[serge96]

I guess it's a sacrilege to say but at the moment I like it better than the 303-sound...

Actually, Not at all! Except for the slimmer outer shell and digital out option, D-99 and D-303 is the same player, see Discmans parts composition here.

 

[jointdekulas]

Interesting list! Well apart from OPT HEAD, DSP & DAC they are quite the same
Although, when opened up... they look quite different inside...
And the D-303 looks better on the outside. But the design of the D-99 begins to grow on me.
I just won a silver D-90 on ebay I want to repair. I'm curious to hear the sound of the D-90 and compare it to the D-99. 16 bit vs 1 bit dac

 

[faichiu]

Well. I recently acquired with some luck a Sony D-99 (in non working condition), for free. And a D-303 for 30 dollars (in working condition). Both in pristine cosmetically condition. Didn't know that they were this collectible until I started looking them up. I just have a soft spot for these metal build vintage machines, and I wanted a discman again

D-99:
I got the D-99 working again. Just for helping other people out: The laser sled was stuck in position. It just made sounds moving the laser up and down but it did'n read a disc. When I tried to start the laser-assembly from the back position. It didn't move to the centre when I started the player with a disc. By pulling the smallest gear (the one from the motor) backward - out of line with the other gears - I could slowly get the other gears moving. But they were really stuck very hard. Once they were free again I regreased them and the player worked.
Sound was very silent and distorted (on both line-out and headphone out). So I recapped the caps for the these two outputs. They were also the ones that were in bad shape (leaking and bulging form the bottom). Now it sounds like new and pretty good. I was quite impressed hearing my cd's like this. Very good separation and clarity.

D-303:
This one has the skipping problem. But after reading SirNicks hinge-repair... I remembered my closing cover is not closing perfectly horizontal. So i will also get of the cover and look if something is bend there. The motor I have does not feel to have much play when i try to move the disc platter sideways. And so I don't think think the motor is very worn out. So I don't know if replacing the motor is gonna fix it. I was thinking of also lubricating the motor shafts but I don't know how to do this. Do I have to take the spindle cd-platter off? There are two screws underneath the spindle platter... Do I loosen these? But then I still have to get the platter from the motor shaft... Is this just clamped on the shaft from the motor?

Another thing I was thinking of for the skipping problem is the way the laser assembly is put on a separate part connected with rubber and springs to the main chassis. The rubber from these shock absorbers looks worn out. Does anybody know where to get new rubber shocks for this player? I was also thinking of stretching the springs a little bit so the assembly sits a little higher in the chassis...

I also replaced two of the caps because I also got distorted sound from the headphone and line-out. But I want to redo them properly and check for other caps that have gone bad... Or just replace them all

It's fun working on these players and rewarding also. The D-99 sounds so good. I guess it's a sacrilege to say but at the moment I like it better than the 303-sound...
Looking forward to hear your replies!

Best regards,
Simon

For D303, if you put the discman vertically and it plays fine, the motor needs to be replaced.

 

[serge96]

For D303, if you put the discman vertically and it plays fine, the motor needs to be replaced.

Agreed! Motors for D-90/D-99/... are available from eBay and quite a few internet sellers, its just a matter of resetting TT platter at proper height (make plastic shim BEFORE removing the platter off the broken motor!). About D-303 I am not sure, if it has the same motor as D-350 then these motors are "unobtanium" and Discman has to be sent to kaosuncd.com for repair. Kaosun, at least as of last year, had a stash of those

 

[jointdekulas]

Thanks for the advice. I allready bought a Mabuchi 410 motor for the d-303. There are different models in these 410 series, so I hope it works. Just don't know how to get the motor out of the player. Is the platter just clamped to the motor shaft? I don't want to break the cd-platter by trying to get the motor out...

 

[faichiu]

If you got the 410-CA, it will work. It's just the motor a little bit shorter.

 

[jointdekulas]

Super! Thanks for the confirmation, it's the 410-CA.

Now does anybody know how to get the old one out without braking anything?

 

[typecrazy789]

Jumping in here since I'm new and can't start a new thread; purely out of sentimentality I rescued my first CD player, a Sony D5, from my parents' storage today, recalling that the last time I tried to get it to play - probably 20 years ago - it wasn't working. Before I even attempted to play a disc I cleaned the laser lens, and rubbed a small bit of lithium grease on as much of the sled mechanism as I can see without disassembly.

After about 15 tries it actually played a single disc, and I got greedy and tried to advance to track 2 - stopped. After a number of further attempts this disc spun back up and played flawlessly for about 40 minutes, then quit - not the actual end of the disc.

I then attempted to disassemble the case, removing the screws in both the tray area and also the bottom of the unit, but couldn't get further than that - I could not for the life of me figure out how to reveal the laser assembly, and it seems like the board cannot be removed from the bottom without some unsoldering (I could be wrong) which I didn't want to do.

But in the process of doing this, I tricked the assembly to start by holding a screwdriver in the door catch, and while the laser moved and attempted to focus, no light came out of it at all. Does this absolutely mean the laser is dead, or is there any protection on this unit that would keep it from coming on without a disc in place? I can't believe that after 30+ years, 15 of which have been in storage, it would play for 40 minutes then die, but it seems that's what happened.

Any thoughts/help/advice are appreciated. I'd love to get this going to put in our bedroom with a small powered speaker we have, again mostly because I still have it after all these years.

 

[Aggserp4]

Hello everybody,
so recently I found an old sony discman model d-f181. I tried playing some CDs but it doesn't seem to work, it just spins the disc for a few seconds then it gives up and turns off. I tried putting a toothpick on the thing where the lid closes to trick it into thinking the lid was open and the laser seems to work, it moves up and down and emits a red light. Does anyone know what's wrong?

