SONY S2 Sports Walkman repair attempt
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- Опубликовано: 3 май 2024
- In this video I attempt to get my Sony WM-FS555 playing cassettes again.
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"Stick the Mega bass on and all your problems evaporate"
Techmoan 2024
The fact that belt path is on PCB silkscreen shows a lot about Sony designers back in the day. In case of Sony it's almost like a lost art...
Sony was great with repairability, even though their devices are fiddly at times because they are tightly packed and space optimized... I love how they would mark screws you had to remove so you wouldn't remove un necessary screws.
Do they hold the rights to this design of tape mechanism or is it just companies today don't want to put as much effort into their design? I suppose the number of ppl using tapes today makes it unviable to Sony.
@@thelastofus2872 Yea it's about money, I would say that factory cost of something like walkman was quite high, compared to smartphones today that does not have almost any mechanical parts.
The design patent would have probably expired by now, so it's probably more a case of not wanting to tool up for a good mechanism when they could just buy cheap junk in bulk especially since most things sold over here are simple Alibaba whitelabel products with only a brand name slapped on.
@@Xavier-qm3jc The design also uses a custom brushless motor and Mitsumi brushless motor driver chip that is no longer in production, which are probably the hardest parts to replicate aside from the tape head. However, I think a suitably motivated company would find it pretty trivial to re-design those parts, as brushless motors are super common now, and that Walkman motor design is extremely simple and very similar to modern PC fan motors.
A random video about a strange brown karaoke boombox, miscolored by viewers, turns into a 4 part series.
And I am so here for it.
👍
Thanks to Techmoan.
20:34 I was 100% expecting to hear "[...]and it's a shame I'm going to throw it in the river again."
The tape head on this looks a lot like the one found on the higher end slim EX models of the time.
Which means it got a very good head with a outstanding frequency response and those tape guards will dramatically help keeping the tape aligned.
Those are brushless DC motors which are more complicated to drive, but more power efficient and actually frequency controlled.
The sony wm ex 921 even has a servo motor, which has additional HAL sensors for exact feedback of the motor rotor position (and speed).
There´s a regulator circuit, which adjusts the motor speed/power accordingly to the load.
This means, it will play sticky tapes at correct speed, it will play exactly the same speed in both playback directions too.
It´s just crazy how advanced the stuff was back then and nobody is willing to even just clone one of those older mechs.
Spot on! Actually, it isn't just the EX921 that had this motor design! They also used it with the EX9, EX900, EX910, EX20 and EX2000, and some of these models are even capable of running it at double speed for some crazy rewinding capabilities.
Weirdly, the slim-delux EX models were quite popular in Asia and even outlasted this sports model. The final one they ever released was the WM-EX651 in 2004, which is a total underrated gem if you can find one... awesome looks and great sound. It even has a strange feature where there's a slider on the front that you can use to vary the playback speed (ANS - auto-nightcore system 😂)
It was easier to install a good-quality head with known characteristics than to cheapen it down to save a couple of pennies.
@@emilmofardin2.0 but most to ex line have encapsulated motor which unable to oil bearing.
@@benzbhenz478 The motors have lubricant holes in the rear that can be used to re-lubricate them
@@emilmofardin2.0 i cant find in my ex5 unlike panasonic and aiwa can dismantle to access the bushing.
30 Plays on a single alkaline is mind-boggling. The off-brand portable cassette player of my youth barely got 4x 60 minute plays out of TWO alkaline AAs!
Brushless motor and switch-mode boost converter. That would do it.
My old walkman chewed through batteries so fast I had to carry a huge external battery pack with it. Sort of defeated the whole super compact concept.
I'm genuinely impressed by the wow and flutter.
Walkmans performed really good.
It's amazing, especially seeing how tiny the motor is. Sony really knew what they were doing.
Too bad all that knowledge has been lost to time.
The less wow it has, the more wow I feel
@@a5leighton while I was seeing it, the whole room went wow
I was a little confused because I thought that he's tested tape players that show W&F well under .20.
