kgallen

First test would be to try with an external Sony power supply. Also try with a primary cell not a rechargeable.

Yea I’m only using CD-R as a means to get stuff off the PC and onto MD. Other than the pain points of titles (iTunes) and unintended track reordering (Nero) going via CD-R isn’t too much of a pain (*) as I can just chuck it into my MXD-D4 (or Tascam MD-CD1) and roll off primary and backup discs. (*) The other pain point (and I don’t know if this would be solved my WMDPro or similar) is where I have short tracks that I need to play quickly back to back in the show. CD has a minimum track length - Nero seems to enforce 4 seconds (iTunes was 6 seconds). So where I have say a doorbell sound effect (say 1 second long) quickly followed by another sound effect I need to manually trim the doorbell track once I’m in MD land. This is a pain if I need to change something and have to go around the loop again plus the manual edit(s).

Yes that’s right. I gave up with iTunes and paid money for Nero Burning ROM. However whilst titles are fine with that, I have a different bug with it, that when I add tracks beyond about 20, it sometimes swaps the position of one or more. I’ve raised this as a bug report but they claim they can’t repeat it - but it happens for me regularly (but not always in the same way). Obviously I’m just trouble… I’ve a show coming up in August so I’ll be revisiting this all again soon…

Oooops. @BearBoy and I have to break this habit. We can't dual-handedly keep the Sony MD disc factory open (although we seem to be trying)...

yea, sort of. Those are all TechMoan's fault, they're sets from that bloke he features (can't recall his name, sure it will come back the minute I post!). I must dig them out, but they are more a novelty than stuff I would actively listen to... I guess my "prize" pre-recorded are the twin-disc original War of the Worlds which I picked up before those prices went through the flippin' roof! (I'm sure I've spoken about these a few times - one time when I was finding stuff tripping up the LP2 codec).

OK, so I've been over-egging my pudding... and clearly I need to try harder in the face of my more committed co-conspirators. My disc count comes in at 547 plus 6 "pre-recorded" on MO plus 4 pressed "CD" discs plus two duff ones (both TDK; one MD-RXG 80, one MD 80).

Not blank ones, discs in total! At work and just had a count and I've got 223 here! 😀 So i'll have to count up at home later. Maybe 1000 was over stating it but I can see it easily being 700-750. But 500 SEALED BLANKs @BearBoy, clearly I'm an amateur at this!

Oh gawd, don't start me off again! I'm scared to count up how many discs I have, because it's probably scarily close to 1000 (if not over!) - that's recorded ones plus blanks "in stock" (as I like to justify them!). I've been being "good" and erasing and reusing some past eBay bulk buys of used discs, but I need to catch up on some more recording of radio programmes so I might break into a few more new-new ones!

Oh my gawd. @Richard you must have the ultimate minidisc museum!

I'm on to your game @BearBoy, you're just trying to get your post count up to get to 11/14 first 😄

This month we've... mostly been trying to resurrect the Forum from suspension! Well done to @sfbp, @Richard, @BearBoy for persevering with contacting the owner! We're good for now, let's hope we can secure a more stable future 🙂

Indeed! These are the type I have. Sorry my photography skills are severely lacking!

Ah, I'm sure I have some discs similar to the green one at least (I think the shutter is different). However since I don't have this limited edition set, mine must be inferior somehow! I will check...

Fantastic! I guess we’ll never see an actual disc!…

Hi Dim. (ETA I should have looked at your photo in detail first - I didn't!) You don't have to buy them, you can have them for free. I probably got 10 in the PCB order and I've built one as the prototype so the others are sitting around. You other question is related to a comment I've just made on the other thread. We need an SPDIF signal, not separate DAC/ADC clock and data, which is what I think we've got. The Sony decks I've looked at have the digital data in both formats on different pins of the DSP, so probably as the Onkyo uses a Sony DSP, the signal will be there, but I don't know if it's accessible. So in answer to this question: then no, my board can't work with the clock plus data serial interface seen on e.g. the AK4524 DAC/ADC, my board is just a buffer and electrical interface where the deck already has SPDIF available, which as above is quite usual with the Sony DSPs, but possibly not guaranteed. This Onkyo probably uses the CXD2687 which is what I believe is used in the MZ-NH1 portable. It includes the integrated ARM controller. Since it's a fully integrated IC for a portable unit, quite possibly they didn't put an SPDIF interface on it? I'm not familiar enough with the CXD2687 to know off the top of my head. There does seem to be a Service Manual for the MZ-NH1 with schematics so with some study maybe the above questions could be answered. I originally designed my board for an MXD-D4 CD/MD combo deck which uses SPDIF natively internally. The Philips DAC they use has an SPDIF interface which takes SPDIF from the CD and MD sections. This is generally different to the MD decks I've looked at which use e.g. the AK4524 DAC/ADC which has a clock plus data serial interface along the lines of the test points you've flagged on your photo. But then this decks almost always already have either TOSLINK or Coax SPDIF out, so piggy-backing on that to provide more outputs is easy. That wasn't necessary - the deck is already using SPDIF natively internally, so the signals are just grabbed from appropriate vias or component pads on the main PCB. So in summary, more study of the Onkyo design is required to know how easy it is to add TOSLINK/Coax SPDIF out to these machines. Gut feel is if the DSP provides the output it should be perfectly straightforward. If it doesn't then it's a bit of a non-starter as a serial-to-SPDIF format conversion would be required. Hope that helps... a little! Regards, Kevin