 

[Rothman33]

Jumping on this bandwago as for some reason I can't post to the forum:

I recently bought a Sony Discman, the D3 model, sold as untested/not working and fairly cheap luckily. I bought a 3rd party power supply that I checked the rating on to ensure it was the same as the official one (600mA, 9VDC output), as the original power supplies are very expensive and I didn’t want the outlay if I couldn’t get the player working.

It has the original BP-3 battery pack with it (which is most likely dead at this point; the model is from 1987!), and when I plug the player into the power source and press play twice, it will show me the following on the display for a few seconds and go off again. This will show with or without the battery pack plugged in, so I’m guessing it doesn’t require the pack. At first when I plugged it in, the unit got quite warm where the power connection was, and shortly after it cooled right down again.

I can also get multiple functions to show up on the display, such as pressing the mode buttons (repeat, shuffle), the remain button, the skip buttons to change track and pressing stop will clear the display (turn off). When I open the disc tray and try this, the display won’t come on at all so there must be some level of functionality there.

I also noticed that the laser was as far out from the spindle as it could go so I have moved it to the centre.

What exactly does this mean? I would assume that the player should under normal circumstances be able to start up without the battery pack and run off the power supply? However this is the best I can get from the player and the disc won’t spin at all.

If anyone has any experience with getting this model working or a similar problem that they’ve since resolved I’d be very grateful. Either that or it’s a dud. I would however love to get it working from mains supply so I could use it as a retro player hooked up to some speakers.

 

[eckndu]

hi, is there a place i can get replacement motor like this... it's for a dej855, 955. thanks
https://i.imgur.com/MTLLC1k.jpg

 

[nev4eh8959]

Hello everyone!
I recently started recapping old discmans, and the greatest problem I faced was the leads of the capacitors are bent and hard to take off. No matter what I do the pads ends up being damaged.... My method at the moment was to heat up the joint and pry it with a blade. Really appreciate any help!

 

[nev4eh8959]

Jumping in here since I'm new and can't start a new thread; purely out of sentimentality I rescued my first CD player, a Sony D5, from my parents' storage today, recalling that the last time I tried to get it to play - probably 20 years ago - it wasn't working. Before I even attempted to play a disc I cleaned the laser lens, and rubbed a small bit of lithium grease on as much of the sled mechanism as I can see without disassembly.

After about 15 tries it actually played a single disc, and I got greedy and tried to advance to track 2 - stopped. After a number of further attempts this disc spun back up and played flawlessly for about 40 minutes, then quit - not the actual end of the disc.

I then attempted to disassemble the case, removing the screws in both the tray area and also the bottom of the unit, but couldn't get further than that - I could not for the life of me figure out how to reveal the laser assembly, and it seems like the board cannot be removed from the bottom without some unsoldering (I could be wrong) which I didn't want to do.

But in the process of doing this, I tricked the assembly to start by holding a screwdriver in the door catch, and while the laser moved and attempted to focus, no light came out of it at all. Does this absolutely mean the laser is dead, or is there any protection on this unit that would keep it from coming on without a disc in place? I can't believe that after 30+ years, 15 of which have been in storage, it would play for 40 minutes then die, but it seems that's what happened.

Any thoughts/help/advice are appreciated. I'd love to get this going to put in our bedroom with a small powered speaker we have, again mostly because I still have it after all these years.

Hi typecrazy789,
Here's the D-50 repair manual, maybe it could help you disassemble this machine!
Maybe the laser is not dead but the caps are... They age and lose their capacitance so they can't power up correctly(just my guess, take it with a grain of salt)
Also the motor and optical block might need to be lubricated as D-5(D-50) is literally the first of the kind, which is old enough.
Hope this helps! tell me more if you want to !

 

[nev4eh8959]

Jumping on this bandwago as for some reason I can't post to the forum:

I recently bought a Sony Discman, the D3 model, sold as untested/not working and fairly cheap luckily. I bought a 3rd party power supply that I checked the rating on to ensure it was the same as the official one (600mA, 9VDC output), as the original power supplies are very expensive and I didn’t want the outlay if I couldn’t get the player working.

It has the original BP-3 battery pack with it (which is most likely dead at this point; the model is from 1987!), and when I plug the player into the power source and press play twice, it will show me the following on the display for a few seconds and go off again. This will show with or without the battery pack plugged in, so I’m guessing it doesn’t require the pack. At first when I plugged it in, the unit got quite warm where the power connection was, and shortly after it cooled right down again.

I can also get multiple functions to show up on the display, such as pressing the mode buttons (repeat, shuffle), the remain button, the skip buttons to change track and pressing stop will clear the display (turn off). When I open the disc tray and try this, the display won’t come on at all so there must be some level of functionality there.

I also noticed that the laser was as far out from the spindle as it could go so I have moved it to the centre.

What exactly does this mean? I would assume that the player should under normal circumstances be able to start up without the battery pack and run off the power supply? However this is the best I can get from the player and the disc won’t spin at all.

If anyone has any experience with getting this model working or a similar problem that they’ve since resolved I’d be very grateful. Either that or it’s a dud. I would however love to get it working from mains supply so I could use it as a retro player hooked up to some speakers.

Hello Rothman33!
As you said it heats up-my guessing is that the capacitors are bad and their resistance goes up-which leads to heat. Maybe replacing them would help(The only thing that I could and would try)
Check if the optical block is hard to turn, some of the old models uses lubrication that eventually dries out or leaves goofy stuff on the surface. Maybe the device is struggling to turn the motor as it's stuck.
Hope this helps!

 

[SLALA]

I have a GPX portable CD player, the ribbon came of the the part where the lens is, I was wondering if it’s fixable, can someone please help me out