What I love is how the motor is its own flywheel. And look how easy to route that belt! You're right; they're _really_ had it down pat by this point!
The sound quality of these now decades old walkmen is still day and night compared to the contemporary ones today.
Now you can go swimming in the canal while listening to Anders... :P
When you got it working again what I thought is, “what this needs is a wow and flutter test…” And I had no fear. 😂😂😂
When it comes to manufacturing, we're starting to forget what we've learned. ☹
Planned obsolescence
It’s all about saving the penny
history is a set of books that had to be rewritten more times than things had changed .
Institional knowledge lasts about 20 years. After that you're just reinventing what they did in the past because no one remembers how they used to do it.
Who is ever going to use tape again? Nobody makes picture tubes either. I do hate that tape has gone away. Physical media has a feeling of permanence, even though it does deteriorate. Digital can just disappear. That being said, I'm trying to archive my audio tapes to digital because that is my best option.
I know you say you're not a pro at this but you have very steady hands compared to me. The Technoman is always able!
Remember when they expected you to be able to fix your electronics? I really love old sony stuff. Fantastic service documentation, great little screenprintings on the parts and PCBs that tell you where stuff goes. They really were designed with longevity in mind.
As an electronics professional, this is a huge frustration and source of sadness. Old test equipment came with a service manual that not only said what to do, but even explained the principles of operation in detail. Nowadays you get absolutely nothing.
I recently spent a full day or two at work reverse-engineering the circuitry in some lab equipment (heated magnetic stirrer plates used for chemistry), because we have literally hundreds of the same model, so investing the time to understand the circuitry yields dividends in being able to repair a ~$1000 device instead of throwing it out. The most expensive board-level repair required $6 in parts, but most so far have been literally failed resistors that cost a cent to replace, or worn out potentiometers. No help from the manufacturer of course…
But of course taking the time to reverse engineer it is something I can only justify to my boss because we have hundreds of them, and I have a few of them on my bench at any given time. For a similarly-prices thing we only have one or two of, it’d end up getting an hour of troubleshooting, no more. :/
Oh hell yeah, this is my lazy saturday morning alright, coffee and Techmoan repairing old consumer tech
lmao Early bird gets the worm first for me here, its 5:30am
Same here.❤
2:10 Ah yes, the Sony liquorice.
Not the kind I like the most, haha!
'Least he didn't have to deal with the Sony "Gluebricant" grease. Granted, that stuff is rarely seen after the 1980's...Thankfully.
But still, the point stands.
@@netsurferx1 don't tell me. Gluebricant is an accurate name for what I once encountered in a Unitra Fonica G-1100fs record player. Its tonearm control mechanism was literally glued together by grease four decades old. Full cleaning was necessary.
Recording an MD as I'm watching this. Also remembered his eject switch fix video. Thanks, Matt. Greetings from Trinidad😊
i love the part where techmoan said "its beltin time" and belted everywhere
Truly one of the repairs of all time
@@WaLApA117Truly one of the repair man's of all time
There has never been a more meaningless meme than this wretched one
That scene is going to be so nostalgic in a few years
@@TheGreatAtariodandori issue
You know when it's a Saturday with Techmoan.
Absolutely right!
@@stephenemmett9753Quite right 👍
It’s like an asmr video
I like the cat on the audio belt company card 😻
I don't know how, but vintage audio repair videos do repair my mind. Always brings calm and serenity. Thank you Techmoan for one more therapy session!
this is how fixing old tech typically goes
A product of the end of Sony's portable tape player era probably made in Malaysia but despite this still a great product with fine engineering and great design
I'm inspired now to change the belt in my Apple iPod MP3 player!
Make sure you get the right one, iPod belts are tricky, you have to match it up with the manufacturing date, they changed playback mechanisms through production a few times.
Good luck!
@@volvo09 I know my post was tongue in cheek, but in fact it contains a tiny 60GB rotating hard disk drive, so who knows, it may even have a belt
@@stratobuddy I was totally joking in an over the top reply!
