My daily driver Walkman?
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- What hassle-free cassette Walkman do I use the most often?
UPDATE - I have been informed that I need to remove the battery door in order to get into my EX672…so now I know what to do if I ever fancy replacing the belt in that one too.
NOTE: The players shown in the video took me years to assemble (one of them took me three attempts - for a total of around £280) - the odds of just popping on ebay today and immediately picking one of these up for next to nothing is almost nil…so don’t be shocked when that’s the case.
00:00 Start
03:05 Current faves
08:07 My new player
13:10 A broken one
17:32 Back to the working one
22:43 Audio demo 1
23:18 W&F tests
27:36 The inevitable belt swap
28:41 W&F test revisited
29:28 Audio demo 2
29:56 I needed to remove the battery cover
30:26 Lessons learned
37:51 Patreon credits
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As time goes on, my appreciation of the engineers who were able to shrink cassette mechanisms to this size vastly grows. Everything now seems so simple with digital media - you don't really comprehend how it works, it just does. Seeing the tiny belt, how the unit is so thin a AA battery won't fit, yet you get a 35-hour lifespan is just wonderful.
I work in defense and I've always been impressed by the engineering that went into older Cold War era (and earlier) electromechanical systems. So many disciplines from mechanical to electrical that had to come together to develop a product. (Now, I'm not one of those types who says "things were better back then" haha. The things we're building today are infinitely superior to the stuff we built back then--but you can still admire the work and dedication that went into those products.)
There is this statement that constraints bring creativity.
Well their constraint was the cassette media.
Yeah, the stuff new tech does is amazing. But the stuff old tech does is more amazing sometimes because they achieved it in the face of such limitations compared to what's available to designers today.
I only ever had a cheapie one that didn't really earn the name Walkman. My school mate had a tidy Sony one that also ran on a single AA (an earlier generation that those featured here - this was the late 80s) and to me the thought of running all that off 1.5 volts with auto reverse in a volume barely larger than a cassette itself was amazing. Still is.
As a layperson you can be impressed by mechanical stuff like tapes. Chips and PCBs are a mystery to me.
Well there is one advantage to having the AA battery caddy on the bottom of the unit. At least if you accidentally leave a battery in it you only wreck the caddy and not the whole unit.
Inr though a lot of people use the gumstick batteries with their slim walkmans and left them inside and those rechargeables can leak pretty bad too
I got an aiwa pxm-2000, anniversary model, really nice device, but completely destroyed by leaked gumstick, no sound, none of the photo sensors worked which caused it to continuesly autoreverse back and forth, looks like the whole motherboard was leaked, even the motor's magnets and coils were corroded
Really unfortunate and sad considering that externally and internally it's really nice machine
I'm glad to see Sony have always named thier products by letting a cat walk across a keyboard.
You got that right, as I was looking into new bluetooth earbuds/headphones recently, and just looking up various SONY models sent me down a rabbit hole LOL! I ended up with a pair of SONY WI-C100 wireless in-ear buds for $32 USD, and you would think that would been an older model than say the SONY WI-C310 but nope they just had a silent drop in May of this year, and about the only place in the US that had them at the end of May was Walmart, unless you ordered directly from SONY at a slightly higher price.
🤦♂️ seriously SONY, older stuff should have a lower model number, and newer stuff a higher model number, not all over the dang place!! 🤦♂️
When you release 20 variations of a model, across several model lines, across several product lines, and keep doing it for 40 years, I’m sure it gets tough to come up with a catchy name for all of them.
@@nickwallette6201 I am sure it does, but they could at least be consistent with the numbering scheme of first product in a range having a low number, and the next product a higher number, so on and so forth, till the next product line.
On the bright side it makes their stuff really easy to find online, just type in that convoluted number.
@@nslouka90 Or just let your cat type it in and see what pops up!
I've serviced a lot of Sony cassette devices. I think that the wow and flutter are caused by the pinch rollers. From 1992 and onwards the part of the pinch rollers where the rubber strip have been vulcanised at the two ends becomes slightly harder than the rest. The older it gets the worse it becomes. I believe 20 odd years of being sat in a box is long enough time to start showing some signs of rubber degradation. Perhaps some rubber renew applied in a very thin layer and running it for a while will help softening the rollers and will improve it a bit
I have bought several sony and panasonic walkmans 25 - 30 years old. They only needed new belts Pinch rollers were fine. Just needed cleaning.
