I tried adding two washers to the pick-up: the overall weight increased from 27 to 30 grams (10% increase) but that did not make the slightest difference...
I wonder how much weigth is the Arcam fix adding to the pick-up; the KSS-213C is lighter than the 240 so i was hoping 10% would enough to shift resonance frequency.
Attachments
The caps on the main board looks fine, no evident trace of leakage, the big ones measure OK.
I replaced the SMD caps on the servo board, but I could not properly measure them as they were destroyed during the removal. I did some measures when they still were soldered to the board but results were inconclusive. While removing the caps I also smashed an SMD transistor, but I luckily found a suitable replacement and it is working as before.
I replaced the SMD caps on the servo board, but I could not properly measure them as they were destroyed during the removal. I did some measures when they still were soldered to the board but results were inconclusive. While removing the caps I also smashed an SMD transistor, but I luckily found a suitable replacement and it is working as before.
SMD caps of this vintage are pretty much guaranteed to be badly age fatigued anyway, low values especially.
You should be able to get an SMD cap off without damage, grab hold with good tweezers and add a bit of gentle lift tension, then flow some good leaded solder in on both legs , then flip the iron repeatedly between each side quickly until the cap starts to move.
It's important to gain a definite sense of "they needed replacing" by checking at least one or two values after removal.
It would have been good to know, next time maybe ?....
It comes in very useful to take sample ones off to check especially when there are loads on the board.
You should be able to get an SMD cap off without damage, grab hold with good tweezers and add a bit of gentle lift tension, then flow some good leaded solder in on both legs , then flip the iron repeatedly between each side quickly until the cap starts to move.
It's important to gain a definite sense of "they needed replacing" by checking at least one or two values after removal.
It would have been good to know, next time maybe ?....
It comes in very useful to take sample ones off to check especially when there are loads on the board.
I use a more destructive method which, on the other hand, is very gentle on the pads: cut the smd cap in half, remove the upper half and then remove the rest of the cap but its leg soldered on the pcb. Then the legs can be removed quickly with the solder iron.
The BD servo board has only three caps, so I replaced all of them anyway; they were very likely bad as the new caps measured differently when tested on the board.
Just for information, I'm fixing this CD player for fun, it is not definitely a high-end model worth saving. It comes from a flea market and before that very likely it comes from a recycle centre. It's a trash to "treasure" exercise but if I cannot fix it within a (very) limited budget, it's acceptable to keep it as it is.
The BD servo board has only three caps, so I replaced all of them anyway; they were very likely bad as the new caps measured differently when tested on the board.
Just for information, I'm fixing this CD player for fun, it is not definitely a high-end model worth saving. It comes from a flea market and before that very likely it comes from a recycle centre. It's a trash to "treasure" exercise but if I cannot fix it within a (very) limited budget, it's acceptable to keep it as it is.
Hi enryfox,
It is obvious that the servo amp is oscillating, and sticking stuff to the case only stops the housing from vibrating without dealing with the real issue.
Basically the servo is allowing either the focus or tracking gain to go high enough to oscillate. The actual fix is in the servo. They have to either limit the gain or deal with poor compensation. This is an engineering fix, and since this is al about a firmware change, do not expect Sony to fix it. From past experience, Japanese companies will not even admit there is a problem with the design (saving face), and I have caught Sony with design defects many times in the past. Other companies too.
One thing that may help is a new head. When the RF signal gets lower, the gains generally have to increase. Beyond that, no fix, just accept it. All the crap in the world you can stick to a transport will not fix this. All you could do is reduce the audible noise, but that will not help tracking a great deal.
Don't stick stuff to CD transport components. It does not fix anything, but I guess it makes some people feel good.
-Chris
It is obvious that the servo amp is oscillating, and sticking stuff to the case only stops the housing from vibrating without dealing with the real issue.
Basically the servo is allowing either the focus or tracking gain to go high enough to oscillate. The actual fix is in the servo. They have to either limit the gain or deal with poor compensation. This is an engineering fix, and since this is al about a firmware change, do not expect Sony to fix it. From past experience, Japanese companies will not even admit there is a problem with the design (saving face), and I have caught Sony with design defects many times in the past. Other companies too.
