Walkman Parts? WM-10II Battery Cover

[kirbenvost]

Hello everyone.

I've recently gotten into Walkmans again, haven't used one since I was a kid. So far I have three, a WM-F65, WM-7, and WM-10II, but I've yet to get any of them in good working order. I've given up on the WM-F65 as I disconnected a couple wires while trying to replace the belt and my soldering skills are no good. I'm too afraid of ruining the WM-7 to attempt a repair as well.

Now I have the WM-10II in less than mint, but almost working condition. It plays, but needs a new belt, I'm fairly certain it's stretched. So I'm going to try my hand at repairing it and hopefully the third time will be the charm.

Another concern is that it's missing the battery cover. Are there any collectors here who might have spare parts, or can anyone recommend a place to look? I'm already a member at Stereo2Go, but it's a pretty small community and there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity.

I hope someone can help, I'm looking forward to hearing my cassettes again. :)

[ke4mcl]

you might want to troll ebay for a broken walkman. i think that wm-10iii was one of those mini aluminum units? some of those suffer from a gear problem so you may find one cheap thats broken. the tiny little screws sony used on those aluminum units are hard to find as well.

[kirbenvost]

Yeah, it's one of those compact models. I wasn't aware of any gear problems with this particular model, but the belts usually need replacing. I've been watching ebay and will continue doing so, but it's not often I see one go for really cheap. I just thought I'd try and see if anyone has any spare parts they're willing to sell.

[R.Daneel]

Wow I'm sure that folk at stereo2go would be glad to hear that! If you didn't find what you needed to find there, then you didn't try hard enough.

The battery cover for the WM-10 will be hard to find though and most units come without it. Unless the seller clearly states it comes with the cover, it will be without it. If you were unsuccessful at replacing the belt on the WM-10, don't even think about disassembling the WM-7 yourself. It's a 3-motor mechanism and quite complex for a personal stereo. As for belts, go to stereo2go and find a member named DocP and tell him I sent you and he will give you a good deal on what you need. Tell him Tuna is sending him best regards.

Best regards to you too of course!

[Pacific Stereo]

Yeah, WM-7s are a pain. The trouble with this battery hatch is it's easily lost. I don't think I have any more of these.

[kirbenvost]

Thanks R. Daneel/Tuna! I actually just heard back from DocP on Stereo2Go and he is going to sell me a battery cover for a WM-10. :)

The WM-7 is in very good cosmetic condition including the battery cover, it just needs a belt as far as I can tell, but yes, I'm afraid to try to fix it. It was actually the WM-F65 that I unsuccessfully tried to repair. There are a lot more wires inside due to the radio circuitry, and they didn't go ultra-compact with it to save cost. So it was those wires that caused trouble and I'm no good at soldering them back on... But I've actually been able to replace the belt in the WM-10II with no problems. All I need is that battery cover and I've got a unit in pretty good condition. :)

[R.Daneel]

Good to hear that! WM-10 is a rather nice, if not very sturdy, little machine so how about some pictures?

[kirbenvost]

Sure! It's in pretty good shape, not perfect, but good enough for me. It could still use a little exterior cleaning but I wanted to get it working first. I won this on eBay for $20.50 USD! Probably so cheap because of the missing cover, and someone also wrote on it with a marker but I was able to rub most of it off already. Sorry some of the pictures are bad, all I have is a camera phone.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3010/5821818781_26deb69cb2.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/5821819219_74d53ce464.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2372/5821819711_ea1bd061d0.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2265/5822384476_10e9818ffc.jpg

Pretty nice unit. It's exactly what I wanted. Now I need one with radio too! Too bad I ruined the WM-F65. It has recording functionality too.

While I was at it I decided to take pictures of the WM-7 too, if anyone's interested in taking it off my hands for money/trade. It comes with the case and strap as well, and even the original paperwork. Unfortunately it doesn't have the original remote headphones, but it has some cheap newer Sony models with it.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3158/5821820301_36b4bb13b2.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5104/5822385122_9f1c3af170.jpg

Everything looks perfect inside:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/5821820953_7016e1477b.jpg

Except for a small amount of battery leakage, but the unit still powers up, it just doesn't play, it continually auto-reverses instead.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3395/5821821279_78d4cedff7.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5143/5822386144_5f86ed8f52.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5191/5822386472_b3c79dc43a.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5149/5821818339_e93784a46c.jpg

[macman007]

I have a yellow Sports Walkman,..AM-FM-Cassette that sounds pretty good. It' supposed to be "all weather". How does this unit rate against traditional Walkman's?

I also have a Panasonic "Walkman Type" unit from 1979 that records and plays, it also has inboard microphones (stereo left and right as well). The headphones are crap but when I use modern headphones it sounds great. Any thoughts on this one? Were the Panasonic units any good or crap?


Had an Aiwa..crappy unit overall,.. fell apart in a few months, sounded ok for what it was. I think the warranty was only 6 months anyway.

[R.Daneel]

That's awesome kirbenvost! Thank you for the pics! It's hard to imagine that Sony was able to make dream a reality in 1985 with the WM-7. It was the first remote controlled walkman that had to be IC-logic as a result. That was really something.

[kirbenvost]

No problem, I'm happy to share photos! The WM-7 is an amazing unit, I just wish I could hear it play.

macman007, I'm afraid I'm no expert, but there were many different 'Sports Walkman' models, the quality would depend on the particular model. Many of them were based on standard models as well, so I'm sure some of them were very good.

Panasonic has a pretty good reputation I believe. I had one of their cassette players as a kid and never had any problems with it whatsoever. It kept on working until I made the move to CD.

I've read that Aiwa used to be a good brand until they were bought out by Sony, and the quality went downhill after that.

[kirbenvost]

DocP sends his regards as well, by the way. :)

[R.Daneel]

Thank you!