EEVblog

[@AstonsVintageTechnologyWorkshp]

Back when I was working at Sony, when these came out, you could put them into service mode and play the hidden tracks on CDs. You could also play the promotional CDs which had been made into thermometers, and other stuff, which had the table of contents scraped off so they wouldn't play in a normal CD player. It was fascinating to find out which CDs didn't make the grade and were turned into promotional material. I vaguely remember there being a flat battery pack that had slots in it so it could be clipped around the feet, but it was a long time ago, so my memory maybe fuzzy. Brings back memories.

[@Syd_Layne]

I purchased a D50 in Dec 1984. Sony had 2 different battery cases available: In both versions, the battery case was at the back of the player where the power adapter would normally be. One included a full protective plastic housing to protect the player and included a shoulder strap! The cheaper version had a metal clip + plastic roller which clipped over the front of the unit. Both cases took 6 C cell batteries. Neither battery case was flat but they did have slots which slid between the feet to help secure the case to the player. In 1986 Sony released the D50 Mk II (aka D7) - this did have a rechargeable flat battery pack which fitted underneath the player. Sony made an optional battery case which also fitted under the player - the case took 8 x AA batteries.

[@FranLab]

Mine has a Ni-Cad battery dock the same size as the player footprint that also has a carry strap mount on it. It was absolutely space age at the time. Had to oil the worm drive every now and then, but it still works!

[@Mobin92]

+Fran Blanche Greetings Fran :) (Not letting your comment get lost)

[@NiashiaWilson]

ggg

[@Sposchy]

Ok, Joseph. :):)

[@MikeBiddle]

I had a boom box that the player slid down into with speakers! It was cool!

[@jonathanhendry9759]

I had the same one. I believe the US model was called the D7. It was built like a tank, more or less. I dropped it once at school, in the hallway, and it had a pretty bad fall. The plastic bit that engaged the worm screw broke, so I improvised a replacement using part of a metal soda bottle screw cap. (If you remember the 80s glass bottles with the thin styrofoam labels, the screw caps had a series of narrow perforated tabs that would loosen when you unscrewed the cap. I took one of those, bent one end to engage the worm screw, and punched a hole in the other end to accept one of the existing screws.) That repair kept it running well into my college years. I don't recall mine having all the bodge wires that this D-50 had.

[@TadTadd]

Fond memories! I was a senior in high school when this came out. I spent $300 in hard earned teenage kid wages at Hudsons to buy mine. And yes, I built my own portable battery pack for it and carried the whole mess around in a gym bag at school. First CD was Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. I was working after school at a drafting shop that did circuit board design, and I remember how they had this one super smart guy named Glenn who would stare at the schematic for hours and then design the entire board with red and blue pencils, to be passed on to the women who would do the taping using red and blue cellophane tape. Even as a kid in 1985 I knew that guy's job was going to be gone in a few years.

[@echohunter4199]

That was a LOT of money back then, I remember my paycheck being around $400 a month working a full time job back in 1984! I was 19 that year and I bought mine after joining the Army a few months later and it was around $200 but I bought mine in spring 1985. I lost mine in a move but I recently picked up another one but it’ll need some new belts that’s simple to replace but I could be wrong, lol.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

This was the first CD player I ever had - At the time it was about the cheapest CD player you could buy - no no-name brands existed in those days - CD was a high-end product. Mine was the older version with the bodge board - looks like it fixed an issue with the subcode in an ASIC or maskrom MCU.

[@rish2891993]

+mikeselectricstuff I love your videos man! You've got some amazing information on your channel!

[@jeremytravis360]

Sony produced the best service manuals they always held so much information. Large pages that folded out. A real dream and they were produced so that dealers could service and repair the items with some degree of ease.

[@crapper1]

wow that schematic at the end was as sexy as they get even had the scope images cant really go wrong there

[@excavatoree]

Brings a tear to my eye! Reminds me of the good old days when I was a service tech in the late 80s and 90s. Many manuals were that good - Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, etc. Then one had to look up the parts price on something called "microfiche," because there was no internet. The boss thought the fax was an awesome advancement over calling or mailing in parts orders. Those were the days.

