This was an amazing find on Ebay a Sony WM-DD9 BIN £25 yes really! It was listed as not working for repair or parts, to be honest I didn't really look at the listing I just bought it. I've always wanted a DD9 who doesn't? But was not willing to pay anything near the prices people were asking so I waited and waited and it paid off as this came along. OK that's all the good stuff when it arrived I popped in an AA battery nothing, took the battery back out and noticed there was no + battery terminal at all, I don't mean corroded it was missing. At this point I thought someone had been inside and taken parts as spares, anyway I tried using an AC adapter and to my surprise it worked and was playing a tape! To cut a long story short I took it apart, looked online for a nice picture of the missing battery terminal, then looked through my box of none working and parts only walkman and eventually found a donor with a terminal I could modify to fit. That done it would now work using the battery, it played fine forward but struggled in reverse, referring to the service manual I was able align the reverse motor correctly, now played in reverse OK. It struggled to fast forward and rewind and I suspect the belts need replacing, but I didn't have any the correct size so I've left as is, I don't want to take it apart again in case I mess it up. Here's some pictures it really is in very good condition.
Awesome. Had a similar thing with a Sony TC K71 3 head deck. Paid $45 for it. All it took to get it working again was to re-solder some of the semi conductors and hey presto the value just went up!!!
That's a great find, Dave, congrats! I was offered a DD9 today, apparently in very good shape. What is a fair price these days and what are the things to look out for in terms of wear and tear, or just plain deterioration of components over time?
They are going for silly money these days but unless you really want one, I would not pay more than £150 - £200. I have one and I rarely ever use it, I use my DC2 every day or the D6C. The DD9 is a nice unit but if you want the best sound quality from a Sony personal stereo get a D6C and it you want something small then the DC2. The DC2 and D6C are better value for money too.
Yes, I have used the D6C since it came out in 1984, bought a second one in '85 for backup. The latter has worked with just normal maintenance to this day. Great piece of gear with a great sound. Got the easily portable DC2 shortly after and has used that very intensely through the years as well. It finally stopped working two years ago, unfortunately, after increasingly loud clicking noises for years it finally came to a halt. I'm looking to have it fixed and have been on a waiting list for a good while. In the meantime I'm using a plastic WM-EX304 for my portable needs, it works well and has auto reverse, which I find to be a great benefit. The sound and wow/flutter specs are not comparable though, so when the DD9 came along I got interested. It should be of top quality, comparable to the Professional Line, according to information found online, but I wonder what long time users can tell about any inherent problems that would be expected to surface on this 25 year old device. What are the weak points? Yes, I will have to pay more than £150-£200 for this one.
i find the dd9 as good as the d6c was but these are difficult to match up with the correct headphones, they are NOT worth what they go for now, no walkman is, id say £250 £300 is a fair price for a mint one fully working but be warned, if you do not have the correct headphones these can sound pretty dreadful with issues like low volume and distortion on the mega bass etc, good luck
Wow, I love this kind of stuff. Hey, post a link to the auction, I'd love to see this with my own eyes.