Only change pinch roller if you see groove in that (caused by capstan when accidentally left in Play mode with dead battery/no battery). Otherwise old pinch rollers just work fine.
I even bought sony wm-fx 43 almost 30 years old that still contained original belt in excellent condition. Probably someone never used that and kept that in storage box until decided to give that away.
this is the most comforting channel on RUclips. I'm surprised he's not sponsored, but that makes me like this channel even more. Techmoan is an honest, funny, smart cool guy.
All of these comments are spam bots. Stay away.
@@firesurfer even if its the case its a nice comment
@@nonewanted I was talking about the comments that were apparently deleted. Not Ryan.
@@firesurfer if spam bots are now issuing sweet compliments and no links to scams, then bring on the spam bots.
@@skevosmavros no compliments from the bots.
The broken walkman has a switch on the other side of the motherboard, that is connected to the tape mechanism to detect the position of the cogs. I had the same problem with the autorevers switching back and forth and cleaning that switch with IPA fixed it.
Beer is so versatile
@@YourLocalGP Bet he uses guinness instead.
@@oguzhan001 I would recomend 90% IPA vs 70%, just so much more stronger taste.
On the WM-EX672 to remove the back, you will need the remove the plastic gum stick battery cover/clip and then lift the cover from the case battery side cover side first in a dorr opening action, because the case fits under the headphone/remote connector. New pinch rollers for these will also improve your W&F and they are an easy change.
Thanks for the info.
Hi Simon.
I've got a Sony Walkman quite similar to what Mat shares in this video, but it has a problem. It plays too fast. I've changed the belt and adjust the pot but to no effect. Is there anything I can do to try to restore it to the proper speed?
Thanks
Kris
@@KrisGraney Are you adjusting the correct Pot ? What's the model number?
@@Retro-Technical WM-EX512, and I believe so as there is only 1 pot. Marked as RV601 according to the service manual on ManualsLib.
@@KrisGraney How fast is it ?, is it just a little quicker than normal or does it sound like its playing on FF .. ie sounds like pinky and perky ( if you're old enough to remember them) , if it's just a little quicker try cleaning the POT with contact spray, otherwise you may need to start troubleshooting round the servo (ic601) . I have had a ex512 before but sold it now on my Ebay shop so can't open it up to look..
Oh my gosh! That black seal is a Dixon's /Currys security seal! I put so many thousand of those on things in the late 90's early 00s :)
For reference, if you ever see one, "return to 7800" was the internal returns sticker for customer returns. Mostly it was all fine though :)
Thats exactly what I thought when I saw it and they’re still using them last I was there in 2017
Definitely Dixons seals. I worked there in 90s and early 00s too. Many a box was ruined by them! Never thought I'd see those again...memories!
What is your 'daily driver' cassette walkman - and could you make a video about it? Thanks!
Thanks for asking, it just so happens…
@@Longplay_Games -What a coincidence!!
Really enjoyed this vid thanks Mat. You're a bad influence though, I seem to have started collecting old tech myself now but without the skills or enthusiasm to get any of it working properly!
That sounds exactly the same to me.
You got this!
Need to get round to fixing my Sony TC-WE835S. Hoping it just needs the belts replacing.
Techmoan and Cassette Comeback made me go nearly bankrupt...just kidding...or am I?
Vinegar works wonders on battery residue. I used it on the battery contacts in my Sanyo M4440 cassette player. It fizzled for a few seconds, and they came out spotless.
Yeah I'd probably suggest distilled vinegar over lemon juice, which can leave a sticky sugar residue. Obviously you'd clean that off but better to start with something that doesn't leave it in the first place.
The stuff that leaks out of alkaline batteries is potassium hydroxide, so either lemon juice or vinegar is going to react in a simple acid-base neutralization. (Leaving potassium citrate or potassium acetate, both of which are soluble in water and easy to clean.)
@@wbfaulk Yes but lemon juice also has sugars and other lemony stuff in it.
@@jhonbus Oh, sure. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I was just commenting on why they both worked.
But how are you supposed get the vinegar off the chips?
I am impressed with the 35 hour runtime, especially for a mechanical device.
