Pioneer PD-91 CD Player (1987/1990), how to dial in for optimal CD-R playback
thought i'd start a dedicated thread on how to enable the vintage classic PIONEER ELITE series
PD-91, PIONEER's very first ELITE series CDP, to more reliably read CD-Rs. ((NOTE; the PD-91 is a notoriously finicky CDP in regards to CD-Rs, and, even after this adjustment, it can be rather crotchety about them, apparently due to CD-R brand/reflectivity/CD Burner/ETC. as such, while this adjustment IS absolutely beneficial to the PD-91's CD-R read tolerances, it IS NOT, unfortunately, a cure-all that will enable the player to read everything you throw at it. in fact, the player will often take 30secs./1min. to read the TOC, and/or sync to a track and begin play, on many CD-Rs. others, it will read just fine, usually taking just a wee bit longer to sync up than it would reading a garden variety Redbook factory CD. in fact, this adjustment speeds up the players handling of factory CDs, to the degree where the player will nominally read TOC and/or begin playback in less than a 1/2 second. just remember that this is a fussy machine, for whatever reason, with homegrown CD-Rs, and that your personal mileage will most likely vary with your copy of this magnificent, yet temperamental machine...)) - PD-91, with top aluminum panel removed - ((NOTE, unless you have modded this player as i have, and bummed the alum top plate from from either the Japanese market PD-3000, or -5000, or from the U.S. PD-93, then your U.S. and/or EURO/WORLD version PD-91 will require removal of 16 screws, both rosewood panels, and the pressed sheet metal top bonnet in order to gain access to the player interior)) http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/imag...t1029111-1.jpg now then. there is a series of Variable Potentiometers on the section of PCB directly aft of the disc transport cage/assy; http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/imag...t1029112-1.jpg http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/imag...t1029113-1.jpg there are only TWO of these that you want to mess around with. VR-3 and VR-4, FOCUS GAIN and TRACKING GAIN, respectively. BOTH are located at the far right, right beside the black-anodized heatsink vertically mounted on the central stay/DIGITAL section shield; http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/imag...t1029114-1.jpg you will want to adjust these, counter-clockwise, to the positions shown in that photo directly above. do this, while attempting to play a CD-R. it should sync/read the disc at those positions illustrated above. if not, then load another CD-R until it is successfully read. further adjustment MAY be necessary, if your 91's laser pick-up is tiring out. in fact, if it is too heavily worn, it may not read ANY CD-R, even if it still spins factory discs just fine. as always, your personal mileage may vary. also, please bear in mind that i am NOT a skilled Technician. i have no electronic service education whatsoever, and this advice is wholly based on my limited personal self-taught experience. that said, someone reading this out there just might know how to dial this player in for smooth CD-R operation better then i do, and may have had better success with it than me. if that person is out there, then, please, by all means, contribute to this thread... http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/imag...HN529112-1.jpg http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/imag...ccs62011-1.jpg |
I remember all of the CD-R issues I had to deal with in the 1990s, from car players to Playstation imports.
And when your brand changed disc dye, it was always a panic moment. (Not to mention wasted $1/disc costs.) |
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well, i'm QUITE happy now... :) just last night, i opened her up again, and decided to take a careful inspection of the transport assembly. i removed the stabilizer cage, and ejected the disc tray, before POWER OFF. i went to inspect the LD pickup on it's floating electromagnetic linear motor mount, and... SOMETHING just did not look right about it. so, i went and undid the small PHILLIPS head screw and HEX-head bolt that holds the short shaft in place, that slides through a hole in the pickup body, and mounts into lugs on the linear motor's pickup mounting cradle, and removed the pickup from the player chassis. after inspecting it some, i carefully reinstalled it, making sure that it was firmly and correctly in place, and tightly locked it down with the copper retaining plate held in place by that PHILLIPS and HEX. i test it out, and, lo-and-behold, IT READS CD-Rs... every bit as fast (1/2 sec. or less) as it does factory discs!! in fact, i go into an orgy of CD-R pulling right on the spot, AND IT READS/PLAYS EVERY ONE OF THEM... in a 1/2sec. or less!! i think i just solved the problem. that copper retaining plate i mentioned, that secures the pickup retaining shaft in place, was not secured tightly when i first got to it, (the PHILLIPS screw was fine, but the HEX-bolt was loose) and, if the LDP, as a result, wasn't thrown out of place at some time in it's past, then it evidently amost certainly was, during shipment to my OREGON home, from the original seller, down in TEXAS. evidently, i can only assume, the pick-up was poorly installed in the factory, or, much more likely, a replacement was sloppily installed by a careless service tech at some time in this player's history. apparently, that threw off the alignment of the pick-up to where it had tre greatest difficulty handling CD-Rs... though it did not seem to affect the handling of factory discs, i suppose since they are so much easier for any optical drive to read. at any rate, it does not seem that the seller of this player, the self-proclaimed original owner, lied to me after all, and that this player WAS seldom used... at least since it's last LD pick-up replacement... if it actually ever had one, that is... |
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