AVI S2000MC Reference CD Player - what transport and laser?

[eldarvanyar]

I wonder if any one can tell me what phillips transport my AVI S2000MC Reference CD player uses?

I have been in touch with AVI and they say they can no longer repair or service these due to Euro Legislation on lead in parts.

I am hoping to source some spare laser mechs to keep it running as long as possible. If any one can recommend where that would be great as well.

Thanks

Lee

[Thomo]

Hi Lee.

I sent AVI an email about this very recently. They got back to me with:

"There were seven different versions of the S2000 I think from memory so the only way to discover which laser is in it, is to have a look. We know of no source for the older lasers, only the current one I'm afraid.
www.daisy-laser.com and www.daisy-laser.nl

Kindest regards and best of luck"

Looks like you'll have to take the lid off and have a look at the current unit.

Cheers,

Lee.

[tubenut]

That lead compliancy answer is just BS and better then saying we never bothered to stock pile any spares for your not so cheap player and now we are not sure where to get any.

Once you have opened it take a pic and I am sure someone will know someone etc.

[kevinkr]

Originally posted by tubenut
That lead compliancy answer is just BS and better then saying we never bothered to stock pile any spares for your not so cheap player and now we are not sure where to get any.

Once you have opened it take a pic and I am sure someone will know someone etc.

I'm with tubenut on this one, and this is a huge problem with all but the most current Philips mechanisms. Based on my prior very negative experience attempting to get good replacement parts for a cdm-9pro mechanism in a PS Audio Lambda Drive I will neither recommend nor buy any machine with a Philips mechanism. I wish you luck...

[eldarvanyar]

It doesn't sound great does it for a £1200 CD Player, you would expect some backup, and it is not that old!

You are right they should have a stock of spares for a number of years. But obviously it works in their favor as they can only see you a new one then but there is no way I would buy another one with service like that.

When I get a chance this week I will open it up and post some pictures.

Thanks guys

Lee

[kevinkr]

I can only say I am sympathetic, I have had much the same experience which is why I hesitated so long before buying another player. I think it is unconscionable, but PS A did go through a bankruptcy in the interim which in no small part played a role in my bad outcome.

Part of the blame certainly lies with the manufacturers who fail to stock sufficient spare parts for the anticipated lifetime of the product they're making - this is where some of the majors at least do a bit better than most boutique makers.

I'm very unhappy with Philips though, they build these very expensive mechanisms for a short period of time, and then suddenly stop making them and the supply just seems to dry up over night. I don't think they did much life testing, because at the price point most target players sell for you would expect a very long service life as part of the deal, and these mechanisms do not seem to last very long relative to their cost. (Perhaps I am naive..)

I bought a relatively cheap Sony single disk CDP in 1991 which sold for around $300, not only did it sound relatively good compared to several other players I listened to, 17yrs later it is still working fine with I'd guess rather more than 5,000 hours of use. Heavily modded, it's been apart dozens of times, and it still works! It now soldiers on at a friend's house. I would have expected nothing less for the Lambda which cost about 7X as much new.

[Thomo]

Yes, I agree. Philips do seem to be particularly bad. Even the cdm12/vam1201 are made by another company. And the quality of the new lasers is hit and miss.

The best thing I've found is to buy up cheap players off ebay with the lasers I want and keep them for spares. It's a shame but I refuse to let my old stuff die!

That avi s2000 apparently has one of the finest sounding dacs ever made I have been told. Should respond well to clocking and modding if you're inclined to do so.

Lee.

[eldarvanyar]

I have just found an AVI brochure and it says that it has a Philips CDM12 mech, is this the same as a CDM12.1, or can I use a 12.4CDM?

[Thomo]

Don't know about cdm12.4. But if you go to CPC and look for VAM1201 or VAM1202 they're the ones you want.

Other places supply them, but the quality can be very, very poor. I bought four lasers as a batch from Grandata and all were dud.

Lee.