Vintage CD players

[outlawmws]

Now I get what you talking about. What you are looking at is most likely a ground plane. Most audio boards I have seen are simple one sidded affairs.

When you go 2 sided (circuitry on both sides) you can make one side a ground plane and the other for the traces. It provides some shielding from the component side to the trace side, protecting against some crosstalk posibilities. (assuming the components are on the grounded side) This is somewhat analoges to a tube unit with discrete parts and wires under the chassis. and the tubes above the chassis.

Multilayer boards can take this further. Its fairly common to have both a ground plane and a power plane, (sometimes more than one power plane for different voltages) then traces on either outside layer. Some sensitive circuits will have the internal power and grounds, and internal trace layers, and keep the exterior sides as ground planes to shield the circuitry. Plus variations, with 2 ground planes sandwhiching a sensitive trace layer...

I designed PCB's for too many years not to know this stuff pretty well, if you have any questions.

 

[DanTana]

Here is a nudie of the circuit board, I replaced the two op-amps tonight with On-Semi https://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/NE5532-D.PDF ones. Sounds pretty darn good now. Major sound improvement with those op-amps.

 

[DanTana]

Here's a close-up of the DAC, the 16bit 4x TDA-1541.

 

[DanTana]

Here are the stock op-amps.

 

[DanTana]

Here is the after shot :

 

[harmkard330guy]

i like the technics cd players but its up to you

 

[devo391]

Thanks for the post yrly, it jogged my memory. I've got a Pioneer PDF507 changer than I originally bought because it wsa the only changer I could find that was the same depth as most other components, unlike the depth that is typical of most carousel players. When I hooked it up, I was VERY surprised how good it sounded. So much that I conneceted its Toslinkoutput to a Monarchy DAC/preamp and ran it through my Cary mono blocs. HOLY CRAP! Pioneer deserves more repect than it gets. :yes:

My first & last CD player is the Pioneer PD-M430, liked the 6 disc magazine idea and currently have almost every CD I own in a six disc magazine & listed in a binder then all I have to do is look at my list and grab a six pack magazine that is anyhow it has never failed to play anything I have thrown in it and it sounds absolutely fantastic, warm, detailed sound that you would not expect from a low priced unit, I find many of my CD's sound as good as vinyl or so close that I like them both equally.

I would love to have someone bring over one of those transport thingamajiggie's so I could here one side by side with my el cheapo Pioneer and I am willing to bet that I will like the el cheapo better :yes:

So far every single soul that has ever set foot in my living room has not complained at the sound they hear when it is playing and some have assumed I had something much more expensive

Pioneer has my deepest respect for having made these inderapreciated little gem's and I am damn glad I never got rid of mine and fully expect it continue to work perfect for a long time to come and I have run the living hell out of mine for close to 15 years without a hiccup :thmbsp:

 

[4herbert]

PD-M630 Help

I bought a pioneer PD-M630 from the thrift store today and I can't get it to play the cd's in it I have them all label side down. and still it will not play . I got it for 15 bucks with 5 six disks holders and a remote I could sure use some help with this one. Any ideas :scratch2:

 

[devo391]

I am pretty sure the entire laser & motor assembly is still available from Pioneer or at least I believe it was listed opn "Parstsolver" the last time I checked and it is well worth replacing if that is what is wrong?? Take off the cover and have a peek as it may be quite obvious what is wrong. I love my little PD-M430 and love the handy six packs even more. Hope it it's nothing serious.

 

[4herbert]

Pd-m630

I took the cover off and when the disk goes back to spin up and read it turns slow and stops don't see any laser lights. I want to partsolver and didn't see the assembly listed but I don't know what I'm looking for HELP! :cry:

 

[devo391]

Go here : http://parts.pioneerelectronics.com/model.asp?modelNum=PDM630

Joe.

 

[4herbert]

Pd-m630

Joe,

Is it the pickup assembly with ribbon that you speaking of?

 

[outlawmws]

If its spinning, but slowly, I'd be looking for a slipping belt. My son and I picked up a Denon 5 CD changer and all that was wrong was the belt was slipping. Repaced it with a rubber band (what we had available...) and voila! it's working!

 

[andy]

Bad spindle motors are common on Pioneers. When the pickup is bad, the CD usually doesn't spin at all, or goes much too fast. You can test it with an ohm meter. A good motor will have roughly constant resistance as you SLOWLY turn it. A bad motor will either be open, or shorted in one spot.

 

[briannaab]

I have a Studer 727 CD Player. Sounds amazing. Weighs more than some of my amplifiers.

 

[vintagestereo]

What are some of the better (vintage) cd players out there. I am putting together a total vintage audio system. Any advice will be appreciated.

Pioneer Elite PD-71.

