I recently bought this player, from the USA, considering I'm in France, it cost me 20$ shipping + 30$ tax just to get it here! It wasn't working when I got it, it needed a new belt (as expected), after cleaning up pulleys deeply with toothbrush and alcohol it was ready for a new belt. It now works (nearly) perfectly, apart from some oxidation in the volume pot giving a very very slight crackle even after having used contact cleaner. From this angle it looks beautiful! It is quite a bit worn though, you can see multiple scratches on the window and the top right part is slightly melted (how is that supposed to happen, I have no idea.). You can see better on the side though, as it has big scratches that are colored (if anyone has a tip to maybe help with this?) Moving on with the controls now! The auto-play feature that's possible thanks to the soft-touch controls is actually really nice to skip the 1 minute blank at the end of tapes and to Reverse the direction without skipping the beginning! You can also see I put the volume pot cover a bit sideways, I'm gonna correct that soon. Another close up picture of the controls, with the vivid red light indicating tape travelling direction. (Also more of the wear!) The soft touch controls operate basically servo-motors that move the head and capstans where needed and drives gears who are needed, it gives a satisfying "whirrrr" when operating. I also use Energizer Lithiums, they're expensive but they last a whole lot longer than alkalines. A cool element on the Walkman's door is it's logo, it's styled like the one on the TPS-L2, being sanded in straight parallel lines. Today, it shined bright! cling If you read this far, thank you for reading! If you didn't read and jumped to the bottom, thank you too!
good job flash_the_84 listening to music is more enjoyable when you play it in your walkman since it gives you the joy of fixing and bringing it back to life
That is exactly why I enjoy buying broken player, sometimes it's risky but when it works after struggling for a while it is very rewarding.
I like the scratches too. I like to think they tell a story. Same with die-cast cars like Hot Wheels and Matchbox.
