I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing thier ideas and solution on this topic!.. I had no knowledge of the internal componets in an electonic and how it works until I came to this site..
It took me like a week to read to most of the post but I understood what I had to do.. I bought my first PS1 1001 model on ebay for $17.. which I think was a steal because it was perfect inside came with controller, power cable, and AV muti out cable..
I followed Mick's direction (Thanks Mick!) on his site and was finish with the ps1 in less then a week (need materials). Later I found a picture frame around my house which I later use to case my ps1.. I wanted the ps1 to match my speakers =)
My friend later gave me his ps1 same model for free and when I compared to the one I modded, I was shock!.. Huge difference!.. I am now making another one for my mom..
Just wanted to thank everyone!!...
It took me like a week to read to most of the post but I understood what I had to do.. I bought my first PS1 1001 model on ebay for $17.. which I think was a steal because it was perfect inside came with controller, power cable, and AV muti out cable..
I followed Mick's direction (Thanks Mick!) on his site and was finish with the ps1 in less then a week (need materials). Later I found a picture frame around my house which I later use to case my ps1.. I wanted the ps1 to match my speakers =)
My friend later gave me his ps1 same model for free and when I compared to the one I modded, I was shock!.. Huge difference!.. I am now making another one for my mom..
Just wanted to thank everyone!!...
Hi all,
I read the whole thread, wondering if a controller is absolutely necessary? Can I just put a CD in and close the lid and it will play with no controller connected? It seems we at least need a "start" button, but I have not operated a PS so am not sure. If I need a controller, is there any way of making the PS play with just a momentary switch, or do we need the controller's IC to send the data to the PS control IC? Great thread, interesting reading.
Ian.
I read the whole thread, wondering if a controller is absolutely necessary? Can I just put a CD in and close the lid and it will play with no controller connected? It seems we at least need a "start" button, but I have not operated a PS so am not sure. If I need a controller, is there any way of making the PS play with just a momentary switch, or do we need the controller's IC to send the data to the PS control IC? Great thread, interesting reading.
Ian.
sigurd, that looks very very good. i thought my last mod at playstation was done, but today during shopping some small 6 and 9 v transformer reduced in price jumped me in the eye and there I thought of you. regulators and so on i have laying around, everything which is missing is 1000 bg ... where do you buy them? i can find only 470 and 4700 bg std for horrible price. why do you take for digitally 5 V? I have here 7805 and ld33v for 3,3 volt to lie and can yet decide
Please help me with laser intensity
This is my first post. I came late to the playstation party, but, I would like to thank all you guys for your hard work and determination bringing the joys of this player to the audio world. In particular, Mick F, you have done a beautiful job of distilling all the technical necessities into your website. I am having trouble with the laser intensity adjustment as described in Mick's website. The gain and bias adjustments are simple, but I need advice with laser intensity. The laser only is in the proper position for a very short time and by the time I visually confirm that it is at it's top position, it goes back down. Then, it comes back up again for a second and results in a completely different reading (higher) before dropping back down. I have positioned the meter so I can see it and the laser in the same field of view and have even blocked out the last digit with tape to keep it from confusing my eyes. Needless to say, this all happens so fast that my measurements are all over the map and my best efforts have resulted in a worse sounding player. Every time I turn the player off and on to measure I seem to get a different reading. I must be doing something wrong. If I can measure with a cd actually spinning, will the laser then be in the correct position? I am assuming that, if even possible, this should be done with the first song on a disc. And, if so, then what would be the right time to take a reading... on initial start up?... a second or so after?... any time? Also, I am not clear on whether or not any of these laser adjustments need to be done with the player hooked up and actually driving a system. I am sure many of you have been through this a few times and I would appreciate any advise you may offer. If you are still listening Mick, I would certainly value yout input as well. Thanks so much, Chris Harvey
This is my first post. I came late to the playstation party, but, I would like to thank all you guys for your hard work and determination bringing the joys of this player to the audio world. In particular, Mick F, you have done a beautiful job of distilling all the technical necessities into your website. I am having trouble with the laser intensity adjustment as described in Mick's website. The gain and bias adjustments are simple, but I need advice with laser intensity. The laser only is in the proper position for a very short time and by the time I visually confirm that it is at it's top position, it goes back down. Then, it comes back up again for a second and results in a completely different reading (higher) before dropping back down. I have positioned the meter so I can see it and the laser in the same field of view and have even blocked out the last digit with tape to keep it from confusing my eyes. Needless to say, this all happens so fast that my measurements are all over the map and my best efforts have resulted in a worse sounding player. Every time I turn the player off and on to measure I seem to get a different reading. I must be doing something wrong. If I can measure with a cd actually spinning, will the laser then be in the correct position? I am assuming that, if even possible, this should be done with the first song on a disc. And, if so, then what would be the right time to take a reading... on initial start up?... a second or so after?... any time? Also, I am not clear on whether or not any of these laser adjustments need to be done with the player hooked up and actually driving a system. I am sure many of you have been through this a few times and I would appreciate any advise you may offer. If you are still listening Mick, I would certainly value yout input as well. Thanks so much, Chris Harvey
I cant believe this thread is still alive. Haven't been here for years since I did not receive any email messages about new posts. However, I am happy to notice that you are making progress here (only browsed the last 10 pages or so). Also, with interest I see that the use of playstations is spreading more and more. At the beginning there were few users outside of Europe but now the topic receives more and more attention worldwide.
