The WM-EX911 is the only metal walkman with touch control from these four. It feels similar to the metal midrange models from this era. Like the WM-EX348 it has the Auto Wind mechanism for the headphones, and is controlled by remote control. There's no other control for the basic functions than the remote, so if it's broken like this one you can no longer control the walkman. The WALKMAN logo is embedded in the transparent window, a nice twist you don't see so often.
All these 4 models still have a normal headphone jack, so you always have a choice to use either the built-in headphones or an external one. I like the idea of the built-in headphone a lot, even though I'd probably never would have bought these myself as I always prefer using higher quality headphones. I assume the WM-51 was the first model to offer this feature (can somebody confirm) and I still like the WM-51 best of all these models. I'm sure there will be more than these four models, Emiel already mentioned the WM-EX922 as the fifth, please add the other models with built-in headphones.
Today I want to bring a single model under the attention, a model not much is written about but one that I think is very interesting from a technical perspective: The TPS-R10, technically not a walkman but I do consider it as one. Mine is cosmetically not so nice, with some wear, but I'll tell you why I like it. The "IC REPEAT" was a novel back then as it was electronic memory. With the huge amounts of endless flash & RAM memories today, we almost forget how special it was at some point to be able to store things electronically without any mechanics.
This device allowed you not only to use tape, but also repeat data from electronic memory. Many later TCM and TPS models had electronic memory, and many walkmans from the later era too (e.g. Japanese models aimed at language learning etc) but I believe this may have been the very first of its kind. The weird thing is that it doesn't record, and it doesn't have a microphone, but it is a TPS model - typically for reporters and not a playback walkman.
But that's not the only thing, this model is deviating in many more aspects. It seems to have the "2nd gen" buttons and transport from the WM-101 era, with mechanical lock. These were typically used in the small high end models at that time. However, this is not a small device and it doesn't run on a gumstick. It uses 2 AAs, has a weird battery compartment, and also has a weird battery door - the way it opens, the way it locks....
Here we see a familiar transport with one "silver wheel" like the WM-F501. But it has an additional extension covered with silverish plastic at the end of this picture.
Inside the look & feel is also unlike any other... I have not seen the silver wings before, I guess their only function is to position the AA correctly.
It's a 2 PCB stack, which makes sense: Electronic memory now comes in flash, a 256Gb MicroSD has many backgrinded dies stacked together in an incredible small package, at a neglicable cost even per megabit. We have become so used to electronic memory that it's a given these days. But back then, memory was millions of times more expensive per bit and it wasn't straightforward to make it work in your design.
So it's 64K x 4 bits according to the datasheet. The datasheet is from 1990 and I'm pretty sure the TPS-R10 came out a few years before, but it's probably a later revision.
One last tiny detail on this very interesting and weird device: The volume knob. While the potentiometer itself is a regular one, the knob has the numbers 6, 7 and 8 marked. I have not seen this before with any of the other walkmans. If only the higher numbers were marked, that could have been a "warning, don't listen at high volume" pre-AVLS kind of thing. But 9 and 10 are unmarked. Anybody any idea why this is?
We have several repeat units on WML, amongst others https://walkman.land/sony/tps-r10. Try the tag ‘repeat’: https://walkman.land/tags/repeat. If we get too many, we better make it a gang! The ‘tech’ pictures I will add to the back end. We want to enable a new gallery soon of pics of the mechanics and electronics.
So 32678 bytes at your disposal! How many seconds in full fidelity ? Is there a slight delay when you start playback, indicating that it has to fill the cache first?
Hi Emiel, I have not reconditioned this one, it still needs a belt and some work. So I don't know yet.
Emiel, I'm taking pictures rather quickly and not in a consistent way. If you have a studio where you can make professional pictures with consistent angles, white balance and lighting - feel free to come by and lend a batch from my collection any time. E.g. the models that are not listed on walkman.land yet. It would be great to be able to contribute to such a cool website.
Going back in time, to the era just a little bit after the TPS-L2 started it all. Some Japanese brands liek Toshiba and Sharp were fast followers and started thinking about integration of tuners, by introducting Tuner Packs. Here's the Tuner Pack crew! Starting with the KT-VS1:
A compact player for its time, almost exactly the size of the Walkman II and released around the same time (not sure which one was earlier). Unlike the Sony, this one featured a tuner by using the space normally taken by the cassette, with a so called Tuner Pack. I believe this KT-VS1 model was the 1st walkman with a tuner - not sure, can someone confirm/correct?
