Thanks so much for this video. It enabled me to revive a Pioneer PD-5700 from 1991 that has a lot of sentimental value for me. I thought its laser had died but no, it was just the laser lens that had come adrift, same as your example. I actually retrieved the player from my growing E-waste pile after seeing your video and followed your advice. What a fantastic outcome, can't thank you enough. 😊
@@12voltvids Gee Thanks Dave, all my stuff is Pioneer Elite. I reckon I was hornswoggled !! Don't believe everything that fast talking sales people tell you I reckon lol!
Smashing job :-D I saw the quality of the insides and knew it was a quality bit of kit, the d to a processing to the right looks really well made. I only used super glue once with clear plastic, i never did that again, rubber solution did what i wanted. Pioneer had trouble with there later multi disk cassette players too, a sudden dead laser. Once repalaced the unit worked fine. i've never liked the optical system, in a world full of dust it was so stupid!.
or even flush the toilet copyright really love your videos, never hear of the Lazer dropping out before your vides keep me entertained in these trying times
Seems to be a common problem... I had a Pioneer CD player from the early 1990s, the man at the flea marked ensured me "It works a 100%" of course. Heard something rattling inside thinking it was some plastic clip that snapped off or something, but when I opened it, it was the doggone lens of course! Anyways I figured I had nothing to lose so I just added a little bit of glue on the edge with a Q-tip, seated it back in and the thingy appeared to work like new again. Not at all what I expected, b/c I thought these things needed to be precision aligned at the factory or something.
Thanks for the information! A lot of good stuff. However, I have fixed dozens of these Pioneer CD players with laser lenses that pop out. I have NEVER had to use an oscilloscope to adjust the lens! Maybe because yours is Japanese? I just fixed one now. I used a dot of epoxy on each side of the lens and pushed it in place with a chopstick. Works great the very first time!
When You put glue down in the cup where the lens goes, isn't there a risk of the lens being glued slightly on an angle if you get more glue on one side than the other? Would guess that's why the factory put the lens down first and then put glue around the edges of the lens. Happy New Year 😎
Yeah, I'm trying to repair a Pioneer S-602, looks almost identical on the exterior, but empty inside. It works, though, we can't blame the engineers for being able to build things more efficiently and cheaply, making them more affordable for us consumers.
It's funny, because I've seen cheap old CD players that had no problem at all with CD-Rs or RWs, and then really expensive ones that absolutely refused to read one.
Yup, because many of these really high end units were very early designs. Even this one which is 93, was probably designed mid 80s. All analog servos (the gain and bias controls give them away). More modern designs the servos all went digital and adjustment less. Even that big platter doesn't help especially if it is not perfectly balanced.
@@12voltvids I’m not sure what the platter was even attempting to do. The discs themselves spin so fast they act like little gyros. If they were in any way warped they’re going to be out of balance even if they’re laying on a platform. You’d need to clamp them with a really powerful spring-tension or weighted mechanism to flatten them out.
Thanks for the vid Dave. I was given a 1997 dual disc Denon DN-2000F player that mostly operates. On one side( drive 2) I get sound on left & right output but right channel sounds scratchy like it is being clipped or over driven. I re-soldered the output jack and the sound normalized for a while ( cracked joint on the right-red RCA output). I should have stopped but once I put the lid back on and installed the output cord, the scratchiness returned. From your experience, what might cause intermittent scratchy noise with music on right output only ? JwgK
@12voltvids I got a Pioneer A-C5 with the PD-C5 CD player shipped to me today. The lens was on the CD tray when I pressed eject! This player uses the same upside down mechanism - do you think the repair process would be the same? I subbed great vid and thanks for the tips
I was surprised you did not cleaned the lens before glueing it back. That was a perfect and the last opportunity to clean the underside of it. It might even have fingerprint on it from the owner. I would also blow on the prism under it. Although it is not really necessary in this case, because it is upside down, so not much dust and debris can fall into it. Once I was trying to save a never used DVD player, that was integrated into a 29" 16:9 CRT TV. It was an IDE drive, but without the metal shield on it, right under the CRT. The high voltage flooded the poor thing with that black soot-like super fine dust. The optical assembly was filled with it. I wanted to fix it, because it was such an ancient drive that it had separate lens for CD and DVD playback, and I have never came across anything like that before. I was able to disassemble the optical assembly, clean the prisms inside, then when I tried to clean the underside of the floating lens, the glue failed on both of them, and they fell out. Then I made a huge mistake by gluing them back with superglue. Just as you said, it made the lens cloudy. I was aware of that possibility, but I thought if I clean them well from any grease prior to gluing them, it won't happen. I was wrong...
