Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Sony Walkman revolutionised portable stereos - the RX-2700 is one way Panasonic responded. But there's a reason why it's become a model to avoid.
00:00 History
09:08 A simple belt swap
18:06 Lessons learned
21:20 Patreon credits
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FAQ
Q) You should send it to….they’d/I’d fix it.
A) It really is not worth anyone’s time. This cost me £44 - bought as 'Junk' just to use in this video.
The disassembly was recorded across two days. The section at the end where I throw in the towel was shot after I’d spent the afternoon of day two stripping down the tape mechanism to get the belts in place. This involved removing multiple split washers and e-clips the size of a pinhead. Once those parts were reassembled a couple of the vital ones were no longer securely held in place. It’s likely some microscopic, important and irreplaceable components pinged off during disassembly, never to be seen again. Whatever the reason though - the mechanism is a write-off.
Whenever something broken appears in a video I understand the desire to see the thing fixed but this is a heavy, compromised personal stereo cassette player that even if functional would be destined to sit unused. Given that the mechanism relied on dried up rubber friction wheels it’s unlikely it would be trustworthy. I'd rather play my cassettes using something else.
If anyone wants to take on the challenge of swapping the belts on one of these - the RX-2700 appears on eBay quite frequently. I believe other early Panasonic models are equally complex internally. If you bought one of these at least you’ll be starting off with a complete unit, with all the parts intact. You don’t want to go into something like this following on from someone else’s half-finished repair - you don’t know what damage has been done or irreplaceable parts lost.
Rather than start with a bag of assorted bits, probably not all the bits, you'd be better to start from scratch with an unmolested example. Good luck if you do, but there are way way better personal stereo cassette players out there far more worthy of your time.
MARCH 2023 UPDATE:
The disassembly was shot a couple of months back and the remainder of this video was completed weeks ago. Since then I passed the bag of bits on to someone who wanted to have a go at fixing it. He couldn’t get any further and I believe it was stripped to use for parts to repair other machines.
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OUTRO MUSIC
Over Time - Vibe Tracks youtu.be/VSSswVZSgJw
OUTRO SOUND EFFECT
ThatSFXGuy - youtu.be/5M3-ZV5-QDM
AFFILIATED LINKS/ADVERTISING NOTICE
All links are Affiliated where possible.
When you click on links to various merchants posted here and make a purchase, this can result in me earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network & Amazon.
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON Sites (including, but not limited to Amazon US/UK/DE/ES/FR/NL/IT/CAN)
Regularly asked question
Q) Why are there comments from days ago when this video has just gone live today?
A) Patrons patreon.com/techmoan usually have early access to videos. I'll show the first version of a video on Patreon and often the feedback I get results in a video going through further revisions to improve it. e.g. Fix audio issues, clarify points, add extra footage or cut extraneous things out. The video that goes live on youtube is the final version. If you want to see the videos early and before any adverts are added, you can sign up to Patreon here: patreon.com/techmoan
The Sony Walkman revolutionised portable stereos - the RX-2700 is one way Panasonic responded. But there's a reason why it's become a model to avoid.
00:00 History
09:08 A simple belt swap
18:06 Lessons learned
21:20 Patreon credits
MERCHANDISE
New Techmoan Merchandise is now available.
etsy.me/3zzjweo
Catalogues from hifi-archiv.info & hifiengine.com
FAQ
Q) You should send it to….they’d/I’d fix it.
A) It really is not worth anyone’s time. This cost me £44 - bought as 'Junk' just to use in this video.
The disassembly was recorded across two days. The section at the end where I throw in the towel was shot after I’d spent the afternoon of day two stripping down the tape mechanism to get the belts in place. This involved removing multiple split washers and e-clips the size of a pinhead. Once those parts were reassembled a couple of the vital ones were no longer securely held in place. It’s likely some microscopic, important and irreplaceable components pinged off during disassembly, never to be seen again. Whatever the reason though - the mechanism is a write-off.
Whenever something broken appears in a video I understand the desire to see the thing fixed but this is a heavy, compromised personal stereo cassette player that even if functional would be destined to sit unused. Given that the mechanism relied on dried up rubber friction wheels it’s unlikely it would be trustworthy. I'd rather play my cassettes using something else.
If anyone wants to take on the challenge of swapping the belts on one of these - the RX-2700 appears on eBay quite frequently. I believe other early Panasonic models are equally complex internally. If you bought one of these at least you’ll be starting off with a complete unit, with all the parts intact. You don’t want to go into something like this following on from someone else’s half-finished repair - you don’t know what damage has been done or irreplaceable parts lost.
Rather than start with a bag of assorted bits, probably not all the bits, you'd be better to start from scratch with an unmolested example. Good luck if you do, but there are way way better personal stereo cassette players out there far more worthy of your time.
MARCH 2023 UPDATE:
The disassembly was shot a couple of months back and the remainder of this video was completed weeks ago. Since then I passed the bag of bits on to someone who wanted to have a go at fixing it. He couldn’t get any further and I believe it was stripped to use for parts to repair other machines.
SUBSCRIBE
youtube.com/user/Techmoan?sub_confirmation=1
SUPPORT
This channel can be supported through Patreon
patreon.com/techmoan
*******Patrons usually have early access to videos*******
OUTRO MUSIC
Over Time - Vibe Tracks youtu.be/VSSswVZSgJw
OUTRO SOUND EFFECT
ThatSFXGuy - youtu.be/5M3-ZV5-QDM
AFFILIATED LINKS/ADVERTISING NOTICE
All links are Affiliated where possible.
When you click on links to various merchants posted here and make a purchase, this can result in me earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network & Amazon.
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to AMAZON Sites (including, but not limited to Amazon US/UK/DE/ES/FR/NL/IT/CAN)
Regularly asked question
Q) Why are there comments from days ago when this video has just gone live today?
A) Patrons patreon.com/techmoan usually have early access to videos. I'll show the first version of a video on Patreon and often the feedback I get results in a video going through further revisions to improve it. e.g. Fix audio issues, clarify points, add extra footage or cut extraneous things out. The video that goes live on youtube is the final version. If you want to see the videos early and before any adverts are added, you can sign up to Patreon here: patreon.com/techmoan
