Excellent Everyday Use Walkman?

[Happs]

I found this website while doing a search for older Sony Walkmans because I've become frustrated by the cheap feel, disposability and overall poor quality of new electronics these days. I would like to purchase a high quality, reliable Walkman for daily use walking around the block for an hour. Excellent AM reception, digital tuning/presets and a tape player that won't eat tapes are a must. I've owned three Walkmans in my life. The first was a Sony SRF-M70 (Sports model) that was very good for a few years until the AM band went dead. I then purchased a Sony WM-FX453 regular black walkman which works well but feels cheap compared to the ones from the 80's and early 90's and I don't like the small volume control button. I then bought a Sony WM-FS497 Sports Walkman which has a nice big volume control button, which is great when you are walking, but both the AM and FM band have weak signals and the tape deck eats tapes a lot. So from my experience, I've come to the conclusion that an older model Sports walkman with digital tuning is probably what I need. I assume that only the Sports models have the big volume control button which is important to me. Is that correct? I've seen pictures of older regular black digital tuning Walkmans, which looks really well made with big preset buttons. Maybe they have a big volume control button too. Should I look for only Made in Japan models? I'd appreciate any advice on models, years, how much to pay etc. Thanks in advance

 

[Jasper994]

Welcome to Head-Fi!

...whoa! people still use those things?

hehehe, sorry, ummm don't be terribly supprised if you don't get a lot of replies. I think only a couple people here still have tapes. Most people here use CD, hard drive, vinyl or DVD (DVD-A and SACD). Good luck!

 

[19lexicon78]

digital tuner..i don't think there are 80's sony walkmans with a digital tuner...perhaps i'm wrong..

go for the f-series..lovely but expensive

 

[YamiTenshi]

Wow, I thought I was the only one that still had tapes. I use to own an Aiwa tape player but it died a few years ago and now I rely on my cd player for music.... would be interested in getting a tape player again though so I can take my tapes out of storage.

 

[leon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happs I've become frustrated by the cheap feel, disposability and overall poor quality of new electronics these days.

In that sense you're left with very few choices, whether you want tape or some other format. Everybody's into cost reduction and they're not going to bring back the luxurious bubble-economy designs from the late 80s-early 90s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happs Excellent AM reception, digital tuning/presets and a tape player that won't eat tapes are a must.

Current Japanese cassette walkmans are mostly engineered with language learning in mind (witness the flood of cue/review and A-B repeat inclusion). What we used to call hi-end models no longer exist. Even harder to find one with a decent tuner built-in (good tuners are available by themselves though - you need a pocket radio).

The best suggestion I could give is to scout eBay for hi-end models before 1998.