I am new here. About 30 years ago I got into video production. I still have the gear and decided I needed to get rid of clutter. I sold some kit through a repairer and discovered I could get better money selling privately. When I switched on the first machine, everything fired up and I got quite excited. Then, smoke and a horrible smell and the machine's lights went out. I still have that machine and a rather expensive repair kit from Australia for re-capping a twin track high speed Revox A77. But I got an introduction to a new hobby and a lot of very nice people! My situation is complicated by living in a remote part of the UK, being nearly 85 years of age, and partially deaf. I have now found a Sony cassette Walkman WM-D6C which was lurking in the back of a cupboard. I remember buying this and finding it wasn't ideal for my purposes so it hardly got used. All looks and sounds pristine, except for a minor dent on the front panel which a silversmith could probably take out. And only one ear piece working on the MDR-51 head phones. I gather the dead ear piece is probably a wiring fault which does look damaged and possibly not difficult to fix. Where can I find a repair manual? I can't see how to dismantle this. I did a search, but didn't find anything which probably means I did it wrong. I am going to need help! Anyone?
Correction. I have looked at the head phones again and it is not one dead but one apparently normal and the other rather faint. Is that better or worse than one not working at all?
I tried searching for your your headphones. I couldn't find them. Can you post a picture of what your headphones look like? Maybe I could help you but I don't know what you have because I searched for the w dr-51 and I couldn't find them
Hi and welcome to Stereo2go. Firstly, if you are using your D6C for the first time in many years, please don't make the mistake of plugging a modern DC power supply adaptor into your D6C. Most plug top adaptors sold now are switch mode or the barrel plug is wired centre positive, both of which will destroy the motor controller chip inside the WM-D6C. Please see my post here about this problem: Sony WM-D6C and DD Series Walkmans - WARNING! Read this before plugging in any DC adaptor! I believe that the MDR-51 headphones were supplied with the WM-D6C. They are still a very good headphone and worth repairing. If one channel is feint, that would be unusual. Have you tried the headphones with another player, or tried different headphones with the D6C to see if the problem is with the headphones or with the D6C?
Sorry, my mistake, the phones are MDR-51 and NOT wdr-51. I have been doing some more searching and came across a post on Reddit. The poster suggested that the fault could be in the 3.5mm jack plug for the head phones an it is not making good contacts within the socket. The poster, whose name is deleted so anonymous, suggested very slowly inserting the plug into the socket and moving it in and out to see if the sound varied. Bingo! At one point, sound came out of both ears equally, so it is the 3.5 jack or the socket in the Walkman that is faulty. Not sure how I alter that so the contacts are good but this does seem to be the answer. Thank you for your help.
Thanks for your reply but as you will see in my reply to Cassette2go, I may have found the source of the problem! A bent pin on the 3.5mm headphone jack? Yes, I read the warning about power supplies. It is just the sort of damned stupid thing I'd do, so thank you for the heads up.
The story continues. I dug through my box of cables and found a set of MDR G52 headphones. These behaved exactly as the MDR-51 phones with the recorder indicating that it's not the headphones but the recorder . Right hand earpiece works, left doesn't. Also, both sides can be got to work by gently moving the jack plug in and out until a sweet spot is found which is about 1.5 - 2mm from being pushed fully home. I also notice that the plug can be moved slightly from side to side which makes me think the female socket in the recorder could be damaged and it's not the male headphone plug? How difficult are these to repair/replace?
Welcome to the forum! Hopefully you can get the Walkman sorted out, it is one of the most wanted models today and a must have for any collector. Feel free to share any of your career stories and photos, we love all of it.
Thank you, that is very kind. Well, I should have read the introduction to the forum a bit more closely! I am now fairly well versed on the possible reasons for the headphone imbalance. And I know more about my Walkman. (Serial number 264365, with -- I think -- the concave head?). I am intending to open the D6C and look for dry joints and cracks as a first step. If it is beyond me, I'll be looking for a repairer or put it straight on Ebay. I am a retired farmer but just let my land for grazing and confine my activities to stuff like fencing, and tractor driving. I will be putting the Walkman on Ebay as soon as I have confirmed what the 3.5 jack problem is all about, but some of the posts here have been encouraging. Half the problem has been knowing what to search for. It must be very annoying when newbies come up with the same questions again and again. Sorry!
[QUOTE It must be very annoying when newbies come up with the same questions again and again. [/QUOTE] Nope.
I bet you that the only issue is the replacement of the female Jack inside your Walkman. I can imagine that the headphones were inserted into the Jack into the player and that the headphones wire got yanked really hard at some time and when it did that it bent the last contact inside the female Jack and pushed it back so far that it barely touches when you insert the headphone jack normally and so because it's bent back away from the pin that you insert, all it needs to be done is either open it up and bend it back or replace the entire Jack which would be simpler, although maybe a bit difficult to find that. Jack to install it.
Sorry to be slow getting back. I have been learning a bit more by doing research through YouTube videos. I had a look at taking the panels off the d6c to look at the internals of the headphone jack. Frankly, the screws are so tiny they scared me to death. (I am used to agricultural tractors and Land Rovers and they are a bit bigger). But from videos it doesn't look too bad. And the screws are not screwed down with force either, so I think they will undo so will give this a try. I am now waiting for magnifiers to arrive. My next problem is a small dent on the lower front panel just to the right of the Professional label. It looks like a grey smudge. I did think to try a silver smith or jeweller to flatten it (not many of either in the Scottish Highlands!), but I see there seems to be a thriving second hand market in D6C parts. I should be easy to unscrew the panel and replace from a donor machine. I am amazed at the prices for 'accessories'. £50 for a manual, £150 for a shoulder strap, £400 for headphones, etc. Is there a parts manual online?
Sony WM-D6C service manual https://www.manualslib.com/download/1269374/Sony-Wm-D6c.html This site has some good overview also https://www.petervis.com/manuals/sony-wm-d6c/wm-d6c.html The dent is so small as to be difficult to even detect / perceive in the picture. Is it really worth worrying about at this stage in the game?
Thank you for those references. That will be very useful. Thinking about the dent doesn't use up much energy and keeps my brain active! Today, I dismantled the d6c to expose the main board. It was not too difficult. No burnt components, no broken wires, and everything looked good. The jack itself looks fine. The only problem is that from one channel not working, I now have no sound at all. Everything else appears to be good. The headphones definitely work OK as I tried them on the iMac. Both channels work equally well, so the problem is presumably in the area of the headphone (female) jack. The components are so tiny and so tightly packed together, I think I am going to have to leave it to the experts. The problem started with one channel not working, then both when the jack was moved in and out, but I'm told that was only in mono. Now just gently moving the wires seems to have caused the second channel to stop working. The long term objective is to sell this recorder as a package (hopefully working) with microphone, headphones, shoulder strap, instruction manual for recorder, and ditto for microphone all in one lot. It is not a lot of use to me as I am partially deaf!
Hello Derry, Well it sounds like a electrolytic or maybe across the line capacitor was shortage hopefully it did not take out voltage regulator I have one of my Sony CRT tv's that a bad capacitor took out a voltage regulator . Sincerely Richard
Hello Richard, Thanks for your input. I think it is beyond me anyway and I think I am going to leave this one to the experts. It is all too small scale for me! My knowledge of electronics is limited. I had CRT monitor go down in my edit suite over 20 years ago and I worked that out as being temperature sensitive and guessed a capacitor. A can of cold spray located it and I replaced the offender. To my shock and surprise, I had mended it and I was able to finish my project! This one is on a different scale. Regards, Derry
