The one thing I love about this channel is that people often throw things away that can be easily fixed. What we need is more technicians like you and we will have a lot less in our landfills.
Thank you so much for the video. I got the PDM 700 CD changer about 4 years ago for free at a yard sale with 6 magazines. Finally pulled it out of the closet to see if I could get it going, Otherwise it was going in the trash. Your video was the exact thing that it needed. I glued the eye in with some super white stuff, put in a disk and it worked perfectly. Again, Thank you so much for you video.
Dave, Thanks very much for videos like this. I love it when you show a repair that's easy for almost anyone to fix themselves. And the good news is that there's no waiting for parts. :-) Tom
Bought a PDM 550 on eBay. "Didn't work". By the time I found this video I had moved it around and cleaned up so if there was a lense in the chassis. The seller was great and sent me a replacement PDM510. Taking it out of the box I heard a rattle and sure enough when I took the cover off and shook it a lense popped out. Glued it in and the unit works great. Can't thank you enough. I subscribed. You will be my first source if I have future electronic issues.
Hi, thank you so much for this video. I bought a Pioneer hifi system from a charity shop a few days ago. It has a PD-Z73T CD system that didn't work. I opened it up and found the lens. It is now working perfectly. Thanks again 🙂
Thank you! I was able to fix my PDM703 by watching your video. my lens was not all the way out but loose and was rubbing on the cd. it would eventually quit spinning. that's when I realized the lens was loose. glued it in place and all is good. Thanks again. Randy
Thank God for this video! I recently got a free Denon DCM-777 that would not work. It uses an Pioneer PWY1010 pickup. Pulled the pickup out and the lens was missing. Took some effort to find the lens, but once I cleaned it and glued it back in, the thing started to play CDs!
Thanks for the video!! I was very upset that me cd player quit playing. Tried all the normal things cleaning, reset and such. This worked!! Playing my favorites & doing the happy dance!! Thanks again!
Wow man, Here in Argentina I saw many pioneer cd players who used the PEA-1030 laser pickup and all with the same problem, the focus lens comes off but with the enormous difference that where are you, they can be repaired without problems or you can get a new laser. Here you cannot do any of that since you cannot get spare parts so easily and because there are no longer good technicians like you. greetings from Argentina.
I just got one of these for $6 at local thrift store and sure enough I found the lens inside the case. Thanks for this vid, I’m going to try this repair now 👍
@@12voltvids All I had was some Elmer’s stick glue in clear and once I got the lens cover on the correct way (concave side down), it works now. Mine is PD-M603 from 1995. Thanks again!
So weird! I just opened a PD-7700 with the same problem, no spin up or attempt to read disc. I opened it up to clean the laser and my first thought was: "huh? No laser?!?". But I thought "Nah, must be further down on the plastic to protect it, how could it have no laser lens?" I figured it was the spindle motor. Guess I will open it up again and see if I can find it!
Hola amigo, pudiste solucionar? Yo tengo el mismo reproductor estuve haciendo pruebas colocando la lente sin pegarla y no funcionaba, quizás sea necesario pegarla... Gracias un saludo
Thanks for putting up informative videos like this... I have a Pioneer 533K DVD player that only detects a VCD or music CD, but not a DVD. Would it imply that the laser pickup is bad, or would that mean some low voltage/current issue ? Can a pickup be replaced without use of diagnostic scopes and desoldering ?
I have been aware of this issue for awhile and always wondered what the preferred glue was to reattach the lense. Thanks for pointing out why you used white glue. Can you tell me how long one would expect the lense to stay adhered? I figure it could still pop out again at some point.
Would you consider explaining how to find the a laser's RF signal in a future video? I work on CD drives from time to time and I sometimes have to tweak the pots because they don't read too well anymore. If a laser mechanism doesn't have a well documented RF test point online I'll usually get stuck. Sometimes the fancier laser pickups have tons of unlabeled test points, making things that much more difficult.
I've heard about this problem and because if it I have always avoided old Pioneer CD Players. But this seems to be quite an easy repair, if the lens is still inside the unit. I thought the laser assembly would be buried much deeper in the mechanism requiring complicated disassembly and reassembly.
And yeah, I almost thought about using superglue. Then I thought of the white spider Web that it creates which would tarnish the lens. What kind of glue did you actually use I used E 6000 hopefully it doesn't screw it up.
