- Retro Boombox BackTrack CD Player with Cassette Recording, Bluetooth 5.0, FM/AM Radio, USB/SD/AUX Inputs, VU Meters, LCD Display, Dual 40W Speakers (Black and Gold)

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.

A very well built retro boombox cd and cassette player with recording capabilities. Sound quality is excellent . The quality cassette player has given lives back to my old cassette ( especially my remixed music) collections. I would give this unit a 6 stars if the cassette player can add an automatic rewind function in the future to make the cassette player more enjoyable by eliminating the manual re-inserting step. Otherwise this is a good buy for the value.

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. Update 3/23/26 After using this for a few months I wanted to give an update on some things I found. First, the sound is incredible. I the CDs and tapes have really impressive sound. When you listen to the quiet pars between the songs there is some background noise in the speakers. It doesn't detract from the music quality. The CD does not spin all the time. Just in case you see it, it doesn't mean. It's broken. I never get a skip in the music. Some CDs when they spin, it makes a loud rattle. It looks like it's because the actual component for the Lazer floats on springs as a shock absorber. Min sits on a shelf so there is no shock to absorb. I used a very low tech solution and put a small piece of packing tape on the gap and the rattle is gone. It may not be the same for everyone. It may just have been mine. Lastly the volume has to be way up for the Bluetooth than for CDs and tapes. Just be aware I almost gave myself a heart attack when I had put in a CD after a day of listing to music ove Bluetooth. Other than than those things, it's a quality system. I've been very happy with it and have zero buyers remorse. I did knock off a star for the CD rattle.

This boombox is the best example of a true boombox from the good old days that is available. The cassette player is limited to the tanashin style decks that are available but, it gets the job done in the cassette department. Everything works the way you would expect. The speakers are mounted internally into their own enclosures which are ported to the rear. The sound is spot on with an old school blaster. The tweeters are silk domed and are very crisp. The weight is right where an old school radio would be and the handle is sturdy. The 8-D battery compartment is true to that old school radio. The Bluetooth range is acceptable. The radio has good reception on FM and fair AM. Stereo separation is very good on this radio. I'm hearing stuff in my old cassettes that I didn't know were there. It's advertised as 40 watts however, if you are interested in clean power, it's more at 10.6 watts X 2 RMS for a total of 21.2 watts clean stereo output. It's more than enough to make your ears ring if turned up loud for long periods of time. VU meters are back-lit. They bounce nicely to the output volume of the radio without the needed to crank it way up to enjoy them. They are mainly for esthetics as they do not contribute to tuner strength, battery level or recording levels. When recording, this radio records at 128kbps MP3 from any source to USB, microSD or cassette. This includes AM/FM, Aux, Bluetooth, CD and Mic inputs. The CD player has a 1 minute buffer. After reading ahead, the CD will stop and play off the buffer before spinning back up again. This saves on battery, helps prevent skipping and scratching the disc when carrying it. In addition to MP3, this unit will also play WAV and WMA files. It will not play Flac or other file formats. The cassette player is what you would expect from the available mechanisms. W/F is acceptable but do not expect to record onto cassettes. Like most of these aftermarket tanashin style players, they use a permanent erase magnet which add loads of hiss to your recordings. Recording from cassette, radio, aux, CD and Bluetooth to USB and microSD has a more satisfactory result. This boombox will work just fine on rechargeable NiMh D batteries except when recording. I recommend using a higher voltage Alkaline battery or have it plugged in when recording to USB or microSD. The radio does not rattle or buzz when the bass hits and feels very solid. Overall, I am happy with my purchase.

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.

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'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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