Help! WM-DD33 volume crackle?

Hi,

A DD33 I bought from eBay listed in 'Perfect Working Order' has arrived today with one issue (sadly among quite many others) that puzzles me greatly.

When turning the volume up or down, even just a tiny bit the left headphone/earplug/speaker emits a very loud crackling side and can often stop working entirely. Certain areas of the volume setting result in the left headphone not working at all and other areas result in a very muffled sound in the left and sometimes in the right.

What could this particular problem be linked to?

There's also the issue that the centre gear is broken and the device makes a VERY loud clicking sound whilst playing and monstrously loud click when on fast-forward or re-wind. I know it's possible to get the centre gear replaced but what about the first issue I described?

In addition to this, there was a lot of corrosion present in the battery compartment. None of these issues were present in the listing description at all, just the words "perfect working order". Clearly this isn't an item that is in perfect working order.

I will say though that the exterior condition is almost perfect, despite some wear on the top right of the device that is 'conveniently' the only part of the device not visible in any of the photos of the item on the classifieds listing.

I've some other Walkmans of the DD range and also some non DD (such as my beloved WM-30), so this is not my first Walkman. That said, I've requested to return the item because for the price I paid, I expected an item in near perfect exterior condition that was also (as described) and in 'perfect working order'. Given that the seller has sold what looks like at least 20 other Sony 'DD' Walkmans and HAS listed on his other items if there were issues or not with the device playing or something else, or even if the device was outright broken, it was listed as such. Why the one I bought, was listed in 'perfect working order' I don't understand. Because after testing it, it has so many glaring issues that my first thought was "He didn't test this!"

Interested in your comments friends.

 

Thanks very much for the reply!

I have never heard of DeOxit. Maybe because I live in Europe. As a lubricant we have WD-40 (this one is not a Walkman brand hahaha) but that's quite oily and I am sure very different to what you are describing. Where could I apply the DeOxit, assuming I even had some? Only to the corroded battery compartment or elsewhere? Would this realistically fix the crackle in the volume?

I'm hesitant to open the item up to try to fix it over just sending it back for a refund. But if the battery department is corroded then I would expect the internals could be also and it's seeming likely that the capacitors could be on the way out. As I said, this isn't my first Walkman and at current it seems like it has a whole host of issues and I'm not sure I want to dip my toes in on this one. It's just a shame because the exterior condition of this Walkman is really near flawless.

 

You can use Kontakt spray for the pot. You just need to remove the housing (very easy on dd33), then flatten the tube of the spray so you can squeeze it between the pcb and the volume knob.

 

So that will fix the volume crackle problem, and then assuming no other problems I am unaware of exist, a centre gear replacement will fix the clicking whilst playing and RR/FW I suppose? I could probably get my hands on a can of DeOxit or something similar somewhere for the corrosion on the battery compartment.

 

For the Pot I use normal Contactspray, move it to clean the contacts and the spray with IPO (I have one IPO Spray) to remove the chemicals because you don‘t know if these are bad for the Pot in long therm. Repairing the Center is not so difficult, you can find a good description here. With DD33 you might also have to change the Cap‘s, I have to do on my, but the older DDII/3/30 seems have better quality Cap‘s and are still original. If Battery leaked there can also be a corroded PCB. For cleaning corrosion I use some kind of Fiberglas-PEN usually used for ink drawings. If you get the DD33 back to work you will have a very good sounding WM.

 

I believe you can buy "Kontakt" brand deox spray in Europe. Certainly available in Germany. That seems to fix even the worst scratching sound and dead spots on volume pots. I only have one DD33 which has been restored but the caps did not need changing. As the last of the DD series you have something nice to add to the collection. They are a good sounding unit. I have the blue version from 1991.
Agree it is very misleading to list it on eBay as in perfect working order. It should at least be described as untested or "clicking" as 99% of them are. I have one out of 30 that had an intact CG when dismantled.
Cheers
B

 

You can get Deoxit of various types from the Russ Andrews Accessories website in the UK. Either in sachet or spray can form, but it’s liquid gold i.e. pretty expensive stuff. It may or may not do the trick. The worst possible scenario is that the Dolby chip(s) have fried, in which case you’ll need a donor body which won’t make it a cheap fix. The sound defects you describe match those I encountered with my otherwise body perfect DC2. Marian Mihok in Slovakia was my saviour here, and even part-refunded my donor body I sent, to use its other parts. Dr Walkman in Italy is an excellent fixer too but his waiting list is probably in years not even months now. To be frank, it all sounds uneconomically viable when you include the gear repair. Time for a slap-wrist refund, with a future promise to self to ask a raft of extra relevant questions before bidding!

