Beltin’ - Fixing the S2 Walkman
In this conclusion to the award winning and critically acclaimed Sports Walkman video trilogy - I attempt to repair my WM-FS555 S2 personal stereo cassette player. An edge of your seat thriller you won’t want to miss.
https://youtu.be/aLJNNHWEInw
Incidentally, the word Beltin’ seems peculiar to my part of the UK. It's used as a synonym for an enthusiastic ‘good’. As in ‘I had meat pie and chips for tea, it was beltin’. However on this occasion it might also refer to the fix for this Walkman...as in, 'it needed a new...'
Take care and enjoy whatever remains of your weekend.
UPDATE: Shortened the video by a minute by taking out an unpopular scuff removal section. The updated video is the one embedded and linked to above.
Comments (38)
Those Sony MDR-V700DJ headphones are terrible. Granted they look cool like straight out of Back To The Future II but they have nothing but insane bass and they hurt like hell on your skull and ears quickly. In comparison, the dorky looking Sony MDR-CD 580 have incredibly good sound and are virtually imperceptible.
I’ve never tried those, the silver headphones in the video are my old MDR-1R which are now falling apart.
Hey everybody, it appears Tony from Cassette Comeback has removed all of his videos. I'm not sure why, but if anybody does, I would greatly appreciate some light shed on the matter. Send him some love, however you can.
Tony's channel and videos are back, but the comments are all turned off.
It’s a really nice piece of kit, too!! Cheers Matt. Lee
Great episode again! When working on mine, instead of desoldering the motor wires (and reading the service manual, like a smart person should have done), I removed the tape head's plastic bracket, which is held by two screws. It was probably reckless of me to do, but fortunately the bracket fits in snugly and playback is unaffected to my ear. Great little machine! Now I just have to fix the auto-reverse that tends to enter an endless forward/reverse loop.
My poor heart when you brasso’d the text on the orange screen! Trigger warning needed there, haha (I jest)
Good fix Mat, well done. Q: You mentioned that one model had headphones (over the ear type) what if any did the other models have? I got the impression the were none???
That’s how I read it as well, one with headphones, one without. I’d always choose the one without, bundled headphones were usually rubbish.
But does it float!? BTW, I got a Toshiba Aurex "Walky" imported from Japan, and I'd say it's the best of all the currently available Walkman-type players. It has a lot more bass than the FiiO, and there is virtually no audible hiss or buzz in the audio circuitry at normal listening levels. The plastic case feels solid without being excessively heavy. And the speed was correct without needing to adjust it. To me, overall it is on par with the last-of-the-line Sony Walkmans.
I’ve got an old BNIB Walky that I plan to take a look at sometime. It’s a nice looking player.
Very nice fix. I’ve seen the horrible mess the belt leaves so many times I nearly started clapping when one whole bit came out with ease. That really is a chunky player alright.
Don't underestimate 'Old Blokes', good sir. I'm one of them. Just Another Excellent Video. I think you may have been having too much fun with this one.....
Good video, but it feels weird without a 'talking to camera' introduction. I understand why you didn't do one - it's a repair video of something we've already seen, so there isn't some big story to tell. But the intro to camera makes your videos feel more personal and friendly. This one gets right down to business. That's not necessarily bad, but it's different.
I also think a lot of people turn off when they see an old bloke. On this occasion though it’s all about keeping things simple. It takes a few hours off a shoot if I’m not in it.
Fascinating video and great job with that repair - 'Mend It Mark' is going to have up his game! Have a great week ahead, Mat.
Amazing and rather sad that a "budget" Walkman has a far superior tape mechanism than so called top of the line ones these days.
• I suspect this video will get many more views than the prior one. • The Fix Your Audio card is very cute with the cat curled up in the tool box. You can't repair anything correctly without a cat. • I briefly thought my eyeglasses needed wiped at the eye adjustment scene 😅 • I enjoy the recurring cast of Brasso, the wow and flutter meter, and the handy-dandy cleaning sticks. • Belt replacement videos are engrossing and satisfying when the results are this good. • Appropriate to prop-up the circuit board with a cassette case. 😀 • I love the many apt uses of the term 'beltin' here. • This is a nicely-done video - educational and informational. • Are there People's Choice Awards for YouTube videos? • That Mega Bass really is something - could it max-out the capacity of some speakers? Take care 🤍 🤍
It's always nice seeing your optimism Grace
"Do not adjust your eyes. Focus will resume shortly." Really made me chuckle.
I thought the term 'beltin' time' was a reference to the Fantastic Four's Thing's, "It's clobbering time." Very good video that almost makes me want to crack open an old Walkman and commence beltin' time myself. (sigh) I think I'll stick to Apple Music and my AirPods Pro instead.
Satisfying "click" when you put it back together. This mechanism is so lovely!
Mat, please don’t ever stop using regional terms like beltin’ because it’s a fun bonus in trying to figure out what they mean.😀 Beltin’ was a fairly easy one I think.
Looking forward to the first YouTube comment saying you did not get any awards for those videos. You should definitely use this description on the final video description. Just for funs sake.
It’s just a joke for patrons, I learned long ago that humour doesn’t work with the wider youtube audience.
The wow and flutter of this simple mechanic is very impressive. I think that is mostly due to the use of this BLDC motor. Good design.
That repair video was a lot better than some stuff these so called "experts" put out on Youtube.
Did you notice that you also rubbed a bit of the print off the display while polishing it? I bet that will get some viewers really "engaged"
I didn’t notice until you mentioned it.
I enjoyed that, Mat. A nice little machine and a satisfying fix. Nice video. SB.
When wires are too short to do a proper service, you can extend them by soldering your own wires to them. I have an entire little box with flexibe wires that are about 10-20 cm long, just for that purpose. They start collecting once you start doing repairs like that regulary.
I'm indeed impressed by the low W&F! Probably while moving it, it will get a bit worse though, especially turning the walkman into the direction that the motor and capstans move, but still: it's clear they got it alright at that time!
Yes the W&F is affected by movement as you’d expect. I did shoot a section to demo this - but the W&F segment was getting too long so I didn’t include it.
Beltin' video 👍
Lovely video to brighten up a rainy Sunday. Thank You, Mat.
Very nice fix, well worth the effort. Great video, as always.
That is a very nice motor. It is so flat because it is a brushless 3 phase motor. If you solder the wires back incorrectly it might be running backwards :) Same technology they used in late floppy disk drives. Nowadays they went back to conventional DC motors unfortunately.
Same type of motor in the Sony tck333es/970es but with a little more weight to the flywheels heheh