I also had discussions with some of the writers at 6moons.com who are quite enthousiastic about the PS1. If you carefully check the pictures of their setups, you occasionally find a PS in between their other horribly expensive stuff. These people have lots of listening experience and compare with all kinds of first-class equipment, so they know what they are talking about.
I should also say that my PS1 is happily running with all the mods reported since early 2007 without any problems. I have some spare SCPH 1002 in my stock, but there was no need to replace anything yet. I never switch my Audio off, so it is really running long term. So you see that there is still a lot of life in these old plastic thingies
I was not particularly happy to find this:
The visits I get on my website are the only reward I receive for all the work and research I did. I dont want to have everything I wrote up circulating in the internet in a single file, keeping people from visiting my site. You are always welcome to make an off-line copy of my site on your personal computer so that you have access to the data at all times, but please dont make my website superfluous. Hence, I kindly ask you to remove the file from the host.
Finally let me say hello to Jives and Dragonmaster. Anybody else from the early days still here?
Best,
Mick
I also had discussions with some of the writers at 6moons.com who are quite enthousiastic about the PS1. If you carefully check the pictures of their setups, you occasionally find a PS in between their other horribly expensive stuff. These people have lots of listening experience and compare with all kinds of first-class equipment, so they know what they are talking about.
I should also say that my PS1 is happily running with all the mods reported since early 2007 without any problems. I have some spare SCPH 1002 in my stock, but there was no need to replace anything yet. I never switch my Audio off, so it is really running long term. So you see that there is still a lot of life in these old plastic thingies
I was not particularly happy to find this:
The visits I get on my website are the only reward I receive for all the work and research I did. I dont want to have everything I wrote up circulating in the internet in a single file, keeping people from visiting my site. You are always welcome to make an off-line copy of my site on your personal computer so that you have access to the data at all times, but please dont make my website superfluous. Hence, I kindly ask you to remove the file from the host.
Finally let me say hello to Jives and Dragonmaster. Anybody else from the early days still here?
Best,
Mick
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Chris, I never had this kind of problems, so I cannot give direct advice. What I would do first is to install another laser unit and try if everything runs well then. Also, you should check if the disk on which the CD is attached (I mean the thing with the little steel balls) is shifted to a wrong position on the motor axis. Measure the correct height on a functioning laser unit and compare to yours.
Mick
One more question for Mick
Thanks Mick for responding to my questions. Would you be kind eough to comment about testing with the disc spinning? If I could manipulate the meter's probe and adjuster with the disc spinning, is the laser then at the correct position to take a reading?
Thanks again, Chris Harvey
Thanks Mick for responding to my questions. Would you be kind eough to comment about testing with the disc spinning? If I could manipulate the meter's probe and adjuster with the disc spinning, is the laser then at the correct position to take a reading?
Thanks again, Chris Harvey
Hmmm, I still dont get email alerts, even though I have subscribed to this thread. Strange...
Chris, I dont know if it makes a difference when you have the disk spinning, but at least you can give it a try. If you do so, a good trick is to use a small CD (sometimes these are used for promotion, they are only about 2" in diameter) in order to have easy access to the trimmer.
Chris, I dont know if it makes a difference when you have the disk spinning, but at least you can give it a try. If you do so, a good trick is to use a small CD (sometimes these are used for promotion, they are only about 2" in diameter) in order to have easy access to the trimmer.
Hey guys
This is my first post here so please be gentle
Like all of you I have found the PS1 to be a CDP that performs well above it's price bracket (that of a latte) with a beautiful rich, gentle sound with surprising detail, that is particularly rewarding with female vocals.
