Does your knob stick out? (Aiwa in general)

Member Name: Shazzy

Product:	Aiwa in general
Date:	13/09/02 (355 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Durable, Good sound quality, Generally easy to use

Disadvantages: Dodgy design on cassette player functions, Presetting the radio is a pain in the bum

[Note: This opinion describes the AIWA CSD TD24 rather than Aiwa in General. Sorry, but it doesn’t have a category of its own and it's impossible to get new ones posted these days]

~~~~~~~~~



“I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony – I’d like to hold it in my arms….”. Sorry. Radio 2 y’know. Eeek! I’ve turned into my mother! I can remember very clearly telling my mum that old fuddy-duddies were the only people who listened to Radio 2 and come what may, I would ALWAYS listen to Radio 1.

But alas, Tony Blackburn, David Hamilton, Noel Edmonds, Rosko and all the other much loved presenters of the 70s have since moved on and Kenny Everett, who was very much involved in the development of Radio 1, has sadly departed for the great radio station in the sky.

These days, the only reason we actually have Radio 1 programmed into our AIWA CSD TD24 is because my 13 year-old listens to it. For the most part, our radio’s tuned to Radio 2 or BBC Stoke. Am I sad?

Our silver AIWA is used daily and has been with us since Christmas last year. Over the months, I’ve come to know it reasonably well.


~~ DESIGN ~~

This CD/radio/cassette player looks reasonably sleek and is quite compact with nicely rounded edges. The controls are all positioned in the central area of the front, with the exception of the cassette player controls that are positioned on the top, in front of the CD player. Ours is silver and I believe this is the only colour available. I’ve certainly never seen them in any other colour.

The single cassette player is at the bottom and opens smoothly. No nasty jerks like you sometimes get on cheaper models. I do find it quite confusing that the cassette controls are on top of the set though, rather than directly above or below the actual cassette player. Also, as there’s a relatively large arrow sh
aped
button directly above the cassette player, this tends to give the impression that the tape will be played heading towards the right, whereas the opposite is actually true. Maybe it’s just me that’s easily confused, but I’m forever pressing ‘reverse’ when I want to ‘fast forward’ and vice versa.

There are no knobs or buttons that stick out on the front; the controls are all nice and flat and very easy to press.

The CD player is accessed by means of an opaque plastic lid that’s opened by depressing one corner. From past experience, I know that these lids can easily break or come loose, but after 9 months of regular use, ours is still in perfect order. Like the cassette player, this cover also opens smoothly.

The display screen is clear and nicely sized for easy viewing. This screen will tell you which wavelength you’re tuned to, which track of a CD is playing, will aid station tuning and programming of listening order of CD tracks as well as which of the preset equaliser modes you’ve chosen.

A handle lies neatly around the CD player cover. This feels comfortable in the hand although, as we don’t carry ours around much, I can’t tell you whether this is particularly durable or not.


4/5 (one point lost due to cassette controls being somewhat confusing)



~~ RADIO ~~

The tuner will accept MW 530 – 1,710 kHz through the built in antenna. There’s also a rod antenna attached to the back that will take in FM 87.5 – 108.0 MHz. The set will also take in LW 153 – 288 kHz, although this isn’t something we regularly use.

Reception is good, although no better than on the other 3 models that can be found in our house (no, we’re not gadget freaks, the kids have their own and we have one in the bedroom).

Tuning is easy via two oval buttons beneath the screen - one for up, one
for down.
During FM tuning, “stereo” will be displayed when you have reached premium reception. If, however, your FM station contains unwanted noise, pressing MONO will usually eliminate this.

Tuning intervals for MW is 9 kHz; however, in some areas the frequency allocation is, evidently, 10 kHz. This model allows for this to be changed to suit your area.

Up to 15 stations can be preset. I found this process to be quite complicated, and should you wish to delete a preset station, all of the following presets will jump one position forward, a function I’m not entirely happy with. The instructions do clearly explain how presetting is done, but because the method isn’t logical, at least not to me, I’ve needed to dig out the instructions every time I’ve wanted to preset a new station. I’m sure this could’ve been done better, but ok, it isn’t a function that’s used that often so not too annoying.

Pressing any other function button will turn the radio off.


4/5 (one point lost because of illogical preset programming)



~~ Cassette Player ~~

This comprises a single cassette player without auto reverse. As I rarely listen to cassettes, I’ve never found the lack of auto reverse a problem, but I’m sure this is something that would put some people off of this model. This is the age of leisure; nobody wants to keep jumping up and down switching cassettes more than necessary.

