I everyone. Well I don't usually venture down here to the walkman section as I don't usually find that many walkmans, but I found a beautiful SONY DD in pink / fuscia. Incidentally, I already have a DDII in the same colour!

Anyway, I got it from the flea market today for 3 euros and the guy said he didnt know if it would work. Well after loading some batteries into it, it did work. I had to press the FF and RW buttons a few times before they would do anything, but it all moves.

The only thin is that there is a really horrible continuous hum / drone through the headphones which gets deeper the more I turn the volume up. It is only present when the Dolby switch is set to 'on'. When the Dolby is 'off', there is no horrible sound, but I can hardly hear any sound at all!

I hope somebody can help me with this or at least have an idea of what may be the problem.

Thanks in advance for any help and/or suggestions.

Here she is -

hey mirko,

nice score!for me it´s to cold outside for flea market.
i know nothin about your question - but i`m stoping by just to say hello

cheers

ernesto

I have a few dd walkmans which make buzzing sounds!

Maybe that is what you do mean, but my walkmans
do make the sound from within, not via the headphones.

The buzzing sound from this unit is a very different issue to the buzzing sound we all know & love from the DDs.

I'm guessing the sound is electrical i.e. you can only hear it from the headphones?

Thanks for your replies!

Yes, its definitely electrical. I can only describe it as a sort of 'science fiction' sound. Like some kind of intense phazer sound.

Thanks again for any ideas or comments!

hi---i have an old aiwa which has the same problem , word for word, as yours. right down to the dolby switch you describe. very load buzzing with dolby on and i can faintly hear the tape playing with it off. i took it apart and everything seems ok including a smooth running motor and good belts. the radio works great too. yep,,probably electrical,,so i am clueless too.

those DD's do not have the centre-gear as the DD II etc., the hum/ noise u mean could possibly b a ground-problem, make sure all screws holding the mainboard r tightened, esp. if there's some with contact to ground underneath.
checkout if all solderpoints of the headphone-socket are still soldered properly and if head-cables r correctly in position. that's my advice/ experience. good luck....

I have 2 WM DD11, both bought by myself and kept for some 20 years. However unused since mp3-players came out. They look a bit different from beatbox's pink ones in terms of design, but the buttons are all exactly the same and in the same position so I suppose the interiors are the same as in mine.
When activating them a few days ago, I got the horrific drone sound too, in both WM's. Interestingly WM (A) shows that overdrive buzz when Dolby is off, WM (B) when Dolby is on. Very strange. WM (B) also shows a particularly low music signal, almost nothing with some cassettes, whereas WM (A) shows some more. Both give much less than normal sound output and with a lot of playing noise at the output. The ultimate noise however is the buzz, sounds like rail to rail but I did not yet scope it. Mechanically both WMs run perfectly and last time they were used there was no buzz and sound level was normal.
I opened WM (A). Nothing loose, everything looks factory new and there was no change when assembled again. In a German forum one guy gave the advice to replace the SMD electrolytic capacitors. He says the caps Sony used during that time were of inferior quality in terms of lifetime, as shown in some other sound and video equipment produced by Sony at that time. He does not know specifically about the WM DD11. I count 11 electrolytic caps from 4,7 to 220 microF. It might be possible to replace them despite being SMD, since there is some space around them, but I'm not sure I will do this unless I get assured this will solve the problem.

i don't blame you as i wouldn't either. i have had this problem in various forms with 4-5 players. the dolby switch has something to do with it as you have described. these sound problems are the biggest problem i face and i have had 0% luck trying to fix them. all i can do now is set aside them with the junkers till i learn a cure. GOOD LUCK !!!!!!!

I have a aiwa HS-P505mkII with the same problems, caused by SMD electrolytic capacitors breaking down and leaking, I have been told its due to the DC ripple current these type of capacitors found in many aiwa's - sony walkmans can be changed... but wear a mask as when you desolder hem from the pcb they stink! also the leaky stuff is corrosive and eats in to the pcb! I just wish sony had thought ahead.

I have a FX10 that started to makes noise when playing a tape just after I removed and reseated the mechanism belt.

Also checked and removed each spring and reseated them.
Radio functions fine though.

Could all be due to I removed some grease from a mechanism gear.

I don't know what was to grease the gears at the factory, would applying some store bought lubricant work?

Else, I might get a another FX10 (for a $1), take the main board with the mechanism out and put that in my first FX10.

Update:the belt wasn't tensioned properly when I removed and reinstalled it-tensioned it correctly and my Walkman is now working again.

Just to add my 10 cents worth. These models were a more budget version than the smaller DD units, having a plastic superstructure and mechanicals. One common problem is due to the fact that the motor 'pulley' does not lift off the disc rubber tyre when the stop button is pressed, so if the unit has not been used for a long time, the rubber tyre develops a 'kink' at the point the 'pulley' is pressing on it. The other DD's aleviate this problem by making the motor lift off the tyre in stop mode. When the unit is running with a kink in the tyre, it can sound very much like a humming or buzzing sound, although a very slight shudder can also be detected. I've been re-surfacing the tyres of all my DD's in my miniature lathe.

Maybe that is what you do mean, but my walkmans
do make the sound from within, not via the headphones.[/QUOTE]

Hey Walkgirl, check out my post R.E. the noisy DD-1's. If your noise is unit not headphone related then my post is relevant to you.