Awh thanks Skippy
Have had several hobbies over 3 decades but this one has really grabbed me. Its not just the collecting but all the information behind the machines and learning how they work, sound, listening to them and eventually repairing them. So much more than just buy and set on shelf for me.
All should check out AgentOrange topic under chat USEFUL WALKMAN LINKS... excellent !!

i think there is a wm-60 on the usa ebay right now. i think it's got a while to run. i personally like the auto-rev. feature but have never messed with the mechanics. i certainly like the looks of it. i wonder if they have problems with the auto-reverse being so complex. i know for sure the sony sport wm-fs420 is really not a good auto reverse mechanism. i cut a new one right out of the plastic and 2 days later the cassette was done for. all it would do is make the lever go back and forth with no play at all. i found a used one at a thrift store and bought it. worked good there but when i got it home the same thing happened. i did get that one to work but only by manually moving the lever when the tape ends. i think they are from the late 1990's but what a piece of junk.

I have some same walkmans as you also have!

tps-l2
srf-33w
wm-f5 yellow
wm-75
wm-ex5HG
dd2
wm-ex615(2)
silver wm60

Show case center section middle, middle left SONY and center bottom Sony FM

Can't let a post about the WM-60 go by without adding my 2 cents on how much I love this one. It was my constant friend & companion for ages, in the many occasions when a boombox wasn't practical (cycling, school, etc.).
Never knew it was so unusual, but if memory serves, mine always sounded better playing forwards than backwards, whatever I did with the head-alignment...

Here we have one of first high end EX series the WM-EX49 with the EX head. Have the case in excellent condition too forgot to photo. The two stage mega base is great but for most music highest setting muddy's the sound up. Here is some great info on this model from fellow members web site www.walkmancentral.com.

This attractive model was part of a new range, the “EX” series. At the time, this prefix indicated a top-line model, though later it became devalued and simply differentiated a tape only model (EX) from a radio model (FX).

The name came from the “EX head”, a fact proudly reinforced by some text visible when the cassette door was opened. It was not made clear what the advantages were, though in some ways the head limited the possible performance. It was mounted in a pair of pre-set guides and so could not be adjusted into correct azimuth. Such an arrangement seemed a long way distant from previous models (e.g. the WM-106), which had provision for independent azimuth adjustment for each direction of play.
The mechanical sections were similar in layout to those of the WM-106 and the WM-503. The control keys opposed the heads, which were mounted in the lid in order to allow as compact a case as was possible. Like the WM-106 and the WM-503, the cassette lid was held shut with a catch, though unlike those models it could not be locked. Switchable auto reverse was included, though there was no direction indicator, a thin strip through which the spools were visible was considered satisfactory. As one would expect from a more expensive model, Dolby B NR, “Mega Bass” loudness (two settings) and chrome/metal tape compatibility were all included. The minor controls for some of these functions were located on the rear face of the machine. The cassette door was made of pressed metal and was decorated with a large embossed “Walkman” logo.

In a bid to make the casework compact, the designers seemed to have “squashed” it around the assemblies inside. There was a raised section in the cassette door to clear the thicker part of the cassette and the heads, while at the rear was a bulge to house the battery. The latter would have not been necessary if the machine had been made to be operable only with a flat-type rechargeable cell, but it was also possible to use a single “AA” type battery instead. The battery holder could accept either type, though only one at a time. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

I personally find this to be one of the most professional artistic styled models Sony made.
The very defined angular ridge center with contrasting brushed right side and highly raised embossed WALKMAN looks striking.






There is a beautiful black chrome band around the middle of sides that pictures do not show the classy touch this adds to player.

What is better than having one rare working first FM walkman but to have a second Near Mint In Box SRF-80W from Rome Italy!! The box is fair to good condition and I think it is missing the A/C adapter /mains and owner manual. Seems odd these missing. My other SRF-80W came with Sony A/C adapter correct for this model. The unit has not a single mark or mare upon her beautiful skin and sounds surprising for something this size and age. Has the MDR-2L1 headphones.




MDR-2L1 Headphones up close note the protective plastic sleeves over metal band ends for shipping still in place !! and yes thats my DC2 in background was listening to



VERY RARE slip CASE for the FM Walkman part.







EVEN THE SUN CAN NOT REVEAL A SINGLE MARK... FLAWLESS CONDITION



LUCKY EBAY FIND ORIGINAL SONY SALES BROCHURE MINT

the condition of everything is so fantastic it's amazing. after looking through everything one thing i have i think, fits into the 15th aniversary players. it is a sony wm-fx1. alot of the trim is gold plated. it also has am-fm radio which can be switched either on the unit or with the remote. it's the same as it can run either with the AA sidecar or the gumstick. i don't see very many of them compared to the EX models and really don't know much about it. the only thing the person told me when i bought it was it was "some kind of commerative". along the line,but not the quality, i just bought a sony WM-36 with a 5 band equalizer. the condition is just a bit above average. walkman central has it pictured in there web-pages. i can't remember seeing this player even one time in the last few years and was wondering if it was mainly a european release.

Dear Rerooted I was wondering if you could please very kindly take some pictures of all your 80s Sanyo Walkmans and post them here on Stereo2go.com .I temperalily have 2 Sanyo M-GR60 Walkmen and 6 pernament RX-1924 Walkmen which I do own.{Im doing respite care with the Sanyo Walkmen until I can sell them into a long term home}.80s Walkmans are def.Kristi Carr.

kristy, right now i have only about 6-7 sanyos. as you probably know they are to find info on such as dates, origonal prices,colors and things like that. i never had a camera in my life till we got a digital a few months ago. i have just started getting used to it and transporting them into the computer. the pictures so far have just been jus ok but would probably work. as a little info let me tell you the models i have. m-g90, mgr87,(2) m-g4's, m-g50, and lastly a rp-55 radio. i am pretty certain that's it. these are from the 1980's i believe. i will take a picture of them in a group and then see if i can figure out how to get them up in the web site. my favorites are the early sportsters in nice condition. on ebay there are only a few that pop up here and there. sometimes the conditions are not good. there was a black mgr-87 a few weeks ago but the price was high and the condition not very good. as soon as i am able to get pictures into the site i promise that will be the first project i will attempt. i did get one of those panasonic rx-1924's and it is a great easy to use player with nice sound qualities.

Dear Rerooted, does your Panasonic RX-1924 come in his origional box and can you please take pictures either way?Hopefully as soon as you learn to.I would like them for my scrapbook.And believe me its not easy to learn to take pics of the Walkman but you can learn.I got faith in you that you got potential and good luck with that.Odds are yours is nicer than mine.80s Walkmans are def.Kristi Carr.

hi kristy,, i saw the pictures you took of your panasonic rx-1924 and i would say that they are about equal in condition. i didn't get any extras, just the player itself. i would say the condition of mine would be 7+ out of 10. it has no major flaws, just typical use for mabey a couple of years. i popped the batteries in and it took off with no problem. the sound is as good as new. i picked up a nice camera case at the thrift store which was perfect for walking and carrying the player. it has nice straps to wrap around ones wrist. i think it will be problem free for years to come. i i'll slip a cassette in tonight and play it for a while.

Dear Rerooted, can I please get some pictures of the little bugger?Im sure a friend could teach you how to put pics of your cutie on Stereo2go.I still want pics for my scrapbook.Thank you in advance.80s Walkmans are def.Kristi Carr.

kristy...where i live is very rural. i have just had the computer for 4 years. all that i can do with it is what i have been able to pick up by myself. there are a couple of people who ask me such questions such as how can i get music off my computer. i am the one who guides them to a web site or two and show them how you can stream music off the web to a cassette or bring it down into a file and burn it onto a cd-r. when it comes to computer things i am very much on my own or call the internet service provider. when i get the pictures into the computer it will be me who works through the task. i am confident that it will get done but as the situation is, it just takes me more time than should be neccessary.

quote:

Originally posted by rerooted:
kristy, right now i have only about 6-7 sanyos. as you probably know they are to find info on such as dates, origonal prices,colors and things like that. i never had a camera in my life till we got a digital a few months ago. i have just started getting used to it and transporting them into the computer. the pictures so far have just been jus ok but would probably work. as a little info let me tell you the models i have. m-g90, mgr87,(2) m-g4's, m-g50, and lastly a rp-55 radio. i am pretty certain that's it. these are from the 1980's i believe. i will take a picture of them in a group and then see if i can figure out how to get them up in the web site. my favorites are the early sportsters in nice condition. on ebay there are only a few that pop up here and there. sometimes the conditions are not good. there was a black mgr-87 a few weeks ago but the price was high and the condition not very good. as soon as i am able to get pictures into the site i promise that will be the first project i will attempt. i did get one of those panasonic rx-1924's and it is a great easy to use player with nice sound qualities.

I have a Sanyo from the 80's as well-a M-GR59.

Well now lets see if we can leave the chit chat thats outside SONY and this topic. Back to more SONY ! A rather simple machine the WM-BF57 and one of the lightest walkmans so extensive use of plastic inside is apparent yet made in JAPAN. Upon listening I must admit to being surprised it actually has a above average sound helped of course by the cheap method of making lesser quality machines sound better the EQ nonetheless end result is a nice sounding machine. Fairly well featured with Variable Mega bass,Dolby B, Auto Reverse, FM/AM tuner. Interesting thing on this unit is the mega bass is what is under the EQ adjustment instead of just low and high range split. EQ only adjust the mid/low band of frequency. The on / off switch defeats the EQ.

john,,,do you remember when you got that fantastic red wm-30. on almost the same day i got my blue wm-20. i just finished putting the belt on a bit ago. it was a great feeling bringing it back to life after decades of non use. it is the quietest running motor of the several i have. it took about an hour which isn't bad for a 15 minute job for me. i have had a terrible run of failed belts lately. when i get them they are fine but after a couple of runs they stretch and are finished. i have-em piled up so i better get to work and get-em back in shape. have you tried rebelting any of the wm-10++wm-30's yet. i think i mentioned that the parts store raised shipping 5.00 so it's best to plan ahead on ones order to get all you need in one lump sum....

HI Jorge, sorry for long wait to reply. No I have not opened up my first one to repair belts. Did buy some from partstore and thanks for heads up on shipping increase. That must be a grand feeling to breath new life and make your WM-20 a teenager again WooHoo !

Here you go all my WM-1 boxed complete in good condition and working even. Got super lucky to find just a few days after paying yep $18 for this yeehaw a bargain in a box found the original Sony Sales Brochure in new condition. Sure makes the value of collectable maximized to have the extras. NOTE the price tag of $96 in 4-81 (per brochure date which usually is accurate to release of model) from Venture Retail stores that were in business starting 1970 Chicago and 90 stores in USA until closed down in 98. This unit from Missouri.
NOTE 3 More pictures page 1. I try as can in this post to add new acquisitions roughly in order of release by Sony in the post.



YES MDR-1 HEADPHONES love the model number

And now the fun paperwork, original sales brochure and owner manual.

Lovely photos of the WM-1 and sales brochure.
$18 is a fine price to pay for these.

john,,let me make a suggestion as to where to start when you dive into one. go with doc P's instructions and do a wm-10 when one of your belts stretch and it pop's off. after almost 10 of that version i find them very good practice along with doc P's instructions. i did a wm-70 which uses the same belt along with a bunch of others. it was no problem but it was different. i could suggest a few others i have done but there almost too easy. i did a little sanyo M-G90.. i took out 4 screws, pulled the back off and to my surprise there was the belt. there are only a few that i have done that are that darn easy....

Thanks rerooted good suggestions. I still have yet to tear into one to re belt it. Guess I am still in that very dangerous Manic mode of thrilling to finding and buying. Just went past 150 walkmans... oh MY ! I have a WM-10 and two WM-F10's that need belts so guess when I do will start with one of them.

AHHH a WORTHY collectable and addition to my Sony Family the WM-F107 Solar in White. It functions flawlessly tape and radio. Actually am surprised how good the sound is. Solar panel works and red light showing sufficient sunlight ( hah plenty here in S. Florida) charges battery or plays radio. Tape will only play a few minutes from internal battery but with additional AA all is spot on. I am surprised also to how small it actually is compared to a regular sports model.
The white has discolored from sun exposure some but not badly to a soft cream actually interesting look. My main goal was to find a good functioning example so settled on the slight discoleration so I could have working example.
The solar panel is very unique and lettering and face change appearance greatly depending on lighting AND ANGLE as you see in photos.

well ,here we are about 25 years later and the things that we use that are solar powered has hardly increased all. in the mid 1960's i was driving on the ohio turnpike when a wishhing sound passed me. it was a turbo powered chrysler experimental car which passed me at about 90 mph. it had a large rear central exhaust with just a small puff of vapor coming out. i never heard or saw another one in my life. to bad,,look where they are now. i was at the 1968 or 69 indy 500 auto race where 2 cars were powered by turbune engines. either would have one except for a 50 cent part failure. we haven't come very far since the days of your little cassette player....

Awh Jorge you and I are two birds of a feather ! First I was 10 yrs old in 1967 my Dad took me to Indy 500 many times as boy. I so remember and WAS THERE to see Andy Graniteli's #40 TURBINE CAR because it was so quiet when it went by to the SCREAM of piston engines. Yes it was a $6 transmission bearing that failed 4 LAPS from end or race. SAD what a technology then. They banned it from future racing because it KICKED the ASS out of all the rest.


Being a Car NUT I know very well of the Chrysler TURBINE car and yes they made 55 that were given out to 202 families across the USA as a user test over many months. SO JORGE your memory is very correct you DID see one! Funny one of the largest drawbacks was the tremendous heat exiting the rear of car ( hell it IS a JET engine) because it melted the grills of cars behind it when sitting in stop and go traffic.
GOD I want one now when some JERK cuts me off etc.. the perfect ROAD RAGE WARRIOR WEAPON especially with all the Plastic on front of cars now... what a laugh watch it deform and drip on ground.
The fourth-generation Chrysler turbine engine ran at up to 60,000 rpm and could use diesel fuel, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, JP-4 jet fuel, and even vegetable oil. The engine would run on virtually anything and the president of Mexico tested this theory by running one of the first cars--successfully--on tequila. Air/fuel adjustments were required to switch from one to another. Way ahead of its time...Here are some pics I took of car myself recently at there are only 5 left all RUNNING/working.

WOW,,,what a beautiful car. no sirrus satelite radio in those days. one would think with all the effort put into these vehicles that the final exhaust heat could have been dealt with. it would be interesting to know what happened to all that research and all that they learned from the project. they use the heat from the brakes now as partial power for the hybrids. we took a bus trip one year to indy from columbus. we just had infield tickets. it was just sort of a package deal. i remember the foggy morning which cleared nicely by race time. they infield was huge crowd of people who were "plenty" fueled themselves. weren't those the days ? just think,, that the first stereo cassette was still about 10 years away. i would say we have come alot farther in music tech. than about anything else that comes to mind. thanks for the great shots. my dad's 1960 pontiac also got left in the dust that day on the ohio turnpike...

Hi John, I have a Sony walkman wm-701c that is in like new condition. I would like to sell this but have no idea where and how much. Can you help? Thanks.

Lia, I sent you a detailed PM. Hope I have helped out, feel free to ask more questions.
JOHN

Hi JohnEdward, can you tell me the differences between the WM-BF57 and BF58 (you own the former, while I have the latter)?

Hi ya AA. I pulled this from walkmancentral
on your model.
This model was a version of the WM-B52 fitted with an AM/FM stereo radio. Similar comments apply for both versions, though it is interesting to note that the radio version is no larger than the model without, though neither could be thought of as especially compact by Sony standards. The WM-BF58 effectively replaced the “floating” WM-F35, despite the fact that it did not float. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

I do not know much about your model or how it looks. Here is exact list of features taken from looking at my BF-57
Mega Bass Low and High sliders with On / Off switch
AM/FM
Tape Radio switch, AM, FM mono FM Stereo switch also works Dolby On or off
Norm/CRO2, One headphone Jack, Tuning and Vol. on top of unit
Direction Switch FWD REV
Mode switch continuous play or auto reverse 1x
It is Extremely light weight must be no metal parts to speak of other than tape control buttons. Hope that helps.

Here is walkman central.com info on WM-BF52 that is yours without radio.
This basic “sports” model replaced the WM-35 at the bottom of the sports water-resistant range. The “floating” capability had gone, but it was replaced by something else, a built-in solar alarm clock. Presumably aimed at the buyer who liked the WM-F107 “Solar Walkman” but could not possibly afford it, the WM-B52 was in simple terms a large, basic cassette player with a solar-powered digital watch set into the cassette door. The watch and the cassette player did not interact in any way, and electrically were quite separate. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The cassette player was very simple. Based on a generic mechanism of not particularly compact dimensions, it was not the last word in sophistication but gave reasonable results all the same. A prominent push switch next to the tape transport keys selected either normal or chrome/metal tape, The switch was prominent not because it was thought to be an important feature which would be in constant use, but to fill the gap where the radio/tape selector would be in the version fitted with a radio (WM-BF58). Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

The solar alarm clock was designed for use for a number of sporting pastimes, featuring a clock, calendar, alarm and stopwatch with lap function. However, the tiny display meant that it was not especially easy to use. The suggested use for the alarm was for sun tanning, where the solar power aspect would really come into its own. There were two drawbacks here (three if you include skin cancer). Firstly, only the clock was solar powered, the alarm was powered by a tiny battery (which could only be replaced by a Sony workshop). Secondly, the alarm was not very loud, and because the clock and the cassette player did not interact, there was little chance of hearing it if you were listening to a tape at the time. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.

Despite being very basic, the WM-B52 was fitted with two headphone sockets. Once an essential feature of all Walkman models, the WM-B52 (and the WM-BF58, with radio) were the only models in the range that year to include this feature. Text copyright © Walkman Central. Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.