I've been watching your videos for some days now, which are great by the way... But I would suggest not to record in stereo or to mixdown to mono in your video editor, so to avoid the binaural 3d panning effect. Thanks sir
I can't because the camera has no mono mode. It is stereo of 5.1 channel. Would you prefer that? As far as mixing to mono i will just disappear when i move around due to phase shift and cancellation. I tried that before and it was a disaster. This new camera it is mucj more pronounced.
Krazy glue, super glue, cyanoacrylic all the same thing. Don't do it of you will be very unhappy with yourself, and you CD player will be even unhappier with you.
Hello. I own a pd91 that are damaged by courier. I open the pd91 and the lense are out like yours. I read that the lens have position its right?? And I think that mine the tracking dont work..... can you help me please?? Thanks in advance
wow Japanese over-engineering at its best ! that CD-player is way more complex than what it should be. BTW you should fix the budle of wire hitting the right rail when opening the cd tray.
Are these laser lens interchangeable? Can you use a lens from another model or even another brand of CD player? Or even a lens from a DVD player? Or are they specific to each brand and model? I picked up a Pioneer PD-S901 for $20 that the seller said would not read discs. I was thinking that it might just be that the lens had fallen out. And sure enough when I got it home and opened it the lens was missing. But I can't find it anywhere in the player. So I'm wondering if any old lens would work as long as it fits in the lens cradle. Thanks for any help anyone can provide!
@@12voltvids Ugh. Not what I wanted to hear. But thanks! The darn lens has to be in the player somewhere. But I would have to start taking it apart inside to find it. And this is no cheap player with few parts! It's filled with circuit boards and mechanics!
Hi, I have some questions: where can I buy lenses for Pioneer PWY1004 laser? What kind of lens is it, do you have the technical data of the lens? I have some PWY1004 lasers without lenses.
@@12voltvids I picked up a Pioneer PD-S901 for $20 with the laser fallen out. But I see or hear no sign of the lens in the player. I'm guessing that any random pioneer lens wouldn't work?
@sawekchmielarz4481 Do you have a PWY1004, without lens, available for sale or trade with other laser units ? I also have original Pioneer lenses available.
Got a pd-m430 and I accidentally used gorilla glue, what can I use to remove the glue and would I be fine reusing the lense or where can I get a replacement
Hi Dave, did you get a new screwdriver for Christmas? I haven't seen that one before. Sure sounded like my pet frog on that test cd lol. I won't hit you with a copyright strike haha! Funny how some burned cd-r disks will play fine on the home setup but not in the car. Now I understand.
No I have had this one for awhile. It is a picquiq made in Vancouver. I have 3 of them. I was issued a set at work and liked them so much i bought a set.
@@12voltvids They seem quite nice, I'll have to grab a set. I'm a retired cable tech for Bell in Ontario. I recognize those scissors you have , they are kick A$$!! They were one of my bread and butter tools, along with my skinning knife. I'm guessing you work for Telus?
@@12voltvids You'll enjoy retirement, you have a hobby and a second career to fall back on. I know too many co-workers who waited too long to retire and passed away shortly after retirement, my father included. Don't put it off too long if you can help it. I took an early buyout so I could avoid what happened to my friends. Life is to short to work for the man, and with your skill you could make as much doing side jobs!
@@darylsuess8990 not quite old enough to retire without a major hit to pension. Have to wait for 60 but as soon as I hit the magic number i will be seriously thinking about pulling the pin. That's 2 years away. I know a number of co workers that didn't make it to retirement or just retired and were gone within a year my uncle included. My dad worked till 65 and lived till he was 80. My mother made it to 92. If a buyout is offered i will seriously consider it. One of my co workers hits 60 this year and he is pulling the pin this summer.
Strange that the Sony CDP-302 from 1985 would play any CDR that I could throw at it, and the Sony DVP-9000ES will not play CDR disks unless they are recorded on special music CDR disks recorded on a dedicated Yamaha CDR music recorder and finalized properly. Spent $271.56, $80 for new laser optic drive, and $168 labor. Work done by authorized Sony service center in Seattle in November 2010. Sony DVP-9000ES is an awesome audio only playback machine for what you can pick them up for. You can turn the video off so the noise floor if quieter. It is my two channel SACD player.
Not strange at all. None of the initial dvd players would play any CDR disks. The reason is simple CD players use an it laser to read the pits and lands on a cd. A CDR has no pits and lands. It has a wobble track that the writing laser follows and burns holes in the dye layer. On playback the burned due has higher reflectivity than the non burned sections of the disk. This changes the light reflected back to differentiate 1 and 0. Dvd uses a red laser which is a much smaller spot then the ir laser on cd. The dye is sensitive to ir light not red and the red beam shines through even the non burned sections and is reflected back. Dvd players that can read cdr have 2 lasers one for dvd and the other for cd. Sony used 2 physically seperate lasers on some players that could play cdr. Pioneer used a dual diode laser.
