Lovely work. I'm here also to see the tune up, which at least you mention. I have my dad's p700 transport which we have had from new and it did stop playing. Failing to picup a disc or track. I read a couple of horrors about working on these and i have to say its just about all true! It took me about half an hour to locate the laser supply resistor and then a further half hour to get probes onto it. At least the reading were good. So its not the laser. I pulled the psu out and tested all the voltages. The unregulated +/-10 volts were high (no load, but check back later under load, still high) All the factory trims were spot on from what i can tell. And sure enough the thing had started working agian... Dry joint anyone? A tweak on the clock tightened that up. Worked through the gains and phases which improves things, but they ended up back where they were. The only problem i had was being unable to achieve a 90 degree shift on a trim for focus. It was well out and the signal collapsed as it came close, further running out of trim. I adjusted this for the quietest operation instead. Not that i could reach the pins on the ic for the metal in the way. Then the signal was on the smallest scale the scope could handle, and it was horrendous. I had to use all the tricks the scope had to get hold of it. Is there any pointers you can offer that may be the cause of my woes ? And is the 1.2khz resonance normal while tuning (thats caused when the signal is injected) ? I didn't film it either. All my hands were in use at the time. Great insight. Thanks
Thank you! These things can be tricky to work on but I recommend accurately setting the clock frequency and then focussing (pardon the pun) on the RF signal and eye pattern. I’ve never worked on a player where there weren’t small improvements that could be made to the RF waveform. Be sure to set the idle laser servo zero point too, it’s the first step in the alignment process from memory.
I have known Clifford him for over 25 years and he has never been known for building kit amps although he might have sold some unassembled kits from Hong Kong many years ago. His main passion was designing and making his own valve amps and speakers from scratch which he sold to many satisfied customers over the years. You can install the original clocks on the P30 if you wish. It will be to original spec, look pretty but the customer will notice the difference in sound. Also, I believe this unit belonged originally to Clifford. He modified it for himself so appearance wasn't that important to him. It was more about function over form. However, Clifford's hates repair work as he finds it boring and building kits even more boring. Its good there are still people that have the skills to restore old players though. Love your channel.
Hi Eddie, I can't remember but I may have mentioned Clifford who used to run Audio Synergy here in Perth and did some not very good things to a lot of hi-fi gear that unfortunately improved neither form nor function! Yes, he did build amps, preamps etc but he also unfortunately made some appalling modifications to hi-fi gear, which I know because I've seen them. I suspect he couldn't be bothered with repairs because, like many, he found them too technically challenging. Some describe repairs as "boring" or "not challenging" because ironically they find quite the opposite to be the case. Anyway, whilst we may have to disagree on Clifford, I sincerely appreciate you enjoying the site and thank you for your kind words!
Thanks so much for sharing, Mike. Even small videos like this are great to see from you. Happy you’re still kicking after the brunt of the pandemic. Really hope to see more from you in the future, time permitting. Wish you the best!
Was that a Yamaha CA 810 under your work station dude thats a badass when Working correctly i just serviced the one i bought and omg the amp sounds like a?45-50 pound class AB amp even though it weighs 27 pounds . How is this possible well the output transitors were built onto the sides of the amp for better cooling and this allowed Yamaha to get buy with super light weight heat sinks If you look at the 810 vs the 1010 the 1010 has large heat sinks and output devices in the middle of the amp cousing lots of heat !! So the 1010 had to use heavy heat sinks ! I also have the newer 51 pound Yamaha AS-1200 and yeah the 810 is a gem sounds naturally like a tube amp in thr midrange. The 810 took me by surprise geez its really good !! Thanks for the video L.A. 😃
Great to see how restoration and repair is celebrated, In a world of increasing obsolescence very refreshing. Interesting how hi fi salespeople seem so hell bent on insisting at times that new is almost always preferred over older gear, makes me wonder… sure there’s more interest in turning over new gear for obvious reason, I suppose it comes down to auditioning something to see how your ears and heart responds..
