Hi from Bosnia

Hi everyone,

I'm Mladen from Bosnia.

I just (few days ago) scored a Sony Walkman TPS-L2 for ~$125, and it's in almost mint condition, complete with the original box (same serial number), leather case, strap and headphones.
'm really excited to learn more about the TPS-L2, how replace belts, how to properly oil it and I'm on the hunt for the remaining items that originally came with it, particularly the cassette pouch, Operating Instructions and rest of the documentation.

I have a special plan for this TPS-L2 - I intend to gift it to my nephew when he turns 18. Little man is currently 8 years old, so it's a long-term project, but I want to make sure it's perfect. I also plan to leave a cassette with a personal message in the Walkman for him to discover.

Looking forward to engaging with all of you and getting some tips on completing this awesome project!

[GALLERY=media, 2169]TPS-L2-Front by Mladen Gavrić posted Aug 29, 2024 at 2:06 PM[/GALLERY]

[GALLERY=media, 2170]TPS-L2-Battery-SerialNo by Mladen Gavrić posted Aug 29, 2024 at 2:06 PM[/GALLERY]

[GALLERY=media, 2171]TPS-L2-Leather-Case by Mladen Gavrić posted Aug 29, 2024 at 2:06 PM[/GALLERY]

[GALLERY=media, 2172]TPS-L2-InCase by Mladen Gavrić posted Aug 29, 2024 at 2:06 PM[/GALLERY]

[GALLERY=media, 2173]MDR-3L2 by Mladen Gavrić posted Aug 29, 2024 at 2:06 PM[/GALLERY]

[GALLERY=media, 2174]TPS-L2-Box by Mladen Gavrić posted Aug 29, 2024 at 2:06 PM[/GALLERY]

 

Thanks mate

 

Greetings Mladen!

Welcome to the group! I was born and raised in the US but I am Eastern European.

Bosnia is so beautiful. I’ve been to Bosnia Herzegovina (Medjugorje) 3 times in my life. I love the people, the architecture, the food, …everything really

What a great find with the Walkman. It looks new.
This is a great group - so much info and support here.

Again - WELCOME!

 

BTW - I noticed your last name is Gavric (sorry for no acute accent mark above the c. We don’t have it on our phone keyboards here)
My surname was Americanized when my ancestors came to the US. The original spelling is Buric (with acute accent mark over the c like yours).

 

Thanks for the warm welcome mate!

Bosnia is as it has always been - appendix of Europe And it's hot.. Too bloody hot. (this summer the heat is almost unbearable - it's been in the high 30s for almost two months now).

Here's accented 'C' if you ever need it: Ć ć

The TPS-L2 is mint! I bought it as 'not working' because the motor was a bit seized. I got it working through after a few twists with tweezers.
Now I'm waiting for belts, idlers and a pinch roller so I can do a proper restoration.

P. S.

I just Googled your surname. If you didn't know already here's something that might interest you (when you open it - right click on the wiki page and translate it):

https://hr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burić

 

Mladen,

Thank you SO MUCH for the link. I’ve tried researching my family’s name. I’ve had very little luck. This is the most information I’ve ever read. I can’t wait to share it with my father and sister!
When I was in Medjugorje in 2007, a shop keeper greeted me in Slovak. He assumed I was local. I said I was from the US. He switched to English and ask me my last name and how I spell it. When I told him, he shook his finger at me and said, That is NOT how you spell your name. He wrote the correct spelling on a notepad and proudly handed it to me saying “THIS is how you spell your name. 17 years later, I still have the note. I did not know my name was spelled Buric (acute accent above the c) until 2007! The Americanized version deletes the acute accent and adds the letter “k” (Burick) pronounced B-your-ick.
I hope the information you gave me will lead to more discovery. Again, thank you.

