Early 90s Cd Player

[metamatics]

I came across this in Albany over the long weekend in Western Australia in a second hand shop . This is the Pioneer PD-S901  which stood out in the shop with its big cd drawer , this was the quickest purchase I’ve made and even got the price $30 lower again ! 
So I have arrived home today and pulled out my cd Robert Leiner -Visions Of The Past ….. just gob smacked instantaneously with bottom end depth .  So a quick google on this player and the elite PD75 I can’t see any difference except with the wood finish ?  Does anyone here had these tanks before ?

 

 

[dcathro]

Love those copper heatsinks on the regs and DAC chips(?)!!

[muon*]

These are the DAC chips, not sure what is under those copper covers.

 

Edited June 6, 2024 by muon*

[metamatics]

It’s very interesting why they made two power supplies for the analog/ digital outs . So be it I’m using it as a transport to my devialet expert 200 which does have very good DACs for 2024 compared to 1992 , but in analog  I can’t criticize.

[Sir Triode]

Could be discrete opamps underneath those copper covers like in the Marantz players. 

[The Rock Puppy]

Reckon you've made a damn fine purchase there!

[brodricj]

Digital outputs must have been a new thing. My 1985 era Kenwood CDP900 player did not have digital out, or a remote control for that matter.

[muon*]

1 hour ago, Sir Triode said:

Could be discrete opamps underneath those copper covers like in the Marantz players. 

Can see the Op Amps for analogue output after the DAC chips at the other end towards the rear.

 

CMOS logic chips I think, at least under one of them.

 

Edited June 6, 2024 by muon*

[xlr8or]

On 03/06/2024 at 7:35 PM, metamatics said:

I came across this in Albany over the long weekend in Western Australia in a second hand shop . This is the Pioneer PD-S901  which stood out in the shop with its big cd drawer , this was the quickest purchase I’ve made and even got the price $30 lower again ! 
So I have arrived home today and pulled out my cd Robert Leiner -Visions Of The Past ….. just gob smacked instantaneously with bottom end depth .  So a quick google on this player and the elite PD75 I can’t see any difference except with the wood finish ?  Does anyone here had these tanks before ?

 

 

 

I think this was my unit, which I purchased new and owned for about 20 years. I got it because the Music Room in Sydney sold me a few NAD CD players at the time from 1990-92 that kept skipping CDs randomly. I wanted a CD player that simply was reliable in reading tracks and would never skip any CD at all. The legato link was something new at the time. I was tossing up to go for the PD75 but decided to go for this model instead which retailed for just under $1K. From memory the PD75 retailed for close to $3K.

 

Never had any problem whatosever with my unit. The solid tray and platter mechanism always  reminded me of inserting a mini vinyl like CD upside down each time to listen to music. I thought it was great that the laser would work from the top down reading discs. I even tried a few commercial discs instilled with delibrate deep knife like scratches to see if the lens would pick up the tracks, pause or play through them. No problem at all. It would never pause and go through that redundant cycle of trying to play the same track at the same position over and over again without success. Just before I sold it to Audio Connection as a trade in, I used it as a transport. Excellent solid bass and musical bliss as you say was its key virtues. Congratulations and well done on picking up a gem of a CD player for its time.

[Gieseler Audio]

Looks like it is using a pair of FETs as a buffer on the op amp output which is a great idea.

Very nice internal build too.

Bargain  

Edited June 7, 2024 by Gieseler Audio

[Addicted to music]

12 hours ago, xlr8or said:

 

I think this was my unit, which I purchased new and owned for about 20 years. I got it because the Music Room in Sydney sold me a few NAD CD players at the time from 1990-92 that kept skipping CDs randomly. I wanted a CD player that simply was reliable in reading tracks and would never skip any CD at all. The legato link was something new at the time. I was tossing up to go for the PD75 but decided to go for this model instead which retailed for just under $1K. From memory the PD75 retailed for close to $3K.

 

Never had any problem whatosever with my unit. The solid tray and platter mechanism always  reminded me of inserting a mini vinyl like CD upside down each 

Pioneer makes some of the best optics there is and there transport were 2nd to none.  The rest really were a hit and missed.

 

12 hours ago, xlr8or said:

 

I thought it was great that the laser would work from the top down reading discs. I

probably the only manufacturer to do this,  as they realised that airborne particles effected by Newtons Law of gravity will accumulate on the lens,  by having laser firing down the lens will stay clean.    
 

4 hours ago, Gieseler Audio said:

Looks like it is using a pair of FETs as a buffer on the op amp output which is a great idea.

Very nice internal build too.

Bargain  

 

reduced output impedance.

 

 

[bob_m_54]

13 hours ago, xlr8or said:

I thought it was great that the laser would work from the top down reading discs.

A while ago I was sorting out some surplus gear I had here, and checking out some CD players to see if they worked or not. Loaded some CDs into the cassette of one pioneer player, and nup, didn't read any of the CDs in the cassette.

 

Felt a bit stoopid later on when I realised it was one of the top down reading laser mechs.. LOL

[ThirdDrawerDown]

I had an EAD player which used the Pioneer "upside down" platter system. Love it! A friend now has such a Pioneer.

[wis97non]

On 03/06/2024 at 3:56 PM, dcathro said:

Love those copper heatsinks on the regs and DAC chips(?)!!

16.93xxMGHZ clocks (Xtal resonators).

[sir sanders zingmore]

1 hour ago, wis97non said:

16.93xxMGHZ clocks

Is that 16.83 Mega Giga Hertz? (that’s fast )

[wis97non]

1 hour ago, sir sanders zingmore said:

Is that 16.83 Mega Giga Hertz? (that’s fast )

16.83???  LoL

 

I posted 16.93xx MeGaHertZ.

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