Caspian CD Display Dim

[leviathon]

(My initial post does not appear to be showing up. Apologies in advance if it does and I end up repeating myself.)

I have a Roksan Caspian CD player which according to sources on the internet has an inherent problem of dimming display. The unit's display had been replaced prior to my purchase, however over the past year it has indeed gone south again.

I have not found any diy solutions on the internet. Contacting both Roksan and service centers have resulted in requiring sending the unit in for estimate.

I use the player as a transport feeding a Perpetual Tech P3A dac. I am happy with the set-up, but it is getting long in the tooth and due for an upgrade. So I prefer not to invest much into the Caspian to fix the display. Unless of course I can dabble with it myself.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Ed

[Mooly]

If it's a VFD (Vacuum fluorescent Display) a common general (speaking of much consumer gear... no experience of Roksan) issue is problems with the supplies. There is a negative rail of around -27 volts, and the filaments are tied to this usually via a 4.7 volt zener so they maintain a constant level with respect to this voltage.

Dried up electroylitic caps are a usual common problem... sometimes the arrangements use caps as voltage doublers, or as "isolation" to AC couple power to the supplies for the display.
Worth looking at... it's an age old fault.

[leviathon]

Can the caps be drying up so quickly? Mind you they recommend leaving the unit on at all times, which I do. So maybe a couple years is enough to deteriorate them? I will start poking around. Thanks for the tip.

Ed

[Mooly]

They can from my experience (not on Roksan but generally), and it's usually down to poor circuit design.

[Mooly]

Read this thread, not a Roksan but they all follow similar design,
Marantz CD5000 - display very dull - help?

[leviathon]

Link most helpful. Thanks for this!

[dadoarica1]

I have exactly the same problem with my Caspian (MK1) CD player and since do not have the service manual, nor want to invest too much into this unit, any more - could you please, let me know how to solve this issue with the dimmed display.

Thanks in advance !

[Mooly]

Originally Posted by dadoarica1

I have exactly the same problem with my Caspian (MK1) CD player and since do not have the service manual, nor want to invest too much into this unit, any more - could you please, let me know how to solve this issue with the dimmed display.

Thanks in advance !

Can't give you exact details because I have never seen one but it's just a case of normal fault finding... find the section of the PSU that generates the voltages for the display and if necessary change the electroylitics.

All VFD displays follow the same basic pattern as outlined in the thread linked to above