So I found a Pioneer PD-M910 in a local thrift store; absolutely gorgeous, and it was marked $20 but they were having a half off sale on the 4th of July, so that morning early before firing off to my friend's place for a cookout I stopped by there and snagged it along with a Yamaha CD-X2. Well the Yammy when I popped the top I found that both the drawer and laser belts had turned into foul smelling goo; after several sessions with q-tips, disposable rags, and some IPA (isopropyl alcohol for the Yamaha, malt soda for Yours Truly) and a pair of replacement belts, it's now sitting on top of my Dynaco components spinning discs again after who knows how many years. So far so good.
The Pioneer, however, was a different story... Upon opening it up, I found that the lens of the laser had fallen off which is probably how it ended up in the thrift store, and worse news, it was nowhere to be found inside the chassis. So it sat on a high shelf half disassembled for a while until I found a really shaggy looking PD-M500 on a certain auction site. It was sold "as is" but the seller was willing to inspect the laser for me and sure enough it still had its lens. So I bought it, it showed up, and when I tested it instead of playing CDs it emitted a pretty acrid smell from the area behind the display. OK... well I pulled the laser assembly anyway and transplanted it into the PD-M910 and put in a CD. YASSSSSSSS we have sound.
So I scrubbed up the case, put it all back together, and racked it in the kitchen underneath my faithful Sansui 2000A, as it certainly looks classier than the Samsung DVD player than was there before, and although separated by 15 years or so, they both have that "Japanese gold script" aesthetic. Unfortunately, the next time I hit the thrift store and came home with a pile of CDs, I found that when playing, it sort-of works, but even on near pristine discs, eventually it'll find a miniscule flaw in the disc and skip/repeat, just like an LP with a scratch on it.
I found this:
https://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm#cdpdmssap
which seems like what needs to happen to make this thing work properly again (well, that and finding a 6 disc cassette for it, as even having bought two players, I only have one single play drawer)
My question is, has anyone done this procedure, and is this something that a guy with a few tools can do on his kitchen counter? Or is this best passed on to a real tech in trade for repairing something else? Reading through the procedures I'm not sure if I am going to end up with a good player, or if I have a real chance of turning it into a complete brick that doesn't work at all.
About the same time as I got it playing, the original remote turned up on the same auction site for cheap, so the unit is nearly complete save for the 6 disc cassette which seems to be the easiest part of the whole thing to find, and I still have invested in this about half of what they seem to be selling for in 100% condition, so I don't feel bad about the exercise... yet...
Thanks for any advice!
The Pioneer, however, was a different story... Upon opening it up, I found that the lens of the laser had fallen off which is probably how it ended up in the thrift store, and worse news, it was nowhere to be found inside the chassis. So it sat on a high shelf half disassembled for a while until I found a really shaggy looking PD-M500 on a certain auction site. It was sold "as is" but the seller was willing to inspect the laser for me and sure enough it still had its lens. So I bought it, it showed up, and when I tested it instead of playing CDs it emitted a pretty acrid smell from the area behind the display. OK... well I pulled the laser assembly anyway and transplanted it into the PD-M910 and put in a CD. YASSSSSSSS we have sound.
So I scrubbed up the case, put it all back together, and racked it in the kitchen underneath my faithful Sansui 2000A, as it certainly looks classier than the Samsung DVD player than was there before, and although separated by 15 years or so, they both have that "Japanese gold script" aesthetic. Unfortunately, the next time I hit the thrift store and came home with a pile of CDs, I found that when playing, it sort-of works, but even on near pristine discs, eventually it'll find a miniscule flaw in the disc and skip/repeat, just like an LP with a scratch on it.
I found this:
https://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm#cdpdmssap
which seems like what needs to happen to make this thing work properly again (well, that and finding a 6 disc cassette for it, as even having bought two players, I only have one single play drawer)
My question is, has anyone done this procedure, and is this something that a guy with a few tools can do on his kitchen counter? Or is this best passed on to a real tech in trade for repairing something else? Reading through the procedures I'm not sure if I am going to end up with a good player, or if I have a real chance of turning it into a complete brick that doesn't work at all.
About the same time as I got it playing, the original remote turned up on the same auction site for cheap, so the unit is nearly complete save for the 6 disc cassette which seems to be the easiest part of the whole thing to find, and I still have invested in this about half of what they seem to be selling for in 100% condition, so I don't feel bad about the exercise... yet...
Thanks for any advice!
