Aiwa HS-GS183

The HS-GS183 (also known as GS183) was a stereo cassette player manufactured in China by the Aiwa Corporation.

• Two levels of Ear Guard (OFF, 1, 2)
• Normal/Metal tape selector switch
• Multi Sound Processor (MSP)
• 16-hours (approx) operation with LR6 alkaline batteries
• Output 15 mW per channel with 16 Ω headphones
• Dimensions: 116.8 mm × 92 mm × 36.3 mm
• Mass: 118 g (without batteries)

Review

This is a very basic cassette player in an all plastic construction, including the tape transport mechanism (TTM), and push button assembly. A very interesting design feature of this unit is that there is no separate TTM chassis that one can pull out of the case. Instead the mechanism is mounted directly on the reverse side of the case itself. Due to so much plastic in use, I recommend extreme caution as most of the mechanical components will be very fragile after all these years. There is also a very thin plastic cogwheel in the mechanism behind the PCB, which leads me to believe that there will not be many of these units in working condition. In this design there is a conventional DC motor that drives a plastic flywheel pulley by way of a small drive belt. The belt was easily accessible and fairly simple to replace.

The electronic engineering is based around the MM1336D integrated circuit (IC) manufactured by the Mitsumi Corporation. As well as providing pre and power amplifier functionality, this IC also has internal circuitry to drive the DC motor. Most people who collect Sony Walkmans will have heard sound through a Sanyo amplifier IC, which were commonly used; however this Aiwa unit has a Mitsumi IC which sounds rather different. In this application of the IC they were able to include fixed equalizer settings (known as MSP) with Classic, Pop, Rock, and Jazz options.

The MSP sound selector wheel is an interesting low-tech design consisting of a plastic mechanism under the cassette lid which moves a dial. The design gives the impression of an LED indicator, but it is a much more simple and elegant design, which reduces the need for additional circuitry and power. People in the future will likely use more of these types of indicators in order to reduce the power footprint.

Price/eBay

These cassette players sometimes come up for sale in the pre-used auction markets and you should keep in mind that this is a very basic unit without auto-reverse or Dolby noise reduction. For audio enthusiasts and collectors, a unit in mint condition and good working order may be of interest as it has an unusual audio IC.

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