Skip to main content

Replacing the Capacitors in my DDII

It is time to recap my Sony wm-DDII. The device is more than 30 years old and the electrolytic capacitors need to be replaced. I got some nichicon fine gold audio grade capacitors. They are much bigger than the original. It was tough but I managed to fit in four nichicon. I can not do AB comparison but I think there is a significant improvement in terms of sound. The bass goes deeper and feels more powerful. The high is also improved. It sounds more detailed and dynamic than before. I am thinking if I should replace the remaining three capacitors later.
Update: The rest of the capacitors were replaced with some ELNA "audio" capacitors from ebay (they are relatively cheap).
Recap capacitors in my Sony DDII walkman
ELNA "audio" capacitors

 



 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Aiwa XK-009 overhaul

 I won the yahoo auction for the legendary Aiwa XK-009 at about 45000 yen. It is considered to be the very best aiwa cassette deck from aiwa. Although it was working, as expected, there were some issues. The biggest problem was that it suffered from unusually high w&f, which was very audible. The previous owner installed the belt in a wrong way - the belt was wrapped around a screw. The belt was left with some rails-like groves. This deck is very sensitive to the belt. So I ordered a new set of belts from fixyouraudio. It was not the best belt for this machine (the best ones are from a website called something communication). I always ordered belts from fixyouraudio. I always had good results from them and expected no difference this time. The aiwa xk-009 was quite a pain to take apart. I took apart most of it except for the fast-forward/backward mechanism, which does not affect the performance. I removed the old oil and applied new oil (crc lubricant). The all belts were repla...

Sony wm D6 repair: muting module, speed control module, belt replacement, and recap

Just score a Sony wm-D6 in a good condition. The seller sold it as junk and untested. Maybe the seller (or whoever the previous owner is) actually tried and it did not work. I pulled the trigger anyway because the price (43000 yen) was not bad even for a non-working one. When it arrived earlier today, I tried it out and I was surprised that it actually played. Of course, there are some small issues, which I found and fixed later on. Muting Module The first problem I noticed was that the sound was crackling and a bit distorted. Later on it became intermittent (on and off). That happened even when it was in record monitor mode. I thought it was due to issues at the play-record switch, but no, cleaning the switch did not help. A quick search on tapeheads forum pointed me to the muting module. And indeed, removing the muting module made it play beautifully again (w&f about 0.05%rms). Time to buy a new muting module from scribbler_92 on ebay. Update (12/15/2022): the mute module from eb...

A Quarantine Hotel in Xiamen, China

This is the quarantine hotel room I am in. Not bad. The bathroom is huge since it is a spa hotel. The bathtub can hold two people.  I will stay here for two weeks plus an extra "self-quarantine" week (I originally planned to stay at someone's apartment for that, but the community worker told me that the apartment did not qualify for self-quarantine. The good news is that the government will pay for the extra week). The food is not bad. The breakfast is free and the lunch/dinner costs 50 RMB ($7.85) per meal. I can order takeout/mail but they only come in during dinner time. The room costs 385 RMB (~$60) a day. Pretty standard from what I've heard. Body temperature is measured twice a day. At the beginning few days, the nurse came by for the measurement, but at some point, she gave me a thermometer and asked me to do it myself and send the results to her by WeChat. Every few days, the nurse comes by for covid tests, and boy, it is not fun.  One nurse is gentler than th...