Help, my CD player died

Hi there

My CD player - Pioneer PD-7700 (heavily modified some years ago) just died, refuses to read any disc at all, looks like either the laser or the logic of the machine is at fault.

I would like to bring it back to life without spending too much (I have another player - Marantz CD4000), but don't know where to start from. I may replace all semiconductors - transistors and ICs one at a time, but will need some info on japanese transistor replacements.

If anyone has any information or suggestions about this particular machine your help will be greatly appreciated.

Regards from Oziland

Stan

[mrfeedback]

Hi Stan,
Does the disc spin up at all, and if so does it seem slow ?.

Regards, Eric.

Hi Eric

No, the disc does not spin at all, I can hear a couple of clicks and that's it. If I turn the disc upside down then it spins it, but because there's no data there it stops after a while. That makes me think that the motors are ok and maybe even the laser is still ok. Unfortunately I have no service manual and have no plans to pay $20US for one just to find that maybe the desease is incurable or rather the remedy will cost as much as a new CD player. So, my idea is to play with it and use it as a learning tool (or device).

Kind Regards

Stan

[mrfeedback]

Hi Stan,
IME the usual faults in Pioneers are defective spin motors (this can be cured), faulty PCB to pickup ribbon cables.
Does your cdp have a connector on pickup and pcb ?.

Eric.

[jam]

Stan,

Your symptoms indicate a defective pick-up with either a collapsed suspension or the grating out of whack. The clicks you hear is the lens moving up and down trying to achieve focus lock.

If you obtain a service manual and put the unit into test mode you will be better able to determine the cause.

If the player uses a white ribbon cable between the pickup and the servo board then this might be defective, the cure being to replace it with a mylar replacement cable.

Jam

Eric and Jam

Thank you for your replies.

Now to answer your questions - the ribbon cable between the pickup and the board is actually a mylar one and is plugged into a connector on the main PCB. Also, on the cable, before the connector to the PCB there's something which looks like a tiny pot.

Stan

[mrfeedback]

Stan, Yeah but is the ribbon cable captive to the pickup, or detachable ? - ie a connector at each end ?

Eric.

[jam]

Stan,

Do not under any circumstance adjust the pot on the mylar cable. Also check that the lens is not loose. The glue Pioneer used sometimes gave way after a few years.

I suspect that you will have to replace the pickup.

Jam

Hi guys

The cable can be detached at the main PCB, but not at the other end. Looks like the whole pickup assembly has to be replaced if that's the faulty part and it is rather expensive. A new player might be a better option, but I'll keep playing with it.

Regards

Stan