Hi Chokh,
Unfortunately not even PS Audio has the schematic for the Ultralink II. I have one that works fine, but have been having problems with my Lambda Drive for years and tried to get any information I could find. I thought it would be wise to try to get service info on all my PS Audio gear before I have serious problems - no such luck though.
The Ultralink, and Lambda series stuff was all built by Theta Digital, but sometime after the two firms split all of the documentation for this product line was apparently lost. When PS Audio went through its bankruptcy and before the current principles took over someone apparently trashed all of the existing product information.
Its a sad story, but even worse is the fact that Philips sold them and a lot of other outfits CDM9pro mechanisms for use in very expensive cd players and transports and discontinued the drive shortly thereafter, knowing full well that these devices weren't intended to be throw aways, and that their crummy mechanism was not all that durable. I honestly had less trouble with a 15yr old Sony with about 5K hours on it than I have with the mechanism in the Lambda which is roughly half as old and has maybe 1K hours on it tops.
Makes you want to stick to the high end offerings of majors (HK mostly) and stay away from all small manufacturers.
Unfortunately not even PS Audio has the schematic for the Ultralink II. I have one that works fine, but have been having problems with my Lambda Drive for years and tried to get any information I could find. I thought it would be wise to try to get service info on all my PS Audio gear before I have serious problems - no such luck though.
The Ultralink, and Lambda series stuff was all built by Theta Digital, but sometime after the two firms split all of the documentation for this product line was apparently lost. When PS Audio went through its bankruptcy and before the current principles took over someone apparently trashed all of the existing product information.
Its a sad story, but even worse is the fact that Philips sold them and a lot of other outfits CDM9pro mechanisms for use in very expensive cd players and transports and discontinued the drive shortly thereafter, knowing full well that these devices weren't intended to be throw aways, and that their crummy mechanism was not all that durable. I honestly had less trouble with a 15yr old Sony with about 5K hours on it than I have with the mechanism in the Lambda which is roughly half as old and has maybe 1K hours on it tops.
Makes you want to stick to the high end offerings of majors (HK mostly) and stay away from all small manufacturers.
chokh said:Hi Very body,
Does anyone has the PS Audio Untralink 2 DAC schematic diagram or service manual? I need the help for repairment of it.
It always unlock many weeks ago and now has no sound.
Thanks:
I contacted PS Audio a few months ago and they sent me a copy of the schematic for my original Digilink DAC. Give them a call.
Best,
Paul
I have talked to people at PS Audio and Theta Digital about the Ultralink II and the Lambda Drive and they have no information as I indicated above. Copies of the owners manuals are all they have. They do have the schematic for the original ultralink as do I, however it is quite different from the Ultralink II.
hi tubenut,
I meant to reply to your question about the problem with my lambda - well it is really two fold, but the symptom is exactly the same in both cases : the spindle motor simply refuses to spin up.
About every 3 - 6 months I have to disassemble the drive and clean the low profile tin idc connector on the mechanism as it becomes intermittent - sometimes I think there might be more to it than this, but have not been able to identify any issue. The obvious solution is to replace the ribbon cable assembly with something better, provided that that is the only real issue, and I am not sure it is..
Relatively frequently (say every week or two) I have to cycle the power switch on the back panel to do a hard reset. The reason for this is that the spindle motor refuses to spin up and the disk is not read when the drawer closes.. Usually, but not always holding down the play button on the lambda front panel results in an error message and then disk plays. Sometimes nothing happens except a loud clunk and the error message. Cycling the power clears the problem temporarily or even for days or weeks at a time.
The power here glitches relatively infrequently so it seems that the lambda mechanism may have a reset or other issue due to line transients or the instruction bus clock and data get out of sync over time.
I have owned my Lambda almost since new and know its previous history.. It is a low hour unit and I have owned it since early 1997, and have not used it over much.
I talked to Philips about getting technical data on this drive and despite the fact that it is obsolete they are unwilling to provide me with any information.. I have to say I now have a very negative impression of the quality of Philips products, and of their support policies. I will NEVER and I mean NEVER purchase a cd player or drive that contains a Philips mechanism again. IMHO their stuff is bottom of the barrel when it comes to reliability. (See my comments about the CHEAP Sony I recently gave to one of my friends. It's design is somewhat older than the cdm9pro mechanism but not by much, and very much cheaper, but it still works and has never missed a beat.)