One thing that may help is a new head. When the RF signal gets lower, the gains generally have to increase. Beyond that, no fix, just accept it. All the crap in the world you can stick to a transport will not fix this. All you could do is reduce the audible noise, but that will not help tracking a great deal.
Don't stick stuff to CD transport components. It does not fix anything, but I guess it makes some people feel good.
-Chris
The "sticking stuff to transport components" (metal weight onto the laser in this case) was an official arcam fix to an occasional whine (just as described by the OP), the part was specially crafted for the occasion ….. and it worked !! And it worked absolutely fine !! For those odd occasions when the servo would light up and squeal on early tracks with some discs.
If you’d been reading along you’d know he’s already tried a new laser - to no avail.
@anatech I mostly agree with you, I think the design of this servo board has problems. On Sony defence, the player is having problems with CD's that were not available when the servo auto-calibrating procedure was designed: as said in the original post, it works fine with CD's from the 80's and 90's, it just has problems with recent CD from early 2000 onward. I have removed any extra weight on the pick-up so that is back to stock, will keep it as it is and live with that.
I have another Sony CD player with a similar issue, it is a CDP-M33 using a KSS-240 pick-up and an auto-calibrating servo: with some CD sometimes it start skipping back and forth with no reason; tried two different (working) pick-up's and same problem. I did some test and if I adjust the EF balance pot on the pick-up while the CD is playing, it stops skipping, but as soon as the servo does another calibration, the problem reappears.
On the other hand, a CDP-415 with KSS-240 (still Sony original) and auto calibrating servo board, reads everything with no problems. The servo board is a later version (BU-5DB10B in the CDP-415 versus BU-5DB8A of the CDP-M33) so maybe Sony fixed the problem.
I have another Sony CD player with a similar issue, it is a CDP-M33 using a KSS-240 pick-up and an auto-calibrating servo: with some CD sometimes it start skipping back and forth with no reason; tried two different (working) pick-up's and same problem. I did some test and if I adjust the EF balance pot on the pick-up while the CD is playing, it stops skipping, but as soon as the servo does another calibration, the problem reappears.
On the other hand, a CDP-415 with KSS-240 (still Sony original) and auto calibrating servo board, reads everything with no problems. The servo board is a later version (BU-5DB10B in the CDP-415 versus BU-5DB8A of the CDP-M33) so maybe Sony fixed the problem.
Hi MikePP,
First, please don't quote the entire text in a preceding post. There is no need for that.
Most official mods like this are designed to reduce customer complaints instead of addressing the underlying issue. I did warranty service for many brands and know this first hand. Arcam doesn't design anything, they buy solutions so they have no way to figure out and solve the root cause. All they can do is try to make the hurting stop (noise). They re completely dependent on the factory that made the machine for them. Since that is contract manufacturing, there is almost never any follow-up on a product. They drop all responsibility for a product once it leaves the factory. Get used to this, it is how consumer electronics is often handled these days. That is why we now have "repair by replacement" instead of a service department with parts, and engineers at the head office these days. Sony does, and a few other companies, but most distributors merely order a product to spec with their name on it.
My comments are always also general in nature. That is so someone else who may read a response has a complete answer. Also, in my direct experience, these days a new head isn't always a good head. This is especially true of heads not manufactured by the original company that designed the head.
Best, Chris
First, please don't quote the entire text in a preceding post. There is no need for that.
Most official mods like this are designed to reduce customer complaints instead of addressing the underlying issue. I did warranty service for many brands and know this first hand. Arcam doesn't design anything, they buy solutions so they have no way to figure out and solve the root cause. All they can do is try to make the hurting stop (noise). They re completely dependent on the factory that made the machine for them. Since that is contract manufacturing, there is almost never any follow-up on a product. They drop all responsibility for a product once it leaves the factory. Get used to this, it is how consumer electronics is often handled these days. That is why we now have "repair by replacement" instead of a service department with parts, and engineers at the head office these days. Sony does, and a few other companies, but most distributors merely order a product to spec with their name on it.
My comments are always also general in nature. That is so someone else who may read a response has a complete answer. Also, in my direct experience, these days a new head isn't always a good head. This is especially true of heads not manufactured by the original company that designed the head.
Best, Chris