Sony Pro Walkman plays back at double speed?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

> The model is WM-D6C and it's just about the only
> decent thing Sony ever made.

You're kidding, aren't you? Sony's made lots of great stuff.

Two possibilities. Is there any chance the fast-wind button is depressed, even a
little? Probably not.

More likely, something's wrong with the motor servo. Sorry, but you'll need to
have it repaired.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

William Sommerwerck wrote:

> Two possibilities. Is there any chance the fast-wind button is depressed, even
> a little? Probably not.
>
> More likely, something's wrong with the motor servo. Sorry, but you'll need to
> have it repaired.


I thought I had damaged mine in a move, because it was playing
off-speed. It turned out that one of the other transport button (maybe
pause) was engaged, ever so slightly. It works fine now.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Don Cooper wrote:
> William Sommerwerck wrote:
>
> > Two possibilities. Is there any chance the fast-wind button is
depressed, even
> > a little? Probably not.
> >
> > More likely, something's wrong with the motor servo. Sorry, but
you'll need to
> > have it repaired.
>
>
> I thought I had damaged mine in a move, because it was playing
> off-speed. It turned out that one of the other transport button
(maybe
> pause) was engaged, ever so slightly. It works fine now.

Mine used to do really strange things when the pinch roller got dirty..
eventually it was tracked down to not enough back tension on the feed
reel.

Nice machine, but if you open it up a million tiny springs explode
all over the room. Best taken to $ony $ervice.
Some of them were modified for crystal sync.. check that.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

robin wrote:
> Well, my Pro Walkman has obviously gone senile with age. Whether
> powered from batteries or AC adaptor it now plays back cassettes at
> double speed. I had not used it in some time, and require it only to
> dub some vital tapes onto my computer and hence archive onto DVD.
>
> If this problem sounds familiar to anyone, and if a solution is
> forthcoming, I'd be thankful. The playback quality is much better
than
> other decks I can reasonably buy in this day and age. And the thought
> of spending humdreds of euro just to archive a couple dozen tapes
does
> not thrill me.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
>
> P.S. The model is WM-D6C and it's just about the only decent thing
> Sony ever made.
>
> -- robin

Check that the varispeed switch on the back is not on. Otherwise the
chances are that the motor servo chip has become faulty. If that is the
case have it repaired at a Sony service centre although it may not be
economic to do so.

Steve

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

robin wrote:
> Well, my Pro Walkman has obviously gone senile with age. Whether
> powered from batteries or AC adaptor it now plays back cassettes at
> double speed. I had not used it in some time, and require it only to
> dub some vital tapes onto my computer and hence archive onto DVD.
>
> If this problem sounds familiar to anyone, and if a solution is
> forthcoming, I'd be thankful. The playback quality is much better than
> other decks I can reasonably buy in this day and age. And the thought
> of spending humdreds of euro just to archive a couple dozen tapes does
> not thrill me.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
>
> P.S. The model is WM-D6C and it's just about the only decent thing
> Sony ever made.
>

Someone from Blighty posted this in sci.electronics.repair several months
ago. Was that you? I don't recall the name, or if he ever got it fixed. I
suggested the varispeed control, but he said it was not the prob'.

I have a couple of these for parts in Nashville, if that helps.

jak
> -- robin

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <HGxJd.25430$8W4.13440@bignews6.bellsouth.net>,
jakdedert <jdedert@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>robin wrote:
>> Well, my Pro Walkman has obviously gone senile with age. Whether
>> powered from batteries or AC adaptor it now plays back cassettes at
>> double speed. I had not used it in some time, and require it only to
>> dub some vital tapes onto my computer and hence archive onto DVD.
>>
>> If this problem sounds familiar to anyone, and if a solution is
>> forthcoming, I'd be thankful. The playback quality is much better than
>> other decks I can reasonably buy in this day and age. And the thought
>> of spending humdreds of euro just to archive a couple dozen tapes does
>> not thrill me.
>
>Someone from Blighty posted this in sci.electronics.repair several months
>ago. Was that you? I don't recall the name, or if he ever got it fixed. I
>suggested the varispeed control, but he said it was not the prob'.

