The WM-D6C is the ass-kicker in this fight, if you can find one for under $200 your already a winner. I've never seen a WM-3 but it really looks like a brick, but not a beautiful brick like the D6C. It has it's high place in history as an early model but there's so much more out there that might that might be nicer without the historical premium pricing. Personally I'd go with an early AIWA (I think they were 49% owned by Sony at this time), not only were they brick shaped but they had sweet square buttons and knobs everywhere. The HSJo2 looks like a Mack Truck compared to the WM-3 and they are still pretty cheap. I want to put mine up on the shelf but it still sits on my desk because I like it so much, just a pinnacle of design. AM/FM radio, Mic/AUX input, L & R Volume, everything you need and more.
I personally love the old school look of the WM-3 and strangely enough, the wm-3 is usually half the price of a tps-l2 in my searches. For the most part I'm probably going to lean towards the wm-3 for my purchase as I've done more searching and research. Although the D6C is one of my other future dream walkmans, unless I see another good deal on one again (the original one I was eyeing got sold) I probably will end up buying the wm-3. On a different note, i do like the looks of many AIWA models, I'm a bit loyal to Sony for when it comes to walkmans. Currently I have a pretty good deal on a wm-3 on watch with the original case. And I also have a pair of new MDR-1 headphones set aside to use with it. Sorry for the late response, was busy for the past couple of weeks. On a funny note, Im actually in the middle of recording a new mix as I'm typing this out.
My friends and I always thought of AIWA as the nicer cousin to Sony, my older neighbor, who was literally a genius, drilled into my head that AIWA was the one to watch. With that and my appreciation for the tiny buttons and knobs and overall design, I've really grown to love the brand. You're looking in the right direction and any of the recommendations above are solid equipment, let us know what you get. If your like most of us, you'll want to try a few of the other models and see what your missing, or even worse, your friends will give you all of their cast-offs.
only walkmans i used to buy had dolby c, everything else is mickey mouse, well not strictly had to many low end as a teen.i was busy buying the real thing boomboxes....d6c is great had a few just to big imho had all the high end walkmans all with dolby c including the dd9 that i sold and was scammed on ebay....fook selling on ebay again lol.....i find the aiwas the best but there not the most reliable ones....have about 7 dead aiwa with dolby c
I was a kid just getting by, my buddies would sell me their cast-offs which were larger and mostly had AM/FM so they were already bigger than the WM-D6C. I didn't have the equipment or music selection to have anything nice but a few of my buddies did have older brothers with killer equipment and I'd get some cool recordings from them...Maxell UDXL II's....My neighbor hated Dolby, said it was like having a bag over his head, I'd love to talk to him after 30 years and find out what stereo he owns now. We used to cruise around in his dad's 1983 Thunderbird, the first in town and it had a state of the art cassette deck cranking Pyromania when no one knew who Def Leppard was. If I ever head over there Radio, I'll bring one of those early tapes over and we can rock out....
