I have a 12 yr. old Aiwa mini system with a three disk changer. Six months to a year after I bought it, the KSS-210A optical pickup went bad. I replaced it with a KSS-210B pickup after hearing how the original Aiwa pickups go bad. It served me well for almost 12yrs. and now has occasional tracking problems. I only noticed this on extended lenght CDs. I am going to inspect the motors and sled mechanism for problems. Probably needs to be cleaned and oiled. If it is the pickup, I want to upgrade it to something better. If it turns out to be something worse, I will have to consider a new stereo. I am interested in how reliable the newer type KSS-213 optical pickups are since they are used in newer Sony models.
The KSS213 series has been around nearly as long as the KSS150/210 series. Reliability on the KSS213's is actually worse than even the KSS150's. Strangely, the cheap old KSS150/210's are still one of the most reliable laser units ever on the market. A thousand times more reliable than the criminally crappy CDM12 series Philips garbage that too many people get stuck with, even by supposedly "high end" companies.
Note that the KSS213 is NOT interchangeable with the KSS150/210(which are interchangeable with each other), as it has an entirely different sort of connector.
Most of the problems with the KSM2101- series mechs in the Aiwa systems were due to teeth shedding on the tracking drive gears. Any loading mech that tilts the KSM2101 down & up, e.g., Aiwa, older Yamaha 5-disc players, and most other Sony laser'd carousel units, develop this problem. These can be ordered, last time I checked, from mcminone.com, but don't know gear part #'s off hand. It is, though, possible yours just needs the chrome tracking guide rail cleaned & regreased, or something else impeding laser sled travel near the outside of the disc area.
Note that the KSS213 is NOT interchangeable with the KSS150/210(which are interchangeable with each other), as it has an entirely different sort of connector.
Most of the problems with the KSM2101- series mechs in the Aiwa systems were due to teeth shedding on the tracking drive gears. Any loading mech that tilts the KSM2101 down & up, e.g., Aiwa, older Yamaha 5-disc players, and most other Sony laser'd carousel units, develop this problem. These can be ordered, last time I checked, from mcminone.com, but don't know gear part #'s off hand. It is, though, possible yours just needs the chrome tracking guide rail cleaned & regreased, or something else impeding laser sled travel near the outside of the disc area.
Oh my post yesterday did not get into the database! I'll try it again:
I've got the same problem (see here . Cleaning helped a little but not too much. I still have some tracking problems in the beginning of a disc. My Teac CD3 uses a Sony KSM 2101 AAM with a KSS 210B laser. The only mechanism I can find in Germany which looks the same for a reasonable price is called KSM 2101 BAM.
Does anybody know if the KSM 2101 AAM and the KSM 2101 BAM are interchangable? Are there any better alternatives? There is no information on the net (at least I did not find it).
Best regards
Floric
I've got the same problem (see here . Cleaning helped a little but not too much. I still have some tracking problems in the beginning of a disc. My Teac CD3 uses a Sony KSM 2101 AAM with a KSS 210B laser. The only mechanism I can find in Germany which looks the same for a reasonable price is called KSM 2101 BAM.
Does anybody know if the KSM 2101 AAM and the KSM 2101 BAM are interchangable? Are there any better alternatives? There is no information on the net (at least I did not find it).
Best regards
Floric
The teeth on the sled drive system are not damaged. It could be that it cannot track a smaller track pitch (loses track position randomly on extendend play discs, plays regular disc fine), the sled motor is dying or the pickup is weak. If the sled motor is going bad, I rather replace the spindle motor also. Anyway, new assembly will be reqired. It's cheaper and easier.
Are the infared lasers used in cd pickups better than the red? The original pickup was an infared laser (KSS-210A) and was replaced by a red laser (KSS-210B).
Are the infared lasers used in cd pickups better than the red? The original pickup was an infared laser (KSS-210A) and was replaced by a red laser (KSS-210B).
In my experience, those "erratical jumps" are due to hardened oil/grease. The sled sticks a little and moves suddenly way too far, so the pickup can't follow the track anymore. Especially at the end of a disc and even more while playing the end of a very long disc, the sled moves on old grease, that has not been moved for a long time and has got really sticky.
The KSM-2101AAM & BAM should darn well be interchangeable, if they appear very similar.