Yeah these were absolutely marvellous tech considering it used an plain old cassette. I think they played a part to stop peope switching to a discman. They were lovely and tough as well
Plus it powers mono lcd display
@@rustymixer2886 powering the LCD is nothing compared to rolling through an entire tape. A digital watch from the 80s or 90s runs a screen like that for months or years on a tiny coin cell.
@@evilspoons nice
I assume those 35 hours would come from a traditional alkaline battery. I wonder how long it would last with a rechargeable NiMH battery, or even a modern Li-ion AA battery.
Brings back happy memories. When I was at college at the start of the eighties and had one of the first Walkman models which at the time being the first truly portable audio brought me so much happiness especially on my daily train ride into college in Devon and my bus rides to visit my brothers in Hampshire and then later I did a series of interview documentary shows capturing old stories and the dying Devon dialect and used one of the Walkman Pro models which recorded beautifully and being small did not intimidate the interviewees. Marvellous machines but you are right, far too bulky to carry around every day!
I still occasionally use my WM-FX403 that my sister bought me in the late 80s. Similar features to the FX models you feature but all analogue switching on the tape mechanism and bulkier with 2 AA batteries. The auto reverse has not triggered at the end of a tape for many years. I put this down to motor strength fading but you've inspired me to try a new belt. This thing did thousands of miles with me in the 80s and 90s, cassette playing mostly with some radio listening, and I've never changed the belt.
I have the S2 Walkman (WM-FS566) and I love it. Got it from a thrift store in like new condition with the manual, belt clip, DC adapter, and arm band for $6.99.
Also runs on a single AA internally, and it's weather resistant with auto-reverse and an integrated radio.
It's Saturday morning here in Sunny Yorkshire, its my well deserved stay in bed till after lunch day, what better to do than watch Techmoan videos, fantastic, the subject matter doesn't bother me, they are just so easy viewing, oh and very informative. Thanks fella.
Thank you Matt, you just inspired me to replace the belt in my EX672 which was struggling to rewind or even play in one direction. There's a small metal tab on the battery door contact that latches onto the plastic door cover.
Annoyingly enough, it's more difficult to replace the belt inside as the contact for the AA holder is in the middle of the belt path... The service manual says it needs to be desoldered but lifting it slightly and squeezing the belt underneath works fine.
Still sounds like I got a ton of wow and flutter though...
If you ever figure out what’s causing it let me know. Some might suggest pinch rollers, but bear in mind that mine are unworn.
Try: re-lubricating the motor, replacing pinch rollers, try re-tensioning the springs for the pinch rollers
On my unit, the entire mechanism was warped and I had to dismantle the whole damn thing and bend everything back to how it should be. The clutch mechanism was also worn and gripping too much, I fixed that by replacing the little washer inside.
Great devices but a lot of things can go wrong!
My 677 has oxidation on the capstans themselves that causes an awful amount of wow and flutter. Though that unit wasn't particularly well taken care of
@@Techmoan The "flywheels" are plastic, that is part of the problem, the WM-EX614 has brass flywheels.
Also, the belt is so thin and it will affect wow when you on the move.
@@thelonelytimbit The capstans aren't supposed to be smooth, they has a rough texture where the tape touches them and it might look like rust but they were made like that.
To adjust the speed, there is a variable resistor on the circuit board.
hmm, read my comment above.... sigh.
@@JETJOOBOY hmmm there are hundreds of comments and yours is buried somewhere among them so nobody saw it but still you think you're so important that anybody even cares, sigh
@@JETJOOBOY This one? ruclips.net/video/L4w00pgazVM/видео.html&lc=UgwSCE2Cnlejeg3hE_14AaABAg
It doesn't seem to be related?
@@JaredConnell that was a bit rough haha
@@organiccold but fair
i still believe that sound quality testings are worth it, not much to see the quality of the product itself but because i love watching old movements at work and see how they perform, and why they perform like that, with all the goods and the bads of it. and it's also interesting to see troubleshooting to try and improve it, even if it's just a belt swap
Another great video. I always enjoy your walkman videos. I still thing of my old walkman and how happy I was when I got one for Christmas.
In highschool I was rocking wm-ex678. I still have it. Precious artifact from the past rests on the shelf 😁.
Its Duck Season
I love your channel. I bought a Sony ww-DD 9. I love it. Thank you again for all that you do Matt. Keep it up.
The answer to the question I didn't know I needed answered. I recently found a bunch of my cassettes I want a Walkman now! Thanks for the video!