Companies like HP/Compaq/Dell and others publish the complete maintenance/service documentation to their products online when they are obsoleted - which makes it almost a snap to keep old machines alive.
I love the PS Audio stuff, it was amongst the best in its time, but I don't feel that I should have to throw this drive away in a couple more years because I can't get any parts or information for it. Unfortunately PS Audio is basically a different company today, having been through a messy breakup and bankruptcy - and they have been as helpful as possible under the circumstances. (Kudos) It's not like it was a $100 cd player. I am simply trying to protect my investment..
Kevin
Edit to correct date typo
I meant to reply to your question about the problem with my lambda - well it is really two fold, but the symptom is exactly the same in both cases : the spindle motor simply refuses to spin up.
About every 3 - 6 months I have to disassemble the drive and clean the low profile tin idc connector on the mechanism as it becomes intermittent - sometimes I think there might be more to it than this, but have not been able to identify any issue. The obvious solution is to replace the ribbon cable assembly with something better, provided that that is the only real issue, and I am not sure it is..
Relatively frequently (say every week or two) I have to cycle the power switch on the back panel to do a hard reset. The reason for this is that the spindle motor refuses to spin up and the disk is not read when the drawer closes.. Usually, but not always holding down the play button on the lambda front panel results in an error message and then disk plays. Sometimes nothing happens except a loud clunk and the error message. Cycling the power clears the problem temporarily or even for days or weeks at a time.
The power here glitches relatively infrequently so it seems that the lambda mechanism may have a reset or other issue due to line transients or the instruction bus clock and data get out of sync over time.
I have owned my Lambda almost since new and know its previous history.. It is a low hour unit and I have owned it since early 1997, and have not used it over much.
I talked to Philips about getting technical data on this drive and despite the fact that it is obsolete they are unwilling to provide me with any information.. I have to say I now have a very negative impression of the quality of Philips products, and of their support policies. I will NEVER and I mean NEVER purchase a cd player or drive that contains a Philips mechanism again. IMHO their stuff is bottom of the barrel when it comes to reliability. (See my comments about the CHEAP Sony I recently gave to one of my friends. It's design is somewhat older than the cdm9pro mechanism but not by much, and very much cheaper, but it still works and has never missed a beat.)
Companies like HP/Compaq/Dell and others publish the complete maintenance/service documentation to their products online when they are obsoleted - which makes it almost a snap to keep old machines alive.
I love the PS Audio stuff, it was amongst the best in its time, but I don't feel that I should have to throw this drive away in a couple more years because I can't get any parts or information for it. Unfortunately PS Audio is basically a different company today, having been through a messy breakup and bankruptcy - and they have been as helpful as possible under the circumstances. (Kudos) It's not like it was a $100 cd player. I am simply trying to protect my investment..
Kevin
Edit to correct date typo
Kevinkr... I may be the bearer of good news for you...
My Data Basic and a friends did exactly the same.
Hard booting helped but I stripped the mech many times suspecting a dud or dirty motor. Once re assembled the problem would not surface for weeks. I also purged the motor with alcohol and thought this sorted it. Few weeks later the problem returned....
I did another purge but this time I squirted to much all over the place and afterwards the thing would not even do the backward spin on the hard boot....
Having nothing to loose I then fitted the optics from a CDM9/44 I had bought as a spare into the 9 pro and miracle of miracles, she spun up and read TOC firts time!!! This is more then 6 months ago. 2 weeks later I fitted new optics to my friends unit and he has not had the problem again either...
Subsequent e mail with Theta established that most problems they have with Data Basic is laser related, they charge USD450 plus shipping for this fix BTW.
I have now found out that the CDM9 does a focus before it spins up to read TOC and can only conclude that being disconnected from the power supply while stripping gave the tired lasers a time to cool dowen and relax to work with a little new vigour.
Interestingly both myself and my friend believe sonics improved across the board after the new lasers were installed.....
Hunt down a CDM9 mechanism (forget about finding a pro, better luck finding NOS Mullard EL34s) and fit the optical swingarm into the pro plate. Patience, a torx wrench and static safe procedure is all that is needed!
Regards
Guillaume
My Data Basic and a friends did exactly the same.
