Fixing My Vintage Sony WM-EX511 Walkman

[@ChrisKoehn]

Colin is probably the only person I know of who can tell if Vaporwave is playing slowly.

[@PJBonoVox]

I thought it was still broken coz that test tape sounded like ass to me. I guess it was either the way the audio output was configured or it's just meant to sound like that. Glad he fixed it though. The man deserves a good working Walkman after all his efforts.

[@ChrisKoehn]

@@PJBonoVox haha yeah that's how that style of music sounds. I found it an odd sample to test playback speed myself hehe

[@nickwallette6201]

Me: Oooh, that doesn’t sound right. Unless it’s... Colin: I guess I got lucky this time, because it sounds fine. Me: ah...of course it’s Vaporwave.

[@ChrisKoehn]

@@nickwallette6201 lol

[@axi0matic]

It's a bizarre tape to use for testing playback - it sounds exactly like a slow-running deck with chronic wow and flutter. I thought the player was done, and then he's like "phew, sounds great!".

[@explosionsindasky]

Here's me with extra information on that cassette that came with the Walkman, for the curious. It reads "ロス・プリモス 全集雨の城ヶ崎", which can be translated to "Los primos, Jogasaki Rain, Complete works" That's all, great video!

[@beni6746]

Hand written japanese is just something that mesmerises me.

[@blurredlogic916]

:O

[@211teitake]

アイちゃん、他(and others/etc.)が抜けてるでぇ。

[@oofingberg]

its Ross instead of los

[@TD-ue3bb]

The name of the artist is "ロス・プリモス" The whole song can be found here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ_OqnSVj7dlf9U

[@mastaw]

Thanks!

[@xerzy]

when I read that I was like "Los Primos? Is that some Japanese listening to a Spanish or Mexican band" - but no, it's a Japanese band which just happens to be made of 5 people.

[@brunomoyano8727]

@@xerzy AJAJAJJAJAJA

[@eevee_pog7026]

T h a n k. You!

[@neilomac]

Colin: "Someone's been in here." Dankpods: "That's gimmick infringement."

[@ItsJustMeMusic]

2:47 seems like *SOMEONE’S BEEN IN HERE*

[@manojloo_13]

Lol im not the only dank pods fan here!

[@startedtech]

nah mate, it's been in 'ere

[@gmcnewlook]

Bluetooth mode....

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Ope

[@poble]

it was probably craig

[@TekMerc]

It's nearly always fun discovering forgotten media in old machines like this.

[@oPossum5150]

That chip is made my Mitsumi, not Microchip. They have remarkably similar logos.

[@bigmouthstrikesagain4056]

The more you know🎆

[@Mike-ry4ti]

And its the motor speed control chip

[@dedrat_]

Just got this walkman from an online auction and this video was really helpful, mine came in almost the same condition except a bit of corrosion on the terminals.

[@runepedersenDK]

Found my WM-34 a month ago, owned it from it was new, I chose it for the Dolby-B NR. Hooked it up to my stereo, and it worked fine (some unstable tape speed though) until I tried fast fwd, then the belt fell off the motorpully. Still I'm impressed, I used it fairly much, and it has been lying arround in humid conditions, and in temp. from -20 to +40 deg. Celcius.

[@PotatoFi]

Congrats on finally having a working walkman!

[@SLAYERfan4life88]

Haven't used a walkman in a long time but i'm loving these videos.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

No joke, that japanese audio tape sounded leagues better than the first one you made

[@danielkerryann]

A quality cassette - I'd call that a mini win finding that inside!

[@BasedFrequency]

I was thinking "man that tape is playing slow with ridiculous flutter" but then i remembered you are into vaporwave :p

[@vwestlife]

Same here -- especially because I've had cassette players with bad motors that make everything you play on them sound like vaporwave.

[@notenoughram3312]

@@vwestlife yeah, my old wm-ex110 had a crazy amount of wow & flutter

[@ColinJK]

Yay, you lucked out with an easier fix this time!

[@elizabethm78]

why does it say this comment was made 3 days ago even tho the video was made 40 mineuts ago

[@ColinJK]

@@elizabethm78 patrons get to see the video a couple days earlier

[@elizabethm78]

@@ColinJK ok

[@ukozi]

So happy to see you got a W here. You were due!

[@HooverLux]

I have so many of these to fix, I’m kinda new and you’ve no idea how much I appreciate your videos, I know to you it’s just another Walkman, but to me it’s an online university course 🤣. Thank you so much for all your effort.

[@riopato2009]

Omg this takes me back. I had the recorder walkman and carried a Sony battery backup that held 2 c batteries which had a belt clip. The screws on that model would make Apple criticize how difficult it was to repair! Looking forward to a video on that Walkman!

