New laser for Mission Cyrus PCM II CD

[gliddofglood]

I have a Cyrus PCM II CD player which I have always thought was very good.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to use it for several years as the laser has gone on the blink – it will only rarely play a CD. I replaced it with a NAD C521BEE which I don’t think is as good.

This is annoying. One small part is stopping me using the Mission. Mission say they no longer have the lasers – which I believe were made by Philips – and so can’t repair it.

So… does anyone know where I could find one? There must be one somewhere in the world.

Thanks.

[poynton]

The Mission PCMII uses the Philips CDM4/11 laser which is no longer available new (occaisionally from EBAY). It is, however, used extensively in other players.

Having said that, the symptoms you describe do seem to point to a very common fault with Philips-based players, drying electrolytic capacitors.

There are many threads about this problem.
Usually, it involves replacing the caps in the servo region. A 33uF cap is particularly prone to failure.

If you post a photo of the mainboard, someone will point out the cap to change.

Andy

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[gliddofglood]

Andy,

Many thanks for this advice and I will post a pic shortly, once I have dug the Cyrus out again. I also have the circuit diagramme (I think) which I could scan if this is of help. I am not an electronic engineer, but my father is (even if he is in the wrong country). Anyway I am sure I could get the repair effected if this is what the problem is and I can get the part.

The symptom is that when you put a CD in and press play, it just says "error" and nothing happens. Last time I looked, though, it would occasionally "bite" and play without difficulty, but it is a rare occurrence. Is this consistent with the often-failing cap?

Seems a pity to junk an entire great CD player for one or two components.

Alex

[tiefbassuebertr]

The appropriate Philips service manuals for this Mission/Cyrus model are for follow models:
1) CD371
2) CD373
3) CD471
4) CD473
5) FCD673
Additional you need the Service Manual supplement from CDM4
Replace all electrolytic capacitors arround the APC unit so as arround the RF amplifier- and servo units and only then start with your actually troubleshooting.
Electrolytics with values than 1 uF or below replace through small non polar WIMA MKS versions.
BTW - defects of the 780-785 Nm laser diode (mostly ROHM RLD78) are considerably rare in this and older Philips mechanism model than by SONY KSS series - nevertheless not too bad to replace and easy to get.

[amc184]

The Mission PCM2 is based on a Philips CD670, not a CD371 or any of the other models you listed tiefbassuebertr. Gliddofglood, give me a PM if you want me to email you the CD670's service manual.

Andy's comments are right on topic, this is the first thing I would check as well. The servo board is located right in the middle of the player, largely obscured by the mainboard which sits above it. My blog has a post about the PCM2, see the link under my post.