Hello Everyone, I won a sony dd1 in an ebay auction, my very first DD walkman for only 36 euros. (I already own a WM-D6C but I don't count it as a walkman, that thing is a brick, you could crush a skull with that thing.) The seller has marked it as broken. Looking through hifiengine, and other sources I wasn't able to find much information about this DD1 walkman, and thus I am unsure of the kind of repairs it needs. The only information I have on it is from walkman central. The only information have on this walkman is that it shares a similar mechanism as the DD11 as stated in the DD11 service manuel. I don't think that this walkman is a quart model since it doesnt appear to be stated anywhere. I am afraid that if buying a dd1 belt on ebay I will be buying the belt for the wrong model. Also it is very unclear weather this is a Direct Drive walkman since it wouldn't need any belt then? I have never repaired a high quality walkman before; is there any information/guide/tips that I should be aware of? If so your input, and thoughts would be appreciated in repairing this walkman and identifying it.
DD1, DD11 and DD22 have belts, DD in this cases applies to direct capstan drive. For more info and parts ask mihokm.
Thank you matic777 I will proceed with buying a belt from mihokm. I will update this thread with my results once I attempt to replace the belt of the walkman.
Be prepared to replace all electrolytic capacitors as well. These models are known to have this sort of problems.
Received it this morning, Looks fine from the outside. Serial number: Turned it on, a noise happened, however no music, only some weird tone (like an oscillator tone) that fluctuates with the volumn knob. Changed the worn out belt with mihokm's. Observations shows a broken tape selector switch. I think the whole section from the volumn potentiometer to the audio section is damaged beyond repair sadly. Furthermore when played there was a noticeable rattling noise which i believe is caused by the motor coming in contact with another moving component. It also appears that some of the plastic in direct contact with the battery terminal has melted. I think this one is a goner, thoughts? The picture album: https://imgur.com/a/rB3pW
After some more tests, it seems that I can indeed hear music from the Walkman, although there seems to be no amplification. So the question I ask myself is whether it is worth investing time and money in this Walkman? After looking inside it seems rather basic compared to my everyday walkmans (Aiwa pc202mkii or Panasonic rq-s60)
It is rather aesthetically pleasing, I think the best course of action would be to wait for another model that is really banged up but works (or only needs a belt changed) and then swap the guts. I am not interested in collecting walkmans and not using them, rather in using them and climb the mountain that is audiophilia.
I prefer the look of that mechanism to the later dd gear one It looks simplier and easier to work on I've never experienced one yet so just speculating
That is the reason why I bought this model, it doesn't have megabass or any fancy gimmick like the direct drive models quartz lock or the dd-11's megabass but that should mean that is is easier to work on. After looking around in my university workshop room, I have observed that they have heatguns and soldering irons ( the variable ones with a knob that let you choos the temperature). I wonder if that's all I will need to attempt to replace the amplification components and the tape type selector switch. For now I'll try to see what is the cause of that clank noise, and see whether it's a fixable mechanism issue. If it is unfixable I think it would be best to swap the guts entirely with a working model.
After some further research on the topic, it seems i may have some unfixable mechanical issue; according to a user from the tapehead forum: the small pulley will imprint in the disc rubber and this will be forever. Each rotation of the disc will cause a small hiccup in the sound. this mechanical problem was dealt with in later models. It seems I won't be able to fix this walkman after all. Also I would need to to buy fix and solder these electrolytic capacitors: 4x 220 4V 3X 47 4V 100 4V I don't want to see this beautiful walkman collect dust...
I'd say it's worth fixing - but changing those capacitors can be kind of tricky.... On the other hand, I bough them all for, say 30 SEK (around 3-4 Euros), real tiny.
I stopped working on it a while back but I scrapped to be used on other projects. For how much I was going to invest on this model, it simply isn't worth when I could be spending that money and time on a better model like a dc2 or dd30. Ive worked on a dc2 and am awaiting for @Sergi The other issue is that the parts of this model for me couldnt really be used on other dd walkman, since it is the cheap plastic branch of the dd line. SomeThing I figured out while working on this model is that you can twist the capacitors off the pcb, sometimes leaving the legs sodered on the board. Good luck man!
Cheers mate This is the link to my predicament: http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/sony-wm-dd1-red.2697/