[@UpNextWithNickLate]

While I like dramatic repair, it's good to finally see an easy win relative to the others. Great job Colin!

[@ttheone3518]

I’ve found that the late 90s-early 2000s full logic sony walkmans seem to be more relyable than the earlier ones, and are often easier to fix

[@kirkmooneyham]

That tape you got inside the player is a pretty good quality Sony. That HF-X is from approximately 1990, Japanese Domestic Market (JDM), a true superferric. Congrats on getting that unit up and running again, hopefully it gives you many hours of great playback.

[@sfortis]

i've almost forgot the warm and smooth sound of tapes!

[@EsbenH]

Great video, and those close-up shots of the walkman are gorgeous!

[@DisconnectHack]

Tubemongers has practically new ones. Bought one last year, loving it!

[@starbase218]

I love how you make retro cool! I remember back in the day, this type of Walkman design really appealed to me. That was probably after I got a Philips "portable cassette player" (Walkman is trademarked, of course) though. That Philips was an AQ6528 with all the bells and whistles: Dolby B, autoreverse and an AM/FM tuner. But it was big and heavy. I think a classmate of mine even jokingly said to me I walked around "with a fridge" in school once. And although it sounded good, it ran a tiny bit slower with some tapes (Maxell XLII-S for example) which was a pain.

[@starbase218]

I posted this before watching the last part where you had to adjust the speed trimmer. But now that I have, I have to come clean: I actually adjusted the speed of my Philips as well. It actually had a tiny hole in the bottom, giving access to its speed trimmer so it could be adjusted with a tiny flathead screwdriver. I actually did this sometimes, when I switched tapes. Ohhh the "fond" memories. ;)

[@TheOriginalCollectorA1303]

That’s a really nice Walkman! Glad to see it was an easy fix this time!

[@kelvinstokes996]

I usually just record a 1khz test tone onto a blank cassette using a good quality recorder, then play that back into an oscilloscope to do speed alignment. You might be able to get away with using a frequency counter app or even Audacity to verify the 1khz output.

[@JGDpictures]

I use similar technique for adjusting speed. I record from digital on my trusty deck, then play both my digital copy and the tape trying to sinchronize them.

[@matthysloedolff]

I'm really glad you finally got an easy repair! Great video as always 👍

[@Niak38240]

Great job Colin, you giving me the idea to dig up my old walkman a WM-ex70 with similar mechanism... Thanks !

[@danielkerryann]

I've fixed hundreds of these units aver the years. That screw by the battery compartment is almost always missing. It's very short to stop it interfering with the gumstick battery - its really not necessary. You're right abut lucking out... it's a nice unit!

[@Pablus96]

This video reminded me of a Sanyo M1118 my parents had years ago at home. Don't know what happened to it, but nostalgia definitely hit. I wish we still had it :(

[@hanss71]

It sounds awesome and nostalgic...I got to fix my Walkman!

[@bharatarja2525]

I like your style of explaining and video taking.

[@yanks1fan09]

Very nice work on this one. Even the little ding looks good.

[@Evercade_Effect]

Nice glad the repair worked out.

[@IamWhoIam2023]

That's awesome bro You remind me of my teenage years in 90s I used to buy broken walkmans and fix them and sell them to friends I had over 120 walkmans all brands but most Sony I also love the earphones that slides to comes with Sony and panasonic Sony aiwa panasonic grundig sanyo pioneer Philips toshiba and more Sony and aiwa walkmans were the Best

[@JamieBainbridge]

Glad to see you have a win for a change 😎

[@frostphoto2600]

Sounds good too, hardly any hiss

[@Tipo107]

I often find with this era of small Sony Walkmans that one side plays with more wow and flutter than the other. The reason is that one pinch roller stays engaged until you open the lid and remove the cassette. Many have been left with cassettes in them long term, denting one pinch roller and causing the distortion in one direction.

[@chairuser4]

love the music on the tape

[@InfectedChris]

I really like what was on the tape you got with the walkman as well!

[@fireaza]

Fun fact! The style of music on the included tape is "enka". This genre is popular with old people in Japan, and since old people are, well, old, they're most commonly sold on cassette tapes, since that's what their customer base knows how to use. Which means that yes, cassette tapes are still used in Japan, even today!

[@lucaspam]

I really loved this model. I will work on getting one of these.

[@nflynn]

I had that small blue one, had a dent in the exact same place, pretty sure it was right at that point where you would lean over a table with it in your pocket. The Japanese version looks different, ahh nostalgia. The Bass BOOOST :)

[@albertocabezas282]

Beautiful model.

[@picklerick_91]

Sweet win on the Walkman… portable deck and a free vaporwave tape… Score 😁

[@andrewsmactips]

I must be getting old; the first tape you played had me thinking this Walkman is a basket case.