As always, thanks for making it. Can't wait for the next one!
I love these videos. I think after the decades of fast-moving pictures, fast cuts, annoying jumps, it's nice to have you talking and explaining a casette mechanism, the belts et cetera with a fixed camera angle for 1-2 minutes straight. It makes a good immersion and I can focus better on the matter instead of just "Here is the device *flip back and forth* There you go *Cut to next scene*"
I sometimes pondered why these 40 minutes fly by so fast, but ironically, it's because of the slower pace of the videos. As a person who enjoys going into detail more instead of just scraping the superficial, I appreciate that! Clicking on a Techmoan video is like "Video timeeeee!" to me and I get a drink, snack or ice cream because I know I won't move from the screen for a while. Also, I enjoy British people more and more^^
Indeed from 🇺🇸
Mat, i have had a few whiskeys after work and just clicked on your video, can a just take this oppertunity to say i love your channel buddy, it inspired me to fill my house with tech from yester year and i love it. My family and freinds think.i am stuck in the past but what they dont realise is the joy of finding that thing you always wanted when ypu were 15 but couldnt afford (i am 42 now) so here i am, watching auf weidersein pet on vhs while listening to my duran duran album on cassette in my sony walkman with back to the future on laser disc to watch tonight. Life is so much easier when you just enjoy forgotten media rather than chasing the latest and new tech. Long live techmoan, back to the whiskey 🤣🤣🤣🤣 love u mat x
You brought back memories. Growing up in NYC I visited Granny in Florida several times a year. I was so happy when I got my first walkman. I could shut my eyes at the pool, and ignore all the nosy old condominium commandos that harassed teen visitors...while being lost in Grateful Dead bootlegs, Janis Joplin, and Jimmie Hendrix
I’m amazed by the sound engineering that went behind the newer models. All the clicks and whirrs made by everything moving about made it feel more like an old reliable machine that’s had a lot of hours put into it.
And having every button your push make a sound makes the controls feel a lot more important.
I loved Walkmans back in the day. It's great that we have our mobile phones with a lot more features and convenience than the older cassette based Walkmans however today's Sony Walkmans are made very high quality with internal components to control the sound in such a pristine way. They are very pricy too.
Great video! That shirt you are wearing matches the 8 track era though. 😂
Sony Walkmans are made today?- like models Matt has?nah.hope you are right, I am wrong, in 2022.
More high end Walkman videos, please. Great work as always!
Excellent show as usual, i do love old Tapes and Walkman's
Everyone remembers their first portable music experience... Mine was walking home from Dixons, with my newly-purchased Walkman (no reverse play), listening Howard Jones' new album "Human's Lib". Top notch times.
snap
In the heyday of walkmans, I would regularly travel to Canal street in Manhattan to see the latest cassette players. The sheer assortment of styles was staggering. Sometimes every week there was something new.
Sometimes I'm jealous that I didn't get to experience those days cause I was still a baby back then 😂
Nice i have 7 of them. Do you collect
I am in love with my WM-D6C I bring it everywhere in my backpack and there’s no skip or flutter while I’m cycling. It’s a serious piece of kit.
How come you don't use digital? I loved my Walkman back in the day, but having to carry tapes around was always a pain. I moved up to a digital Walkman and haven't looked back.
@@andysmith1996Sometimes its nice to use Analog. Digital can sound so cold it doesnt have the warmth of Analog
My favorite series of Walkman. I have a Sony Walkman WM-EX521 - case like your models with AA-battery. 35 hours from one battery - amazing! And sounds really good.
I'm glad this is a longer video. Matt is one of the best guys on here
I have a WM-BF44 from 1989 that needed a belt and it was a right pain to get into. I had to look up the service manual online to dismantle that one! Sony definitely made their products easier to disassemble as time went on. Sadly it is much too scuffed up to ever be worth anything - as my own 'daily driver' for most of the 90s, it was very well used playing back the mixtapes I made from the Sunday night charts on the way to and from school. It was ultimately replaced in 1999 with a metal-bodied Aiwa (so basically another Sony by that point) which looks very similar to the silver units featured in this video. It came with all the whistles and bells - AMS, Dolby, autoreverse etc, ran for hours on 1x AA and ultimately saw me through to the MP3 era.
