First off, a big thank you to members of this board (digital or otherwise). I am not an active contributor, but I find the comments, advise and experience on this board helpful.
I just revived a 25 year old Philips CD630 player and the journey has been both long and interesting.
You may wonder, "Why bother?", but this CD player represents my first foray into serious hi-fi and also making changes. It hold s special place in my heart. It predates my marriage and it is older than my eldest child.
10 years ago in my eagerness to change op-amps, I damaged the PCB tracks of the player. That was purely my mistake as I forgot the old adage "Look before you leap". I kept hold of this player as I am a) stubborn and b) to correct mistakes I made.
In the interim, 2 different CD players made their way into the system with not much satisfaction for me. In June this year, I decided to bite the bullet and with new determination, I decided to make sure that my first time into modifications will be a success. In the mean time, I have successfully made changes to an old Rotel RB970, built some linear power supplies and revived a pair of speakers that uses Magnetic Liquid Suspension aka known as ferrofluid for its mid-bass drivers.
Before taking up the soldering iron to the CD player again, I read through the posts on this board and essentially picked up tips, advise and the cumulative experience and wisdom present on it.
The first advise is always schematics, schematics, schematics. This is paramount in understanding what the undertaking will be and it will ensure that you are not going in blind. Next advise that is valuable, have a look at the innards and assess the difficulties that will be encountered. Next, plan what changes are to be done, get the correct parts and compare it against the parts list on the schematics. A DVM is absolutely necessary.
Before applying the the soldering iron to the pcb, make sure that the pcb is free from grime and accumulated dust. This is easily done with a damp cloth with a little bit of soap. A few wipes may be necessary, but ensure that the area that you are going to work on is clean. Dry the board. This will ensure that PCB tracks are not "pulled" when you are un-soldering components.
I followed those advise on this board and armed with the schematics went about repairing the PCB tracks, checking on the power supplies to the op-amps and DAC, planned changes to the electrolytics caps and changing the op-amps.
During doing work on this old CD player, the stock RCA sockets came apart, this necessitate a change, which involved drilling new holes and routing the cables to the socket. This CD player's casing is made of plastic, with "bracings" on it to make it stiffer. Lampizator's site has a photo of it's innards.
Because of this "bracings", I have to take apart the CD player, drawer et al to access the components and make component replacement easier. Again, the schematics came in handy. I took the opportunity to also check on the laser diodes settings (based on voltages) to ensure that everything is within specification. I really wished I have an oscilloscope or have access to one!
In all, it took me a total of around 80 hours, spread over 2 weeks, but the end results is very satisfying. I have a vintage CD player based on the TDA1541A chip. I cannot express the happiness I felt at hearing the old girl again, but it is an eye opener. The other bonus that comes out of this is, I am not afraid to take a CD player apart and put it all back again, provided a schematic of it is available.
I plan further changes to the player, but I will do it one step at a time and not rush things, after all, I have around 300 CDs toi listen to 😎
Thank you again to everyone, you guys are great!
I just revived a 25 year old Philips CD630 player and the journey has been both long and interesting.
You may wonder, "Why bother?", but this CD player represents my first foray into serious hi-fi and also making changes. It hold s special place in my heart. It predates my marriage and it is older than my eldest child.
10 years ago in my eagerness to change op-amps, I damaged the PCB tracks of the player. That was purely my mistake as I forgot the old adage "Look before you leap". I kept hold of this player as I am a) stubborn and b) to correct mistakes I made.
In the interim, 2 different CD players made their way into the system with not much satisfaction for me. In June this year, I decided to bite the bullet and with new determination, I decided to make sure that my first time into modifications will be a success. In the mean time, I have successfully made changes to an old Rotel RB970, built some linear power supplies and revived a pair of speakers that uses Magnetic Liquid Suspension aka known as ferrofluid for its mid-bass drivers.
Before taking up the soldering iron to the CD player again, I read through the posts on this board and essentially picked up tips, advise and the cumulative experience and wisdom present on it.
The first advise is always schematics, schematics, schematics. This is paramount in understanding what the undertaking will be and it will ensure that you are not going in blind. Next advise that is valuable, have a look at the innards and assess the difficulties that will be encountered. Next, plan what changes are to be done, get the correct parts and compare it against the parts list on the schematics. A DVM is absolutely necessary.
Before applying the the soldering iron to the pcb, make sure that the pcb is free from grime and accumulated dust. This is easily done with a damp cloth with a little bit of soap. A few wipes may be necessary, but ensure that the area that you are going to work on is clean. Dry the board. This will ensure that PCB tracks are not "pulled" when you are un-soldering components.
I followed those advise on this board and armed with the schematics went about repairing the PCB tracks, checking on the power supplies to the op-amps and DAC, planned changes to the electrolytics caps and changing the op-amps.
During doing work on this old CD player, the stock RCA sockets came apart, this necessitate a change, which involved drilling new holes and routing the cables to the socket. This CD player's casing is made of plastic, with "bracings" on it to make it stiffer. Lampizator's site has a photo of it's innards.
Because of this "bracings", I have to take apart the CD player, drawer et al to access the components and make component replacement easier. Again, the schematics came in handy. I took the opportunity to also check on the laser diodes settings (based on voltages) to ensure that everything is within specification. I really wished I have an oscilloscope or have access to one!
In all, it took me a total of around 80 hours, spread over 2 weeks, but the end results is very satisfying. I have a vintage CD player based on the TDA1541A chip. I cannot express the happiness I felt at hearing the old girl again, but it is an eye opener. The other bonus that comes out of this is, I am not afraid to take a CD player apart and put it all back again, provided a schematic of it is available.
I plan further changes to the player, but I will do it one step at a time and not rush things, after all, I have around 300 CDs toi listen to 😎
Thank you again to everyone, you guys are great!