[GaryL]

I purchased (2) D-25S decks from Silicon Salvage and I can't get either one to power up.

I bought a 9VDC, 800 mA power adapter from Radio Shack and it's my understanding you just plug the "M" type jack in the back of the unit and it should come on. I've tried both + and - polarity and it still doesn't come on. Again that's with both units.

I just can't believe that both units are defective. I tried the power adapter on a battery charger I have laying around and it powered it up fine.

Maybe I have the wrong kind of adapter? Can somebody please tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm open for any suggestions.
Thank you.
Gary

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

It sounds like you're doing everything right. Really strange.

This is a fixed-voltage adaptor?

The official Sony one is only 600mA, plus at the outside of the plug tip.

 

[andrzejpw]

I'm not sure, but most modern cdps require you to press the play button to turn them on. I'm not sure how the d-25s is. ..

 

[GaryL]

Guess what? I'm soooo stupid, they both work just fine.

What I wasn't doing was putting a CD in and and pressing the play button.

I was looking for the power light on the screen to come on after plugging it in, not knowing you have to load it with a CD and press the play button and bingo! it's on.

These are really in excellent condition considering they have been in storage for 11 years, great price too, $40.00, that's why I bought 2.

Thanx
Gary

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

Heh

Well great to hear they are both working fine and the solution was so simple.

I also got two, because international handling was $15, no matter how many you bought and shipping for two was $20 instead of $15 for one. And by getting two I greatly improved the chance of getting a good one.

Both my D25s are also working perfectly. I really like them, I think they sound and look great. And indeed at that price you cannot lose. The serial numbers of mine are exactly in sequence, I thought that was pretty cool

Both are the silent versions made in 1991.

And that amber backlight is just awesome.

 

[GaryL]

I'm waiting to see if one of these DIYer's can tweak one of these.

Maybe one of them can make a really high end head unit out of one these. Not that they sound bad now, but I bet somebody could go in and really do a tweak job on it.

Wouldn't that be great.

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

The tweaks I read about here are replacing the opamp with a better one (though the opamp apparently isn't directly audio related).

And replacing some of the caps for better ones.

 

[GaryL]

LamerDeluxe,

What to you mean by silent version?

Mine were mfged in April 1992.

I bought one just to check out the condition and immediately ordered another one.

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

I read here that the 1991 versions apparently had more silent motors or servos. So less mechanical noise.

Not that it really matters, you don't really hear it when listening to music anyway

 

[hadron]

Quote:

though the opamp apparently isn't directly audio related

Nits to pick... If you a refering to the AD8620, a direct pin-for-pin replacement for the BA10358, the datasheet specifically states "high-performance audio," while the original opamp makes no such claim. I have yet to do the swap, but from the reviews, it should be well worth the effort.

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

Quote:

Originally posted by hadron Nits to pick... If you a refering to the AD8620, a direct pin-for-pin replacement for the BA10358, the datasheet specifically states "high-performance audio," while the original opamp makes no such claim. I have yet to do the swap, but from the reviews, it should be well worth the effort.

Sorry, I didn't mean the opamp itself, I meant the use of that opamp in the D-25s. The person doing the replacement noticed that only one of the two opamps in the chip was being used in the D-25s, so he concluded it wasn't being used to amplify the audio.

 

[hadron]

LamerDeluxe (tm), "this is all making the kind of sense that's not" (-Oz yeah, I'm a Buffy fan). Can you explain that in a bit more detail, or give a reference to whomever "concluded it wasn't being used to amplify the audio"?

 

[GaryL]

I would be up for ordering another one of these units and donating it to a DIY'er who really knows his or her stuff about tweaking and getting the most out of this deck.

Like I said before, maybe somebody can turn the D-25S into a
really nice high end head unit.

I believe this deck is ideal because of the high quality of the construction.

Also there seems to be plenty of these "new old stock" on hand.

If anybody out there has any thoughts or ideas along these lines don't hesitate to speak up.

Thank you
Gary

 

[puppyslugg]

Quote:

Originally posted by LamerDeluxe (tm) The person doing the replacement noticed that only one of the two opamps in the chip was being used in the D-25s, so he concluded it wasn't being used to amplify the audio.

That would be mekanoplastik. And that would be one channnel of the dual opamp was being used. He determined that using just flashlight. It didn't make sense to me that Sony would use dual and only use one channnel.

Obviously, we need a schematic. Hopefully we will be able to purchase one, in the near future, from Sony or somewhere.

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

Quote:

Originally posted by GaryL I would be up for ordering another one of these units and donating it to a DIY'er who really knows his or her stuff about tweaking and getting the most out of this deck. Like I said before, maybe somebody can turn the D-25S into a really nice high end head unit. I believe this deck is ideal because of the high quality of the construction. Also there seems to be plenty of these "new old stock" on hand. If anybody out there has any thoughts or ideas along these lines don't hesitate to speak up. Thank you Gary

I think the main problem with the D-25s could be that it only uses a single DAC, instead of two. Now I don't know exactly how these are used, I can't find the specifications of the PCM66 (the D-10 uses a PCM55 I discovered today).

So I don't know if the PCM66 is a dual channel DAC. Otherwise, I think this single DAC might be used to alternate between decoding the left and the right channel, which might explain the 'rotated soundstage' people have been talking about recently.

Whatever you change, it probably won't get up to the quality of the Denon DCP-150's two 18-bit DAC converters, though I'm still not really convinced by it's headphone out.

I like the formfactor, look and quality of the D-25s housing, the DCP-150 is built much more sturdily still, but is much larger as well.

Oh and a simple way to improve sound, use an external battery pack, I use a 1000mA one made for the Sega Gamegear and it noticably improves sound. You can also use a batterypack with six Alkaline batteries or eight NiMH ones.