[@rods6405]

Fond memories for me too I worked for Sony as engineer we skipped microfiche they had a IBM mainframe 400 maybe running cocas software I fixed hundreds of these mainly 110Vac power unit being purchased overseas then plugged into 240Vac wam bam thankyou mam

[@WackyT08]

This model was my first CD player. Came with a dock to wire it in to your home stereo as well. Worked really well for quite a few years.

[@steveliggins9840]

That manual must have been a joy to read through. Love it.

[@ericcindycrowder7482]

Love this video. My family was an early adaptor of technology. My dad, being a Boeing engineer in the 80s, made a good enough salary so that we could afford nice tech, and he was also a music enthusiast so we loved listening to CDs back then. Our family bought the Sony CDP-101 in late 83, then a year or so later my dad bought this one, although I didn't use the portable as much as the 101 because it was my dads. I loved listening to CDs in the early 80s and very few of my friends had CD audio back then.

[@electronicsNmore]

I remember that Discman when I was very young. The Sony Walkman was the big thing.

[@Bostish2]

This reminds me of my early army days. Not that we were running around with discman's.. Just seeing a design which was engineered for component level troubleshooting instead of just the pluck-n-chuck or outright just replace methods of today. I'm far from being able to do anything clever myself with component level troubleshooting, I just find this channel and the mystique of those guys I use to watch actually repair something just amazes me for some reason.

[@Fixpe]

Beam splitter is actually a polarizing beam splitter. It is reflective for the polarization out of the laser, but the light goes through an additional "quarter wavelength" plate which transform the light to the disc to circular polarization. Back from the disc and the 1/4wavelength, the polarization of the light is perpendicular to that of the laser. Therefore, all reflected light goes to detector. That basically allows to separate input from output, allowing to avoid light loss (laser diode power was expensive at the time), but also avoids light (with random phase) backscattered into the laser diode, which would introduce noise.

[@dhpbear2]

A similar VERY dense schematic came with the Trinitron TV that I bought in late 1979.

[@SoCalFreelance]

I distinctly remember hearing a CD player for the first time in 1989. I was blown away at the clarity and quality of the sound.

[@RCTanksTrucks247]

Great video Dave. I certainly have a soft spot for old school technology.

[@PlasmaHH]

Service manuals... the reason why it often is so much nicer to repair older gear....

[@OsmosisHD]

Never seen such detailed and beautifully done schematics in a service manual. Almost seems that they were really passionate about this little project. The colored traces pcb layout schematic that's just art. Seriously i would like it as a poster in my apartment

[@SirBunghole]

I bought my D50 about 2 weeks after it came out. Used it as my main CD player until the early 90s. What an excellent unit! Optional "portable " battery pack used D cells... massive!

[@miketillman4277]

Thanks for that Dave. That's brought back some great memories having been an audio / visual service engineer back in the day when these first came out. Without doubt, the Sony service manuals were the most comprehensive ever produced and as an engineer faced with a broken Sony product, gave you every confidence that you'd be able to trace and rectify any faults. I was also a proud owner of the CDP-101 when it first came out. Even being in the trade I think I still paid about £450 GBP for it. But it was gorgeous!

[@drkastenbrot]

Back when there were actual service manuals instead of glued shut products.

[@MattExzy]

+drkastenbrot I seriously cannot imagine something similar for, say, an iPhone. That's the price now though, given the immense miniaturisation. Everything now is throw-away-and-get-a-new-one. Hence a new iPhone model every year...

[@drkastenbrot]

+MattExzy Iphones are the worst products there. You wont even be able to exchange the battery, its just designed to prevent repairs. Many companies have realized that short-living products mean more sells.

[@ian-c.01]

+drkastenbrot They have also realised they can charge whatever they like if the hype is right !

[@lee3r24]

+drkastenbrot Was my thoughts exactly, unfortunately nowadays it's a throwaway culture and they don't actually want you to repair anything

[@drkastenbrot]

+lee3r24 they do actually want to repair stuff but they dont know it. In my city theres a so called repaircafe clone which repairs electronic devices for free, all you pay is the replacement parts. Most people dont know that sth like this exists tho.

[@davep5698]

Wow. Mc Frontalot that is something I did not expect. Very nice.

[@philorkill]

Wow, your "foaming" about this service manual really got me thinking to document my own work better! Pure gold! I wish anybody I know could share your and my fascination about this stuff!

[@tcpnetworks]

I bought a CDP back in 1984-1985. Well.. My dad bought it for me... :) The thing was Fantastic!

[@Zadster]

When I was a kid (well, teenager) my dad used to bring service manuals home from work. I learned a hell of a lot from those! I used the circuit schematic pull-outs as wall posters. No Duran Duran posters for me! Okay, I had ones of Concorde's flight deck and a Quattro, but hell yeah, those Sony service manuals are the business. The ones for VCRs are huge.

[@alanmumford8806]

As a technical writer with over 30 years experience, I too did some stuff that I was proud of back then. However, that service manual was really outstanding for a mass produced commercial item. An equivalent level of detail was given by Hewlett Packard for their test equipment manuals and was always the standard to which I aspired. As you say, 'hats off' to Sony.

[@borisdg]

Wooho new video... they are rare now. :(

[@pmgodfrey]

Had one...with the external battery case -- which was huge and needed 6 C batteries. It was heavy...and skipped all the time. I also bought the first portable Minidisc player, the MZ-1. That thing was a treat!

[@kyoudaiken]

+pmgodfrey With a whopping 384KByte playback buffer! Woah! :) 2 seconds of audio buffered!! Those were the days...

[@hakemon]

I still got my Sony CDP-101. Love the first model player. It's quite heavy too!

[@leto87]

it looks even better these days..

[@Coolkeys2009]

Newer CD/DVD and mini disk players etc still required the servo calibration, it just that on some of those devices the settings could be set in a service menu, or the factory calibration was written into non volatile memory.

[@duggiewest8181]

Stunning service manual. Thanks Dave

[@rsattahip]

Should have tried it to see if it worked. Good video.

[@kyoudaiken]

Since mid 90s, CD players are reading the audio tracks as data tracks with error correction and buffering. Was really a big step forward!!

[@kyoudaiken]

***** When you read a data track, not audio, you are forced to do error correction. However, early audio cd players did just read what they got without making effort in correcting errors. Later ones did it like reading data tracks with error correction, thanks goodness that red book has specified it, too. Additionally there was read-ahead for buffering when there were parts difficult to read.

[@photohounds]

+BloodySword The CD file format is (and always was CD-DA). CIRC error correction and interpolation was there from day 1 (Red book standard). - - - What was missing to make it work well in portables were bigger buffers, suspension, physical isolation and more robust mechanisms. That all came later. - - - Cameras are now coming with adequate buffers - it wasn't always so :(

[@kyoudaiken]

***** Yeah, that's what I meant.

[@rods6405]

@@kyoudaiken Not early Sony's both the sony CDP101 and D50 had error correction! that's what the 16K buffer was for, plus they even had a error correction pin on the DSP which would indicate at what level the error correction was working at 1 corrected error, 2 interpolated error and 3 mute

[@harindugamlath]

This is one of the best Teardowns!

[@urdnal]

The first generation PC Engine CD ROM² is essentially one of these with some extra NEC CD ROM ICs. It's basically just a CD for the PC engine like those cassette decks for 80s micros were.

[@ftonello1]

Awesome service manual! Miss the 80's - 90's...i had that cd player showed in the photo!!!

[@MatroxMillennium]

I am almost positive this same mechanism was used in the CFD-5 boom box. Same control layout, LCD and everything.

[@rods6405]

correct I use to fix them

[@Billo1281]

I had that Sony Discman @ 2:06 but, beware! Any slight movement, would make her skip! Great memories.

[@btizef2008]

Great video. Loved it. A true testament to the 80s engineer!

[@Sithus666]

My mother has one, still works.

[@MatthewSuffidy]

I dropped my 89s disc man and a gear broke a tooth. I ordered a replacement gear/sled assembly, but just popped the gear out and put it in where the first one was.

[@MikeBiddle]

I had one of these in high school, and I had a third party boom box that the D50 slid down into which was epic at the time!

[@orbita1]

This is really incredible. Thanks for sharing. and for the guy who sent it to you.

[@MichaelBeeny]

I remember the CDP101very well, I waited for the shop to open to be able to get the first one available in the UK. It cost a small fortune. I remember it got quite hot and one of the chips failed twice. The second time it was replaced by a different number on a small heat sink. Built like a battle ship, very heavy and bursting with chips and components. Amazing that today you can probably get one that also plays DVDs with just a couple of chips and probably sounds as good!

[@davidhunt240]

...plays UHD discs and there's three ULSI ICs - but it still plays CDs, DVDs, SACDs, DVD-Audio etc. probably the last disc spinner I'll buy given the pressure to stream stuff these days...

[@richard7crowley]

I stayed up past my bed time to watch this! I still have my D-5 but it has a mechanical problem and will only play the first half of a disk. I have been a big Sony fan-boy for 50 years and really loved those service manuals. Still to this day much of my pro audio and video equipment is Sony from the vintage C-37A tube condenser microphones to my TC-250 stereo tape recorder I bought in high school and all the way to my six HXR-NX5U NXCAM HD digital cameras. And even several Sony VAIO computers before Sony got out of the computer business. Loved the video.

[@rods6405]

its the sled motor or gear mech give it a clean or look for broken teeth on the rack or gear mech

[@gulassuppe4065]

I always like to look at products older than myself

[@marcocaru]

love the Vintage teardowns. Your channel got me hooked. I would love to see a teardown of a pager/beeper.

[@larrytomlinson2606]

I gave one of these to my father in 1984. It still works.

[@echohunter4199]

Dang, I was 19 when I bought this unit while being stationed in Germany. I also bought the Sony FH-7 Mk II a couple months before so after buying the Sony PS-Q7 record player, I bought the D-5 player. And it was expensive! I think I paid around $200 for my D-5 at the base PX but as you can guess, the stereo and record player was pretty steep as well. Great to see what’s inside this thing, I bought one recently so I’ll have to resurrect it from the dead. So far I’ve seen that these are repairable for someone with minimal electronic skills but make sure you only use silicone grease or silicone lubricant on the plastic/nylon gears! Any other lubricant will eventually slightly swell up the part and cause it to become brittle.

[@turboslag]

Never had a portable CD player as they had a rep for skipping, but my Father bought one of the 1st home audio system CD players, the Hitachi DA-1000. The revelation of first hearing it is still a clear memory, it sounded like another era!! I inherited it and still have it, and it still works as it did then. No remote, the weight of it's equivalent size in brick and a huge component count!

[@PointReflex]

1989 "Blast Processing" 2019 "Thrust Processing" That's the way how technology should move on.

[@jameslamb4573]

Bought one in '85 when I was a student, used to take it into the computer labs to keep me entertained punching out lines of code into the wee small hours. When I moved into an apartment in Melbourne the added cost to insure a "portable electronic device" was more than the cost of the player, IIRC I paid $300 for it. You're right, it always had a problem with skipping, it really needed to be isolated, almost as much as a sensitive turntable.

[@deathguitarist12]

Choosing MC Frontalot made my week.

[@erhman2004]

This was my first CD player! I bought one when I was in the Navy after I was in Japan for the fist time. It worked great!

[@kurtg5645]

If every product I have bought have a service menu like this one,I would be happy every single day.

[@rubusroo68]

you were screaming at the bodges on the consumer handifax thing, but when sony does it it's ok & "they did what they had to do" lol

[@WolfmanDude]

The old service manuals are totally awsome. I recently repaired a JVC VCR from the 80s and the service manual was a total win. The first half was like a book about the electronics and mechanics of VCRs in general. I bet someone who has never seen a VCR and only has basic electronic skills could fix that thing with all the info given in the manual.

[@38911bytefree]

CD is digital, but first CDs use fully analog circuitry to control the servos, a few years later move to digital control, which made sense since the information to drive servos was already there in the path of the data. Because analog Servo, tons of pots. But even 90s CD players, the most complex ones, like Pioneer have 4 or up to five adjusts. Its crazy. Other machines like the Technics ones (one of the MOST RELIABLE ever made) ony use ona adjust and it was hiden in the laser pickup, and never needs to be adjusted in 15 to 20 years. Matsushita was WAY ahead in early 90s. One of the first to put DSP in audio gear at an AFFORDABLE price (near entry level systems). Take that ... Sony.

[@xylfox]

Thats true! I had an old CD-player from about 1984 that looks inside like an Beta-Max-Recorder of this time with a lot of plug-boards but running an CD-player somehow :-)

[@esnam6557]

Amazing job and amazing manual, thanks Dave

[@geoffallan3804]

Watching this reminded me I have a Toshiba XR-P9 from the same era. It looks thinner, but slightly larger. The battery pack snaps on, holding SIX C-cells, and the amazing tilted AC power supply doubles as a stand. The remote receiver is extra and plugs in the back. Unfortunately I can't find the remote. I plugged it in, and it also still works fine! Online resources show this being from 1985. I played my very first CDs on this thing, and soon became SO SICK of Journey that to this day I can barely hear Escape without cringing. Pretty awesome when something this emblematic of my youth is still working perfectly. Oh yeah - it's serial number 161 :)

[@danieljakubik3428]

I purchased and proudly owned the Sony D50, the world’s first portable CD player model back in 1985, one year after its original release. The service manual was impressively detailed. $300 in 1985 was a bit expensive for the time. About $1,200 now in 2024 currency

[@Redspeciality]

I still have one of these, with a box that plugs in the back with an AC cord and RCA outputs. Still works as far as I know.

[@barbadolid5170]

Geekgasm. I want to get one of these, as well as the original Walkman

[@lee3r24]

+Gonzalo del Moral Throw a minidisc player in there for good measure?

[@barbadolid5170]

+lee3r24 I wouldn't complain if I had one either :D

[@mfbfreak]

The WM-d6 professional recording walkman has those thin wires too. I've head one break too when servicing. However, they are needed if you are measuring stuff while the unit is running.

[@fordxbgtfalcon]

Omg, I had one of these, I bought it off a guy in a parking lot back in 1989. it worked great.

[@netsurferx1]

Too bad you can't sell that schematic scan on a T-shirt without getting sued...I'd have totally bought one!

[@TonyThomas10000]

I built my own battery pack for mine and carried it around in a camera bag...

[@AgnostosGnostos]

Sony released its first small portable cassette player Walkman in 1979 and after five years, yes after five years Sony released its first portable CD player. A huge advancement in five years. From the analog audio portable technology to the portable audio digital technology in 1984. In 1984 Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka the founders of Sony were still in power and were doing miracles. Afters a few years they both retired. You should read the biography of Akio Morita, Made in Japan. It can be found easily in internet from various websites. He wrote about the D-50 (or D-5 as it is also know) portable CD player. Initially it wasn't named Discman and nowhere in the D-50 (D-5) CD player or its original box there is the name Discman. It was an extremely expensive CD player and didn't have the initial commercial instant success of the first Walkman. The first Walkman wasn't really cheap but was quite affordable from the beginning. The CD-50 (CD-5) was more a proof of how technologically advanced was Sony regardless of the cost.

[@bellshooter]

I had one of these , and it was supplied with a battery case the size of a standard cassette player, with rechargeable C cells with a shoulder strap ! So it was the first portable, and it cost as much as the mains version. The feet are shaped to slide into the battery case and lock it in so you can access the top loading via a lid in the case.

[@RobertNES816]

Its amazing how far technology had come from 1984 to 1989! I have a Panasonic SL-NP14 from 1989 that's much more compact then this unit. However the chip count is about double what this Sony has, it could be due to the 4 times over sampling or the XBS bass booster feature, or possibly the random and memory/recall features. But the form factor had shrunk down considerably given the time frame, I also have a slightly newer SL-NP500 from 1992 that's as thin as a modern CD player but it's absolutely crammed inside! They managed to integrate allot of the chips, but the die size and package size was still plenty big!

[@photohounds]

I used to sell these new. Nothing "funny" mate, they did what they could at the time and it was testament to ingenuity. ___ Flex PCB could have been rerouted under the hinge side instead of wires, I'll give you that. ___ However in the REAL (and not after the fact) world, they probably had promised 500,000 units by September of 1984 and had to DELIVER A PRODUCT :) ___ We scooped them up as we could see that even at (fuzzy memory, maybe $800.00) we knew they would sell like hotcakes - they did after a month. We ordered ten first on spec - got three at first. A LOT of calls to get the rest - one store. ___ I think the Christmas order exceeded 50. We Ran out of the bloody things! __ Once a few got out there, everybody wanted one :) I think there was a bigger one from Pioneer before that ..

[@EEVblog]

+Mick D Yup, the engineers did what was needed to get it shipped I'm sure.

[@MattExzy]

+Mick D It's pretty amazing stuff. I didn't even know there were such things as portable CD players in the mid 80s. I was born in 1984, and I personally don't remember even seeing or using a CD player until 1992, when my big sister got one as part of a hifi unit. Definitely ingenious.

[@photohounds]

+EEVblog Indeed and they WERE pretty amazing in 1984 ... scanners shrunk too - barely bigger than an A4 sheet in some cases ;) Oh CDs are still the high end - Plenty CDs, LPs, SACDs live here. ____ BS aside, CD is the appropriate quality. Blind tests show no deficiency in a properly mastered and pressed CD compared to SACD. HFWs may differ :) ___ I like your vids, by the way ..

[@rish2891993]

Have been waiting for this video! Thanks Dave!

[@abhineshsethumadhava]

Front load VCRs, topLoad VCR, AutoReverse Audio Cassette players, walkmans, portable radios, car televisions are must wanted things of past.

[@user990077]

Oh no. I have one of those in storage somewhere...

[@darainmann]

I had the Sony PS-F9 which was a portable record player, I think it was 1982 might be in storage at the olds somewhere.

[@gazyounglive]

+Da Rainmann Wouldn't be 82, japanese cd players didn't start appearing till late 1984/early 85... First japanese ones were from Marantz around late 83/early 84 when the official launch of CD came about... Philips invented it in the 1970's though

[@darainmann]

+gazyounglive read my post again, and you will find I said Record Player. 😆

[@RWL2012]

@Dave Micolichek yes, records are so hilarious; especially the major label / artist releases that are still coming out (!)

[@ezquimal]

Wow man what a power supply made to hifi sound. Sony can put all the project of a cd player from desk in that case?

[@Shnick]

13:30 some units had a buffered read ahead instead of anti-skipping tech.

[@joseph9770]

I'd love to have a few minutes of Q&A with the engineers involved and hear what some of the challenges were while developing something like this.

[@_a.z]

My first! still works and treasure it!

[@makestufflearnstuff2386]

We did Sony service and I saw many of those. Always liked the Technics SL-XP5 better. It was easier to service and a all round better unit IMHO.

[@ryans413]

Man oh man the diagram was amazing

[@maanvis81]

Looks like something you hang on the wall for geeky decoration purposes

[@toddberg3892]

Always got a kick out of the Wow and Flutter spec on CD players! Usually stated as "immeasurable" presumably to jab tape decks - classic!

[@EEVblog]

+Todd Berg Of course it was unmeasurable, because it was only a spec applicable to tape drives :->

[@Robonza]

+EEVblog I used to tease the audiophiles, "better clean the lens this week, I can hear the tops are sounding a bit muffled", haha. They would not argue and clean them.

[@Robonza]

***** Nope, its digital and crystal controlled.

[@rods6405]

@@Robonza Correct "crystal controlled"

[@Robonza]

@@rods6405 thanks I been waiting 5 years in terror.

[@whitcwa]

Son'y manuals are still fantastic, at least as recently as 5 years ago anyway. The service manual for an HDCAM tape camcorder is three volumes and well over 600 pages. Thankfully, it is available in PDF. I would keep 2 copies open in two monitors and the paper one at the same time to avoid changing from procedure to exploded view to schematic. It has complete parts lists, alignment procedures, block and schematic diagrams...

[@Heimbasteln]

It also says that you can plug it into the cigarette lighter of a car. Its also funny that they call it a CD-Platte (translated CD-Disk). Nobody calls it a CD-Platte. Everyone just says CD.

[@tom7601]

We called the red lock fluid "Glyptol." Some people use nail polish to lock nuts and bolts, but not on the threads

[@dismayer666]

that kind of rubber shock-thing are still used today in cd/dvd drives :)

[@NeilVanceNeilVance]

In 1985 I had one of these plugged into my cars 3.5mm aux. It sounded great but it did lose tracking with a bumpy road.

[@horrorislander]

I bought one when the first came out, along with a ZZ Top CD :-) It failed almost immediately, so I took it back and was given another one... which I still have. In fact, I just opened the top and the glue holding the plastic to the lid came way. That part, when glued to the lid, lifted the little half-size metal sheet that holds the magnet that attracts to the hub, thereby holding then CD in place. I think I can just reglue the plastic part and it'll work fine, but I was wondering whether or not the one little spot on the lid that DOESN'T have glue needs to be protected when I apply new glue... but I guess I'll have to figure that out myself. Anyway, I could obviously replace this for almost nothing at any department store... or thrift store, for that matter... with a newer, probably better unit, but I have a certain amount of affection for this particular unit that been with me so long. $300 new, if I remember correctly, which was real money back in the 80s! :-)

[@OvenAnaconda]

I think you got the wrong link for the service manual

[@EEVblog]

+Hell Kitty Oops, fixed.

[@cmuller1441]

+EEVblog vintage electronics porn !

[@darainmann]

I love how the thin (fiberglass I'm assuming) board is so transparent. If you come across any junk boards like this I'd love em here in Melbourne, would be great to incorporate into a lit project, like a coffee table, or an internally lit cube or the like. thanks for the vids.

[@comicmania2008]

Thanks Dave, awesome video, I just went and bought one of these puppies off eBay! It's gonna be great for listening to my Beatles, Motown and Northern Soul CDs! Your vid helped me to decide to get it, love the link to that amazing manual! Think I'm gonna print a huge schematic and stick it on the wall at work! :)

[@gblargg]

17:24 The laser diode seems clearly on the _left_, with the aluminum heat sinking shell around it. The sensor is on the right, and why there was a copper cover, to prevent interference with the faint (RF!) signal.

[@rods6405]

Spot on !

[@Fudmottin]

That. Is. Awesome.

[@cthree87]

I had that model when it came out. I can't remember how I came to own it but I remember it made a fair amount of disk spinning noise

[@ronerx]

this was my very first CD player Bought it in 1985. Skipped like heck! but I loved it, just had to keep it steady :)

[@brunofonseca9686]

David, could you make a video on the Van Eck phreaking? I mean, obviously not teaching how to do the whole hacking thing, but going into the theory behind picking up and translating side band electromagnetic emissions. Thanks Dave.

[@shessometimesdoublechocola2454]

Huh! When did surface-mount technology come out, then? I didn't know it was from this long ago! (Don't "LMGTFY"! Just tell me, please. Thanks.) Interesting that service mode has to be soldered to "on" instead of just fitted with a jumper block or thrown in by a switch. But why would that big block be a power supply if the player already have a jack for a barrel connector that leads to an _external_ supply converter? Oh, it's a DC-DC converter? Why would that be needed instead of just a resistor-based voltage divider? Ya need higher voltage than the external power supply can provide? If so, why?

[@0x8badf00d]

+Maxx Fordham According to Wikipedia, SMT was developed during the 60s and became widely used during the 80s. The pins for a jumper switch might not have fit. 5.2V + 5.2V > 9V, so a linear regulator wouldn't work.

[@rods6405]

yep it needed -5.2 and +5.2 volts for the PWM ccts that drove the motors. Using PWM reduces power consumption. Plus they, Sony, wanted it to be run of external dc 9volts for external dry battery use actually they use the same system in the car CD players CDX5 and CDXR7

[@Fixpe]

About "RF block" on laser input : RF has nothing to do with transducer and signal "out". On read only devices (like this system), a small RF signal is superposed on the DC current in the laser diode. Laser diode changes mode, and this introduces noise. The goal of the small RF is to avoid laser mode jump noise in the signal bandwidth, and tho send that noise at higher RF frequencies. This has nothing to do with what is called "RF signal" traditionally in optical disc literature, which is the signal after analog reception, but before digitalization.

[@MateuszJagocha]

I could print out this manual and use it as a wallpapaer