VINTAGE TECHNOLOGY ARCHIVE / AUDIO / AIWA / AD-WX220

Aiwa AD-WX220

Documentation on the Aiwa AD-WX220 is thin, but the period press places it clearly. It was a Dolby B & C cassette deck sold in the mid-1980s, and it shows up in US print as both "AD-WX220" and "AD-WX220U." The most substantial record is a group comparison in Hi-Fi-Stereo Buyers (March 1985, p.54), where the Aiwa ran alongside decks from Sansui, Hitachi, and Realistic. In that test's spec table, the AD-WX220's input sensitivity for a 0 dB reading was 58 mV at 1 kHz - the most sensitive of the four listed. The same issue's coverage described the test group as solenoid-controlled machines with recording-mute, rear-panel level inputs and outputs, and a push-button system that could arrange the playback order of several tape segments, provided at least four seconds of silence separated them. The surviving copy doesn't make clear whether that description applied to the Aiwa specifically or to the group as a whole.

After that, the record is mostly price and directory sightings. The 1986 tape-deck directory in the same publication lists the "AD-WX220U Dolby B & C Cassette Deck" (Hi-Fi-Stereo Buyers, 1986, p.90). An October 1987 dealer ad in the magazine offered the AD-WX220 at $329 (Hi-Fi-Stereo Buyers, October 1987, p.149). That ad's footnote block mentions a 3-head, 2-motor transport with Dolby B+C and HX Pro. The layout doesn't make clear whether that bullet belongs to the Aiwa or to the Teac V770 listed beside it, so it stays unresolved rather than confirmed.

Known specs from period sources: