That was a tricky repair. I'd have stopped at the first sign of soldering required. Nice job.

The "train" setting tells us a bit about Japanese society.

AIWA made some sick hi-end units back then before it was acquired by Sony.

Also given the amount of solder work you do, I would recommend getting a de-soldering pump (like the Hakko FR-301). It makes de-soldering much less likely to do damage. It's a fantastic investment imo.

Japanese second hand market again showing their traits here. Second hand in Japan is pretty much one that looks unused or very very well kept

Really impressive you kept going and managed such lovely macro shots. I’d have chucked it through the window out of frustration. Much respect.

I’ve found Aiwa models to be a bit of an inbetween of the sony’s ease and panasonic nightmare of repair. The Aiwa models have an easy way to get to the belt but you have to get certain things off to maintain it entirely

that train feature is awesome. I'm super annoyed by "leaky headphones"

I know you probably wish these repairs didn't run into so many obstacles _but_ from the viewer standpoint I love it. Makes it much more interesting plus the payout is bigger if/when you successfully fix it.

As always, hard to find more mesmerising repair videos. You make repairing look so "the right thing to do a Friday night".

That was a great video, man. Thanks for showing us that persistence in the face of obstacles can sometimes get the job done.

I love these kind of videos as I'm trying to find the easiest Walkman type cassette player to maintain

Thanks for the vid, as always. At one point when I was younger, I had an obsession with Panasonic cassette players. Some of them did really sound better than anything that was on the market at that time.

Great video. You're one of the few channels where if I see you posted a video I will pause any other video I'm watching to watch it hahah.

Nice, you're really making me want to get a portable tape deck now, and go through all my old cassettes, and start collecting new ones.

I came across your channel about two months ago and its certainly been an inspiration to delve in repairing cassette players. I managed to fix both a Panasonic RQ-S15D and and X-05. What really surprises me the most is when used with modern headphones and noise cancelling just how good these portable cassette players sound. Its been a very worth while journey. I do agree though, having to remove the PCB is a pain.

I am using Panasonic RQ-NX10. In my opinion it's much better value than Sony nowadays. Quality is superb, it has aluminium body (like yours SX20), excellent sound quality and full logic control and of course - excellent playback quality. With one major benefit - it costs ~15 USD/10 GBP to buy and another 5 USD to repair it... :) Also it's using one AAA battery (non of that gumstick absurd) and it can play 20-30 cassettes on one battery.

Hey Colin, it's Michelle. It's Going good, thank you.

A new video, just what my day needed 😊

Looked like you couldn't catch a break but glad you got it working! Love your videos

About wow and flutter - clean capstan and pinch roller with IPA very thoroughly. It seems like those Panasonics like to stick some filth onto capstan especially - all my 4 Panasonics had that issue. :)

My grandad used to love collecting these walkmans and panasonic for him was the king. Ahh the memories 👏🏻

Your dedication to portables is impressive.

As I watch this I am reminded of walking past electronic stores in New York City with Windows filled with boomboxes, walkmans, radios, televisions, cassette players for hardly any money at all. Digital audio has changed so much in the past 20+ years.

Thanks for the Video. After changing the Belts i had similar problems with the clutch. Your video made me aware of the Problem. I was able to fix the disc with some superglue after i search the parts for some time on the floor. I am satisfied enough with the result.

i’m loving these videos , it shows i’m not the only retro audio lover , thanx for the inspiration, still looking for some off my old walkmans ( i was in to quality equipment, back then ) i love the search for “my” sony WM-ex 808 HG and have some bids out , i hope that i can get it for a nice price

Really excellent video, thank you so much for your efforts and for sharing all the successes and failures. I learned a lot. Not sure if I'm going to attempt a repair on my old RQ-SX15 now, but at least I know what I'm in for :)

What a timing! I have two Panasonics for which I did already buy the FYA belts, but the thought of desoldering and resoldering put me of. Gonna give it a try soon after watching this vdieo !

Walkman vids are the best! Keep it up!

This was my last cassette player before going MiniDisc. Brings back memories.

Got the same machine with the same fault me thinks but never had the courage to open it up but i have now after seeing this video!! Many thanks

Such a satisfying and we'll done video as always Thank you

Nice repair! At least you managed to find an even better one in the end!

I have an earlier model, the RQ-SX1V, purchased at the student co-op of the school I was studying at in Japan. It got a lot of use on my hour train commutes each way. I lost the chip battery and charger on the flight home. Sadly, it no longer works, even with the AA battery attachment. In 1994, it was the coolest thing to see a player that was barely larger than the cassette it was playing.

Love those videos brother you inspire me all the time to take apart stuff and try to fix it❤❤!

Great video, Collin. As usual 👌

Wow! I just combined two non-working blue and silver versions of these. Works great now with new belts. Thankfully mine had not melted. The unsoldering and resoldering is a pain!

great job fixing the player and nice tight editing!

Thank you for your video. Since I already have some repair knowledge, I'm now going to get a Panasonic SX35 and try to repair it. I hope I won't be disappointed. Have a nice day ;-)

Well done on repairing that player 👍

Nice repair! Your videos inspired me to pick up a couple Walkmans from Japan. I got a WM-WE01 model from with the original wireless remote and wireless headphones (looked super futuristic at the time) but the batteries corroded in the headphone portion and broke them. Unfortunate, but I got the walkman part to work and it sounds great! I also picked up a WM-EX5 with all the accessories and I use that as my daily driver. I believe those guys on Ebay go to Yahoo Auctions to buy walkmans, restore them, and sell them at those high prices to make a profit.

Thank you. This helps me a lot, as I am looking at learning how to repair Panasonic mid-range steel-bodied units just like this one~! Just need to learn a bit more about soldering - which you seem to take for granted. 😀

Awesome video 👍👍I love retro tech👍👍👍I can't wait for the next video

Nice video and what a journey! I had an SX60 in the late 90s and to be completely honest, the older Aiwa and Sony units sound just so much better than those late Panasonic. Highly recommend you to get and restore an SX60 with its original remote with colour display, just to admire the industrial design of it. Also the rewind/FF speed of it was just INSANE!

Superbe work!!! In Patagonia Argentina almost no person do services and with 600% inflation we can not buy repairs in USA or Asia. All are send to recycling or garbage. Iwas born way before transistors and made services decades ago. Gracias

I love your repair videos

great stuff, thanks for this

Loved mine back in the day...

You have the patience of a Saint!

I had that exact model, great memories.

Great job. These end of the cassette era players are so cool. Glad you could bring it back to life. Btw, not to armchair quarterback you, but I've found that plastic firearm picks (look like dentist tools, but nylon plastic) and cleaning patches are perfect for cleaning up gooey belts. You can get in tight to clean, with less risk of damage and leaving fibers behind.

Thank you so much for your detailed repair video. I am repairing a rq sx87v and after replacing the belts and reassembling the motor wont start and has the same issue as you encoutered at 9:48. I was going to give up the repair if not for your video. Your video is the most detailed and comprehensive of all the ones on youtube. And i had no idea you can buy replacement clutches which my one has has split as well.

Great video, thanks! Maybe I'll look for one to buy for myself

I had lots of Sony Walkmans , some top of the line, but once i had a Panasonic i never went back.

Woow,Amazing job.Thank You!!!

I once had a Panasonic player which is really good ❤️❤️❤️

You have massive patience 👍

I remember picking one up in the late 90's in Taiwan for ~6000 NTD. Can't remember the model number but the visual aesthetics are similar. I still have an in-line remote from another unit that died from what I think was electrical shorting/grounding issues.

Im 16, and I find all this retro tech so interesting. Macs, tape players and CRT's. I love how innovative they are and how they still hold up today.

Panasonic players are fun to work on, although desoldering is unavoidable. Awesome motors and design however. If you want a real challenge try a belt replacement on an Aiwa HS-G08. Can I suggest you use IPA with a QTip in future to clean up flux residue. I'm tempted to make a series of videos covering repair techniques for many personal cassette players if there's enough interest.

good job man 🎉

very good movie and information - thanks for help

And I can now repair another one with the clutches you have shown!

motor coils are just gorgeous, we may have to investigate the different motors of these compact k7 players

This model like many other Panasonics has the rubber rings on the capstan shafts and they fail like the spindle clutch C clip. I have fixed with some CA glue or some people use a metal clip to hold the clutch together.

I used to have one of these as a teen. It also developed the same problem 🤣

Here is a tip for leaning belt residue: use dental floss! It is small enough to get in areas inaccessible by cotton swabs and it is pretty effective!

Had one of these in white and it was gorgeous. My last Walkman was a wm ex 615 but no luck fixing it. Couldn't find a belt thin enough and the belts I tried have the same flutter. Maybe I'll revisit it because it's still in great condition

Hey Colin, it's going alright thanks.

I’m going great Colin, thanks for asking! 😄

I like its button arrangement

As always, a patrician taste in music.

6:35 The distorted music really are some quality nightmare fuel

You can take off the flat, grey plastic split-washer holding the shiny flywheel in order to get better access to the brass motor pulley -- for cleaning and installing the belt.

The flutter will not disappear by itself tho. You have to work on the gears, bearings, capstans to reduce the flutter. That will require cleaning each part with proper solution and using correct oil for each part. Also replacement of pinch rollers might be required

I found a Panasonic RQ-S33 or S15 back in elementary school, sometime towards the end of the 90's. I brough it home and loved it, it was so slick and stylish but my parents didn't let me keep it, I had to take it back to school and hand it in at the teachers' break room. Minutes after I left it a girl came up to me that she heard I found her cassette player and I told her that yeah, ask at the teachers' room... I faintly remember that if the owner didn't show up for a time I could get it but not sure. I was sad that we found the owner this quickly, I still want a player like that to this day after 26 years later. But I'm afraid of those pesky rubber bands...