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I changed a belt on a Panasonic RQ-S33 yesterday. Some of these Panasonic walkmans are so thin, the main unit without the screw-on battery compartment is the same dimension as a cassette case itself. Everything was so small inside and everything was soldered together tightly. I messed up a couple of things along the was so I had to desolder and resolder everything twice (there's a direction switch which switched while I was rotating the mechanism to see if the belt is on alright), but luckily I didn't damage anything (alapart from a little molten plastic around the gumstick battery door but nothing serious). I was so happy when I put it back together and it worked! I always wanted a walkman like this, I once found a model like this back in elementary but we found the owner and had to give it back. That was 25-ish years ago and now I finally have a working model for myself!
I used to pine over the yellow Sony sports versions but I couldn’t afford them as a kid. I picked one up a few years back at the thrift store for $5. It works great and I still use it to test new cassettes I find at stores and garage sales for my collection.
You might want to buy a new belt for it. I have a Sports Walkman from the last of the "yellow" series, and though it worked with the original belt, I bought a new one from FixYaAudio anyway. Glad I did, because once I opened it up, I could see that the original belt had stretched and was probably going to fail soon. If you can do the work, or know someone who can, it will be worth it in the long run.
@@kirkmooneyham I should have added that I did. I work on electronics with my business so I changed it the day I bought it. I constantly replace cassette, turntable, and oddly enough vcr belts for people all the time. I mainly work on game consoles but I do try to fix anything you can throw at me. The belt on it was kind of that melty consistency that some of them get with age.
The beeping noise sounds like the B52's used in their Planet Clair video :)
I am always amazed at the mechanism in one of these, first time I popped mine open I could not believe how small the mechanism is. Even though the capstan pulleys are plastic the motor has enough mass as a flywheel and with a 4 pole design it is much better at controlling the speed and momentum of the entire mechanism. I wish we could have something of this calibre in current cassette players or even as a spare for someone to make a DIY project around it. (BTW shout out to FixYourAudio, they are the best, I also use them for all my belt needs)
The flywheel effect of the motor has little effect at the capstans, because there's a belt between them. If an aftermarket brass flywheel set is available for this mechanism, it's worth a try. It might perform as low as 0.1% W&F in forward dierection with those and a new, good quality set of pinch rollers. I have a walkman with the same transport, waiting for me to order a new belt for it, and possibly upgrading the flywheels.
DIY kit huh? I mean you can nowadays order SLS (laser sintered) polyamide parts not too expensively from any PCB supplier. Perhaps now's the time. A micro brushless motor. Would people build their own Walkman from an odd hundred individual gears and parts? It would take an intersection of two types of special interests for people to be the target audience, but i guess it could be done.
@@SianaGearz I don't think many would go for such effort. It is enough if they produce DIY repair/upgrade kits for exisiting old models. Now that market focuses on '80s / early '90s classics that cost a fortune, it would be nice if parts for these last generation players were also available. Most of them not worth the effort, but this transport with its brushless motor would worth it I think. Although there are a lot of very thin plastic parts in it, not sure if any of them will work 10-15 years from now. IIRC mine also has a gear in it that already started to crack around the shaft.
@@mrnmrn1 My Point was not that the flywheel effect is transferred to the capstans, but rather because the capstans are so light and the motor relatively heavy the motor can easily control the capstans; and since it is, presumably, a decent axial motor the controller can precisely and accurately control the speed of the mechanism as opposed to older DC motor controls. I do agree that SLS printing a new mechanism (though an exciting approach) would require a lot more effort and design to bring to a good calibre.
Turn on an FM radio anytime, anywhere and you’ll probably soon hear Bohemian Rhapsody.
to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Or Aerosmith's "Dream On", LOL!
@@pervertedalchemist9944 Even on a hiphop channel as background to Eminem lol
@@timothyexner I like that song, but I get tired of hearing it.
I'd like to know whether/how much the 2018 Bohemian Rhapsody movie had an influence on sales and airplay.
The tension where it didn’t work the first time was worthy of the end of a second act in a very good thriller. Bravo.
Spoilers!
