I had an unlucky slow-playing 1990 Sony Walkman. Spent my pocket money on the best model Sony WM-F707, it could record too. I was happy at first.
But something was off. Songs didn't sound right to me. Other people couldn't notice, but I eventually confirmed the issue by syncing playback with other stereos. Songs were in sync at start, but by end my Walkman was lagging behind slightly. Tried different tapes, same result.
Warranty had expired but my friend's Dad agreed to take a look. He was a technician at Sony, a remarkably promising coincidence. My hopes were up. But his verdict was "yes it plays a bit slow but is within the acceptable tolerance". As far as I know he didn't open it up, as there wasn't a problem to fix.
Personally I'm glad "acceptable tolerance" of playback speed is ancient history!
But something was off. Songs didn't sound right to me. Other people couldn't notice, but I eventually confirmed the issue by syncing playback with other stereos. Songs were in sync at start, but by end my Walkman was lagging behind slightly. Tried different tapes, same result.
Warranty had expired but my friend's Dad agreed to take a look. He was a technician at Sony, a remarkably promising coincidence. My hopes were up. But his verdict was "yes it plays a bit slow but is within the acceptable tolerance". As far as I know he didn't open it up, as there wasn't a problem to fix.
Personally I'm glad "acceptable tolerance" of playback speed is ancient history!