I _think_ that these machines, like the Uhers, have a reference oscillator
driving a synchronous motor, rather than a DC motor with a tach and PLL.
If that is the case, look for the waveform of the oscillator to be
screwed up with a lot of second harmonic. The schematic does not have
pictures of what the waveform should look like at various points, though,
which can make it a little harder.

The service manual on these is not very expensive and they are actually not
all that difficult to work on once you have them apart. Getting them apart
and back together is the time-consuming and fiddly bit.

If you don't want to work on it yourself, the guys at Washington Professional
Systems used to work on them a lot and they have done a couple repairs to
the things for friends recently. There are still people using those.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Scott Dorsey wrote:
> In article <HGxJd.25430$8W4.13440@bignews6.bellsouth.net>,
> jakdedert <jdedert@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>> robin wrote:
>>> Well, my Pro Walkman has obviously gone senile with age. Whether
>>> powered from batteries or AC adaptor it now plays back cassettes at
>>> double speed. I had not used it in some time, and require it only to
>>> dub some vital tapes onto my computer and hence archive onto DVD.
>>>
>>> If this problem sounds familiar to anyone, and if a solution is
>>> forthcoming, I'd be thankful. The playback quality is much better
>>> than other decks I can reasonably buy in this day and age. And the
>>> thought of spending humdreds of euro just to archive a couple dozen
>>> tapes does not thrill me.
>>
>> Someone from Blighty posted this in sci.electronics.repair several
>> months ago. Was that you? I don't recall the name, or if he ever
>> got it fixed. I suggested the varispeed control, but he said it was
>> not the prob'.
>
> I _think_ that these machines, like the Uhers, have a reference
> oscillator driving a synchronous motor, rather than a DC motor with a
> tach and PLL.
> If that is the case, look for the waveform of the oscillator to be
> screwed up with a lot of second harmonic. The schematic does not have
> pictures of what the waveform should look like at various points,
> though, which can make it a little harder.
>
> The service manual on these is not very expensive and they are
> actually not all that difficult to work on once you have them apart.
> Getting them apart and back together is the time-consuming and fiddly
> bit.
>
> If you don't want to work on it yourself, the guys at Washington
> Professional Systems used to work on them a lot and they have done a
> couple repairs to the things for friends recently. There are still
> people using those. --scott

I still use mine...actually got a rental on it the other day when I client
asked for the meeting I was running be recorded. The thing is at least 20
years old, and I've never replaced any of the rubber in it, but it still
sounds good. I doubt it would pass any stringent quality checks....

jak

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

robin wrote:
> Well, my Pro Walkman has obviously gone senile with age. Whether
> powered from batteries or AC adaptor it now plays back cassettes at
> double speed. I had not used it in some time, and require it only to
> dub some vital tapes onto my computer and hence archive onto DVD.
>
> If this problem sounds familiar to anyone, and if a solution is
> forthcoming, I'd be thankful. The playback quality is much better than
> other decks I can reasonably buy in this day and age. And the thought
> of spending humdreds of euro just to archive a couple dozen tapes does
> not thrill me.

Capture it at double speed and slow the file down in your computer?  

-Vin

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

> > Well, my Pro Walkman has obviously gone senile with age. Whether
> > powered from batteries or AC adaptor it now plays back cassettes at
> > double speed.

Don't these have a variable speed switch right near the voltage jack? I
would check that first.

Nathan

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

robin <escalation746@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Thanks for all of the helpful replies. This is a great group when
>people are not talking politics.

Oh yes... also make sure the pinch roller is engaging properly. That can
cause some weird problems on these machines.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Hello, yes I have the same problems. I have used mine for 20 years, many professional recordings for Radio Sweden, and am really sad to lose this old friend. A repair man looked at it, and said it was not repairable, and talked about some elctronbic components. So, I think I have to give up even if I'd love to transfer many good cassetes to digital systems. And this is the only machine I trusted.

Leifol@yahoo.com

The problem is that the batteries only produce 6 volts and there's a circuit which boosts that. According to a Sony tech I spoke to if it goes wrong (as it can due to using an incorrect external power supply) a typical symptom is wrong speed.

It is reparable but expensive -- and not really worth it in this age of solid state recorders.

I have had several of these models but unfortunately the circuitry evolved over the years making it hard to cannibalise the broken ones I have into one working one.