The Legendary Sony Walkman Professional WM-D6C

So this just arrived today...


A real beauty, highly regarded Walkman and cassette player in general.

Did a down and dirty basic bias adjustment on a screw by the playhead while using a brand new colbalt cassette by The Orb. Might later do a more intricate tuneup if I figure out how to do so. Sounds great as is with my quick adjustment.

Does anyone else have any recollection of this device, or anything they'd like to share?

 

I had a couple of friends who had one. I borrowed it once for a show where a bigger deck wouldn't have been convenient. I had a d5. Still have it and it works fine.

 

Had a Sony 158 too. Good machine.

 

Had a Sony TC 153-SD, a fantastic field cassette recorder. Reliable and well built, sounded great.

 

Still use mine occasionally to play cassettes in the car. Wish I had more of a use for it but I'm keeping it around. Great machine.

 

I have a Sony Walkman Professional WM-D6 - the model before your WM-D6C. The only difference, as far as I can tell, is that the D6C has Dolby_B&C, whereas the D6 only has Dolby_B. It is a solid machine, almost as good as my Yamaha K-950 deck (which is a very good system deck). Uses 4xAA batteries, so if the rechargeables run out it's easy to get it running again quickly.

I've used the Walkman for much live taping, it's produced some great results. Nice having manual recording level control. All buttons easy to get to. Much better than the minidisk machines that replaced them. Enjoy.

 

Nice. I had the lowly (but smaller and easier to pants) WMD3 back in the day.

 

Since this thing is a bit of a battery eater, I have a noob question. I ordered a generic WM-D6C power supply off ebay, but while I'm waiting for it, I have a 10v adapter for a Sega Genesis console with the correct polarity, the Walkman takes 6v. Could I use this adapter temporaraly to power the Walkman and save on batteries till the new adapter arrives, or will the 10v fry it?

 

Don't do it.

I have 2 DC6's. Use one on my PC and one in the car. Line Out. If you Google, there are a few folks who do mods to them (or did, that is).

While the D6C is not a dual capstan or 3-head, it is pretty solid in build and sound quality. And for the time with the resources, Sony fit quite a bit into that small package, esp. the earlier ones without surface mount technology.

 

friend had one- use the mini "stereo" mic. made some great bootleg concert recordings.

 

Yup, I have one, nothing professional or legendary about it.

 

Yes, you are right.
It is just very well designed and engineered, and quite solid built.
It provides top-notch sound quality, bear in mind it's an analog tape recorder.
Tape hiss is very low, use chrome or metal tapes, and Dolby B or C.
Wow and flutter is very good, thanks to quartz control and a feedback loop. It keeps speed constant until the batteries are realy exhausted, and then slows down and stops within seconds, but as long as it can draw some current from the batteries, it transports the tape without slowing down or increased wow and flutter.
Plus, when in playback mode, you can adjust the tape speed (pitch adjustment knob).
It's not much larger than the cassette itself. Considering, what is built inside, how tiny and portable it is, it really is a masterpiece of engineering.

 

Looks like mine is starting to die out a bit. Won't rewind, just seems to get stuck or jammed. Sort of fast forwards, seems like struggling, often stops after a few seconds. Is the motor dying, does it need new belts? Some online info says it might be the speed control chip.

Edit:
Streamable - free video publishing

 

I think this problem is repairable.

 

I have one and it’s a joy to own. The quality of the design, engineering and build makes you yearn for the format to become relevant now, so Sony consider manufacturing again. The BBC issued their reporters with them for interviews and deemed the recordings to be of broadcast quality.

 

Sounds like you adjusted the alignment, the direction the head is pointing. While it's not devastating to tweak on it, if it was factory set before, you've now made the deck record with bad alignment. To set it properly needs a calibration cassette and phase meter, or at least a tape recorded with someone's recently-serviced high-end deck and a mono switch box.

Bias is a signal applied to the tape while recording. Normal, chrome, and metal tapes each need differing amounts of bias applied, which is why you have the switch.

Cool find, Dolby only certified good quality recorders to use Dolby C.

 

You already got the "don't do it", but I would go as far as making sure the adapter you ordered is a regulated AC adapter, or even a more modern switch-mode power adapter. Old-school power adapters will have a rating like 6V, 900mA, but if you don't connect that exact load, the unregulated power adapter may put out significantly more voltage.

(Just saw this is an old thread)

 

Why?? If something makes wonderful music from a cassette for cryin' out loud? Don't forget the cool factor peeps. I've had folks drop to the floor to pick their jaws up after listening to one of mine with a vintage Maxell, Sony or TDK tape made on my system. I have some vintage TDK MA-XG's recorded when I had a Grace F9e cartridge, and man was that a sweet ride on the old Thorens/SME table

I have several of these dinosaur machines, and have to give a shout out to the step sister WM-FX28, maybe because it's a barely used and in excellent shape example, it sounds fantastic, no Dolby used. I hate Dolby unless you have a really noisy recording that needs it's help. I love my old school players, and will be very sad when they no longer work

 

I love it, made lots of nice recordings with it, but there's always someone on a cassette appreciation that has to tell us how useless and obsolete cassette is, hence the sarcastic comment.

FWIW, the recording below was made with both a WMD6C and a Tascam DR-100. The cassette just sounded *right* and got the vibe of the session much better, so it got used instead...
Rehearsal at The Joint, London, 2011, by Shak Cohen

 

Still have a Walkman, recently played a tape I had recorded from vinyl (Joshua Tree) and was impressed by the sound. The record was mint, and I used Maxell XLII tape. Nice.

 

I listen to cassettes every night while reading while my wife watches TV. Pair of Sennheisers and a WMD6C is apretty sweet way to end my day

 

Just plugged mine into the main system for the first time in months. Sounds wonderful. Holds up very nicely compared to my Nak ZX-7. There's good reason why they still demand top dollar in the marketplace.

 

Wish mine still worked. Fired it up recently and the lights come on but it won't move the tape. Wish someone still repaired these since I've got a bunch of live masters that I made with it that I need to rip to digital.

 

Like this?

https://www.amazon.com/PK-Power-Adapter-400MA-switching-supply/dp/B01IT70RL2