Sony Discmans

Thank you! It's a D-50 but they are the same model, D-5 AFAIK was for the US market.

BTW, mine also came faulty - it started but almost immediately stopped, couldn't read tracks,
and my first thought was that the laser was dead. Bummer!
Those KSS-110A transports are very hard to come by nowdays.
But I was luck to find a good tech who agreed to take a look, he never saw inside namely D-50
and was simply interested.
And.. Hurray! Laser was alive and quite strong,
hmm, they call D-50 a "Tank" but even tanks in 35 years
may require TLC and some repair.

What it was - please see pics -
- transport rubber dampers simply fell apart.
And more importantly one of short flat cables just broke with age -
the tech simply placed 4 wires instead.
Otherwise all insides are sound and shall we say shiny.

 

What's so great about this Power Case? I tell ya.
In 35 years it's served quite well to protect the player-
my D-50 seems to have been sitting in this box all the time,
that's why it's still boasting a nice cosmetics.

 

Hi Mystic Traveller. So glad you were able to get that beauty repaired. So many people seem to say the laser is dead but quite often it just requires other mechanical parts to be looked at a d rubbers of course. In all myunits the lasers are perfect. Is the D-5(50's)headphone out 30mw the same as the D-100?. My D-100 spins up but doesn't read the disc. Could be a simple fix or something more serious. A fellow member did send me some photos of the internals but unfortunately I have forgotten his name and somehow deleted the photos. Anyway congratulations on getting that beauty sorted out a d I hope you enjoy it. Another classic saved from the scrap heap. Regards, Derek.

 

Hi Derek, thank you, hoping you will be able to fix your D-100 - it's another early gem, on a PCM55 DAC.
for headphone out the manual reads 10+10mW at 32 Ohms, they say it's pretty loud but I haven't tried it yet,
only line out via amplifier anв speakers.

 

BPC - what does it stand for?

 

Hi Mystic. I think the 10mw output should be quite powerful on the d-5 when the d-z555's output is 9mw. I'm listening to my D-z555 at the moment but I think it has the 3 capacitor issue where the output seems to be a little on the low side( left a d right balance is the same) when compared to the D-350 discman but I understand the 350 has a powerful headphone amp. But still working after 30 years who canco.plain. it's just like turning the volume down a little. Be interested to know what other portables you listen to. I also have a Sony DC-2 a d TC-d3(d3) that both have the dreaded centre cog split that I want to send to Magnetic Blood but do not have the funds to do so. I know it would be expensive die to the time it takes etc. I'm just so glad that Magnetic Blood can save these beauties. Look forward to hearing from you. Regards, Derek.

 

Hi Mr X. I was myself wondering what that meant. Have just been going through some Manuel's trying to find out. Thanks for explaining the meaning. Regards, Derek.

 

That's a great machine! IMO worth being TLCed.
Some nice examples still demand quite high prices.

For the last 2 years almost only modern digital HiFi audio players with lossless CD rips,
now I have a HifiMan HM-801 and a ColorFly C4 Pro.
Only recently while staying in the UK I somehow decided to give a try to old Discman's.

Is it a UK service/repair? Never heard of them.

Thank you! Will know that.

Those were the Names.. Were..

 

Maybe, a few years ago I heard that Matsushita was going to resurrect Technics as a HiFi brand,
an expensive one. But times have changed a lot, old good ones never return.

 

Hi Mystic. Magnetic Blood is in Romania.

 

two photos of D-100 with bottom plate removed:


You can see that the infamous "middle gear" (connecting motor and sled worm) crumbled into small pieces and disappeared. This would be the first thing to check, new gear for D-10/D-100 available off eBay.

According to "Master Gu" (kaosuncd.com), D-100 is the best-sounding Discman ever.

 

"Making a note.."

 

Hi Jorge. Thanks for sending the photos. I don't know how I managed to delete them. Thanks again, Derek.