Hi. Just joined today and wondering if anyone can help my query...

Hi everyone. I stumbled across this forum today as I wanted to know if anyone knows of a specialist repairer for Aiwa and Sony walkmans in the UK, ideally the London area. I have 2 walkmans, a Sony WM-GX51 and an Aiwa HS-JX2000. They both seem to power on, and when I press the play button I can hear a motor spinning around but the spindles that turn the cassette are not moving. The last time I touched them was probably over 15 years ago, and they were working if I recall correctly, albeit very slowly. I suspect that the drive belt is worn or snapped. I'm hesitant to try any repairs myself as it seems they are quite valuable collectible items now. I also have a Sony WM-EX615 that is boxed with all accessories and seems to be working perfectly fine. Am I right in my assumptions about the suspected faults? Anyone know of a specialist trustworthy repairer of walkmans? Thanks!

 

That aiwa will need new belts and all new caps i had a boxed jx3000 once and sold it.....Mr x is correct it's hard to get these repaired, perhaps put it on ebay it may sell for 2 grand and go on holiday or something

 

Give Galaxy Repairs a call, they are in Tottenham Court Road London

 

When you say caps what do you mean? Capacitors or something else? And any idea how many caps would need replacing? Can this all be done within a few hours by someone competent?

 

Thanks. I've come across this company in my searches but was reading some feedback online which were either very bad or very good so wasn't sure about them. They don't seem to have any feedback on Trustpilot though. Have you or anyone else here used them for their walkman repairs before and what was your experience of these guys?

 

This walkman was bought by me from someone else who had it but hardly ever used it. It was bought a long time ago and I'd only ever used it for an hour or so, as I was already transitioned over to digital audio (minidisc, MP3 player, etc.). I ended up putting everything back in its box and stored it away in a larger storage box with a few other items. It stayed there until a few days ago when I decided to do a clear out of my home! And yes, it's a fabulous item. I'd be sad to see it go but I do want to hear it working again with a few cassettes I have lying around before I sell it. I'm sure it's highly collectible now seeing that it's 25 years old or so? Not sure when it was released but I remember seeing it was sold in Harrods at the time.

 

I have used them many times and they are generally very good, their work is guaranteed so should you have any issues they will fix it.

If you are not happy with that, then the only person I can recommend as the absolute best at fixing personal stereo’s is dotto walkman a member here from Italy. You are looking at years of wait, but I don’t think he is taking in anymore work at the moment.

Else you can try magnetic blood another member here.

Yes a competent tech can do it in hours as long as they have the parts.
Last time I sent an Aiwa to Galaxy Repairs that needed new capacitors, it took months as they had to source the part in before they could do the job.

 

Yes capacitors. Unfortunately, when manufacturers switched to surface mount capacitors in order to miniaturise things they didn't realise
that the increased temperature capacitors were subject to when soldering reduced their life. The Sega Gamegear and Aiwas which were both from
around the era when this change was made are both very prone to capacitor failure.

It surprises people to hear that, older equipment which was assembled differently is far less prone to it. Newer equipment is also better as they improved the sealing of the capacitors.

 

Thanks for that info. So caps does mean capacitors then!

 

I see. I read up on that last night about how some of the Aiwa walkman capacitors are prone to failing. Apparently if they've not failed after all this time then they will likely be fine for a long time, otherwise they will need replacing. What are the signs that capacitors need replacing?

 

Sound quality is one obvious sign.

 

At best the stereo won't work. At worst they can leak and cause further damage to the PCB etc.
Here is a random Gamegear repair article to show you what is involved
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Sega+Game+Gear+Capacitor+Replacement/113655

 

Wow. That's very interesting. I didn't know about the potential leak damaging the circuit board. Bit concerned now!

 

OK. Thanks for the recommendations. I will give them a call to ask how long the wait is expected to be for all the capacitors and belt replacement including sourcing of parts.

 

This may be of interest and I follow this collector and repairer on Instagram. The major issue with failed capacitors on Aiwa SMD boards is the damage the leaked fluid does to copper trails on the board and the difficultly in removing the corrosion underneath components. I am currently dealing with the effects of battery leakage on an Aiwa HS-G09 and its similar to his description on this listing. I know this seller accepts Aiwa players for repair but the cost of fixing damage caused by leakage may be significant. Ot took 3 days work on the PX30 just to remove, clean and resolder components. Other collectors I know have sent several players to him for repair and recommended his work. I have a local repairer here in MEL AUS so I cannot vouch for his skills and costs myself.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/164408619701

 

So I got a quote back from these guys, and they expect it to cost around £500 to replace the belt and capacitors. Am I missing something or is this very expensive compared to the cost of the parts and work involved? I'm kinda tempted to look through some online videos and DIY it myself at this rate! LOL

 

I guess they can give you a better estimate if they looked at the actual units, I guess what they have given you at the moment is the worst case scenario.
I guess you can attempt it yourself, after all they are your units.

 

I guess I will decide on whether to perform the micro soldering once I've opened up the unit to have a look. I've already ordered a replacement drive belt which hopefully should be an easy enough task. I've replaced these belts in other larger devices many years ago. The capacitors I should be able to purchase like-for-like or compatible ones too. I've the info available for the ones I need. It's just then a case of removing old ones and resoldering in new ones. That's the theory anyway!

 

Well I doubt you would want to part with £500 to replace the capacitors but to be honest most of the cost is in the labour involved in removing and replacing the various components. Maybe try the guy who is a big repairer of Aiwas in the Ukraine. I know of some who have used him like @justcassette on Instagram and sent him several for repair including capacitor replacement. I would think $200 USD plus postage would cover the work but these electronics specialist companies have overheads that mean you pay an hourly rate on labour. Ends up making only the simple repairs affordable. Best using a free lancer who has good feedback and can be trusted.