@@12voltvids Would like to read some books on the subject of CD theory and operation. Do you have a video on that topic? I have a base understanding of the subject. A stamped mass produced CD has two depths to it, lands and pits which vary the distance the light beam path has to travel causing a phase shift. A CDR has a dye that turns dark when the laser light hits it. Not quite sure how that translates to a signal unless it is amplitude modulation of dim and bright pulses of reflections.
@@zulumax1 Actually it is not phase change on stamped disks it is focus change. The pit changes the focus which results in an amplitude change just like the burned vs non burned due layer. CD-RW on the other hand created a phase change and required a specific laser to read those disks as well. No I have not done videos on cd theory. There is info available on it though. Just look up the red and orange books.
@@12voltvids Thank you for your reply, I will look for those books if I can find real training manuals or paper bound documentation would be best. That information I got about phase was off the internet, and we all know how incorrect that can be. Good information in your videos about static discharge damaging the laser and such, checking infared diodes and lasers with a smart phone. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge, I love learning new things even if it is old tech.
@@12voltvids Thank you for that information, that makes sense. Virtual teaching by 12voltvids, I feel honored to glean from your experience. Love this old technology, and I have no idea why, it just fascinates me. Remember the Kenwood 72X TrueX read only drives for the PC?
I recently got a PD-2000 LTD! It refuses to play some original CDs, but plays others original CDs perfectly. Will not play burned CD-Rs. What's up with that?
More than likely the laser is getting weak. There were a lot of press CDs that were made back in the '80s especially that weren't pressed to proper specs. Cinram was the company that made many deaths that were problematic playing on a lot of different players. I remember a lot of the early Panasonic or Technics CD players that went to the fine focus one or ff1 laser had problems playing many disks pressed by cinram. I'm sure they weren't the only pressing plant that had quality problems but in Canada we saw a lot of discs that were pressed by that company because they had a contract with most of the record companies to produce discs that were sold in Canada. If your CD player was great no problem but once the laser started to get a bit weak or the lens got a bit of dust or smoke on it where the laser was not quite as sharp they would skip like crazy. Course we would get these players in and they would test perfect on all of our test discs and they pass with flying colors on our defect discs we test and test and test and could not make them fail and then send them back out and they were back the next day with the complaint that they were skipping again. got customers to bring their discs in with the player to demonstrate the problem. Took the dish out tried them in brand new players in the showroom and found that many of the brand new showroom players also had problems with these discs and that it was a disc problem not a player problem of course we contacted the manufacturers and they wanted to see the discs as well which we were happy to send with the player to see whether it could be resolved sometimes putting a new laser in would fix the problem other times it wouldn't. No amount of adjusting made any difference because by this time all the servo circuits were digital anyway so there was nothing really to adjust. Manufactured with address this by just changing out the optical pickup because it seemed that some pickups were just more sensitive to these out of spec discs and we changed a lot of pickups. In Canada it only affected that one specific pressing plant and most of those discs would say manufactured by sinram around the hub. I probably have some here but I have a high-end player and I never had any issue with them playing but a lot of players did and as CD players aged they tended to be more problematic. According to a service bulletin that was released by I believe it was Panasonic they found that many discs were not pressed correctly and there was a slight eccentricity error that caused excessive errors especially as the disc played to the outer regions of the disc. This affected CD players that used the linear motor type traverse.
@@12voltvids I fixed the problem! Used hand sanitizer on both sides of the lens with a q-tip, wiped it dry with a microfiber cloth. Now it reads CD-Rs and store bought CDs without any issues.
Common problem with Pioneer CD players using an upside-down arrangement, isn't it? If it happens with their six disc magazine changers, why wouldn't the same happen with their single disc units like this design if they use the same or similar pickups?
@@12voltvids I take it you're not a big fan of Pioneer products. And, hey, at least some Pioneer VCRs don't fall apart, right? ... Mainly because they never made any of their own; NEC and Hitachi for VHS, Sony for Beta.
@@Watcher3223 In case you haven't figured it out, I am not a fan of most electronics because I have had to fix so many of them. Pioneer had some great units, namely laserdisk and they had some dreadful ones. I remember some receivers they had from the late 70s. Wire wrap to amp boards, impossible to get at anything to repair it. When you service electronics for a living as i did for 20 years you get to hate alot of brands because they make your life miserable for you.