So what if you can't find the lens? I haven't done a thorough look at all the crooks and crannies but the shake test did not reveal anything rattling around.
How do you tell if the lens is right side up when putting it back in? I have this exact problem but can't tell the difference on which side is up. I don't want to glue it in the wrong side up. Thanks!
I've heard about this problem but never seen it in person, makes you think what were they thinking with this design. Among other weird fixes, I once read on the internet like 15 years ago, about using soapy water to clean pick-up units whose lenses were dirty on the back. They would dunk the entire thing in a glass of soapy water, never saw any pictures of it and I never heard of such method again, did you ever heard about it or even do it yourself?
Hi, I'm using the Pioneer PD-07A .Could you please give me some advice about how to lock it lens or how to prevent its lens falling out during shipping. I had got the same issued as your video showed and paid nearly 300$ for that issued for fixing. Thank you
PDM601 lens appears to be intact but disc does not spin. laser moves slightly to the right. Unit was working, was not moved but was not used for several years. Any ideas?
Hi. Can you help me on below matter: There is a pioneer DV 515 DVD player. Plays DVDs without problem. It skips and or hesitates to identify on some CDs . The same skipping CDs can be played on another player without problems. On the DVD integrated board there are two adjutments one for frequency and other for VCO voltage. I was unable to check the frequency but the VCO voltage is at 1.9 Volts when playing a CD. It looks ok. On the laser pick up there are two pots but I did not touch them should I be tweaking them a bit to solve the CD issue? If yes any suugestion for working without osilloscope? Thanks.
I have a Pioneer PD-M730 that the lens had fallen out. I found the lens and glued it back in with some clear tacky glue. It worked initially, although it didn't read disc six in the magazine. It played all the other discs fine. But a few weeks later it stopped reading discs again...just spins and spins, going thru all the slots in the magazine and nothing. Weird. I tried cleaning the lens again but still nothing. The lens is still firmly in place. Any ideas?
What if you glue the lens in and it still doesn't spin? Doesn't just start spinning and when I press play It's like I hear a small click as if something didn't cut on, then it goes back into cycling thru. Anyone have an idea?
The lens on my PD-P910 Pioneer Optical Block fell and glued it back it yet it won't read the disk. Any idea what the issue might be? Can this part be replaced? If so where can one purchase on "if lucky". Thanks
Hi nice video easy repair, thanks for share your knowledge i want to know if you can help me with mi PDF-906 101 disc changer, some times when i put a brand new disc to play it attends to skip like the disc has scratches of something and i hear a little noise coming out of the player like a whistle, its a random failure because it can be for hours and some times it doesn´t do nothing works normal
Hi ! I have the same problem, no attempt to spin the disc, but the the lens is in place and laser emission can I see with my camera. Can you help me, please. Thanks Regards
I'm not so lucky with mine. I put the lens back in and it spins again but the music just skips around. Update: It plays just fine when you hold the player up on about a 60 degree or up angle with the front of the player being the high point.
I accidentally used a tiny bit of super glue to reattach the lens back onto my PD-M6000 because I saw a different repair video before yours (then the guy admits in a follow on video he should not have used superglue). So after this didn’t work I found your video that said not to use super glue. So I opened the player back up and was able to pry the lens back off again. What should I do at this point? Do I have any chance of fixing this now? Thanks
If the mech was flipped upside-down inside the unit itself, and the slot matched to fit, then this problem can be solved for good as gravity will actually help the laser instead of hinder it's longevity. That and the ribbon cable needs to be made longer to reach the components it needs to in that orientation.
I don't know why Pioneer put the disks in this orientation. Me thinks it was so that they were infringing on someone else's patents with regard to CD cartridge changers. (Sony with their car audio) By making the disks face the opposite direction they aren't the same right.
they just have to make the mechanism different enough. Sony for example was a 10 disk cartridge. Pioneer was a 6. Sony extracted the disks from the trays, pioneer flipped the tray out. Another reason for the up side down disk was because the tray flipped out. If the disk was played from the bottom, there would have needed to be a big cutout in the tray design so the laser could pole through. This is why sony extracted the disk completely, and reinserted it into the cartridge. Having the swing out tray with the disk upside down only required a hole in the middle for the clamper, as opposed to a huge cutout for the entire optical block, which would require it to be completely open on one edge so the laser could play to the edge. This would have reduced the strength of the swing out tray, and increased the probability of jamming. So the upside down disk allowed a complete tray that the disk sat in that would be resistant from jamming, and was different enough in design that they could patent it.
thats a lucky one , it still plays Shame on pioneer , not glued in .Verry hard sond with Pioneer , a bit punchyhard put flat .I never settled with CD players to this day
I cleaned lens with alcohol and popped it back in - no glue for now. Double checked lens alignment/attachment looks OK. Disk spins but CD player still not reading. Doesn’t seem to make any sense. Any ideas? Much appreciated. This is for my PD-M6000. Maybe I should give up at this point.