 

[lorne]

If playing CD-R is an issue, you will want to be careful about your choice. I am not sure what you consider a "vintage" CDP to be. Here are some suggestions which include 2nd and 3rd generation players (below). If you want to see some very cool early players, go to Nishi-san's CDP section of his brilliant audio site:

CD players Part 1 — http://www.niji.or.jp/home/k-nisi/cd.htm
CD players Part 2 — http://k-nisi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/cd2.htm

Be sure to click on the picture of the CD in question because it takes you to another page with detailed specs, nudies and drawings. You can use an on-line translator to get the jist of what he is saying. Eat your heart out!


A VERY SHORT LIST


Marantz CD-17 (I own a CD-6000OSE, so I followed the lineage)

Marantz CD-43

Marantz CD-63

NAD 502: This is a 3rd generation emanation. Be prepared for a bit of DIY, or just accept no display readout. They often failed. Early production was a bit dodgy with various things like tray problems and displays, but things got better. I have had one since new in 1995. It has run with no problems except the screen went blank. I just look at it as less noise going back to the board. The 502 has one of the kindest, most euphonic sounds of all the older affordable models. Compared to so many screaming sirens, it provides tireless yet impassioned listening. I have bought some alternate IC's to try in mine, and I hope to replace some caps too. I have already done some anti-resonance tweaking, and it responded very nicely indeed. You should be able to get one for for next to nothing.

Sony CDP-333ES, CDP-555ES etc. I have a CDP-222ES I bought for about $35-$40. Good size transformer, high grade caps, parts still available (in Japan anyway), nice sound, reads CD-R, good remote, ceramic-plastic anti-resonant transport sled (higher models have die cast parts). Very competent machine. I had to get Sony Corp to put a new laser pickup in mine a few weeks after I bought it. :grumpy: That's why you wanna get these things cheaply (see below).

Kenwood DP-990SG; DP-1100SG etc. (If you can find one). My DP-990SG won't read a CD-R, but some do. Big, heavy, handsome, die cast transport, good electrolytic caps, balanced output options and filled with a bewildering stack of boards and discrete stuff. Good sound — it never shrieks and it never gets flustered. I found mine for less than $50 (paid in yen). It appears that they were popular in Europe. You can see one of the family on Nishi-san's site.

None of these machines is exotic or hoity-toity high-end. They sorda-kina lean toward the hi ¥-end by being well designed and thoughtfully engineered. You can search out stratospheric models too if you like. The top-loading SA-CD-777ES sold for $3,500 when it was new.

This short list is just a start. It includes some 'legendary' players. You should pay very little for any of these and thereby reserve a cushion for things that might go wrong a week or two after you buy it — something that often seems to happen with used, older CDP's.

Japan built some very nice players that were sometimes not exported in great numbers. You can cruise over to the HiFiDo site, click on the English option page and see what they have in CDP's. They are a reputable company that deals in good audio. Any unit from here will need a step-up transformer in front of it to go from the Japanese 100VAC to 117/120 VAC (both 60 Htz). I am out of room but I am still lusting for a Sansui alpha-717 CDP — or a Nak, or ....

 

[packrat]

<snip>......
I can't think of a vintage Yamaha CD player that makes the grade, IMHO. Other than their separate amps/preamps, Yamaha sort of fell off the quality band-wagon during the mid-80's through the mid-90's. Too much emphasis on the mass-market for all but their high-end.

B-2,
Don't write Yamaha off too fast! This CDX-5000 just sold on eBay for $400. Same seller had this listed a few months ago and didn't get any bids. I've attached pictures.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3272&item=3874632142&rd=1

The Yamaha manual site also lists CDX-1100U as weighing 30 lbs. Might be a contender to go with an all Yamaha vintage system (C2x, M2(or B2), NS-1000, T2 would be very nice!)

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Pioneer's first player, the P-D1 (1983), followed by the P-D70 (1984):

 

[ilimzn]

Sony CDP-333ES, CDP-555ES etc. I have a CDP-222ES I bought for about $35-$40. Good size transformer, high grade caps, parts still available (in Japan anyway), nice sound, reads CD-R, good remote, ceramic-plastic anti-resonant transport sled (higher models have die cast parts). Very competent machine. I had to get Sony Corp to put a new laser pickup in mine a few weeks after I bought it. :grumpy: That's why you wanna get these things cheaply (see below).

222ES is very different from the 333 and upwards, uses different and less sturdy mechanism, but the electronics is similar. It can be modded to absurdity fairly easily as it's actually quite well though out and relatively straightforward. Another candidate would be the rare CDP-S7, internally this is almost identical to the 222, but has a case which lends itself far more to mechanical mods, such as damping panels etc.

333ES is a machine that is put together using one of Sony's best transports ever, with completely rational and sane electronics - not cut down, not extravagant, and very difficult to find fault with. Still, the 339 would be a better bet having a newer and by many accounts better DAC - the rest is virtually the same. The 339 has a differential to single ended converter followed by a GIC filter using two of the venerable but still hard to beat NE5532 per channel. Replacing the diff-to-single-ended converter with a BB dual FET OP of choice gives noticeably better results.

Here are some mod pictures. Top to bottom - PCB component side, original and modded, solder side original and modded, and a pic of the S7...