Back to stereo stuff, I have a great love for the Panasonic RX-2700. I own 5 of them. It was Panasonic’s direct response to the first Sony Walkman released in 1979. Panasonic released the RX-2700 in 1980. Unlike the Sony, it had a small internal mono speaker and am/fm stereo. It also came with exclusive headphones not offered on any other Panasonic model. The all-metal body is built with astounding precision and attention to detail.

 

The build quality on the RX-2700 is exceptional. It feels ultra premium in every way.
An original Sony Walkman in beautiful condition like Mladen’s is almost untouchable price-wise unless you catch somebody sleeping. I feel like the RX-2700 flies under the radar compared to the Sony. Plus, the RX-2700 has a terrible (but well deserved) reputation for nearly impossible belt replacement.
It all adds up to reasonable pricing. I own 5 of them. the first 4, mostly in great condition other than belts cost me about $100 each. The 5th one was MIB, absolutely pristine with original box, headphones, and paperwork…all like new. It was very expensive compared to the others.

I’d love to catch someone sleeping and score the original Walkman like Mladen’s. He’s really got something special.

 

@Mladen Gavrić Hi and welcome to the forum ! Very nice score with that TPS-L2 !

@Jam_On_It I have a great condition RX2700 myself which I scored for a low price.
Wonder if the manufactuer fitted more than one brand of capacitors in this walkman, since mine had leaky caps (was sold as not working, hence why cheap) while others seem to say it only needs belts.
Have a thread about this mech (https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/infinity-walkman-restoration.6958/), which was used in a couple of other walkmans: Infinity Intimate, AKAI PM-01.

 

Valentin, WOW! That link is a bar of gold. I’m getting ready to repair my first RX-2700 and the link will be helpful.
I owned a computer store for over a decade and I can say - capacitors are curious creatures. Seemingly no rhyme or reason to them swelling and/or leaking.
Sometimes same motherboard from same manufacturer and same manufacturing date, one with bad caps after a year, the other one fine.
Have you tried replacing the belts yet? I watched the Techmoan video and it looks nearly impossible.
I own five RX-2700’s. Hoping to get at least 2 or 3 fully restored.

Mladen, what do the capacitors look like in your Sony?
For the most part Sony used high-quality caps. Can remember the last time I saw leaky caps in a Sony product.

 

In regard to capacitors, from what I've seen in walkmans leakeage is related to 2 things:
- brand (Nichicon and CE brand are the ones which leak);
- SMD vs THT: SMD ones tend to leak more and even brands that almost never leak in THT form (Nippon Chemicon) do leak in SMD;

My RX2700 is National brand, not Panasonic, so that may have used a different brand caps.
The model is covered here at post #31: https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/list-of-walkman-portable-recorders-common-problems.7535/page-2
I have fully restored mine and the mech does require a bit more than just swapping the belts otherwise takeup torque will be very low.
If you want to continue the discussion, I suggest starting a different thread about the RX2700, since this is not about that.

As far as the TPS-L2 goes, that exists in 2 variants: one has only tantalum caps, while other has electrolytic + tantalum.
There are instances of failed electrolytics on the model, but it's not really as common as some say. The one that does use electrolytics uses Nippon Chemicon.

 

@Jam_On_It I haven't gone that deep yet. I'm currently waiting for belts, idlers and pinch roller to arrive so that I don't have to disassemble it and reassemble it every other day. So far I've only opened it once to see why "it wasn't playing" and hence deal with the seized motor.
Will update you when all the parts arrive and when I'm done with it.

@Valentin Tanks mate

 

eBay ones are way overpriced in my opinion. But I'm not a good judge of that because I live in God forsaken country were my monthly salary is ~$850... So, yeah.

 

@Jam_On_It

 

Those caps look brand new!

 

@Jam_On_It The whole thing looks brand new. There's no speck of dust inside of it. I meant to change idler tires (I even bought a set) but look at this:

 

That’s crazy clean. You really scored with that one.
I have one RX-2700 that clean and it’s a real prize.