Yea but why is the test point next to a Flash memory chip? Show me the DSP (which is not on this photo, hence asking for a shot of the other side of the PCB). That it's near a test point labelled XBCKI suggests this is for the DAC/ADC but conversely this is not then an SPDIF format data signal but part of the DAC/ADCs serial interface which is separate clock and data. Not unfortunately quite what we're looking for for the addition of a quick and easy TOSLINK or coax digital out...

Hi @EdinElk, do you have a photo of the other side of the PCB? Also I probably have some of my project PCBs (above) lying around - they are bare, unpopulated, you'd have to buy and solder the components of interest (all at your own risk!) If any use and you pay postage from the UK, then shout up. Kevin

That read value is so you can store the label value (there is an ‘Iop Write’ menu item) - it’s not part of the calibration that controls the current the machine drives. But ideally you’d update it if you replace the laser. The machine probably also has an ‘Iop Compare’ in the Check menu. This can be used to track drift and laser aging based on this stored Iop value. It will give you a percentage deviation and an OK or NG (no good) result. The text in the Service Manuals does take some getting used to plus working with a machine whilst reading to get the hang of what it’s trying to say. Understanding the auto calibration steps in the SM for portable devices is an art in itself! 😆 There can be up to 4 laser power settings to check - although I think you’re right, you set calibration for two (probably 0.9mW read and 7.0mW write). Your machine works. Take the credit, stop worrying, and enjoy it!

Forgive me, typing on phone. My interpretation of your numbers from the labels: Old laser Iop=51.3mA New laser Iop=60.5mA Iop is optical pick-up drive current. It indicates how much current the drive circuit has to push through the laser to get a defined light output. From those numbers I would conclude your machine is under-driving the new laser. This is good for laser life but you might find play or more-so record operations are not reliable. But… if your machine is working just fine, then just stay as you are and enjoy it!!!! To calibrate you need at least a laser power meter and ideally a small connector jig that plugs into the MDM to measure the Iop current as it’s adjusted. Within the Service Menu there is a process to go through to configure the drive current for a range of power output states of the laser. This isn’t automatic as you need the laser power meter to measure the actual laser output at 780nm wavelength. I’m very pleased to hear you took anti static precautions. The lasers are very easily damaged especially once the solder bridge has been removed. So well done! Note: 260e lasers have to be driven harder than the older 260b. But since you did a swap from 260e to 260e that is not an issue here. See: https://www.minidisc.wiki/_media/resources/kms260e_lpm_spec.pdf

Was the Iop figure for the new 260E similar to the old one? This is 3 digits on the label for example ‘546’. It will range from about 520 to 600. If there is significant difference (say a difference of 2 or more on the middle digit) then you really need to calibrate the machine to the laser. If the number on the new laser is lower than the old then you will be over-driving the new laser which will shorten its life especially in record. If the new number is higher you might have play, or more likely record, reliability issues. Good luck and well done regardless!

Our old favourite of extract and reinsert ribbon cables is also recommended. Take care to not lift the fingers on the end of the ribbon.

The CPU is not happy with some power up check. Possibly the drive is not fully ‘home’? Is there a disc in there? if there is a loading belt and you haven’t changed it, I would do that for a start.

The monitor mode is supported on all Sony MD decks that I know of and by precedent is copied by other makes. You can use whatever gain is needed to make the sound right. It’s gain in the digital domain. If you need a high positive value it implies your source machine is putting out a low modulation digital signal over toslink or SPDIF coax. If the level can be improved at the source and and the MD kept say +6dB or below this would imply better ‘gain staging’ but if your source is weak then go ahead and bump it up at the MD DAC. Use the level meters on the MD and get the signal peaking close to 0dB on the meters without triggering ’peak’.

Really for me it tends to be a non-issue because usually after a recording a disc I just whack it into one of my MDS-E12 with a keyboard and title the lot up in a minute or so! 🙂 Some CDs seem to have the track titles all in caps which I'm not a fan of...

It's annoying because I can take it all the way through the calibration process and it passes (and have done this a couple of times). But then it won't read a disc. Game over.