@@Coypop sorry, wasn’t thinking.
Man, I love your repair videos. It's the realistic view of what someone with no knowledge or tools will do. It's either a triumphant victory or straight to bin. Soldering ain't that scary. Most amateurs just dont use enough flux. You cant use too much flux. And modern tin ain't as good as the old one with lead in it. Ask Ben Heck and he has hoarded enough Lead Tin to last a lifetime.
It's 2 AM where I live, so I'm losing a bit of sleep watching this. But it's so relaxing to see Mat trying to repair that Walkman that it's worth it.
Well done, Mat! I get so much enjoyment "hanging out" with you fixing stuff.
Ah, NOW it's Saturday morning! 😎
"You can't repair that! We want you to pay us to do it! Or buy another!"
Manufacturers. Btw, good video!!
Edit: I love watching others take things apart and fixing them. Because I would probably ruin it. Not always, but the risks are great.
My daily driver walkman is a Sony WM-FX465 and I replaced the belt in it a little bit ago. I did't even have to do any speed adjustments on it and it sounds great.
15:46 Do not adjust your eyes. Focus will resume shortly.
Hi Matt, when you talked about serving, changing the gasket and cleaning the inside... It dawned on that when I had my walkmans, for me there was never any thought of servicing them! I wouldn't have even considered sending if off to one of the addresses in the instructions. However my last one, an Aiwa, was amazing! After about years playing became temperamental. I managed to find a Sony service centre at Heathrow. They couldn't fix it and offered me a new Aiwa. It was no the spec of HSRX748 and was not happy!
two things say saturday like no other: the writing on my pillbox-lid and the fact that theres a new techmoan episode :)
thank you for showing us, so clear, that all of us are just ordinary human being, when we are faceing japanese fine devices.... that's so important to not forget these lessons, when we plan to fix an old and rare stuff....🤠
My mom had one, I loved this thing as a kid!
Many thanks for documenting these repairs in detail.
This almost seems like a 4 part series, starting with the Sony 360° cassette player video, then the Sony Sports Yellow video, then the Sony S2 Sports range video and finally this video.
Brilliant! I'm so pleased you managed to get it apart and back together without breaking it! I know how hard that is from experience...
21:27 Charles and Eddie, "would I lie to you?"
21:47 S'Express, "theme from S'Express" (or maybe Rose Royce "Is It Love You're After")
Nice work, looks like a brilliant little tape player.
I just have no desire to ever use a streaming service. I don't own or want a smart phone. I do not do social media beyond what I'm doing right here (commenting on a RUclips video). I am not a Luddite; I'm fine with other people doing whatever they want. But I want to keep my life simple. So these videos, showing the workings of 'outdated' tech that beats anything being made today, are really appreciated by me. Thanks, Mat!
I could wish that Sony would somehow make this tech available to any company that might want to produce a new cassette player that does not suck, since their old machines cannot last forever. But I realize there is probably not a market big enough to make it worthwhile. Most people are not into cassettes. Most of those that might be won't care enough about the quality of their 'novelty' device to pay for one that does not suck. So cassette players that suck is all we get, if we want something new.
But you are using the RUclips video streaming service right now? It even has music on it as well (both the music videos as well as plain tracks). So you've *already* got the very same benefit of being able to listen to nearly any pre-recorded piece of music on demand (at home, if not on the go) regardless of not having the physical media of it, as music streaming services provide? (Plus your computer/Chromecast is presumably connected to a banging home theatre system to provide a level of sound not possible on the go from headphones?)🙂
"Most people are not into cassettes." True. To be fair to Sony's lack of interest, any kind of portable digital audio player (be it their modern digital Walkmans, or a PCM Audio recorder in playback mode or whatever) is going to be able to playback FLAC or WAV files at a superior quality to analog cassettes whilst not needing to be connected to the internet anyway (assuming you've got old school M4A iTunes album downloads, or you've transferred the FLAC downloads or ripped CD files onto the player, or you could use a CD or Minidisc Walkman and play physical discs) -- so it's not exactly a pressing market demand given how much greater the convenience of portable music on an SD card (whether or not this SD card is inside a smartphone/feature phone or whether it's in a dedicated playback device) is compared to compact cassettes!
