Just found a Sony D-555

Hi Discman fans.

A 555 popped up on our local craiglist here a few weeks ago and I was lucky to see it right away and secure the deal.

On arrival I realized the laser sled was stuck, but managed to fix that. Now the second problem appeared, no sound on the phones jack. I searched the internet and found help here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-diy-discman-repair-thread.29323/page-3



I also found this with more valuable info:



Does anyone here know who this guy is and how to get in touch with him? He introduces himself in the video as Dr. Sceebo, or something similar, and seems to really know what he is doing.

I ordered the recommended electrolytic caps from Mouser and installed them carefully, following advice given in the links, after having removed the leaky old ones and cleaned the PCB with ISO. Not much room to move inside the player, but it went well. It is now running without a hitch and sounding just great.

I have read that some people prefer the player's sound when run on batteries, over running it with the power supply. I got 6 batteries with it but all of them are dead and won't accept charge. Has anyone been able to rejuvenate these old batteries? I saw somewhere that it can be done using a higher voltage, but don't know how. Do I need a separate charger?

Any help appreciated
Jørn Bonne

 

There is an Ebay member who is very expert in repairing CD players. I sent him a sony d-88 and he fixed it for me. He also rejuvenated the battery and upgraded it to lithium ion instead of nickle/cadmium
This is his ebay store and you can contact him to see if he can help
https://www.ebay.ca/str/kaosuncd?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

 

Thanks for the tip, Boodokhan. I got in touch with kaosuncd and he sent me a link to his battery service listing on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163416220728

I'll keep this in mind, while looking to see if I can find out more about the high voltage charge method I mentioned above. It would be fun to be able to do this myself, if possible.


EDIT: I managed to find the place where I'd read about the high voltage charge method - here it is:

"In case someone else has the same problem..

PROBLEM: I had two sealed lead acid rechargeable batteries of my Sony D-25 CD player fully recharged, then left unused for some 6-8 months. When I tried to use my CD player again I noticed that the batteries seemed to be empty and could not be recharged with the CD player's built-in charger. I noticed that the internal impedance of the batteries was several hundred Ohms and they didn't seem to hold any charge.

SOLUTION: I was told to recharge the batteries using a high voltage (like 20 volts/cell) and using a series resistor to limit the charging current in case the batteries became alive again. Someone also adviced me to recharge/discharge the batteries several times to bring them back to life.

This is exactly what I did with the first battery. I used 20Vdc with a 240 ohm resistor in series with the 4V battery. After some 20 hours of recharging and discharging the battery was almost like a new one (at the beginning the battery voltage raised to 19.5 volts but it came slowly down to 4-4.5 volts). I'm playing a CD with the 'dead' battery right now..

I'm currently recharging the other battery and I believe it will wake up as well. Thanks to all people who e-mailed to me!"

http://www.just-hifi.com/Rejuvenating-old-Sony-batteries_10332443.html

 

I just found my d-555 from grade school in a box

 

Congrats! The 555 is easily the best sounding Sony Discman I've heard through the years. Is yours still working with no issues?

 

Waiting for power cord to come today then Ill be listing it. was working when I put it up in 94

 

If boxed and photographed nicely this Sony will buy you a TOTL walkman plus some!
Plz update us when posted: now that my Discmans collection is lost to Woolsey fire I am going after the few that I missed on my first “collecting” attempt...
Scored Denon DCP100 today which (IMHO) is the best Discman Ever, but D555, considering its street-creds as The King, is on my To Buy list

 

I got mine rather cheaply (not working, though. Just kinda powers on) and imagine my surprise when it actually came with the box. It wasn't pictured at all in the ad. Well, it's just the outer box and the discman itself, no insert or other accesories. But still, the box does make a nice showpiece on my shelves.

 

Power supply came in .. Powers on hit play then it turns off . Does it need the battery to operate. .I hear the disc starting to spin. Track 0 comes up and turns off

 

Fires up and turns off after 15 seconds .

 

If you are the owner and it worked when put in storage, then it is an easy fix. Either hardened grease, as @Mister X said, or dead/dying electrolytics. Just do Not plug it in and do Not push any buttons unnecessarily, or things may get worse.

One test you can do to discriminate grease vs. caps is:
1) Open the lid
2) with a toothpick press the button which tells the player that the lid is closed
3) press Play and observe what happens next.

laser mechanism should do the following:
a) move to the center and "bounce back" a bit
b) laser should fire up
c) laser lens should go Up and Down trying to focus onto CD (which is not there)
d) Discman turns off


and NO, it does not need batteries to operate

 

I did as Jorge prescribed, and the laser mechanism moves up and down a little bit, without moving towards the center. Does this mean it's a grease problem? If so, how does one repair that?

 

If laser mechanism does not move on its sled then probably the infamous 'middle gear' got frozen:



You have to open her up to see what is happening. Post photos

... and WELCOME to the Club!

 

Thanks! and thanks for the detailed pic with POINTERS . I opened it up, and now would love to know how to move the motor, like I've read in some other user stories, as I'm sure forcing it would not be advised.

The last time I probably used this was likely back in 1994. Would love to resurrect this gem somehow.

 

1. remove battery compartment
2. move Brown/Yellow sled motor wires out of the stainless-steel clip. Bend Blue wires of center-stop up
3. with pointed forceps remove ss clip. A bit tricky: it is already dome-shaped when looking from above, if you bend it a bit more while pulling UP with strong forceps, it is a 5-sec job
4. with X-acto blade pop up tiny washer holding 'middle gear'. Easy because washer is split, try not to lose it when it pops out. BUT: do not press on the gear, plastic is pretty soft and sometimes even brittle
5. if gear gets broken, you can buy a new one off eBay for ~$20
6. put droplets of motor oil on the spindle, both sides of the gear and let it soak in for a few min
7. use two toothpicks to remove frozen gear: one sharpened as a shim push between the gear and plastic, another sharpened as a flat screwdriver/chisel GENTLY rotates the gear. This is a step where you can shave a tooth and then go to step 5
8. use Windex, cotton and toothpicks to get rid of greenish hardened oil, then soak in Windex, more cleaning...
9. air-dry, do not use any oil or if you must then use only plastic-safe oil. Motor oil will destroy this 'middle gear'

Report your progress ​

 

Thanks Jorge! It'll be a few weeks before I can dive into this. I'll definitely report back though. cheers!

 

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I last post, but I've been watching the always interesting posts.

I'd like to share my successful attempt repair on my D-Z555. My success was only possible thanks to this thread, that guided me on the repair process (special thanks to Jorge!)
I also re-built a BP-2EX battery pack using a 3D printed adapter. You can check my journey in my blog here: https://www.edretrotech.com/2021/03/repairing-king-bringing-sony-d-z555.html

 

@ebuy05 please fix the link to your site... you did GOOD!!!!

Glad to see yet another Discman Lover here, D-555 is an easy fix, not the Best in terms of SQ, but being crowned as The King of Discmans this Baby is a Must-Have for any half-serious collector
Happy to report that today I snatched Denon DCP-70 Discman off eBay, pretty soon shall update the post on Amadana CD player on how it sounds thru digital-out as compared to The King and DCP-70

a bit nervous that I won't be able to hear a difference... but pretty sure it will be fun!!!