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Finally got a silver CD Player...

R

redk9258

AK Subscriber
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Apparently silver CD players are as rare as hens teeth. I finally got a JVC XL-V300. It was built in October, 1984. I bought it as-is, for parts / not working. It's in pretty good condition and came with the original box. It didn't take long to find out the problem with this player. There are 3 of 4 plastics bosses broken off. They are what hold the rubber mounts to suspend the laser assembly. And one boss that holds the disc clamp was like a loose tooth. All of these plastic pieces are hollow all the way through. I found some screws that I thought were perfect to reattach the broken pieces. First the disc clamp boss. It tightened up nicely. Now the suspension bosses. They also tightened up nicely. During reassembly, I was having a hellofa time getting the tray back in. Then I realized, it is dragging on those screws slightly. Now I guess I am either on the hunt for some very flat screws (maybe from a laptop) or I could just use epoxy or hot glue it back together. There is a guy in France that has this same CD player and had the same pieces broken. He used hot glue to fix his...
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At least it is now playing fine. Both factory pressed CDs and CD-Rs play fine (without the tray for now). I'll figure out how I am going to repair it this weekend. I have another idea of using metal standoffs that have female threads on both ends. Then, I could just remove the plastic all together, allowing the screw to drop down giving enough clearance for the tray to slide easily. Off to bed now.
 
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Same problem I had with the first couple of Sony CD players I bought back when CDs were still new. Parts like the tray guides were made of the same cheap grade plastic you'd find in a kid's toy, and of course they snapped off just after the warranty ran out. CD players weren't cheap back then either, and after the same thing happened twice it really turned me off to Sony products for a long time. I always used the button to close the tray and treated it with care, just a bad design on the early ones I guess. I'd love to find a silver CD player to go with my other gear, they are hard to find unless you go with a DVD player (but they can be a PITA because of the indexing and display interface).
 
I wonder if the three bosses were broken because the unit was moved around too roughly without the three transportation lock screws tightened. I still haven't decided the best fix. Digikey (and maybe Mouser too) has some 6mm x 28mm metal standoffs that would be much stronger than plastic. Depending on the hole size, I could put 4 PEMs to attach them to the frame.

These are the 4 bosses I'm talking about...
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Picture from: http://vintage-audio-laser.com/jvc/xlv300/m.png
 
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I came up with a pretty good fix for these broken bosses. Originally, I found some small screws that fit pretty good. The bosses tightened up nice and tight. When I went to put the tray back in, it bound up on the screws. So, I spent a lot of time looking for flat head screws that are made for plastic but came up empty. I decided to buy some M3 x 0.5 x 16mm flat head screws from the auction site. I countersunk the plastic on the other side so the screws would be flush when tightened. I then ran an M3 x 0.5mm tap down the bosses. The screws fit perfectly and tightened up tight and flush. If I didn't tell you, you could not tell these bosses were ever broken off. The screws are black and look like they belong there. This fix should be quite strong since now instead of hollow plastic, it is filled with a metal screw. The tray now works perfectly. The CD player works pretty damned good for being over 32 years old. I've only found one disc that would not play. Oddly it is a fairly new disc that is factory pressed.

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There are numerous silver DVD/CD players in thrift stores nowadays.With remote capabilities also.Something these 80s units didn't have.
 
I find the sound of the later models of anything to sound better. I remember when CD's first came out, they didn't get it right until the eighties. Then the average CD player in the nineties from any company is worlds ahead of what originally came out. But, I guess anything can be updated....
 
It sounds fine to me. I read in the SM that it uses 2 times oversampling. Maybe that's why it doesn't sound harsh to me. I'm sure something 10-20 years newer sounds better. It will have a plastic face though. This has an aluminum face and pretty hefty construction (other than those broken bosses :confused:). If I were to use this everyday for critical listening, I'm sure I could find the digital signal before it goes to the DAC and route it to a modern DAC instead. Anyway, I'll probably put it in the bedroom.
 
Me too. Love those early silver players, they're stout and have big buttons!

I've got a couple. Luxman D-404 and Sony CDP-400. Synergy and system dependent like everything else in the chain.
 
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