Flea market latest score

Todai I think I got a good deal and bought a Sony WM-EX9 and a Panasonic RQ-SX21 ("as is", "condition unknown", no accessories) for 20 EUR total.

The WM-EX9, to my total surprise, just worked: I open it up to check and replace the belt but indeed the original one is still perfectly ok. I just connected a battery holder and it started right away. Unfortunately this model originally came with a fancy remote with LCD which allowed to set Dolby and XBS/Groove. The main body has a single button which act for the usual transport commands; it works also with a standard walkman remote, but I do not have a compatible one which allows me to enter its menu and set Dolby or XBS. I tried minidisc and discman remote with LCD but they do not work. The main body is also missing a volume knob, there is just a switch with three positions (low, mid, max), very odd design.

The RQ-SX21 has the usual problems of this kind of transport: needs new belts and the clutch retainer is cracked. On top of that it also has the capstans with the rubber bands to improve grip: the rubber seems still fine, but I had a vary bad experience with that in the past and the bands might disintegrate any time soon. It is a mid range model, with no Dolby, I am not sure it is worth spending the money to fix it. I really like the colour though ... (The battery door cover is not missing I just removed it when I took it apart).

Both walkman's have signs of wear on the body, both have signs of corrosion in the gumstick battery terminal, but overall nothing too extreme, and nothing is broken.

Some pictures of the two units

 

A very good deal for these units!
I recently got a EX900, identical to the EX9, and added it to walkman.land.
It is my new favorite, compared to the EX618 it feels heavy and is even more feature packed.
Wish Sony had added switches on the deck like they did with the EX618.
Without remote, you indeed cannot set Dolby, Revitalizer, Groove, Megabass and proper volume control.
Even if the screen of the remote is not working, by ear you can tell which modes are enabled.
I find that it does not store the modes when you remove the battery.

 

Yes, the EX9 looks almost identical to the EX900. The EX-9 Internally actually is not top notch, it uses plastic flywheels instead of brass as in other contemporary walkman's.
The correct remote for the EX9/900 is not available on e-bay and even if it were available it would go for insane prices. I have a couple of simpler remotes that at least add a proper volume control, but I cannot set Dolby B and that is a bit annoying to me as almost all my tapes have dolby B. But having paid 10 EUR for the walkman, I would not spend ten times that much just for the remote.

Anyway I have a WM-EX672 which internally looks very much the same and has buttons on the body to enable Dolby, Groove, Revitalizer; the EX-9 is just another piece to add to the collection. It is also in "decent" but definitely far from mint condition.

 

I think the buttons for Sound and Dolby worked with the WME645 remote, can’t recall. For sure the screen of that remote does not.
Unfortunate, the screen on the original remote is partially defect: some segments refuse to light up.
After mentioning it to @Valentin , we concluded the zebra strip might be the issue.

 

I have three remotes from other walkman EX series, but they are all "passive remote" and with just transport control + volume. They works, but just for the tape transport.
I have many other remotes for MD and Discman's, both with and without LCD and none of those works, not even the simpler and older ones. MD and Discman remotes are interchangeable, but it looks like walkman remotes use a protocol on their own.
That is soo Sony, always create a new and incompatible standard (Panasonic walkman remotes works on Technics CD players too !)

 

enryfox, Emiel. Nice finds. Love the look of the ex-9 and 900. I had the ex-7 years ago. No idea where that has gone. As you say without the remote for these your choices are rather limited. I only have the ex-615 but I do love the sound of these slimline models.

 

Indeed annoying that these are not interchangeable. Not only the resistive ladder is different is seems.
Even Sony connectors: the most common 7-pin, green 8-pin, and for some models TRRS connector.
Then some models with the remote inline, no option to change headphones; next this microjack connector for which you need an adapter, until they finally saw a light and used a 3.5mm jack.
On the MD remotes, I noticed recently that a few have 8 pin too in the form of TRRS+4 separate pins. Not Sony though, think it is Kenwood.

 

I checked a couple of service manuals of WM-EX9 and an MD portable with LCD display: the pin-out for the remote is identical, four pins for GND, keys, Data, VCC. Keys is connected, I guess, to the resistive ladder used by all buttons, while data is sending info to be displayed on the LCD. It seems both keys and data lines are designed to be deliberately incompatible, as nor keys neither LCD work in any way.
Agree also that the mini-jack used in some old Sony remote is really a pain in the neck, but on this aspect Panasonic/Technics is even worse as the remote is embedded in the headphone wires and you are stuck with their (quite terrible) headphones.

 

I miss the ability to set Dolby B, but luckily I do not miss all the sounds enhancements, modern in-ear headphones sound fine with flat EQ.
If you like the Sony slimline, I suggest you try the Panasonic portable cassette players (they cannot call it walkman) especially the RQ-S series. They do sound very fine and, at least to me, they have a slight edge on Sony models due to high quality heads.

 

78 hours is marketing and, as usual, it refers to both the internal gumstick battery and the external AA battery. The internal battery alone is rated ~20 hours which is still impressive to me.

I have a weekly flea market nearby but it is not so frequent to find decent walkman; most of the time there are cheap plastic walkman's from no-brand; it is rare to find the occasional cheap Sony or Pansonic walkman (I have shown a couple I bought on this forum); it is indeed super rare (once every 3~4 years) to find metal slimline walkman's. So I guess the next one will arrive by 2026

 

Here are some remotes that would work with the WM-9 or 900

https://reverb.com/item/65458743-so...are&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=65458743

https://reverb.com/item/44126487-ra...are&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=44126487

 

I was expecting high prices, but not that high. I will keep looking in flea markets if by any chance a compatible remote do appears. But 100+ EUR for just the remote is beyond me.
I have a anothe Sony, WM-672, which has the same identical tape transport, same features and all buttons on the body. Moreover I personally do not like wired remote, headphones wire already keep tangling on its own, but if there is a bulky remote in the middle it gets even worse.

 

As it is mostly usual, today I came home empty handed; the only vaguely interesting piece was an orange Panasonic RQ-CW03, which beside being partially transparent, is really a super basic player (no auto-reverse, no type II or IV tape, no dolby), just a cheap early '2000 walkman. Price was too high and I passed.

 

I will take one apart to measure the zebra strip, and clean the surfaces properly before putting it back together.
However, I recall that with the Nokia 8210, the strip would shrink a tiny bit / lose flexibility. The only fix was a new and relatively inexpensive strip.

 

I had quite success in the past cleaning LCD zebra strip: cotton swab with IPA, clean both the pcb and the rubber surface. Did it on a calculator, a digital voice recorder, a clock, .... just gently clean the surfaces and LCD is back to life.