Hi, thanks for sharing your knowledge. I have a PD-M630 player that no longer works. After seeing your video I opened it to check the lens but the lens is ok, so I turned it on in test mode and found that the spindle motor does not spin at all. Then I powered it with an external low-power source, in this way it spins well. I was wondering if there is a way to fix this problem without replacing the motor
I have a similar PD-M403, lens fell out, found it, glued it back in, but nothing. Any thoughths? If the lens was damaged (perhaps?) do you know where to obtain replacements?
You have to be real careful gluing the lens in. No fuming glue like krazy glue. That will destroy the optics and require a laser replacement. The lens is not available separately. You have to change the optical block.
@@TrevorSchmahl Been there done that. Back in my servicing days my assistant that did that once and f***ed it up. He then sent it over to my bench and because he couldn't get it to work. He saw me do it with regular white glue, so I have no idea why he thought crazy glue was a good idea, but it wasn't.
Same issue with my PD-M603. One question though, Does it matter which way you put the lens back in. I put it back without glue and it seems to fit either way. Just didn't know if it made a difference, but didn't want to glue it down in the wrong position.
@@12voltvids Thanks for the reply. I put the lens back in and it still won't seem to play the CDs. I did get it to play a disc for a little while but then when I put it all back together it stopped working again. The lens did not fall out so I'm stumped now. If you have any thoughts on things to try, I'd really appreciate it.
If gravity can nock the lens out I bet there was a load of them already out during transit . Sold in the shops " not working " I had one sold to me for £5 , £250 retail not so lucky Pioneer good sold stuff but this is a bit stupid how they let this " PASS " ?
Its pretty obvious which way the lens goes in. Convex up, concave down. It would be pretty hard to put it in the wrong way. That would take a special type of skill.
Re-glued the lens on my Denon DCM-444 but still no joy. How can I tell whether the laser is working? Should I see a light? How can I test it otherwise. Thx,
Yes it does. Look closely. One side is slightly concave and the other convex. The concave side is the side that faces the laser diode, the convex side the disk. Put it in upside down and it will never focus.
@@12voltvids Even with the glue, it'll still fall out again. Just it'll take even longer to do so (and you have to clean the old glue chunks off while you're at it, which isn't fun).
If it is glued in it shouldn't fall out. It took 20 years to fall the first time. I doubt the unit will still be serviceable by the time it needs service again. I have never seen them fall out when glued in place. The original was just press fit in.
I have the same problem with my Pioneer PD-M530 and I used Elmer's Clear Glue and when I glued it in place it still didn't work! I am so frustrated, I tried the lens in both ways and still don't know why it won't read discs.
Hi, I have the PDM702 which is not reading any discs. It spins up, clicks a bit then moves onto the next disc. After watching this.I checked the lens.but it is fine and clean. Anything else to look for? Cheers
Shouldn't you have cleaned the lens, or at least avoid putting fingerprints all over them ? Just asking, strangely enough I have a PD91 (TTL at the time) with this same problem! The lens/mech are mouted differently though... Cheers
The surface of the lens is not in focus so a fingerprint is not going to impede the laser. Cigarette,cigar, and weed smoke and the crap that people vape certainly does though.
hi, have u experienced such a problem? mine is; while it is playing track, the song is cut for a sec or shorter.. or u r hearing "pit...pit..." sounds.. i unmounted the lens..seems no problem.. lens moves forw, backw.. no problem.. but when i push down the tray it makes the same problems.. but it seems tray is stable.. there is only one belt as far as i saw.. but lens is moving.. do u have any idea?