@@rosemeyer1939 Great machines to work on and they play records very well. I have articles on them over on my site but can't recall making a video on one, yet..!
Ah, It runs on sony mech. Very similar to SONY ESPRIT Series. A true gem though, very well built which is the reason I just don't get why people try modding the High End gear? If it is a challenge or passion for audio enthusiasts it makes sense, but then one should get some lower end stuff and muck around with lower stuff. Modding high end IMO is equivalent to say trying to make a Bentley out of Mercedes, it simply doesn't make sense as Bentley is always gonna be a Bentley and Mercedes always a Mercedes, no matter what you do to it. Same goes for vintage high end, keep it as original as possible. Great vid mate, congrats for resurecting it from the hades...
@@LiquidAudio The P30's over the years we have seen many of these quaity units great pieces of audio. BTW I like your channel Mike simple, yet informative videos keep up the good work. Wish I could keep our lab that clean!
Yes, I have had a lot of Teac's and Esorteric's and the T1 is a cheaper CMK-4,0 drive, which uses a simple noisy motor for spinning a plastic platter (green and in some cases grey), and also uses a plastic lens on the laser, which should NEVER be cleaned with isp, but a drop of demineralized water. Then there's no magnetic rail for the laser, but an ordinary tooth drive. The P-30 also includes a beefier and isolated transformer, and much more heavy power sections. They did include a special circuit to isolate jitter, also used on some other high end drives from Teac/Esoteric. The p-30 is a beefed up VRDS-10, and one can argue also in comparison to a VRDS-25 (early version), minus the dac section. The T1 plays well and one shouldn't laugh of the CMK-4,2 drive as it actually plays well. Some people have modified the T1 to play really really well. Clock is a must on all of them. Then caps, connectors, shielding, mechanical dampening and they respond well to other feet (sometimes 3, with one under the rear and middle mounted trafo). The T1 is a little different. If you want more, then the CMK-3,2 drive from say VRDS-10-15-20-25-25x, 25xs, 50, 50s, p30, p70, some Krell, Wadia, Spectral SDR-3000 and more, sues that. It's a better drive. Then Esoteric made the P2 and the P2s which was better still. The Teac p-70 uses the same bottom from CMK-3,2, but with a much improve upper bridge. It incorporates a few nice designs, that even the P2s didn't have, but the platter and platter axle on the P2s is even better. These can be built into a CMK-3,2 drive. The mounting of the P2s bridge is more tricky, as it's level is different, but can be done. The extra servo on the P-70 drive can be left out. The servo board must follow along to make it work, or heavily modify te CMK-4,0 board. Better to sue the propper one. This servo board was improved a lot of times from model to model, basically beefing power regulation and power supplies up and making more around the anti-jitter. The p-500 drive is a bit funny, as it have the CMK-3,2 lower part, but with a modified upper cmk-4,0 platter and bridge. The p-700 is pure CMK-3,2 drive. Copland used CMK-4,0 drives and in cda-289 a pure sony drive. But the CDA-288 Copland played well with the cmk-4,0drie, albeit it came in three versions, making the pure MK. II the better, with improved power section, improved output section and improved DAC's. The CMK-3,2 can be installed into that CDA-288 with a lot of mods. But it works really well. I did all these mods and they play extremely well. I am no designing my own VRDS drive from scratch. Yes, the T1 plays well and can easily be improved, but the models with the CMK-3,2 drive is preferred. The laser in CMK-3,2 is Sony kss-151a and is hard to get. The cmk-4,0 as in for example T-1 as you mention, uses a Sony kss-240a which is very easy to get. The plastic gears in all VRDS drives falls apart over time, but is easily changed. So the belts. Don't use the 3d printed gears, but get the better ones properly made. The Teac/Esoteric/Tascam Neo drives are not to my liking, but it's a personal thing. Each to his own. The P-30 is well beyond a T1, but as I have tried to explain, all things can be improved on. Yes, improved on, not just different. Kind regards.