Hard booting helped but I stripped the mech many times suspecting a dud or dirty motor. Once re assembled the problem would not surface for weeks. I also purged the motor with alcohol and thought this sorted it. Few weeks later the problem returned....
I did another purge but this time I squirted to much all over the place and afterwards the thing would not even do the backward spin on the hard boot....
Having nothing to loose I then fitted the optics from a CDM9/44 I had bought as a spare into the 9 pro and miracle of miracles, she spun up and read TOC firts time!!! This is more then 6 months ago. 2 weeks later I fitted new optics to my friends unit and he has not had the problem again either...
Subsequent e mail with Theta established that most problems they have with Data Basic is laser related, they charge USD450 plus shipping for this fix BTW.
I have now found out that the CDM9 does a focus before it spins up to read TOC and can only conclude that being disconnected from the power supply while stripping gave the tired lasers a time to cool dowen and relax to work with a little new vigour.
Interestingly both myself and my friend believe sonics improved across the board after the new lasers were installed.....
Hunt down a CDM9 mechanism (forget about finding a pro, better luck finding NOS Mullard EL34s) and fit the optical swingarm into the pro plate. Patience, a torx wrench and static safe procedure is all that is needed!
Regards
Guillaume
PS Audio Ultralink - power on?
Hi, not sure if this is related to this thread but I have had problems powering up my PS Audio Ultralink DAC from time-to-time but this time it seems to be dead and I can't bring it to life. The touch sensitive switch seems to be dead? Usually just touching another piece of equipment or shuffling my feet on the carpet to generate a little static electricity did the job of turning it on ... but not this time. Any suggestions? This is not the Ultralink II but the first. The contacts are clean and I have tried touching everything I can think of .... Thx. for any suggestions.
Hi, not sure if this is related to this thread but I have had problems powering up my PS Audio Ultralink DAC from time-to-time but this time it seems to be dead and I can't bring it to life. The touch sensitive switch seems to be dead? Usually just touching another piece of equipment or shuffling my feet on the carpet to generate a little static electricity did the job of turning it on ... but not this time. Any suggestions? This is not the Ultralink II but the first. The contacts are clean and I have tried touching everything I can think of .... Thx. for any suggestions.
Hi Michael,
I've heard that that is a problem with the Ultralink I. Unfortunately something like that is plaguing my unit too, and I don't know what to do about it. Maybe it gets better after I replace the caps..
Anyway, I lightly wet my finger and then the buttons work better.
*I probably should just accept the loss and get something else. Rather old for a DAC. *
I've heard that that is a problem with the Ultralink I. Unfortunately something like that is plaguing my unit too, and I don't know what to do about it. Maybe it gets better after I replace the caps..
Anyway, I lightly wet my finger and then the buttons work better.
*I probably should just accept the loss and get something else. Rather old for a DAC.
*PS Audio Ultralink - power on?
Hi Netrunner,
Unfortunately, wet fingers and all the other possibilities aren't working on my DAC ..... I think my problem may be in a failed power supply or something to do with the link from the touch sensitive power on button to the power supply. I don't have the expertise to test anything. Anyone out there have any advice or am I stuck with taking it into the shop? By the way, I have yet to hear a DAC that cost less than $2,000 that sounded better than this one (I got this one used a few years ago for $450). It is a great DAC (when it is working) and I hope it is fixable. I have paired it with the PS Audio Lambda Two transport and I am delighted with the sound. These are great pieces considering their vintage.
Hi Netrunner,
Unfortunately, wet fingers and all the other possibilities aren't working on my DAC ..... I think my problem may be in a failed power supply or something to do with the link from the touch sensitive power on button to the power supply. I don't have the expertise to test anything. Anyone out there have any advice or am I stuck with taking it into the shop? By the way, I have yet to hear a DAC that cost less than $2,000 that sounded better than this one (I got this one used a few years ago for $450). It is a great DAC (when it is working) and I hope it is fixable. I have paired it with the PS Audio Lambda Two transport and I am delighted with the sound. These are great pieces considering their vintage.