i solved the problem.. the 4 rubber pads seen at 1:46..i saw that they were lost height because they have been under pressure by the lens kit.. the lens probably hit the cd itself while it was spinning.. i completely put the pads under the kit.. so lens kit gain height.. maybe 1 mm.. thats enough for now.. songs are perfect without any noise your roy orbison is nice
@@tylerevans1700 i wrote the solution above..expand the all answers below my message.. by putting the 4 rubber legs(feet) under the lens kit.. look 1:43 there are 4 rubber legs.. they are fixed with their notch.. notch parts are in plate.. i put those rubbers under plate and screw.. i m sure those rubbers will get lose their height soon. i will try to find different solution to keep lens a bit over the cd.. (maybe with a high density sponge etc) i only found 2 rubbers at ebay last year but it was very expensive n we need 4..(sry for my english, if u dont understand what my solution is; write here again so that i or you can write email here and i can send u a photo)
I have repaired many of Pioneer CD Players with the same Problem. It´s importent to check the Eyepattern of the Pickup PEA1030. You can adjust tangential and radial. Many People has to try to fix the lens with second glue. That´s not a good idea!!
I just reattached the lens in mine, and now it works but started skipping pretty bad after using a few songs. Is that what should I do with mine? (Adjust the stuff you mentioned). I was about to probably tear it up trying to get the lens back out to see if I could make it any better. But I'm pretty sure the lens is fine. If I remember correctly when it first started it didn't seem to skip. Not not sure why the optical assembly is loose, like when I screw it back in, why is not tight? It even has rubber grommets. Does it need to move up and down like that? Sorry for all the questions.
@@tylerevans1700 Hello, the Problem, you can´t repair a CD Player without Measuring. You must know what you do. I´m shure, the eyepattern is bad. For controll, you need a oscilloscope. This gives you all the answers of your questions. Without measuring, you stepped in the dark.
@@michaelheizol9006 good to know! I need to get a cheap one just to have. And so you think it could still be that problem if It doesn't skip when I tilt the unit 45 degrees to the front (picking up the back, front then tilting down). That happens and from some other comments it seems related to possibly the spindle motor? Idk. I think I can hear the laser hitting cd also, but I'm fairly certain I have the lense fully seated. Been a long few days fiddling with this dang thing... Lol
OMG, your video just gave me hope! I just got a Nakamichi CDC-3A and have this exact issue. It also has an inverted pickup assembly. I watched your video at midnight so it's too late for me to try this (need to sleep so I can wake up for work tomorrow, lol). But now I absolutely have to try this when I get back home! I'll have to update you! You can see me reacting to this issue in real time here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u8YmprS-VjY.html So the white glue is basically Elmer's glue, yes? I was going to use something like Loctite or Krazy Glue. Since this video is 4 years old, how has the glue held up?
@@12voltvids thanks for the clarification. How has it held up? Worried because that glue don't tend to hold well after some time especially with smooth plastic.
Sorry, one more question. I read in Audiokarma forum (some old posts that linked to this youtube video actually) that also said we need to make sure the lens is aligned. I didn't see you do any alignment or make sure the lens is on a certain way. Many seem to say it was necessary or it would still have issues tracking. Is that something you found to be true? If so, do you have a video on how to align it? Thanks again!
Hey. I just got a PD-m435 and the line level seems awfully high compared to my other cd player and turntable. Is there an adjustment for that or is it due to degeneration of caps or something?
That would be dependent on the output level of the DAC. Some units will drive a full 2 volts, and others 1 volt. It is dependent on the design, and not a flaw. my Sony CDP555ES for example has both a high level fixed and a variable level output, and it's high level output is louder than most other components. The principle is higher voltage output needs less gain at the power amp, so the volume control is lowered, which in turn will reduce the noise factor of incidental noise picked up by the interconnect leads by a factor of 2 over a unit with a low level output.
@@12voltvids Yeah but this actually distorts at a pretty low volume. Might be that specific cd I noticed it on is poorly mastered though. But it's very eeasy to hear the distortion when there is only sining in the beginning of a song. But as I said it ight be they used the vinyl master for that cd. But its a little difficult when you change between different componnts to always remember to adjust the volume. I know that the dag in my EMU proffessional soundcard had "studio line level" and was louder than normal consumer sound cards but it never distorted like that.
@@rimmersbryggeri More than likely. There are many poorly mastered releases of old recordings mainly because the old recordings have deteriorated from being stored so long. If it was a valuable recording such as an unreleased recording of the beatles or something they would spend more time in clean up but if a burget release of a less known artist who knows how much effort will go into it.
@@12voltvids The irony that the in-house service shops would've had for that machine... I can't even... They made one tank after another and yet they couldn't fix something this simple?