 

Whilst testing the DD33 again today there suddenly was another much worse problem. The sound of any tape sounds totally stretched and almost underwater, kind of 'alien'. It doesn't matter what tape I use and I also tried with new batteries.

When I first tested the device the only issues I found was of course the cracked center gear and the corrosion in the battery compartment and crackling volume, with the sound seeming a little tiny bit muddled but I couldn't be sure. So 3 or 4 issues.

Today my DD3 arrived. Comparably, there was still the cracked gear (also not described by the seller, and they said it was without issue but oh well, it's to be expected I guess). Also a bit of crackling when rotating the volume that giving it a quick fast rotate in both directions seemed to solve very easily (this time the right side speaker/headphone was affected instead btw). And no issues with kinda muddy feeling audio or anything, but the device is at least 25% louder than the DD33.

By comparison the DD3 plays much, much better and the cracked gear click is much quieter on the DD3. On the DD33 it's incredibly loud.

I let a tape play on both sides all the way through on both devices but the DD33 remains to have the weird alien sound (really sounds like a dirty head) whereas the DD3 sounds really nice and clean. Same batteries, same tape, same headphones/speakers.

I will send the DD33 back for a refund. I think that there is more wrong with it than could be justified for me personally to fix it. I will try to get my hands on some DeOxit of some kind though for the volume knob for the DD3. Even though it's without crackling now, it should still be cleaned. I also need to decide if I buy the center gear fix kit or maybe it's good to pay Marian or someone else to fix and clean/tune the entire device for me because it sounds so nice already and I would love if it was working really as best as it could be.

 

Now the weird squelchiness has stopped on the DD33 after some more time playing... but comparing the sound to the DD3. The DD33 is still more 'muddy' and seems kind of 'flat'. Also the DD33 is nowhere near as LOUD as the DD3. The DD3 is loud enough to break my eardrums, though it does distort ever so slightly at max volume (10). Though both have the cracked center gear I feel like the DD3 has better quality sound even though it has slight less punchy bass, it's not as flat at all.

I'll send that DD33 back tomorrow.

 

Mmm. That sounds like tape drag. Could be simple like slipping pinch roller or capstan tension has increased or decreased. May also be further deterioration of the CG assembly. These will jam if that gap gets bigger with use. I assume you have checked and cleaned the pinch roller?
Without dismantling and seeing if it has been opened before it's really guesswork. Some of the things I have seen by way of so called repairs is amazing. Like springs glued in place with superglue etc....

 

You made the correct decision to return the DD33 for a refund. Make sure you post full negative feedback AFTER ensuring the money back into your account. It should focus the mind of that devious seller. I notice another seller currently has 2 identical DD33s at the same high price claiming perfect condition then making an amazingly contradictory statement that they both have noisy centre gears which are “easy fixes”! At your expense of course as he doesn’t want to open them up....what a gall he has!

If you PM me I could offer you a cash-saving alternative to wishful repairs, by selling you my excellent condition DD33, as I’m more than happy otherwise running my Marian-fettled DC2. I can assure you of great cosmetics, flawless and noise free mechanics, and a clean battery compartment- everything those Ebay rip-off merchants lie about. Interested?

 

Thanks for all the replies. I sent the item back today. He's getting back a DD33 with cleaned and working volume without any scratching or loss of audio on the left side as I was getting before, and also the corrosion from the battery compartment has been cleaned up about 99%. This was all in an effort for me to get the device working as well as he explained it was. There is a tiny loss of metal on the springs from the corrosion but it's arguably in better condition than when I got it. I dare say that when I get my money back I will probably give him a throttling with negative feedback. The device certainly wasn't tested before sending otherwise all of these issues would have been fairly mentioned.

With the amount of money I paid for it back in my account. I'll be putting the cost aside for a PX303 or PX505 I guess. My PC202 Mk2 will probably need some work done also.

I did manage to record a video showing all of the issues of the device, actually I used it as a benchmark for advice to others about what you might encounter when buying a Walkman of this type. I'll get around to uploading it. Unfortunately I wasn't at home so I didn't have my proper recording equipment or light, so I'm not pleased with the video quality at all...

In the meantime, here's a screenshot of the description, so you can see I wasn't lying when he said "perfect working order". I'm still a bit gutted because exterior-wise it was in beautiful condition...