A modern portable digital compact cassette player would be even more niche for example, despite higher quality than analog cassettes.
Just me who misses the puppets?
That's a surprisingly solid steady sound; the kind you don't expect from an entry level cassette player.
lovely to see the care that went into the design of this
My god this thing is even artful on the inside! Can’t stop staring at that slim capacitor, never seen a flat motor like that before neither, it all looks so chunky from the outside too.
Great video, particularly for the opening comments, regarding what will be the better player. I've watched lots of vids, where Sony Walkman's have their belt changed and seemingly it's ridiculously easy but here it's a a bit more difficult than with many previous designs. I have a pair of Panasonic, portable Stereo cassette players, the radio version, is RQ-NX60V, and other is the same model without radio, which case is in mint condition, my radio version got used a lot more. These days neither work due to perished belts. Look up the videos showing how to change the belts on these tiny devices, which explains why mine haven't yet been fixed! They were the best 'Walkman' type device, I have ever used, wonderful pieces of technology, whilst they were working. The tape only version is, now I've found it: RQ-NX10
Your macro shots, as ever, are lovely.
I love these more technical videos! Repair and teardown videos are my absolute favorite!
We must try to avoid touching rubber drive belts with our fingers. Use a pair of tweesers.
Also, the reason why there is a different model for USA is because they have different AM & FM frequency divisions and they have different EQ on FM, so called "emphasis". That is why it isn't so recommendable to buy an FM / AM radio in the US for bringing it to use in Europe, or the reverse way.
It was really impressing that this little machine had such rather low wow / flutter though it had plastic wheels. Sony made really well-built machines. They were the best brand of those very good Japanese, I think.
Sometime I wonder how many replacement belt sales you are single-handedly responsible for, as people watch and think “hmmm, maybe I _should_ try to fix my broken …”.
Matt is also a timelord because he can make 25 minutes disappear. 😁 I see Fiio has just bought out a personal cassette player. They usually make pretty good gear so it'd be interesting to see if it's any better than this classic Sony. Also, I felt Matt's pain when breaking that solder again. 😆😆😆
I used the same screwdriver set to fix my Walkman EX-674! Great precision screwdriver set from WERA
Terrific stuff. So satisfying! Vintage Techmoan
nice little tape player now. that belt should last a while and you don't need to fuss about with gumstick batteries
Brilliant, loved this video. I've got the Walkman that has the equaliser sliders on the tape door, replaced the belt and it works, loved it. I wish I could do something about the scuffed door, but it works well enough.
Techmoan is getting more unhinged with each Video and I love it. That thumbnail gave me a good laugh 😂
I am probably a Sony fanboy since I get extra excited each time you post new Sony content Matt!
Just allow me a hint: When mounting sqare belts I take care to mount them without twists. When looking @9:16 there seem to be a twist by four "steps", so 360° on a sqare belt between the large wheels. As the belt does no run in and out straight on the wheels there will be more friction and stress as necessary. A round belt will untwist by itself after a short time, but a square belt can normally not do that.
For those that don't know what weather and tv bands are fore. In the us we have NOAA weather radio stations on a slightly different section of the Fm frequency . I think they are something like 10 different channels. you should be able to pick up a couple unless you're very remote. The TV band selection is for tuning to the audio part of the old analog tv signals. Before we switched to digital, you could tune to the audio portion of the local TV stations. This feature wasn't all that common on radios, from what I can remember.
Sony even printed a little diagram of the drive belt routing on the circuit board, very thoughtful of them!
Where's the mandatory 5-minute "lets find the colour on a chart" bit? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What a fiddly job - nicely done!
Lovely performance from it - well worth doing. Really enjoyed how bang-on your speed adjustment was.
Your repair skills are getting really good! These are great videos.
