Well...I just wanted t to post something and perhaps in the future share some vintage stuff. I restored already 10odd Walkman(s) (portable compact cassette players, no necessarily from SONY), but I am collecting far more than that on the vintage front. I am a bit fundamentalist in what I do, I lubricate pinch rollers slides, bearings, capstan shafts, motors, besides the usual belts and whistles... Salute!
Hello Mister X. Glad to fulfill your curiosity! [GALLERY=media, 1961]M80's-Walkman(s) by m80116 posted Feb 1, 2023 at 4:57 PM[/GALLERY] Unfortunately I haven't had the time to take dedicated sets of my units... anyways the collage only contains processed devices. My typical job always includes a very deep clean and changing of belts. Some units need mechanical attention, some electronics, sometimes both. Choices can be difficult at times.
I know that, most of mine need a belt at minimum these days. I keep a few choice units working so I can listen to tapes but I've got dozens, if not hundreds of units that need some TLC and probably won't ever get it. Luckily a ton are in my office and I get to look at them, it gives me motivation to keep plugging away on paperwork.
It must be a wonderful collection... do you have any favorite? I tend to favor bulky Panasonics with a small cassette window and an FM Radio, like my latest addition I completed today. [GALLERY=media, 1962]20230202_180136_web by m80116 posted Feb 2, 2023 at 7:30 PM[/GALLERY] I CRY inside whenever I see people on YouTube posting any kind of Walkman fluttering and wowing... that's not how they're supposed to work. One day I'll capture and publish the headphones out of some of my units.
I'm a lover of design and engineering, especially pre-90's audio builds, it's hard to point out a favorite but I do like the small high-end AIWAs with the tiny buttons and the clunky early Panasonics with the huge buttons. Since I can't afford the grail monster boomboxes I stick with the minis, they used to be under the radar but even those are getting harder to find. Feel free to post your test work, we love it, what are you using for a test tape? I've also picked up some industrial testing equipment over the years, even that used to be somewhat easy to find but now you have to wait for it to show up.
I don't have any official test tape at the moment. I made my own, it should be pretty close but it's a guess job using one of my closed loop dual capstan quartz locked deck, transport in tip top shape. High end AIWAs are stylish and incredibly packed but they command crazy prices... at least for me, so they remain in my watch radar.
My brain warbles when I think about the recording chain to get a test tape. There's a recent thread over on audiokarma on the process, it sounds like they do them on ultra-stable reel to reel? I've also read somewhere that the used high-end Naks (TEAC test set)? One of my little tape test set machines will send out the signal to record, it's pretty old so it predates any computer, I'll use that but I don't know how accurate it is but it does sound good to my ears and the KHz meter is pretty stable during playback. The vintage ride has been crazy, it's neat that people love and pay a ton for some units but where are they all coming from? This forum is pretty small and I think it's the largest for portables but there must be a lot more collecting.
Nowadays I believe test labs use high end decks with very low w&f, Nakamichis are prime example, and an original IEC test tape for reference, probably not for levels as they might have shifted over time. For regular Walkman(s) the Azimuth can be decently adjusted by ear alone using music (not the test signal). I also believe there's no need to use a closed loop quartz locked deck... in my experience most later years decks don't shift significantly over time... to adjust the speed on a Walkman making a test tape using a known decently playing deck is good enough. Walkman are like mechanical watches... they sound AMAZING when they've been recently serviced but degrade over time, ditto for cassette tapes... some need cleaning from dirt and degrading material to be transported reliably.