[@Agnostic_Asi]

Friday and a new Video! Nice! Here we gooo!

[@gianlusc]

Yeah! I got two similar Sony walkmans. Both needed a new belt. Other than that I am happily enjoying them.🙂👍

[@paulturner5208]

You can make a test tone tape yourself, there are youtube vids of certain frequencies and record off that, it's not the same as a calibrated tape, but if you're confident that recorder is okay then you'll be adjusting your walkmans to the same speed as that at least. I have a 3kHz tone and a free spectrum sound app, and it's good enough for my ears. Oh, and if you have a junk Sony minidisc player those are a great source for that size screw!

[@Edman_79]

I thought that this Walkman was done for when it started playing. Turns out the music is supposed to sound like that :D

[@thomasmaxwell5818]

Great video

[@MultiWirth]

I was able to track down a EX 618 a while ago, which is basically 100% the same device, but rebranded as EX 618 for whatever reason. It´s definitely a nice machine but i had a lot of issues with it. The mechanics was stiff and needed a lot of lubrication, also the motor bearing was entirely dry and possibly also worn out. Had to dissasembly the motor to lubricate it. Now it´s running quiet again but oh boy what a pain it was to remove the glue, remove the stator board and glue it back together... It´s not performing as good as my collection of EX 670/672/674 players (wow&flutter) but definitely has a lovely design.

[@Chriva]

Might want to go over the pulleys with isopropanol. Lots of wow and flutter going on :)

[@tailsprower9542]

Oh yeah Walkman time

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Everybody stop Walkman time.

[@MatSpeedle]

Great job Colin, you deserved a win after your recent run of bad luck :)

[@eicas_11]

Thank you so much for this video. It motivated me to move on from my WM-F100III (a similar model to your R202) and onto the EX511 (mine is in black). I noticed something odd about my model, that being that its default "side A" is with the tape side A facing inward. This means that if I have side A facing, put it in the non-continuous play mode, and start playing side A, it will stop after only that side since I guess it's programmed to think that the side facing out is side B. I wanted to know if your model has that quirk too or if it only applies to some WM-EX511 units, though I am pretty sure yours does too just from watching the clip near the end of you showing off the tape you got with the unit.

[@LapisandHamtarolover]

1:08 at there beneath the head is a microswitch that detect the indent for the fifth screw on each cassette. This is what I call a side detection switch. Basically more flexibility of play mode.

[@NikHYTWP]

Someone has probably suggested this but you can also record a test tape with a single frequency tone on that other deck. Since that one's presumably playing at the correct speed it should work and you can adjust the speed like that. Won't be as good as a professional tape from a calibrated machine but might be better than that BPM method

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

That was my first thought, but my working home deck hasn’t been calibrated either. Kind of end up in a catch-22 unless I buy a known-accurate tape.

[@kuro68000]

Choice of capacitors was probably due to cost. As well as the caps being cheaper, they are easier to solder which further reduces manufacturing cost.

[@kaon9101]

2:47 "Seems like someones has been here" dankpods flashback

[@lincolnbrown6824]

Great video , would suggest a wow&flutter test gear for cassette repair

[@mark902]

a bonus hf-x! nice.

[@dulceb1100]

I might need to invest in one of these. The MidWest in the midst of Ice Storms and frequent Internet Blackouts, and I have had to resort to Ethernet and Vienna Sausages. 2021 is not all they hyped it to be.

[@chiweiko5200]

The tape plays Japan Enka

[@franciscoalbertorojas5379]

Just discovered your channel today, and now, teach us your ways! Can you have a video of your tools and workstation for electronics repair? That would be fantastic.

[@kFY514]

Since you've already got a nice home deck you can use as a reference, you can just record a test tone on a tape yourself and use that for calibrating these Walkmans.

[@iazeemabbas]

I used to have this such nostalgia

[@Kaptainkitty4]

Not a bad find, I got a similar model and diagnosing it is a nightmare

[@fm00078]

Since there were no Caps or other parts to replace (other than the belt), you seemed... a little miffed. STILL, great video's. 😉👍

[@MikeDeGuia_Mk-II]

10:25 TRUST THE PROCESS

[@michaelarson9616]

Happy Valentine’s day ❤️🧡🧡💚💙💜💝💟

[@BijanKafi]

Can't wait to see you restore the other players in the package. ;-)

[@BlitzkriegGT]

nice repair

[@Raptor50aus]

I have restored over 50 walkmans and only had 2 that could not be fixed. your left pinch roller is toast. Has a crease in it. You need to re lube the capstan shafts and replace those pinch rollers and sometime it is just the tape you are using, try another. Some walkmans like some tapes and some don't :)

[@stefanocrespi5424]

You could detach with hot air the 20.3mm sticker and move it down a bit just to have the dent covered.