And also like you I have come to wish to improve upon it's remarkable sonic qualities and have spent hours pouring over this and Mick's site. Unfortunately ... I have absolutely no clue as to what I'm reading I have absolutely no knowledge of curcuit design and electronic engineering. I'm of a breed that enjoys the end result but has no clue as to how it comes to be
Looking at the base of Mick's page here: http://www.dogbreath.de/PS1/output/output.html
I become confused as to what the values of the blocking cap and ground resistors should be with a input impedance of 50K in my preamp (integrated), and in addition how to jump to the total impedance and cutoff frequency values (and further, what range they should be in).
Again I apologise, I'm sure that this is all very simple and straightforward to someone who understands this, unfortunately I'm not one of those people. I'm been through a few dozen pages here looking for an answer that I can understand but if someone would be willing to spell it out in words of one syllable I would be most appreciative
Cheers, Mike
This is my first post here so please be gentle
Like all of you I have found the PS1 to be a CDP that performs well above it's price bracket (that of a latte) with a beautiful rich, gentle sound with surprising detail, that is particularly rewarding with female vocals.
And also like you I have come to wish to improve upon it's remarkable sonic qualities and have spent hours pouring over this and Mick's site. Unfortunately ... I have absolutely no clue as to what I'm reading
I have absolutely no knowledge of curcuit design and electronic engineering. I'm of a breed that enjoys the end result but has no clue as to how it comes to be Looking at the base of Mick's page here: http://www.dogbreath.de/PS1/output/output.html
I become confused as to what the values of the blocking cap and ground resistors should be with a input impedance of 50K in my preamp (integrated), and in addition how to jump to the total impedance and cutoff frequency values (and further, what range they should be in).
Again I apologise, I'm sure that this is all very simple and straightforward to someone who understands this, unfortunately I'm not one of those people. I'm been through a few dozen pages here looking for an answer that I can understand but if someone would be willing to spell it out in words of one syllable I would be most appreciative
Cheers, Mike
SCPH-5500 skipping problem
I have just acquired a SCPH-5500 in good cosmetic condition. However, I found that it skips badly for all CD-R audio records I put in, and also skips occasionally with the normal CDs.
Is it normal for the version SCPH-5500? Could this be due to an aging laser or an mal-aligned unit? Or could it be the extra chip installed (or not installed, as I have not taken it apart yet)?
Thanks in advance for your kind help!
Russell
I have just acquired a SCPH-5500 in good cosmetic condition. However, I found that it skips badly for all CD-R audio records I put in, and also skips occasionally with the normal CDs.
Is it normal for the version SCPH-5500? Could this be due to an aging laser or an mal-aligned unit? Or could it be the extra chip installed (or not installed, as I have not taken it apart yet)?
Thanks in advance for your kind help!
Russell
Hi Russell,
I have only had a problem with Model SCPH-5501 intermittently skipping on CDs and CD-Rs. I checked the laser intensity and it was around 9mV. I turned the small pot at the top of the amber-colored ribbon cable on the laser unit clockwise until I measured about 14mV. It was good to go after that.
Model SCPH-5501 self-adjusts Bias and Gain, so that's about the only adjustment you can make. Try using suitable means to clean the laser lens and insure that it is also free to move up and down when engaging the laser.
Here are some excellent links to help you:
http://www.cyber-mag.com/station/laserPSX.htm#sectA
http://www.dogbreath.de/PS1/LaserAlignment/Laser.html
I have only had a problem with Model SCPH-5501 intermittently skipping on CDs and CD-Rs. I checked the laser intensity and it was around 9mV. I turned the small pot at the top of the amber-colored ribbon cable on the laser unit clockwise until I measured about 14mV. It was good to go after that.
Model SCPH-5501 self-adjusts Bias and Gain, so that's about the only adjustment you can make. Try using suitable means to clean the laser lens and insure that it is also free to move up and down when engaging the laser.
Here are some excellent links to help you:
http://www.cyber-mag.com/station/laserPSX.htm#sectA
http://www.dogbreath.de/PS1/LaserAlignment/Laser.html
MikeNZ,
Short answer is 2.2uF or 3.3uF caps and 22K resistors. Long answer is, um, search on Google for terms like "high pass filter", "output impedance", "line stage output impedance", wikipedia is good too. It just goes on and on, there is no simple answer that is less than a page or 2 or 4 long, unless someone else here can do it...
Short answer is 2.2uF or 3.3uF caps and 22K resistors. Long answer is, um, search on Google for terms like "high pass filter", "output impedance", "line stage output impedance", wikipedia is good too. It just goes on and on, there is no simple answer that is less than a page or 2 or 4 long, unless someone else here can do it...