Very interesting….! I have 3 Walkmans, all bought 2nd hand off eBay years ago: the pro D6C, a TPS-L2 (the first Walkman) and a WM3000 (a my first Sony). The D6C is pristine in perfect working order and has been for the last 16 years, used occasionally to keep it from degrading. The other 2 however have been in the back of the cupboard since purchase because the wow and flutter are through the roof! Having watched this video, I am now very tempted to change the belts 🤔
if the flywheels are made of plastic like in this one don't expect too much
Thank you from being in my timezone and age range! We are rare beasts!
Well now, I just throughly enjoy your Walkman videos. One thing I like to pointed out is that the later models lack any kind of belt clip. For example, my WM-EX5 is just a lovely 50th Anniversary device, but I’m forced to hold it in my hand while walking. Leaving it in my front pocket tend to increase the wow and flutter (and tug my shorts down). I also have a new appreciation for Dolby technology especially when recorded and played back properly. Finally, I’d love to see a showdown video on the rare Dolby S vs the even more rare Digital Processing System. Again thank you for posting these great videos!
I remember buying my first proper walkman. Was a huge improvement from the cheap one I had, no more having to turn tapes over.
All I listened too were my green day tapes :)
Just recently found my Smoothed Out Slappy Hours Green Day tape that got a lot of listening!
To me the best will always be the wm-ii because they fit on your belt and that's the walkman stereotype (no wonder why i own 7 of them xD). If you're keeping it in your pocket i think it's kinda losing its essence. Nonetheless i think it's insane that the ones you showed can last up to 36 hours, that's so incredible!!
So glad there's a video this week, i was worried after missing last week that you had gone on hiatus or something
Thanks for the memories of my own, final Walkman: the WM-EX59. Still, to this day, a fine looking device and functionally superb too.
Sadly, has been long lost over many moves but if it ever turns up, I'll pass it on for your collection.
I have that exact model with the AA, it works great but it isnt particularly striking aesthetics wise. So I designed a custom case that would just screw on like the original one but with a big window so I can see the tape spinning inside, easily my favorite walkman to use now.
Anyway we can see it?
Yeah, pictures!
@@vrixmorr This is the video I found on his channel: ruclips.net/video/XfhIzlwIxUI/видео.html
You can look at my channel theres a video of the walkman
Wow it does look good. Nice job.
Yes✊! Day made! A new Techmoan video! Thank you, and may you have all the success you deserve! I love your stuff! P.S. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the puppets.
My first Walkman (and my only Walkman) was the original TPS-L2 bought in Hong Kong in 1979. I changed the belt once about 20 years ago and it still works (I check it from time to time although I never use it as such). Something I’ll keep until until I’m no longer in this world.
I am using a WM-EX521 which is similar to the presented models. The case looks worn, but technically it is working amazingly well. I adore it!
Recently, in an imaginary RUclips comment form someone who doesn't exist, it was said "Great Techmoan Video"
My first decent Walkman was an Akai PM-R5, which at the time was seen as quite a small machine. Sounded good. These were the days when What Hi-Fi used to review Walkmans, and when it came time to replace the Akai I bought one of their recommendations, a Panasonic RQ-P303 - an early slimline model with the chewing gum packet internal battery. It sounded utterly brilliant, but eventually became temperamental, so was replaced with a Sony DD-33, which was built like a tank, and sounded almost as good as a full-size tape deck. That one didn’t get used on the move so much, and was usually plugged into a very nice set of Sony active speakers, which I still have. These little cassette players were engineering marvels - and once manufactures had figured out how to make them sound good, with decent transports, Dolby and mega-bass, they’d give full size decks a run for their money!
Walkman became a generic term to describe any personal cassette player, in the same way that Hoover became a generic term for vacuum cleaners.
Oh man I had one of these, fantastic little Walkman, priced at £50 in 2003 when I had mine - got rid of it when the cassette door latch failed. I can confirm its battery life, it just went on and on which was thankful for the long car journeys (if the battery was low change it to FM and see the bar increase)
I love this channel because the admiration you have for Sony and Sony WMs, I am exactly the same way. Everything I own is Sony since I was 10. I’m 32 now lol. I love these walkmans. At the time they were such a beautiful luxury item that you cherished because of the amazing engineering.
What holds the case on the EX677 is the battery compartment door. Removing it makes the belt accessible and replaceable.