[@cien0000]

Nice video . Can you do a video about those APM speakers ? And do you have some ?

[@KaraxJigen]

This man has the voice of Vision from Avengers 😂

[@gmcnewlook]

“Someone’s been in here” ;)

[@jefemuga416]

ok, your channel is really entertaining, like music to my ears. I have subscribed. Greetings from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico

[@Kalvinjj]

if your repaired good deck has decent speed stability, you could record the speed test tape yourself on it too by the way, I guess it's worth a shot and if you're mostly listening to stuff recorded with the deck you made the calibration tape with, setting them both to the same speed is all fine, even if both end up slightly off.

[@kuro68000]

Some nice Japanese Enka music there. I wonder who owned it.

[@Lexistechthing]

I've got this Sony WM-34 that needs a new belt. Would love to get a belt for it but shipping would be more expensive than the belt itself. And I don't even know if it works correctly

[@furfarag13]

Hello! I have a WM-525 and I changed the belt, and I don't know if the speed needs to be adjusted or where it can be adjusted? On an older walkman, you could control the speed of the motor with a small screwdriver. I couldn't find a repair video for this type. thanks

[@gunnerovergaard9646]

Colin, Im currently stationed in Japan and have some Hard Off stores local to me if you need me to look for anything in particular.

[@lemagreengreen]

I get the feeling that test tape you made would make everything sound broken 😂

[@Raptor50aus]

You will want to re check the capstan pulleys and the motor pulley on that walkman. You will hear WOW with certain songs like from queen with slow piano. The video showing the belt moving I can see uneven movement. Not hard to clean them.

[@OtreblaMaslab]

I lucked out, it's working fine... *Vaporwave plays* Sounds pharqued to me 😂

[@AndrewStottisTheIndiWerWlf]

I'm pretty sure that remote port with the headphone jack is the same proprietary Port they even used on the PS4 controllers "EXT" port

[@MeDicen_Rocha]

IMO its a horrible idea to test a walkman using vapourwave. I thought it was completely broken at first, running far too slow

[@hunterdavis3003]

Lol me too!

[@ergleburgle8882]

I heard this and thought "Aww, the pinch roller is eating the tape!" - no, that's what it was *supposed* to sound like...

[@Pablus96]

Don't know how to explain my problem, but I'll try. I have a Sony CFD-S03CPL with working radio and cd player, but the cassette player does something weird. I have assumed that the motor is ok because the rewind and forward functions work properly, but when the play button is fully pressed (like if I was trying to listen to some tapes) the motor almost stops or runs very slow. For it to work, I have to block the play button (without being fully pressed) for the cassette player to work at the appropiate speed (when the play button is fully pressed, sometimes the motor almost stops). It's a pitty because this player is the only one that I have that lets me burn some tapes when I want to test them. Thank you in advance for the help

[@doktor6495]

Hi! Nice Video. What do you do against wow and flutter issues?

[@AnonymousCaveman]

Something like the first Walkman I'm looking at getting hold of but my lord walkmans prices have skyrocketed... People buying then to just sit somewhere rather than being... Used. What price did you manage to get it?

[@OMVDmedia]

I love duplication.ca they have so much good tape stuff

[@professorvoluck9311]

I’ve never used Yahoo auctions JP before. How did you translate it to English? The prices on there are way cheaper than ebay

[@lmaoroflcopter]

Calibration of decks is relative. You should record a 3KHZ tone on the deck you'll be using the most to produce your music. Then use a phone app or audio editor on a computer to view the frequency during playback. Adjust to 3khz and you're good. That way tapes played in your Walkman will be playing at the right speed for the recording and chances are if tapes recorded by your deck sound good, tapes recorded by other decks sound just as good. So don't worry too much about dropping cash on a calibration tape just make your own.

[@RobiticDuck]

Got two identical Sony players, that I just can't get either one working. Thankfully I didn't spend a whole lot of money on them. So, I went back to eBay and decided to splurge a little bit and buy more costly, well serviced player. Along with another middle of the road Sony that does work and one gamble with an untested machine. I got a cheaper Panasonic that I want to enjoy, but after replacing the belt, and adjusting the speed, it just doesn't want to stay at the proper setting. It just feels like 2% too slow. No matter what I do. Time to try some new units.

[@kevinsong712]

It sounds like it has a lot of wow & flutter, probably needs new grease for the capstan

[@borisdg]

The chip logo is by Mitsumi and not Microchip. Both are close, but Mitsumi's is rounded.

[@jesamani75]

I fixed a WM-10 I bought for 10 mexican pesos (50 us cents) ,bought the belt from the same seller,took a long time to arrive i just bought one for another Walkman but this time from a US seller it arrived faster

[@hero_in_deepblu]

Does anyone know what the song is playing in the background during the repair?