[WTD] Sony Professional Walkman WM-D6C
- Thread starter deltaunit
- Start date
Despite me labelling the power cables I accidentally plugged it into the wrong power supply. This was the first result when I googled repairs.
Jason P
pfm Member
I do have! I need to get it out of whatever safe place I've kept it in. I have spied it recently whilst sorting through stuff - I'll dig it out and give it a once over to see if it still works (it's been unused for maybe 10 years but stored sans batteries and in a dry environment).
Tony L
Administrator
There are a lot out there, always 15 or so on eBay, but stupidly expensive now. I paid £200 for mine here a couple of years ago in unworking condition, but it is fine now after a good clean and new belts, idlers etc. I stuck a thread in the classic room detailing the process. Annoyingly it is one of the final models with surface mount caps, which are currently beyond my skillset in servicing. I feel time is ticking there; I need to get those skills sometime before they crap their corrosive goo over the board!
PS I know I’ll upset some here, but I don’t think the Walkman Pro is that good at all! This is the second I’ve owned and any half decent three-head deck kills it sound quality wise. I view it as a nostalgia thing, something very cool and iconic that doesn’t take up much shelf space and enables playing cassettes in the very rare situations I want to, but it was woefully over-hyped performance wise. A Nakamichi it is not!
Thanks Jason, appreciate that. Check the power supply cables when you do!
Tony L
Administrator
FWIW I advise just running them on high quality rechargeable batteries to remove risk. I have a set of Panasonic Eneloop Pro in mine as they hold a charge for ages (years) and won’t leak. I do have the proper Sony PSU, but it would be so easy to make a mistake I don’t tend to use it.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
Annoyingly I lent mine to someone I'm no longer in touch with over a decade ago and there's zero chance I'll ever see it again...
Tim Jones
pfm Member
Had a working one of these for years and as of tonight I now don't...
Looking for a replacement before chancing one off eBay. Do you have one stored away that isn't being used?
Thanks for looking.
I have one. PM'd.
Deb64
New Member
It sounds as if you have damaged the CX20084 motor controller chip. Unfortunately this is a weak point on the D6C. It can also be damaged by using a switch mode power supply, as virtually all modern plug top power supplies sold now are, or a supply which delivers over 6V.
Please see my posting on Stereo2go regarding the problems with the CX20084 chip:
"Sony WM-D6C and DD Series Walkmans - WARNING! Read this before plugging in any DC adaptor!"
Unfortunately it's too late for @deltaunit but it may save somebody else from a similar fate.
Please see my posting on Stereo2go regarding the problems with the CX20084 chip:
"Sony WM-D6C and DD Series Walkmans - WARNING! Read this before plugging in any DC adaptor!"
Unfortunately it's too late for @deltaunit but it may save somebody else from a similar fate.
Tony L
Administrator
Great to see you here @Deb64, I read a lot of your posts over at Tapeheads when figuring out how to fix my own WMD6C. I don’t want to harass you with questions the minute you turn up here on pfm, but one day I’ll ask you about surface-mount caps in the later versions (which mine is)! Welcome to pfm!
timpy
Speaker Abuser
I have a virtually unused one from, I think from 89/90 ish. Must have about 100 hours on it as it was barely used for it’s intended purpose then, and never used since.
From memory it o ooks like new. It was my parent’s, and probably not been tested even to see if it’s operable for at least 16 years. Seem to remember loads of bits and a case with it.
From memory it o ooks like new. It was my parent’s, and probably not been tested even to see if it’s operable for at least 16 years. Seem to remember loads of bits and a case with it.
Dark Lord
pfm Member
@Deb64 very kindly serviced my WM-D6C which I have powered by a voltage modified Naim SNAPS, it sounds really good and makes recordings very close to the source. I am not sure why it is so good, but I have found the sound to be better than the few Nakamichis I have owned which have been either a bit dull or unreliable. I grew up with a lot of cassette and have great memories of it, I would like to try a full size recorder but have no idea where to start.
JezmondTutu
pfm Member
Totally agree Tony. I was buying one new for my 21st birthday but the Sony WM-701C walked all over it when used as a Walkman. I already had a 3 head Denon cassette deck to make decent recordings with anyway.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
I'm afraid I bought my WM-D6C to make sneaky recordings of gigs - which it was great for ...but swiftly retired when minidisc recorders came along. No hurried tape flip at 45 mins and a lot easier to smuggle in tucked into your boxer shorts waistband : )
deebster
Half Man Half Biscuit
Mine too and did her usual stellar job.
Deb64
New Member
Thanks for the warm welcome.
@Tony L the later D6Cs, which use mostly surface mount devices do seem to be more prone to electrolytic capacitor problems. I have come across a few cases where the caps have gone noisy or high ESR. The symptoms of this can include the motor running fast, and, in some cases, slowing down after a few seconds, noise on recordings or the -20dB recording attenuator permanently switched in.
I always recommend using Eneloop Pros with a D6 or D6C. The walkman will play for a few hours on a set and the voltage is a little lower than with alkaline batteries, so it's a bit more gentle on the CX20084 chip.
Even if you have a genuine Sony power supply, do check the output voltage before plugging it into your D6C. I have come across a few which deliver 6.7 or 6.8 Volts. Knowing what I know now about the CX20084, and the fact that it is directly connected to the incoming power supply without any kind of protection, I would not plug that into a D6C.
The regulators in old power supplies can fail. A few months ago, my old Netgear router failed. When I opened it up, I found a swollen electrolytic capacitor. I checked the output from the "12V DC" power supply and it was delivering over 17V.
@Tony L the later D6Cs, which use mostly surface mount devices do seem to be more prone to electrolytic capacitor problems. I have come across a few cases where the caps have gone noisy or high ESR. The symptoms of this can include the motor running fast, and, in some cases, slowing down after a few seconds, noise on recordings or the -20dB recording attenuator permanently switched in.
I always recommend using Eneloop Pros with a D6 or D6C. The walkman will play for a few hours on a set and the voltage is a little lower than with alkaline batteries, so it's a bit more gentle on the CX20084 chip.
Even if you have a genuine Sony power supply, do check the output voltage before plugging it into your D6C. I have come across a few which deliver 6.7 or 6.8 Volts. Knowing what I know now about the CX20084, and the fact that it is directly connected to the incoming power supply without any kind of protection, I would not plug that into a D6C.
The regulators in old power supplies can fail. A few months ago, my old Netgear router failed. When I opened it up, I found a swollen electrolytic capacitor. I checked the output from the "12V DC" power supply and it was delivering over 17V.
Tony L
Administrator
Do you work on the SMD versions? I’d be tempted to book a place in your (I believe lengthy!) queue for a full service if so. I actually just bumped my old WM-D6C thread with a fresh pic. It looks fine/works fine at present, but I just don’t trust it to keep doing so! I know way too many computers of that era to trust SMD caps!