Is this mormal or is it damaged?

Question

Hey I have one of those TV/WB band walkmans from Sony and I just curious, when I play a tape it's so load I have to turn it down a bit but if I play the radio it's not as load. Is that normal or did I do something. I did drop it a few times but I didn't seem to had broke it or anything..

Answer 1

Normal

Answer 2

The tape is an analog source that is being played directly through your internal circuits within the 10 hz to 20,000 hz range, whereas the radio waves received by your walkman arrive at a narrower range (30hz-18,000 hz) with less quality.  I am not a wiz, but it seems pretty normal to me.  Kind of like comparing cd quality music to fm quality music on an ipod.

Answer 3

Brandon's is a good answer.

Another thing to consider is that a tape may actually be recorded at at varying volumes (and therefore playback will be louder), whereas radio stations pretty much level off their audio output to allow for all the processing that takes place before the signal gets to the tower.

There may also be an audio leveler that only affects the radio portion of the electronics and is not in the chain for the tape playback. Could be a lot of things.

Bottom line, your Walkman is fine.

-a guy named duh