I refurbished a Discman!

Hello Stereo2go members,

First off, I want to say I've thoroughly enjoyed being on this forum so far, and I hope everyone is safe and well.

With this whole shut in thing we have here in the US, I've had nothing but time. So, I decided to buy a used Discman a couple of weeks ago. Here it is:


It's a D-9 (D-90 for Europe). Dirty. Non-working. Total train wreck. Seller knew it didn't work. Sold as is for about $30. I think for a semi-solid body Discman that's not a bad price (working or non-working).

Now, I have a good deal of experience repairing CD players and I have done a good many of them. So I did feel I could repair this one, and bring it back to life.

So, It arrived, I took it to my lab, and gave it a test. It had a stuck laser transport, countless bad capacitors, and a major dirt issue. It really did need a lot of work!



So, after many hours of work, soldering, cleaning, greasing the gears, and replacing capacitors, I got this unit back up and running properly. It plays like new now.

Some nice photos:


I know the D-90 isn't exactly the most desirable model available, but this one hasn't a major ding or scratch on it, and it really has been overhauled!

It's really been fun doing this, And I hope to do many more in the future.

I'm on the fence about selling it, I guess if a fair offer was made, I would sell it on the forum...

Thanks for reading!

 

Thanks! I agree, you used to be able to find great, working players for practically nothing, but now everything 'vintage' is expensive!

Honestly, I just used rubbing alcohol on it. That's typically my go to product for these portables. I did use q-tips to go in deep for the buttons and lettering on the lid. I do use a simple mothers metal polish though to shine up silver faced stuff. Never heard of simple green, but from looking it up, I'm going to have to try it!

Although isopropyl works well on anodized metals and sturdy paints, I have had issues with it on boomboxes. My thrift store RX-DT680 was very dirty, and while the alcohol really took the dirt off and made it shine, it made the metallic paint a bit cloudy in one spot. So, I guess just stay away from using it on fragile paints. My WM-D3, which is made from the same mixture of materials this Discman is, cleaned up fine with alcohol, so I would say it would be safe for any solid body Sony portable and most boomboxes.

 

Hi from a fellow early Discman collector. I noticed the BP-2 lead acid battery in your photos. Are you going to restore it for the D90?. I have a D66 I bought for parts which also has this battery but wont be bothering to restore it. I also have a D350 which has the BP-5 NiMH battery. I have given up trying to find a replacement and thinking of hacking the Palm Vx Lithium battery to fit in the battery bay of the D35/350. What is perfect is a 3D printed plastic caddy with metal pads attached to make contact with the + and - battery terminals inside the D35/350. Unfortunately I don't have access to a 3D printer. If anybody has made one of these printed cases for BP-5 I would be happy to pay for one.
Cheers

 

Yeah, I don’t really care about the battery too much. I tried opening it and there isn’t really anything I have the ability to repair. Just a bunch of powder and plastic. Weird.

Anyways, nice to hear from another fellow admirer of the square, metal discman!

 

Oh right. That's what happens once they have dried out. Apparently you can try to refill them with distilled water to recreate the acid component but given the D9 and D66 have the AA battery caddy that fits into the BP-2 bay why bother. Regrettably the D350 bay and battery BP-5 are smaller and there is no option to fit AA batteries inside the player. Personally I dont like the external slide on battery box for the D350. It adds bulk and the player wont fit into soft protective cases only that hard shell plastic one which looks pretty ordinary in my view.
Cheers

 

Ok, I have done another D-9. This one was especially fun since it came with the original accessories. These things are really a blast to repair!



Same problems as the first, the laser was stuck, the SMD capacitors had leaked, and the unit was dirty.

I just love how great these things are. They feel so heavy and solid built.

 

That has come up really well. Maybe you should grab a D-555 in need of repair. I want one of these also but don't think the repairs are within my capabilities.

 

Thanks, I would like to have a D-555, but I don't want to pay the almost $500 for a broken one. That's too much money for a broken device!

I have two more D-9's to do. They are cheap to get, and hold their value when fixed. Also, they are of great quality and sound good. I do plan on doing a D-99 and D-15 though.

