MD: End of the quirky Aiwa's?
Norbert (indirectly) forwarded this link for Aiwa's English AM-F90 page to me: URL:http://www.aiwa.co.jp/english/exhibi/new_p2001/am-f90e.htm Actually I'm a bit sad to see it, Aiwa's were always somewhat unusual in their feature set (e.g. AGC *AND* on the fly recording level control, program play mode, backlit main body display, etc.) and I thought of them as the real "hacker" (or "MD nerd") machines. So, does this spell the end of Aiwa-unique units? Judging by the initial monthly production numbers (Aiwa AM-F90: 3000 units, Sony MZ-R900: 50,000 units) they must not have very high expectations for it -- or maybe Aiwa's will now be unique by being rare! Rick - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: End of the quirky Aiwa's?
"Eric Woudenberg, Minidisc.org Editor" wrote: Actually I'm a bit sad to see it, Aiwa's were always somewhat unusual in their feature set (e.g. AGC *AND* on the fly recording level control, program play mode, backlit main body display, etc.) and I thought of them as the real "hacker" (or "MD nerd") machines. So, does this spell the end of Aiwa-unique units? Hi. I have an Aiwa FM70. The backlit controls are neat, but I don't find it an intuitive unit. I like things where you don't have to keep reading the instruction manual to find out what they can do. Every once and a while I can actually make the unit go into the mono mode, just by pure luck. This is a totally subjective opinion, but I just don't think that the sound quality is as good as my older Denon R70 or what ever it is called (Sharp MS200 clone). The Aiwa came with very poor earbuds too. Of course the Denon's original remote arrived from Japan DOA (I substituted one of their diamond shaped LCD remotes-one of the few remotes that actually has a metal case). In a way it is strange that Aiwa should be one of the first to be dropping out of the MD arena. For years their mini systems (even most of the modestly priced ones) featured an input for MD and a TOSlink out. Larry - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: End of the quirky Aiwa's?
I read online somewhere about Aiwa losing money, so I checked their financial reports here: http://www.aiwa.co.jp/english/index_e.html In a nutshell, Aiwa's first loss in 13 years was experienced in fiscal 1999, and they continued to lose money in the first half of fiscal 2000. Aiwa estimated that it will lose money all the way through fiscal 2000 (ends at the end of March). Shortage of component supply, especially the chips that are key to downsizing equipments, was cited as one of the reasons for the loss. Assuming that this holds enough significance, going for cloning probably relieves them of the pressure of procurement. The F80, for instance, uses Sony ATRAC and Philips A/D D/A converter, seen in the pictures at the bottom of this page. http://www.puwa-net.com/minidisc/mdworld/m-binshi/f80_k.html Leon on 3/23/01 6:57 AM, Eric Woudenberg, Minidisc.org Editor at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Norbert (indirectly) forwarded this link for Aiwa's English AM-F90 page to me: URL:http://www.aiwa.co.jp/english/exhibi/new_p2001/am-f90e.htm Actually I'm a bit sad to see it, Aiwa's were always somewhat unusual in their feature set (e.g. AGC *AND* on the fly recording level control, program play mode, backlit main body display, etc.) and I thought of them as the real "hacker" (or "MD nerd") machines. So, does this spell the end of Aiwa-unique units? Judging by the initial monthly production numbers (Aiwa AM-F90: 3000 units, Sony MZ-R900: 50,000 units) they must not have very high expectations for it -- or maybe Aiwa's will now be unique by being rare! Rick - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