The controls, as mentioned earlier, are positioned on the top of the case. These buttons are somewhat harder to press than the front positioned function buttons. They also feel as though they’re more likely to break, but so far, ours are still intact. Although I don’t listen to cassettes often, this has been used quite a bit as I record a lot of music to listen to in the car. You just can’t set out on a long journey without something to
bop to, can yo
u? Recording's easy from both the CD player and the radio although there's no facility to preset recording from the radio. I've only had this facility on one other model and as it isn’t included on any of those we have at the moment, I doubt it's something you can expect.

Tapes seem to run smoothly and so far we haven’t had any of ours “eaten”, although the motor doesn’t automatically stop at the end of fast-forwarding or rewinding.


2/5 (one point lost because of controls being placed away from the tape holder, one due to the lack of auto reverse, and one because the motor doesn’t automatically stop)



~~ CD Player ~~

As with most portable CD/radio/cassette players, this model holds only one CD.

The CD player is very easy to use, although each button has several functions. This, I imagine, was done to keep the whole thing nice and compact.

The on-screen display is a feature I particularly like with this model. This shows the track being played as well as the elapsed playing time.

Tracks can easily be skipped with a quick press of a button. This also has a reverse function, meaning that you can quickly hop back to the beginning of a track, or the track before that one etc.

The repeat function can be used for either a single track, or an entire CD. The single track function can be damned annoying when you have a teenager who insists on listening to one particular Nickelback track for 4 hours but I guess some people would find it handy. I’ve never wanted to use it, but its there should you need it.

You can also programme the order of tracks to be played. This is also relatively simple to achieve, even for a technophobe like me.


5/5 (nothing to grouch about here)



~~ Miscellaneous ~~

Sound quality is good, or at least as good as can be expected on a portable p
layer in this price
class. It certainly isn’t tinny, the way some portables can be. The output is 2 x 2.5 w. That doesn’t sound much, but when my daughter turns it up full blast, believe me, it’s loud! Well, loud to a 42 year-old Radio 2 listener, anyway. Obviously, at full volume the clarity of sound is somewhat distorted - this isn’t an expensive sound system, after all.

There’s a jack for headphones on the back of the unit that takes a stereo mini plug, but no microphone facility.

A sleep function allows you to specify a time at which the unit will automatically turn itself off. Handy for those who like to fall asleep to music. This can be timed between 10 and 90 minutes in 10 minute steps.

The 3-mode equaliser offers a choice of Rock, Pop and Jazz or no equalisation. This function has its own designated button, so switching between modes is easy.

The AIWA CSD TD24 also has a t-bass system that, according to the user manual, enhances the realism of low frequency sound. The sound certainly does sound deeper and more “booming” when the button’s been pressed, so I guess it works. My teenager tells me that this function is an absolute must.

Sadly, there’s no remote control.


5/5 (I almost knocked off a point for the lack of remote control, but decided against it as anybody requiring one probably wouldn’t buy this model anyway)



~~ Overall Impression ~~

All in all, I’m very satisfied with this model. Although there are some features that I feel could be improved, it’s generally well designed and does the job for which it’s intended.

As I’ve said, ours has been used daily for 9 months and is still looking like new. The case doesn’t scratch or mark easily, all the buttons are still intact, as are both the cassette and CD compartment covers.

At 41.5 cm x 18 cm x 23.5 cm, this
is just a nice size to f
it neatly on a bookshelf or small table. As the wires at the back don’t stick out too far, ours stands about 2 cms away from the wall. Its weighs 3.2 kilos so is light enough to be easily carried around. I’ve known so-called portables that’ve been so heavy I could barely lift them!

Power is either through your mains outlet or 8 size C batteries. I’ve never used mine with batteries so, unfortunately, I’m unable to tell you how long you can expect them to last. I’ve generally found that portable CD/radio/cassette players tend to go through batteries very quickly though, and I doubt this one’s any different. However, the power consumption is 15 W so maybe that will give you a better idea of what to expect.

My overall impression is that this model offers good value for money. It’s reliable, looks reasonably good, is easy to use, although the cassette player isn’t quite as good as I’d expect.

4/5 (It’s that darned cassette player, y’know)



Right, I think I’ll nip off and do some taping now. We’re off to London tomorrow and quite honestly, Mr O’s musical taste is, well, let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to listen to his cassettes for 200 miles ;-)


(Note: This was a present, and as I haven't been able to find a price on the net, £70 is an estimate. I'm sure I've seen it for about that price somewhere. Oh, and the drop down multiple choice boxes aren't working so please ignore anything in that area).

~~+~~+~~

Summary: