Repairing a Faulty Denon Minidisc Recorder from the 1990’s!

[@stefanegger]

8:32 - a "CD lens" in an MD drive?

[@SonicSalvagex]

Well spotted! My bad!

[@ocd001]

Thanks for the video. I just got the same minidisc deck (the denon one) today with same error. Glad it can be fixed easily. However, I got one disc working, TOC reading is quite slow and shortly Laser made strange sounds during adjusting. Any advice on how to fix that? Btw. The technics deck looks very nice indeed and I am quite tempted. But the Denon m10 is from 2004, Technics‘ 501 is from 1998 - is the database is correct. So younger is better isn’t it? Again: thx for the video & keep em coming. Cheers!

[@SonicSalvagex]

No problem. Could be multiple reasons for the laser reading slowly. Firstly, it could be coming to the end of its life . You can swap over the lasers and I have done it before, but it’s a little more complicated. Secondly, it could be something such as the guide rails the laser slides up and down on need cleaning and lubricating. I rarely start messing with The laser power pot. Very rarely do you find it improves things and normally opens a whole new can of worms! In regards to the technics minidisc, newer isn’t always better. With a lot of hi-fi equipment especially from certain makes like Sony, the quality and reliability went massively downhill in the early 2000s. A lot of stuff pre-2000 was built in Japan and made to last. The Technics deck may be older but in my opinion it’s a much better deck… although the Denon still isn’t bad when working.

[@ocd001]

@@SonicSalvagex Fixed it y'day! Needed to clean and lubricate the guide rails and the wheels of the disc transport - the disc wasn't pulled in place properly before my cleaning and it seems the laser couldn't focus. Now it works fine and smooth. Thanks for your advice! Still keeping an eye on the technics as well, though... ;)

[@Blitterbug]

Pretty sure most MDs mini-systems (HiFi not walkman-style) I've had are direct-drive stepper motors with gears for eject - may be wrong but there's a lot of mechanical force involved during disc eject, more than I would have thought a belt could be relied on to apply, and the noise of soft-touch eject always sounds like a stepper to me.

[@SonicSalvagex]

Believe it or not more systems use a belt than don’t. Nearly every Minidisc system I’ve ever repaired used one. Even a relatively high end £500 Sony MDS JB980, that I sold the other week, had a belt that needed replacing. I actually have an another video on my channel showing me changing out one on a Sony Deck if your interested!

[@Blitterbug]

@@SonicSalvagex Wowsers!

[@8BitNaptime]

Not sure why you'd need a stepper for that, just a regular brushed DC motor is all you need.

[@Blitterbug]

@@8BitNaptime Cheap as chips, accurate and the logic is simple.

[@8BitNaptime]

@@Blitterbug A stepper is a precision device and needs a lot of electronics to power it. A DC motor needs none of that, perfect to drive the eject pinion. I mean feel free to point me to a service manual that shows a stepper motor used to drive the eject. For example, the Sony floppy drive with motorized eject used on Macs uses a DC motor. I see no reason for a stepper in this application. And a floppy is bigger than a MD.