I have never seen grease binding problems on Sony KSS210/213/240 based mechanism. They use a light silicone grease that does not seem to have cementing tendencies like some moly greases used in other mechs have. I have, however, seen the ribbon cables that connect to the laser get routed slightly wrong & cause resistance to sled movement near the end of sled travel.
I have never seen wavelength differences ever noted before on different KSS210 series. I'd be very surprised if the laser diodes were't identical.
Best place I have seen to get Sony lasers & transports is dalbani.com, with dalbani.co.uk being great as well.
I have never seen grease binding problems on Sony KSS210/213/240 based mechanism. They use a light silicone grease that does not seem to have cementing tendencies like some moly greases used in other mechs have. I have, however, seen the ribbon cables that connect to the laser get routed slightly wrong & cause resistance to sled movement near the end of sled travel.
I have never seen wavelength differences ever noted before on different KSS210 series. I'd be very surprised if the laser diodes were't identical.
Best place I have seen to get Sony lasers & transports is dalbani.com, with dalbani.co.uk being great as well.
thank you for the answer stephensank, I thik I will give the KSM2101BAM a try.
If the grease does not harden itself, it is bound with dirt and dust. In my player, the last Millimeters that are not used normally were really sticky. But I have been a really strong smoker for some time.
Thank you
Floric
If the grease does not harden itself, it is bound with dirt and dust. In my player, the last Millimeters that are not used normally were really sticky. But I have been a really strong smoker for some time.
Thank you
Floric
Floric, please go to http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm
This website has many cd player problems and fixes. Anybody who is interested in CD / DVD players should read this.
Try to repair the old assembly before considering buying a new one since they are so hard to find. Hopefully, you will be able to get another CD player that uses the same mechanism as yours for parts. I get all my parts except motors and optical pickups (unless good) from "donated" equipment.
First of all, check the motors. Inspect top bearing for wear (bottom bearings are probably not exposed). If okay, clean and lightly lubricate (only if it is needed) using lightweight oil on both sled and spindle motor. You only need to use a little! Using a toothpick with some oil on it makes it alot easier.
Next, remove, inspect for wear, and clean all gears for sled mechanism. When cleaning the gears, use a old toothbrush. This helps alot especially when cleaning the teeth on the optical pickup. It will be good as new. While the gears are out, clean and lightly regrease (silicon based) chrome bar. Afterward, manually check for smooth movement of pickup.
Finally, lightly regrease (silicion based) all gears and again check for smooth movement of pickup.
I have also read some pickups can be cleaned internally.
This website has many cd player problems and fixes. Anybody who is interested in CD / DVD players should read this.
Try to repair the old assembly before considering buying a new one since they are so hard to find. Hopefully, you will be able to get another CD player that uses the same mechanism as yours for parts. I get all my parts except motors and optical pickups (unless good) from "donated" equipment.
First of all, check the motors. Inspect top bearing for wear (bottom bearings are probably not exposed). If okay, clean and lightly lubricate (only if it is needed) using lightweight oil on both sled and spindle motor. You only need to use a little! Using a toothpick with some oil on it makes it alot easier.
Next, remove, inspect for wear, and clean all gears for sled mechanism. When cleaning the gears, use a old toothbrush. This helps alot especially when cleaning the teeth on the optical pickup. It will be good as new. While the gears are out, clean and lightly regrease (silicon based) chrome bar. Afterward, manually check for smooth movement of pickup.
Finally, lightly regrease (silicion based) all gears and again check for smooth movement of pickup.
I have also read some pickups can be cleaned internally.
I need to point one last thing out. After in-depth research, some older cdplayers (some new ones also) cannot properly read extended play discs. It has something to due with the gearing ratio in the sled mechanism. This explains why my newer portable Panasonic CDP and my older Aiwa 3 disc CDP have similiar problems with the same disc. My DVD player on the other hand, reads the disc perfectly.
This is because DVD players need a different gear ratio to read the tracks (DVD has a much smaller track width than a CD). Extended play discs can have a (not always) slightly smaller track width to fit all the needed info on the disc.
Sled motors can only move so slow. The gear ratio can make or break how accurately the pickup reads the data. My CDPs do not mess up on the end track. It can be anywhere on this disc. I just wish it wasn't on my favorite disc: Roger Waters In the Flesh (big Pink Floyd fan).
Hopefully, we will get lucky and get ours to work properly. If not, I will just use my dvd player with my changer.