My Walkman was the Sony WM-EX560, it has a proper AA battery door on the bottom, also it has the grove along with the mega bass function and Dolby B as well, a really nice walkman, nearly forgot to mention, no cost cutting with this model as it came with the remote, could be worth checking out.
I still have my last Walkman too, which is the WM-EX550. From the looks of the photos online it's identical to yours, minus the remote and in a lighter silver. I was always really impressed with the sound quality, although the 'Groove' brought in a lot of hiss when activated. I have fond memories of recording CDs onto high quality TDK tapes on my Sony TC KE400s, using Dolby S or B. Getting those levels just right was quite cathartic!
The best portable cassette/AM/FM player I owned was an Optimus SCP-43 auto-reverse. It had Dolby B, Type I, II, IV cassette selector, auto search, a rechargeable battery, bass boost, and memory for up to 10 stations.
A great video Matt as always 😀
On your Walkman you can’t get open, you just need to pop open the battery compartment and carefully remove the door, a little spring to gently release.
That security seal is from the Dixons, Currys and PC World (DSG) and was used in stores with stock on shelves instead of behind a counter or stock room. It hid an RFID tag and was deactivated upon purchase.
The tag wouldn't have been RFID back then though, even now I don't think RFID is suggested for security.
I believe all you needed to do was slash the sticker through the internal loop windings & it was disabled?
Have you ever tried boiling a misshapen rubber belt? I saw the idea on RUclips when repairing an old disk drive. I thought it was crazy, but gave it a try while waiting for the replacement and was surprised to find the belt had returned to its original shape. I don’t understand the science behind it but it’s still working years later and I’ve got the replacements ready if needed.
Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I had some belts that became so large after boiling it that it became unusable.
Bonus: Rubber Tea.
This will prove useful for when I finally get around to replacing my broken Sanyo cassette player.
I loved my Panasonic RQ-X10
Single AA tucked behind the tape, sleek, auto search, auto reverse, remote control and played forever
Great video Matt, I think there can be in some models 'pots' in the machine to adjust the motor speed. The best thing about Sony products is there is usually a service manual...it can detail adjustments possible. Also possibly a tiny drop of watch oil on the moving parts..over time sat still, the original lubricant will be sticky and degraded, (just like a mechanical watch) affecting the wow and flutter.
Ah, the days when things had service manuals...
what a super walkman! Love the gumstick battery format! Thanks for putting this wonderful video together for us all!
Well, I have the WM - FX 521 Walkman, and it works perfect for me! All I had to do though, was change the belt which I did with assistance. And it works pretty well as far as improvement goes!
That is my daily walkman driver.
I have made mixed tapes for when I want to travel certain places that takes about four or five days to be there for certain events. The Walkman with the batteries last me a whole week before I had to change it as soon as I got home. Thanks for showing us!
And, the inspiration for all that was the retro buyers guide to the Walkmen. That’s what inspired me to find one of those.
PS: mine came with the remote. And it has the functions to turn on the radio and everything. Almost everything. The menu button though, I have to use the main unit for that.
I want to say thank you! Now, time for me to listen to some of my favorite tapes on that Walkman.
And if i've learnt anything from this video, is to buy a portable cd or minidisc player to eliminate the wow and flutter or employ each singer to go for a walk with you :)
Seriously though I loved my Aiwa AD-F250 Cassette deck and my Samsung Walkman and I love seeing these videos, as at the time growing up as a kid we had no idea how good or indifferent these products were, as we never had access to test equipment or funds to buy other models to see if they were any better? Thank you for making these videos this channel is one of my goto favorite channels :)
I miss Walkmans, They remind me of a time when life was much simpler and the music was a lot more pleasant.
I had a WM-DD3 as my daily driver back in the days. Excellent little machine. I also had and still have a WM-D6C for recording live music performances. I got that in 1986 and used it more or less frequently for over 30 years. It still works but the belt is old and has started slipping. I found a service manual online a few years ago and started to take it apart, but quickly gave up - all those tiny screws in inaccessible places were too much for me. Does anyone know if it still is possible to get a D6C serviced somewhere in Europe?
Always wanted a WM-D6C, but could never justify the expense. Eventually I invested in Mini-Disk for recording my own music, which worked well. The DD3 (I had a later DD33) was a lovely little thing - if it sounded as good as the DD33 I owned it would have been the perfect Walkman!
