been added. And then the recording function, only 128kbps CBR MP3 supported and no way to change that. Recording quality unfortunately gives off a 1999 Napster vibe and that's not a good thing. Lastly the cassette, and what likely is what I'm on the fence on. I knew this was Tanashin internals and it was going to be low quality. And that, due to the permanent erase head that recordings onto tape was going to be useless (heavy noise). But I've been testing just regular playback via pre-recorded and typeI/typeII tapes and my 30 year old Sony boombox sounds better than this thing. It was also playing slightly faster than it should (fixable with a little elbow grease), but assuming this is bad wow/flutter I'm not sure I want to take this entire thing apart to possibly fix that. If it's even fixable to begin with? If this was $150....probably worth it given the good and bad. Or for anyone who's not planning to use the cassette at all (except for audiobooks maybe) the sound quality for pre-recorded items for USB / CD, and the BT function, do work well. Unfortunately if a few things were improved on, I think this would have been a five star device for its current cost. EDIT : Not certain this is wow/flutter. Possibly its motor being used to drive the belts, or it could be the cassette well being misaligned. Has a distorted sound like its mistracking a bit. Still extremely annoying and I'm wondering if this is all these boomboxes or just the one I received. I would consider this a defect however. Also....not that this is critical but a remote, or a phone application for CD / MP3 playback would have been useful. I know it distorts the general aesthetic but the location of the "next" button is in a place where you will get tired of locating it very quickly. Or you'll want to put a small piece of tape on there to remind yourself where it is.

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.

I was just browsing amazon one day and came across this boombox. I definitely liked the looks of it and watches a few videos and read some reviews. Then it came to which one do I want so I tossed it around for awhile and thought the silver to me looks the part sp I ordered it first. Not saying the other two are not nice looking boomboxes. First off its heavy. With 8d batteries in it its almost 18lbs because I put it on the scale. The plastic is thick the knows are smooth and tight when using. Bluetooth or at least from my phone isn't the loudest but is clear. The tape deck to me sounded just fine and it was able to get pretty loud. The cd player works just fine and it will track forward and stop spinning the disc for a few then fire back up again that's just how it works. The tuner picks up plenty of channels with no issues. I ordered the black one second and let me say the black and gold looks killer. Those are the only options I have tried on it so far. I ordered 8 rechargeable batteries for it and they do just fine I haven't played it long enough to see how long they last. If I could change a couple things it would be i really wish the tuner was back lit because that would look so good with the vu meters back lighting. One more thing. If you want the most out of your sound place it near the back of a wall because the back is ported a it helps a ton on volume and overall bass. I have a few other modern day boomboxes that are ok and do what they suppose to do but they are not anything like this one. I know everything is made in China and this boombox is branded under many different names but it seem to be a good solid unit. I like to call it my fine China, lol.