This is because DVD players need a different gear ratio to read the tracks (DVD has a much smaller track width than a CD). Extended play discs can have a (not always) slightly smaller track width to fit all the needed info on the disc.
Sled motors can only move so slow. The gear ratio can make or break how accurately the pickup reads the data. My CDPs do not mess up on the end track. It can be anywhere on this disc. I just wish it wasn't on my favorite disc: Roger Waters In the Flesh (big Pink Floyd fan).
Hopefully, we will get lucky and get ours to work properly. If not, I will just use my dvd player with my changer.
I have checked mcminone.com for this part. It is not available on the website nor the catalog. The only thing that comes close is on Dalbani.com. Look for SONY CD MECHANISM KSM-212ABM. The only difference is a KSS-212A pickup is used. The problem is I have heard never use a A type pickup to replace a B for performance reasons.
Thank you for your answer e_c,
I know the repair-faq you mentioned. According to that page I have dismounted and cleaned the complete mechanism (without the laser itself). For the cleaning I used a little brush and bluetac for the gears (works really good).
After that I greased all the parts that were greased before. I used "vaseline" that time - this is a very good grease that tends to harden by the time but it was the only thing that I had at hand that time and I wanted to make a test.
Now my cd-player plays all my cds again but in the gaps between the tracks there is sometimes (often) a short noise (from the transport and through the speakers) as if the laser would jump a little. An inspectation of the transport showed that the gears - not only one and also the teeth of the sled are worn out. I think that it would be an advantage to have a second mechanism to swap if the old one fails. There is one shop
in Germany (german website) which sells the ksm2101bam for a reasonable price, the -aam is not available there, another shop sells it for four times the price (120€) but that's too much I think.
I think, I will give the -bam a try and I will report my results here.
Thank you very much
Floric
I know the repair-faq you mentioned. According to that page I have dismounted and cleaned the complete mechanism (without the laser itself). For the cleaning I used a little brush and bluetac for the gears (works really good).
After that I greased all the parts that were greased before. I used "vaseline" that time - this is a very good grease that tends to harden by the time but it was the only thing that I had at hand that time and I wanted to make a test.
Now my cd-player plays all my cds again but in the gaps between the tracks there is sometimes (often) a short noise (from the transport and through the speakers) as if the laser would jump a little. An inspectation of the transport showed that the gears - not only one and also the teeth of the sled are worn out. I think that it would be an advantage to have a second mechanism to swap if the old one fails. There is one shop
in Germany (german website) which sells the ksm2101bam for a reasonable price, the -aam is not available there, another shop sells it for four times the price (120€) but that's too much I think.
I think, I will give the -bam a try and I will report my results here.
Thank you very much
Floric
I agree, my experience are similar but one cannot completely generalized. The reason for this is also of interest. Have a look to page 37 of the datasheet about KSM213CCM (see attachement):
You will note, that three different laser diodes there are in use:
1) SLD104U or SLD104AGL, not to find about
SONY datasheet pdf catalog
I have found datasheet only about the successor type:
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/sony/a6802787.pdf
2) ROHM RLD78MA
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/rohm/rld-78ma.pdf
3) LT022MS
(see attachement)
If you have an exemplare with laserdiodes about No 2 and No 3, you have a long live version
All laser units (so called "optical pick up") that have inside the SLD104U, are short live versions, even the complete optical pick up is an other brand than Sony. This I have find out about the SF91 (SF-91) from Sanyo. All SF91-exemplares that I had to replace (I have make the authorized service for the older Cambridge Audio models CD-4, CD-6 and CD-T/Discmagic), had inside Sony's SLD-104U, while other SF-91 exemplares, who still perfect work until today (after more than 10 years), had inside a RLD-78 laser diode version from the brand name Rohm.
Similare situation is to observe by "criminally crappy CDM12" series from Philips. This optical pick up's uses a hologram laser (include integrated foto diode matrix and high frequency pre amplifier stages) instead a simply laser diode. Comes this hologram diode from Sharp, a very large reliability and lifetime are to expect. In all other cases it is not so (particularly by optical pick up as replacement for service except that one for juke boxes and other professional stuff).
Interest to know is, that are the diodes itself as original Sharp part much more expensive than a complete optical pick up for CDM12.4
Read in this case the follow threads and the additional photos about the attached links there:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...uccessor-sld-104u-sony-esprit-kss-series.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...lt0h30pa-inside-philips-cdm12-vam12-mech.html
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