So I bought this Sony WM 3 that was advertised as fully working. Turns out only one channel is. The right one is audible, but only with very low volume. Except for this problem, everything works well and the overall condition seems very good. I paid 200 Euro and a local repair shop (the only one we have in Hamburg) told me that it might be either: Faulty or aged electronic components such as decoupling capacitors(Entkopplungskondensatoren) that may cause reduced volume in one channel. Amplifier components responsible for audio amplification on the right channel. Micro solder joints or cable connections that have intermittent contact or are broken, especially along the right audio path. Dirty or oxidized tape heads or audio contacts, which can cause signal loss and volume imbalance. I was told that the repair might cost somewhere starting 100 Euro. What do you guys think? Is this a common and easy to fix problem so it is worth keeping this device or should I rather look for another unit? Here is a short video of the problem: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Aaebk9gXGdE Thanks in advance! Edit: Sorry Mods, can you please move this one? Silly me clicked the wrong forum.
Can you do any work yourself? I'd start with a product like DeOxit (contact cleaner) and start with the volume knob. I'd look into the headphone socket and see if there's visual corrosion or rust (which needs to be removed). Headphone jacks get a lot of obuse and might need resolding. Most units need this basic maintanance, the volume knob, sitting in one place for years will get dirty and not make good contact when turned. https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/the-idiots-guide-to-using-deoxit-revisited.207005/ Your headphones might also have issues, check with a known working pair.
I can do anything that doesn't involve soldering as I don't have the tools yet (working on it though as I have a WM2 and a DD10 that also need some work done). Will first try to clean those volume knobs. Thank you very much!!
Same here. The first thing I always suspect with these symptoms is the sliders. You can try cleaning them with contact cleaner. But it can also happen that the internal contacts come loose. To fix that, you'll need to desolder and open the slider. Or the carbon track will be broken. In that case, they also need to be removed. However, I've never experienced this with this model.
@Phil247 Likely it's a capacitor problem, it's a relatively common problem on this model. A volume slider problem should have crackling and you should be able to get full volume at some points while moving the slider up/down. Headphones can also be a problem, as @Mister X has pointed out, so do double check with other pair of headphones. The repair shop statement is a bit vague, as those potential issues hold true on any walkman having thesse symptoms. Defintely worth keeping the walkman in my opinion.
I tried to clean it and access the faders but somehow lost my courage half way. This this is a bit too precious to me, so I carried it over to the vintage audio shop and left it with someone who is capable of repairing it. Gonna book a soldering class for December so I can learn how to change the broken capacitors on my DD10 and become someone worthy of these devices. Thank you everyone for your advices!
Tips on that. Don't try and use lead free solder. In the 1990s I won a soldering competition but struggle using lead free. Equipment as old as a WM3 predates lead free. From my job I know they don't use lead free in Avionics because they want reliable joints Once you have bought a soldering iron, find some scrap piece of 1980s electronics which nobody cares about, and practice changing a few components on it. Good quality de-soldering braid is very useful. Soldering or not, take lots of photos of the inside of equipment before and as you work on it. Finally, 1980s equipment usually has large components which are easy to work. In contrast things like iPods have tiny components (e.g 20 way pin connectors the size of a WM3 resistor) which were placed by machine and are very difficult to work on.
So I got a call from the shop. It is the channel amplifier. They say it is not fixable. What a bummer.
CX182 is also available here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/284194586372 Although have to say seems unlikely both the preamp and power amp are gone... Even if the unit has been powered with reverse polarity at some point, would expect only IC102/202 to go bad since the preamps are powered from a internal regulator of IC102 and there's also a current limiting resistor (R112/R212). Besides, would also expect the motor servo IC to be gone (which is not the case) if unit was powered with reversed polarity.
The link you posted is another CX182? Still I should give the repair shop a call and ask for more details. Thank you!!
The links I posted are for CX184 (headphone amp - IC102) and CX182 (head preamp - IC101) respectively.
No, they are different ICs performing different functions (hence the different part numbers). Please check the service manual schematic (page 9): https://freeservicemanuals.info/en/servicemanuals/viewmanual/Sony/WM3/ One is a head preamplifier, other a headphone amplifier (there is one for each channel). These are the building blocks of every walkman. Those that have Dolby NR also have a Dolby decoder between the preamp and headphone amp. In most walkmans L and R are integrated into a single IC (not the case here, this is a very early walkman). Also, in many later models the preamp and headphone amp are also integrated into a single IC, only Dolby being external (if the function exists). Very late 2000s walkmans integrate everything into a single chip: preamp, Dolby, bass boost, power amp. As a sidenote, no need to quote previous posts. Type in the box below the post and press "Post Reply" instead of using "Reply" button (which quotes automatically).
Ok, this is very confusing for a noob like me. I just ordered the CX182 unit from a Spanish seller: https://www.ebay.de/itm/334139258684 The guy from the repair shop said CI101/102 is broken but the part is called CX182. Looking at the manual I get that the eight pins of the unit are actually numbered and each one leads to a different circuit. Guess I have learned something super useful today.
Generally, in SONY schematics, the part designators are the same for both channels apart from first digit (the ones starting with 1 are L, starting with 2 are R). If you look at the schematic you have IC101 - L IC201 - R R112 - L R212 - R, etc. Something still doesn't make sense regarding what the guy said, since IC101 and IC102 are not both CX182, but the latter is CX184. Let us know how it goes.
It is the right channel that isn't working properly. Now I have this weird feeling that my problem won't be solved anytime soon. Anyways I will keep buying parts. Got this vision that this very walkman needs to be fixed and carried around by me for the next 40 years to come. Edit: and thanks again! Great knowledge and help. Much appreciated!