Reading a manual those days is almost like going to a technical school. One of my favorites pArt of our family buying a new device or electronic appliances back then is reading the manuals.
i miss tape cassette players, but don't miss buying batteries every week...
I've watched your videos for years, I always save them for last and when the end music plays I know it's time for bed. Keep up the good work Matt!
admire your dexterity and patience. Kind regards Keith😁
A very enjoyable watch, I'm pleased you managed to get the unit repaired it's a lovely little piece of history
Methodical and relaxing…with technology peril. Perfect.
Another fantastic video from Techmoan-Looking forward to many many more !!!
What’s crazy to me is I saw the S2 video yesterday (love the S2 range) but I thrifted one of this exact model this morning.
It’s really yellowed on the radio side and I waited for this video to test it, glad I don’t have to wait long to test mine.
well done on the repair
10:07 Well, there's actually an soft touch version of that mechanism. I had very similar looking part in WM-FX479, when motor spins in one direction, it runs tape, but in other direction it changes direction and function (playback, ff, rev). Unfortunately mine is broken due to wear of CAM gear (mechanism gets stuck and Walkman just give up), which I don't know where I could get replacement without spending lots of money on another player...
A great start to the holiday weekend.
So much nostalgia on these sport walkmans. You felt rich and special when you had one of these in High School. I can hear Ace of Base now lol.
I just bought the CD player with the handle from eBay, and I am thrilled with it. All of the important controls are reachable from your thumb, and the lid SCREWS DOWN. That is genius. I'll take it running next time I go out and see if it can buffer.
Thank you for another 'unprofessional' repair video. Although not a collector kept hold of most of my old gear and gadgets from the pre-2000's so always something relevant.
This might become a five part trilogy of Sony devices!
I love these Sony walkmans because of their groovy bass rich sound ..they feature BLDC motors which were more compact n more energy efficient n i love how they keep on running hours without need of changing batteries
After each viewing of another Techmoan video that deals with cassette tapes and players, I keep wanting to jump online and get myself a wow and flutter gauge.
First thing I do on a Saturday morning is check if there is a new Techmoan to start my weekend off right. I grab my coffee and settle in for some British humor and audiopron.
Great video as always! Happy May the 4th as well!
Nice fix! Great to see that mechanism in action :)
I imagine Sony made cassette mechanisms in enough volume that they could afford to make "specialty" parts like the slimline cassette motor. On top of that, I don't believe the last remaining cassette mechanism available today was designed to be used in portable devices, so it isn't even trying to be small and lightweight.
The Mega Bass has always stuck with me. I have used many new devices with a bass equalizer, but every time I use my childhood walkman which is a earlier model to yours it hits different.
I also remember reading the recommendation in the manual as well from a service center. When I was a kid I thought it sounded nifty that they would be able to do it easily. But many years later, the original gasket still seems just fine, and I am certain Sony will look at you funny if you try to get it changed now.
When it said "repair attempt", I was concerned that the attempt wasn't successful. Glad to see it was just a bit of "click bait" and that things turned out alright in the end. Congrats!
i'm loving/amazed that even across the pond at my age{56} there's folks that still love classic "hip-hop".., glad to see it, also as a lark I wonder how many classics do you know the lyrics to..
Great video and repair! It’s a lovely mech, very satisfying and reassuring feedback when pressing the buttons and the battery life is no lie either! I always got the cheaper Sony Walkmans for their reliability 😊👍
Excellent video intresting to watch.
I owned a couple of those small mechanism Walkman in the past. Great design.
Attempt? I'd say that was a resounding success. That's actually a very nice device.
Considering starting collecting 2000s era technology at some point. This looks like something that would be an interesting piece for that collection because it shows that the analogue formats were still with us into the 2000s. The early 00s in my opinion were a transition point from analogue to digital in many respects, I didn't even get digital TV until 2003.
Marian's belts from fix your audio are excellent. I have used alot of them.
I'm always intrigued by your repair segments as it appeases my inner geek while I lazily don't have to get involved! lol
I'm very happy you were able to repair it, and impressed by the engineering in late model Sony products. It's a shame these are out of production.