I'd also like to know if anyone repairs retro Sony devices; I have one of their X series MP3 Walkmans and I'm worried about what to do if the unreplaceable battery turns into a spicy pillow. If I could get the battery replaced now and the unit just generally serviced I'd be ecstatic. The new Android-based models are not what I'm looking for. I'm in Australia though.
I can't get enough of your videos. Thumbs up!!!
I was just wondering why you are not showing up in my notifications today, and here are! Great Video, Thank You. 👍🏻
With analog measuring instruments you should always aim to have the pointer in the last third of the scale. That is why you always have two different scales. It is more accurate that way. It has to do with how accurate these machines are. They have error in percent of the maximum value of the scale.
A misshapen belt can sometimes be improved by placing it in a dish and pouring boiling water over it. Repeat as necessary, until it is as round as you can get it. Once cool, wash it gently in soapy water, then rinse and dry. Before refitting, use a little IPA to clean all the surfaces it will be making contact with.
I recognized same on my mechanism sharing WM-GX670. A new belt resulted in way better speed and w&f results. I was also shocking surprised. Funny thing was, I recognized an issue just as I played a Tape from 23 years ago, as I got the machine new, but my head said: no, these sounded way better. So I changed the belt and since then I am happily using it again from time to time and the 23 years old tapes sounds like they sounded in my memory. :D
Best 20 second spoken intro to one of your videos ever .... very funny.
Great video Mat. It’s possible the radio model had a plastic case to ensure the AM radio worked properly. A metal case would screen the ferrite rod aerial and lower the signal strength.
A very good point - I'm sure you're correct.
My "Daily Driver" is a 1972 Hillman Avenger. But I may have missed the point.
My favourite personal cassette player is a Philips K7 (in French K7 = "cassette"). It's bulky but has full autostop and when used with efficient headphones is capable of serious eardrum damage. Before they became all politically correct and quiet.
29:40 sounds pretty damn good, and this was probably a budget model then 😆
My favorite walkman models too. Got the wm-ex670 and the wm-ex674. Still working with their original gumstick battery. That is good old quality 👍 Greets from Cologne
Thanks for the inspiration, I just ordered an anniversary Walkman to tinker with.
Thank you for the video, this was the little spark of inspiration I needed, now to source some decent parts!
My daily driver for years during the late 80s and early 90s was the Sony WM-F57 which had a speaker on the front panel. Maybe you will come across one of these someday and review it. I traveled with it everywhere - brought it with me on school trips, and to summer camp, overseas tourism, etc.
The beauty of it was I could listen without headphones when circumstances allowed for it. But for the most part it was just a great Walkman with Dolby NR, metal tape support, DC power in, auto reverse, AM/FM radio, and even a belt/pocket clip. A perfect all-rounder.
I have a tcs-470 similar design features but it has 5 eq pre sets
I remember revering a friend's svelte walkman on the school bus - this must have been the golden years of the walkman
This was super interesting! Those last few higher end players are really impressive and have features I never knew existed. My "daily driver", if you can really call an occasional nostalgic curiosity a "daily driver" is just the Walkman I've had since the late 90s when I was around 10 years old - my Sony FX-177. No Dolby, no auto-reverse, all-mechanical transport controls, all-plastic enclosure - but it does prominently display its Mega Bass switch on the front. A fresh belt from Slovakia arrived a few days ago. After a fair bit of struggling and watching a Chinese disassembly video I found, I pried the all-plastic enclosure open and installed the fresh belt. What began as a unit that wouldn't play for more than 5 seconds now works fine, and manages to sound surprisingly good with the right tape. The thing was pristine otherwise - barely a scratch or scuff, and the innards looked like new. I apparently took good care of my things! I only have my old mix-tapes to go by so far, but have a new pre-recorded tape coming in the mail, and I'm eager to hear how that goes. I'm sure the wow/flutter is off the charts, but I honestly don't really care. If I want the highest quality, I can re-engage with the modern era and use Apple Music.
Great video Techmoan! I discovered your channel through The 8-Bit Guy!
You know your day will start / be OK when Techmoan uploads a new vid … Ahh Saturday just got a bit better … keep up the good work TECHMOAN 👍👍👍
He uploads every week at the same time and is one reason why today is my favorite day!
Thanks for all the great content!
