An export-only stereo cassette-corder from Sony’s Sports line, 1985.
A pair of 100 mm full-range drivers, auto-reverse and an Automatic Music Sensor in a 450 mm cabinet.
The radio board in this example has been replaced outright with the board from a Japanese domestic set.
USD 450 / JPY 72,000
Before you buy: the radio board has been swapped for one from a Japanese domestic set, so FM tunes Japanese broadcasts only and will not receive FM anywhere else. AM does not receive at all.
It also does not run on batteries. The machine requires an external DC 9V supply, and no mains adaptor is included.
This piece is one of one and sold as-is: returns for change of mind are not accepted. Where it differs from its description or carries an undisclosed material defect, notify us within seven days of delivery for a full refund.
Ships from Chiba, Japan.
International consignments travel by tracked DHL or FedEx, insured on every shipment.
Domestic Japanese orders are sent by Japan Post.
The machine is packed without batteries fitted.
Import duty and tax are the responsibility of the recipient under the rules of the destination country.
Questions about this example, and requests for additional photographs, are welcome through the contact page.
Key Specifications
| Manufacturer | Sony Corporation, Japan |
| Model | CFS-950 |
| Serial Number | 117362 |
| Year of Production | 1985 |
| Market | Export only — US, Canadian, AEP and UK models. No Japanese domestic release. |
| Country of Manufacture | Japan, moulded MADE IN JAPAN on the rating plate |
| Dimensions | 450 × 139.5 × 95.5 mm (W × H × D) |
| Weight | Approx. 2.5 kg (5 lb 8 oz), including batteries |
| Power Supply | DC 9V — as built, six size C cells (IEC R14) or DC IN 9V. This example does not run on batteries and operates from DC IN 9V only. |
| Reference Price, 1985 | Export list price not documented. The Japanese-market splash-resistant CFS-V75 sold for ¥32,800, about 23% of that year’s average starting monthly salary for a university graduate (¥140,000). |
Condition
Grading
- Cosmetic 9.0 / 10 — no notable damage to report
- Tape mechanism — serviced; work carried out is described below
- Radio — FM receives Japanese broadcasts only / AM inoperative
- Power — DC IN 9V only; does not run on batteries
- Completeness — unit only
Cosmetic
The sports yellow retains its saturation, with none of the yellowing common to ABS mouldings of this period. Grilles, handle and knobs are free of cracks, chips and losses. The telescopic antenna extends through every section, with no missing or bent segments.
The cassette door and its window are intact. Front logo, the SPORTS label and the tuning-scale printing show no appreciable lifting or fading. The rating plate and serial sticker on the underside remain legible. The photographs are unretouched and show the cabinet as it stands.
Function
The tape mechanism has been serviced. It was stripped and cleaned, the drive belts were replaced, and tape speed was set against a test tape. Head and capstan were demagnetised with a Sony head eraser and cleaned. Nothing has been done to the radio section.
The radio board has been transplanted wholesale from a Japanese domestic set. FM reception of Japanese broadcasts is confirmed. The dial and the rating plate still carry the original export markings, which no longer correspond to the frequencies received.
AM does not receive. No diagnosis has been attempted and no alignment work has been carried out. Toward the upper end of the dial there is a position where music is faintly audible, but neither its frequency nor its station has been identified, and it is not counted here as usable reception.
The machine operates from DC IN 9V only. With six size C cells fitted it does not operate; this has been checked on the machine itself. The cause has not been diagnosed.
Treat FM as the only usable radio function on this machine. Outside Japan it will not receive local FM broadcasts either.
Accessories
Unit only. No original packaging, manual, mains adaptor or carrying strap. The original mains adaptors were market-specific overseas-voltage parts and none is included. An external DC 9V supply will be required.
Disclaimer
This object is forty years old and has been previously owned, handled and transported by others. It is offered as-is, with imperfections consistent with its age. The grading above reflects an honest assessment made in good faith and is not a warranty of future performance. Anything not described above has no inspection record behind it and is claimed in neither direction. We will check any such point on request.
About This Example
The CFS-950 was built for export alone. The factory service manual, 85E06100-1, dated 1985, lists four market versions: US, Canadian, AEP and UK. There is no Japanese domestic entry. Splash-resistant is Sony’s own period wording; no formal ingress-protection rating was assigned to this model.
In the same year the home market had its own splash-resistant machine, the CFS-V75. Period sources give it as 450 × 139.5 × 95.5 mm and 2.5 kg, figures identical to those in the CFS-950 service manual. It sold for ¥32,800, roughly a quarter of a graduate’s starting monthly salary.
This example is a US-market chassis whose radio board has been transplanted from a Japanese domestic set. The rating plate and the dial printing remain those of the export machine; only the signal it receives has been changed. A machine built to be shipped out of Japan now plays Japanese radio.