Holy shit the amount of patience. Would definitely put this in the 'not worth it' category, but I'm happy to see one saved. Bit sceptical about the W&F though, sounds a bit too fluttery to fix itself. I love cassette as a medium but man, a reel to reel is a lot easier to work on ;).

I owned this player's predecessor, the RQ-SX15. A very similar player, even down to the nearly grey colour blue. It cost £100. I went from an el-cheapo player that was about 7x the size of a tape to one that was not even 1.5x larger - I used it every day for about 2 years while travelling to school. It was then I began noticing it was playing slow... a 4:00 song played for about 4:15. I not long after bought a CD player, which wasn't as good for portability or battery life, but at least music would play at the correct speed.

The track he plays at 5:28 is: I'll let it bleed by Dan mason

Those belts can sure be a mess to clean up. I've had issues with belts melting and sticking on the gears of the tape assembly on an old Akai deck I worked on, finally just took all the gears and spindles out and soaked them in isopropyl for a few hours.

Always preferred Panasonic walkmans to any other brand, although I always got the versions with radio tuners.

Happy Friday

I have some suggestions for those restoring RQ-SX(es), having dealt with such problems myself. - There's no universal .5mm belt kit that I know of to be used with them. You need to rely on specific kits. - ALWAYS remove the motor flywheel when installing the new belt, you risk of enwrapping the belt on the spindle rather than its dedicated groove which has a different diameter. Do it properly, do it once. Besides the usual lubricate and grease which should also be done for capstans and motor I also lube the pinch roller bearings and sliding spots. Keep in mind that a flattened pinch roller also causes erratic wow&flutter. There's more: SEVERAL cassette tapes that came in my possession are degraded... some in a way not relevant to the player transport (magnetically), some are dirty and/or have the base tape layer and/or subsequent oxide layers pulverizing from the media. This can cause a failure to PULL and transport the tape itself. If you notice a cassette tape that has pale milky window (while it shouldn't), don't use it until you clean the tape both upper and lower side comprehensively.

Thanks

I've done a good handful of soldering but all the soldering in this video feels like a nightmare haha

I used to gawk at all the cassette players for hours at Ninomiya and Bic Camera. There were usually 50 on display. And yeah, they usually ran the gamut from about $90 to $120. Some of the high-end pushed $200. I picked up a new WM-EX555 for 8800 JPY in ‘97.

Ammonia cleans of belt go very well. It makes the residue disappear interior cleaning cloth.

There's one thing you need when repairing old tech......patience😬.

You can remove the black flat C clip and take the motor apart to see the pulley and clean it.

Ah yes. When the parts car you buy becomes the one you end up restoring.

Wow!!!! Makes me want to revisit cassettes. I had a cheap one from sears from the 90s. It was jvc or rca. Cheap and generic model that was hanging from the shelves.

Very nice to watch, as usual. However, I would have liked to see if the wow and flutter actually went away with use, since it was still pretty bad the last time you showed the unit in operation.

Direct drive is still my preference for portable players

Got an sx46 in the shop to repair cause of this video 😂

Seeing all these super small portable cassette players, I'd be really curious to see what it would be like if one was built today. Maybe a flatter rotary induction motor to reduce thickness, the latest lithium ion battery for longer life, maybe even the option to scan the entire tape into memory at high speed to reduce wow and flutter on playback. Of course bluetooth would be a given.

That player has a number of remarkable similarities to the portable DCC players and recorders by Philips: the motor looks almost identical, and to replace the belt you have to desolder the circuit board. And they even have a similar problem where the mechanism operates a switch to let the electronics know which way it's going, and if you don't pay attention, it breaks off and becomes unusable unless you have a spare...

I've got the same model and while replacing the belts I accidentally removed that lever thing hooked to the solenoid. After putting it back in, now the walkman has problems changing modes (play/stop/rew/ff). I guess much like in VCRs, something has gone out of phase. Unfortunately there's no mention of anything in the service manual

The good ol days.

Panasonic unit retailed at £89.99 in the UK, still have the receipt in the original box with this unit. Sony remote was better.. Not due to what it did but the fact it has that rectangular plug so it could not wobble. The Panasonic one was round and as such if the cable was pulled, which it would over time in a pocket or wrapping the cable around the unit.. The solder on the inside would give as the prongs on the headphone connector basically sliced through the solder over time. Put me off Panasonic units and went to Sony since.

I think you should have removed flywheel from the motor, you just need to remove the retainer and take it off (its magnetic), which will make the repair much much easier, with no chance of damaging anything, and also the cleaning will be straight forward.