I still have 2 walkmans the FX-303 in black with mega bass, Auto reverse am/fm analog tuner with direction and mode switch for the tape. and the FX-290w Silver case with digital tuner and Weather band both have push button manual tape controls and have good quality audio reproduction. I NEVER leave batteries in them since they are seldom used nowadays. But still very happy to have them both. I'm still a big cassette user. I have 2 Teac V670 3 head cassette decks in my audio system , Dual CS-510 Turntable. recording records to tape is still fun . thanks for the reminder about the Sony walkman .
I've had to service a good deal of these over the last several years... and as they age you run into all sorts of contributing factors to the wow and flutter. The pinch roller, for instance can pick up residue from the tape, as well the capstan. The take up and supply reels back tension can change or develop little hiccups. A dirty play head can increase drag... if in contact with anything sticky... the way the tape holders or doors close... and a 1 7/8 IPS, it's all so very obvious, especially if the gearing and torque in the transport is very efficient, that will likely translate to poor wow and flutter... the same reason you have a large weighty capstan flywheel on home decks.
After restoring over 50 walkmans over the last 5 years and scaled back and sold most of them inc a D6C. I now have 3 left. An AIWA PX101, Sony D3 Pro and AIWA J10. The AIWA PX101 has to be one of best walkmans ever made. Excellent sound and maintains correct azimuth with any tape.
I still have my Aiwa PX347 with the touch controls and Dolby B. It was a great sounding little machine.
I had and loved one of those Sonys that was exactly the size of a cassette case (when stowed) . I remember being totally amazed by how small it was, and spent a little extra of my paper route money to get it. Might have been AAA battery, I can't remember now.
Love the review. Thanks for the hard work. Cheers
A similar Panasonic model to the first Sony WM-EX525 is the RQ-X05 (and similar codes, of course...). 1 AA in internal trap door, long play life, bulge on the back, logic controls, autoreverse, track skip, Dolby B, type I and IV tape selector, S-XBS. Bought mine in mid 90's... good summer memories with headphones on a bike... If not serviced be ready to desolder something like 10 pins for motor and autoreverse sensor switch to reach the melted old belt. Apart from this, pretty solid: still rocking mine. Service manuals and belts are available.
As a daily player I imported an Aiwa PX-737 from Japan. It's a quite rare model but very slim model and very competent one !
I remember being asked to repair a unit very similar to these, but made by Panasonic. This was in 1996 when the player in question was only a few months old. The problem was terrible wow on reverse playback . The main problem apart form the belt was the tiny pinch rollers - any hardening or deterioration had a dramatic effect on the sound. I don't know where you'd find such a small roller replacement these days, but perhaps resurfacing by clamping it in a hand held drill and applying fine sandpaper might help.
I have the WM-EX677 (same as 672), to open it you need to lift the external battery side first, to clear the volume control.
You will need to desolder the positive terminal of the external battery if you wish to change the belt, it has a speed adjustment onboard to dial it in after belt replacement.
I got the Japanese version of the first one you recommended a few years back and I LOVED IT. Played nicer than any walkman or deck I ever owned...Then reverse pooped out of nowhere and I don't know how to fix it. Such a shame, those things are magically small and sound so good.
Looking how the over 20 years old Walkman could be opened AND serviced with regular tools reminds me that todays tech is throwaway electronics.
I do love walking around town with my Walkman on. I haven't gone on a plane yet... might have to try that next time! I recently found someone's old DSM audio tapes they used to study for in university, at least that's what was written on the side. I bought them because I thought they were blank tapes in great condition. I should get me a cassette recorder to overwrite them at some point for my car stereo.
My favourite gum stick battery walkman was the WM-EX502. It had a convertible internal battery compartment for both AA and gumstick battery. You just slid the positive terminal into position for whichever length battery you had and could reverse the battery cover so with gum stick it would be an indent but a bulge for AAs. I was gutted when the WM-EX652 I got after that came with the crappy screw on plastic AA holder.
Love the premise
when it comes to auto reverse players, i really think sony did it perfectly with the very first one (wm-7) nearly no wow and flutter, logic controls, remote control with the headphones, pretty long battery life for being as overengineered as it is, id really recommend you find one of those to try out, really one of the best models they made back in the early 80s
today I learned that the plural of Walkman is Walkmen. Enjoyable as always Matt.