Figures here are taken from the Sony service manual and from the rating plate of this example. The CFS-V75 price, dimensions and colourways come from a private archive reproducing a period catalogue rather than from the catalogue itself. Wow and flutter, signal-to-noise ratio and weight excluding batteries are not stated in the factory documentation and are omitted rather than estimated.
Why This Machine Was Made
The Walkman of 1979 carried music out of the house. Portability had been solved; the weather had not. What followed was a machine designed around the outdoors rather than merely able to survive it. The Victoria and Albert Museum, which holds a WM-F5 of 1983, records it as the first sports model, developed specifically for use during outdoor activities. M+ in Hong Kong holds the same machine.
The museum’s own description accounts for the shape as well. Thick impact-resistant plastic, rubber seals around the openings to make it splash-proof, a firm lid-closure mechanism, and buttons shaped and positioned so that they can be used without looking. Each of those is a cost at the tooling stage, and none of them reaches a specification sheet. The CFS-950 is that brief carried up to 450 millimetres.
The colour is in the same record. The museum calls it an attention-grabbing yellow, one Sony went on to use for its later sports models. It is not the colour of an appliance meant to sit in a living room. It is the colour of equipment meant to be found again. For the dark teal of the grilles and trim, no period source has been located.
The Plaza Accord was signed on 22 September 1985. The rate stood at 240 yen to the dollar immediately before it and reached 127 within three years. Building in Japan to sell abroad, the premise under which this machine was made, began to be rewritten in the year it was made.
There were a few years in which listening outdoors had grown large enough to justify a machine of its own, and a few years in which a Japanese factory could answer that demand past the point where it paid to. This yellow box stands where the two overlapped. Neither window stayed open long, and nothing on the object says it was built at the end of one.
Full Specifications
| Series | Sony Sports |
| Configuration | FM/AM stereo radio cassette-corder, splash-resistant construction (Sony’s own period term; no ingress-protection rating assigned) |
| Speakers | 10 cm (4 in.) full-range × 2 |
| Power Output | 1 W + 1 W (US and Canadian models) / 2 W + 2 W (AEP model) |
| Tuner Range, As Manufactured | FM 87.6–108 MHz / AM 530–1,605 kHz |
| Tuner Range, This Example | Radio board transplanted from a Japanese domestic set. FM reception of Japanese broadcasts confirmed; AM does not receive. Dial and rating plate retain the original export markings and no longer correspond to the frequencies received. |
| Power, This Example | Operates from DC IN 9V only; does not run on batteries, checked on the machine. The R14 (size C) × 6 marking on the rating plate is as manufactured. |
| Antennas | Telescopic (FM) / built-in ferrite bar (AM) |
| Tape System | 4-track, 2-channel stereo / auto-reverse / Automatic Music Sensor |
| Tape Frequency Response | 80–8,000 Hz |
| Fast Winding Time | Approx. 2 min. with a Sony C-60 cassette |
| Noise Reduction | None (no Dolby NR) |
| Controls | Volume / Tone / Function selector (FM, AM, Tape, Radio Off) / Tuning / Direction / Rec Mute / play, record, stop-eject, fast forward, rewind, pause |
| Inputs and Outputs | EXT MIC minijack × 2 (L / R) / stereo headphone minijack / DC IN 9V. No line-level input or output. |
| Power Consumption | 14 W on mains operation |
| Original Mains Adaptors | 120V 60Hz for US and Canada (US part AC-190(W)USA, 1-463-487-00) / 220V 50Hz AEP / 240V 50Hz UK (AC-230A, 1-463-431-00). None included with this example. |
| Optional Accessory | DCC-120 car battery cord, 12V |
| Colourway | Sports yellow body with dark teal grilles and trim |
| Cabinet Markings | SPLASH RESISTANT / FM/AM STEREO CASSETTE-CORDER CFS-950 / SPORTS |
| Rating Plate, This Example | STEREO CASSETTE-CORDER 2 BANDS / MODEL NO. CFS-950 / FREQUENCY RANGE: FM 87.6-108MHz, AM 530-1605kHz / DC:9V / R14 (SIZE C) ×6 / MADE IN JAPAN / SERIAL NO. 117362 |
References
- Sony Corporation, Service Manual CFS-950, 85E06100-1, 1985 (primary source)
- Rating plate and serial sticker on the underside of this example (117362), examined directly
- Victoria and Albert Museum, Sony Sports Walkman FM (WM-F5), museum no. W.12-1992
- M+, Hong Kong, Sports Walkman portable cassette player, model FM WM-F5, accession no. 2016.620
- Sony cassette-corder and radio cassette catalogue, September 1985 (CFS-V75 listed)
- CFS-V75 price, dimensions and colourways — private archive reproducing a period catalogue (secondary source)
- Average starting monthly salary for university graduates, 1985: ¥140,000 — Basic Survey on Wage Structure, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, via a statistical aggregation site
- Japan Bank for International Cooperation, on the Plaza Accord and the yen-dollar rate, October 2023
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