Repairing these things are definitely not for the faint of heart, probably the most challenging I've yet done. The soldering is so small, and the smallest mistake means curtains!

 

Well if you want to sell one PM and we can perhaps work something out. You do an excellent job on these from what I have seen here.

 

Sure, Both of these D-9's sold, but I have more in the works. My PM will explain more.

 

@Recaptcha Welcome to the club of Discman resurrectionists!!!

D-90 Discmans are my favorites also: solid build, decent resale value, and if it breaks you just buy a new one
Do not bother with D-99, they do not sound better than D-90. Unless, of course, you can find one broken for under $50 for fix-resale: some folks still believe (even after R-2R revival) that 1-bit DACs are the best

 

Thanks a lot, Jorge!

Funny, my experience working with this stuff began with the SEGA GameGear. Each GameGear had about 40 SMD caps, and they are tiny. ALL of them were usually bad. I continue to repair gaming consoles such as SEGA CD, but my love for music has me rebuilding HiFi equipment of all shapes and sizes. Eventually, I even learned how to use my Tektronix 2245 oscilliscope to troubleshoot CD circuitry!

Funny you should mention the D-99, I just bought one, paid way too much for it, it has a stuck laser. I do know it's worth a lot more than I paid for it though. I think the D-99 is VERY hyped, and I fell into the trap... I plan on using it for my personal player maybe.

I agree with you, I love the D-9. They are so cheap to get broken, and restoring them is tedious, but rewarding.

Something else that has always failed on my D-9's I get is the MegaBass switch. There's a mounting hole near the switch on the bottom case and that allows dust to get in there. It makes the switch get very finicky. But, using a perfected method, I can usually get those MegaBass switches to start working again.

 

Ok, I got the D-99 done. There were so many bad capacitors in this unit!

Anyways, after a TON of work, Here is the finished product:



It sounds about the same as a D-9, but a little bit louder to me.

Got a D-9 in the shop now, it's being a bit difficult, but it will come around soon!

 

D-99 has somewhat friendlier layout than D-90. In my second D-99 I managed to put Nichicon FineGold ("Muse" series) h/p coupling caps:


Overall I did not like how it sounds so stopped reviving these...

Extremely interesting, have you ever worked with Sony PlayStations? The early models got into "Stereophile's Recommended Components" list, next to some pretty respectable players! And early PS3 can be hacked to rip SACD layer onto hard drive as dsd, how cool is that?!!!
two rows above Naim amps was my SACD collection, I would have paid a lot to be able to rip them:

there was always an option to send SACDs to be ripped for you, but the idea of mailing my Esoteric SACDs (at $100+ a pop) was not very appealing to me

 

@Jorge

Yes, I have done PS1’s before. I’ve replaced lasers and caps, and I do believe they sound very good for a cheap plastic gaming system. I did not know the PS3 can be modded like that, that’s great. I’ve done many PS3’s as well, they always clean up great. My advice, get the slim model. I’m afraid to say I don’t know a ton about SACD, maybe I should get into it some more...

 

believe me, I tried... but modding PS3 for SACD rip is beyond my pay-grade although step-by-step tutorials are posted for all of us to follow... It should be some very specific model of PS3, and besides their hi-ish pricing on eBay I was turned away by their plasticky ugliness. In short, if you have one in your stash, that would be a fun project for these 'fun' times when there is not much to do but to stay put, drink yourself to death, and listen to all the things our Bosses have to say about 'Life, Universe, and Everything'

 

It was my all- time fav audio-stuff writer, Art Dudley, who put PS onto Stereophile ‘recommended components’ list... He died last week at the age of me +5... His ‘Listener’ mag was one of the Best things that ever happened to hi-end audio, and I subscribed since then to Stereophile to read thru his ramblings...
all I can think of Now is what Mike Fremer said when David Bowie passed away: sooo f***** unfair that the Dude is gone but I am still here, but I am not complaining....

 

Great job, these are classic Sony Discman and worth to be resurrected. Too bad I have several units having problem with the tiny connecting gears. The plastic material already give way and I have no where to source for replacement. Do you have any idea where can I get the replacement gears?