There seems to be a problem with just about everything PS Audio made in the old days if for no other reason than the stuff is getting rather old. LOL
My lambda drive is acting up again and I am searching for a laser assembly for the drive as my last resort. The 9/44 seems to be readily available and I will probably buy one shortly and give it a try. Eventually I will have to replace the drive with something else. Given my aversion to Philips in general I will probably buy something using a sony or ?? mechanism.. Maybe I will just modify a CDROM drive...
I have the schematic for the Ultralink I and can forward it to any interested party. I suspect the LM324 used for sensing the touch switches is bad, it basically senses noise picked up from you. ESDing it probably made the problem worse - I have always avoided discharging into the switches as I was concerned about what was at the other end .. LOL I don't have schematics for my Ultralink II or the Lambda - even PS Audio can't locate a copy.
Ultralink II owners are SOL as this DAC is totally different than the Ultralink, and there appears to relatively little in common with it except that both use the UA D20400 hybrid dac.
My email address is located elsewhere in this thread if you need to contact me.
Edit: 2012 I no longer have any information referenced in this thread. Please don't ask.
My lambda drive is acting up again and I am searching for a laser assembly for the drive as my last resort. The 9/44 seems to be readily available and I will probably buy one shortly and give it a try. Eventually I will have to replace the drive with something else. Given my aversion to Philips in general I will probably buy something using a sony or ?? mechanism.. Maybe I will just modify a CDROM drive...
I have the schematic for the Ultralink I and can forward it to any interested party. I suspect the LM324 used for sensing the touch switches is bad, it basically senses noise picked up from you. ESDing it probably made the problem worse - I have always avoided discharging into the switches as I was concerned about what was at the other end .. LOL I don't have schematics for my Ultralink II or the Lambda - even PS Audio can't locate a copy.
Ultralink II owners are SOL as this DAC is totally different than the Ultralink, and there appears to relatively little in common with it except that both use the UA D20400 hybrid dac.
My email address is located elsewhere in this thread if you need to contact me.
Edit: 2012 I no longer have any information referenced in this thread. Please don't ask.
Hi Kevin,
Woud you please send me a schematic of PS audio Ultralink DAC? I know the one is not same as Ultralink II but there is not big difference between Ultralink I & II.I had compare my Ultralink II and my friend's Ultralink DAC.So, it is possiable for me to slove the problem.
My email box capacity about 50MB,I think there is no problem to receiving a big file but avoid any data lost,the information is better compress with Winzip or WinRar.Thank you.
Does anybody has a PMD-100 HDCD chip?I shall trying to replace it to fix the problem.
Best Regards
chokh
Woud you please send me a schematic of PS audio Ultralink DAC? I know the one is not same as Ultralink II but there is not big difference between Ultralink I & II.I had compare my Ultralink II and my friend's Ultralink DAC.So, it is possiable for me to slove the problem.
My email box capacity about 50MB,I think there is no problem to receiving a big file but avoid any data lost,the information is better compress with Winzip or WinRar.Thank you.
Does anybody has a PMD-100 HDCD chip?I shall trying to replace it to fix the problem.
Best Regards
chokh
Hi Chokh,
I doubt that the pmd 100 is at the root of the problem, more likely it is some part of the spdif receiver or related clock recovery circuitry. Have you checked any of the other inputs to make sure that none of them work, and that therefore it is not one of the relays?
The ultralink 2 uses an ultra analog receiver to the best of my recollection and the 1 doesn't..
It is quite possible that one of the myriad power supplies has failed and this is one thing I would eliminate before checking anything else.
Kevin
I doubt that the pmd 100 is at the root of the problem, more likely it is some part of the spdif receiver or related clock recovery circuitry. Have you checked any of the other inputs to make sure that none of them work, and that therefore it is not one of the relays?
The ultralink 2 uses an ultra analog receiver to the best of my recollection and the 1 doesn't..
It is quite possible that one of the myriad power supplies has failed and this is one thing I would eliminate before checking anything else.
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
I am still not received the Uktralink schematic from your side.The files are too big and over the limit to receive at once.Would you mind using WinRar or Winzip to cut the big file to a few smaller files for me?Please send me the files to:
Email address removed by moderation
Thanks again
chokh
I am still not received the Uktralink schematic from your side.The files are too big and over the limit to receive at once.Would you mind using WinRar or Winzip to cut the big file to a few smaller files for me?Please send me the files to:
Email address removed by moderationThanks again
chokh