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kgallen

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Everything posted by kgallen

  1. Yea tell me about it! But I’m the same as you, I record so much in LP2 for non critical listening that getting a 930 would just be gluttony. Hence the 940.
  2. We’ll I’ve used all the I/O linking that lot together (and with the PC with TOSLINK)! FILTER-STD seems just fine to me. I don’t have a front-room hifi setup, maybe it makes more sense there than with headphones. It seems to have a real time clock (which I set). I thought the TIME button might make that show when the deck was idle but it doesn’t seem to. I’ll need to read the manual! Otherwise nice - considerable weight difference compared to say the 770 which is light as a feather by comparison. The 940 has a beefier transformer and metal front panel of course.
  3. I think I’m done now. Until the next one anyway 😆
  4. According to the schematic the LCD module just takes in a logic power rail. There was no separate contrast voltage input (or backlight), so if there is contrast control it would be in software (there is an I2C-type serial bus to the LCD module), but I couldn't find anything in the User Manual that offered a menu option for Contrast.
  5. It’s taken time to get in with the big boys but with some generous support from @M1JWR I think I’m finally getting there. Spot the changes (what’s in, what’s out) 🤨
  6. Sorry I couldn't find anything in the Service Manual or the User Manual. When you say "too bright" - it looks like it's a reflective LCD. In the schematics I didn't see any backlight. So I'm not sure what you mean. Is the contrast bad so you can't read the characters? I couldn't find anything on a contrast control either though.
  7. Correct. From here: https://theartfulanteater.com/product-category/retro/
  8. Well ya know… it had to be done.
  9. 😊 Well it’s blowing a gale here with driving rain, so not much of a weekend for anything else! Hope the weather is less severe where you are! Looks like I’ll be WFH again tomorrow…
  10. Yes that’s right, a dirty TOC is one where there are changes held in RAM not yet written to disc. I think I learned about ‘super undo’ from here: https://www.minidisc.org/cloning_procedure.html It’s more of a diagnostic feature - Retry Cause Display mode - but the effect is also to make the machine think the TOC in RAM matches the one on disc. On some later/upper decks there is an Undo function in the Edit menu. I was playing with the remote to see what functions did or did not work on the 480/440. Name works but it makes the machine think the TOC is dirty so I tried the super undo key press…
  11. Yes Auto Pause is in the Setup menu and from the remote on the 770. 👍
  12. Whilst I’m waffling on, it seems Super Undo works on the 480. With a dirty TOC hold STOP for 10 seconds. With the RM-D15M neither M.SCAN or FADER work on the 440 or 480. 440 and 480 have Fade in and out in the Setup menu but no front panel button (like 520/530 does) so must be a remote function. CD-SYNC works on the CD and MD but I think we expected that.
  13. Doesn’t work on the 440. I don’t have any of the top end consumer decks like you @BearBoy. I know Auto Pause is on the 520 and 530. So by remote it is also on 480 but not 440 I can find so far. E12 and E10 defo have it. Only (!) other Sony I have is a 770 (but y’all know that!). Will try when this wind and rain abates a bit and I can make a run for the house 🙃
  14. Voilà! Result Mr Bear! 😀 A.SPACE button
  15. Exactly! When I lived near Birmingham in the 90’s/2000’s I got my group into MD for the sound. I got a 520 like I had at home. A couple of years later we wanted a second deck and I remember checking the specs for Auto Pause and finding it missing on the decks at the time. I can’t remember what model I bought them in the end. It could have been around the time of a 440. If I recall, it will be somewhere on here, I think I found with a remote for a 520 I could enable Auto Pause on either 440 or 480 even though it wasn’t in the menu or manual for the deck. I think I’m going to try that now with this 480 in the combo…
  16. I’ll mainly stick with my racks of MDS-E12 for normal shows. The most important feature on MD that they removed after the 530 (at least on the low end machines) is Auto Pause which I must have, which cues up the next track automatically ready to play. And yes the E12 also have vari-speed on the front panel as well as multi line display and XLR balanced outputs into my mixer. In the past when we’ve done a ‘little Christmas concert’ at a local community centre/old folk I’ve taken one of my Tascam MD-CD1 to have both MD and CD in one handy package then used the crappy amp/speakers that were there. This combo might come in nicely for situations like this. I also have some ‘rescue’ speakers it’s playing through right now - and it sounds quite good. I don’t know what the power of the amp is - not much given how little there is inside. Maybe 10W per channel. The lack of Auto Pause is an issue on both the MD and CD in this unit. I think this was probably designed for dance studios and the like.
  17. It’s in good condition despite both and MD and CD well used - the play/pause legends are worn equally off the buttons. (Yes that’s an MDS-E12 on top, with a broken drive. Yes it has a real time clock/calendar built in.)
  18. @BearBoy and @M1JWR made me do it (buy it). So what the heck is it?… A customised third-party (or is that second-party?) product that integrates (in a lose sense!) a Sony MDS-JE480 minidisc deck, a Sony CDP-XE370 CD player and a small 1U amplifier into a carpet case. Interesting mods are they have ‘hacked’ both the MD and CD circuits to add vari-speed to both, controlled by speed +/- knobs on the front (RHS of the amp). Vari-speed is not part of the Sony features of either the MD or CD. Horrific at initial looks it’s quite a neat unit. Mechanically both the MD and CD have lost their rear panels which is replaced by the custom rear panel. The CD also loses its lid but the MD lid metalwork is used. Interestingly the 480 normally has optical in and the 370 has optical out, but both have been removed (see photo of rear panel). Internally they’ve wired the analogue outs of the MD and CD into the amp but the usual phono sockets from the machines are still available on the rear panel - they do still work, I was able to record on the MD from the CD using a phono lead. It would have been nice if they had internally connected the optical ports but I guess that would have added cost and mod hassle that would not have been used by intended users. It worked on arrival. Even the MD belt seems good - and I wouldn’t say it’s been opened before so I guess original. I’ve had it apart to give it a good clean inside and out. The unit also has an Aux input on phono on the rear - I’ve had an MDS-E12 plugged in and it works fine. There is also a mic input on 1/4” Jack on the front. I’ve not tried this. But indeed I now have music in the workshop! 😛 For those sad like me, the MD varispeed mod seems to have been implemented by severing X550, the crystal to the DAC (and also the ATRAC decoder) and replacing it with a variable frequency circuit controlled by the front panel knob.
  19. Those leads came up on Reddit I think the other day. Are they actually 5V to 3V regulated? There doesn’t look enough ‘body’ to those connectors to house a regulator. I’m suspicious it’s just a wire I which case the supply regulator in the machine is going to get hotter than it should. If you get one, do you have a volt meter and could you see if the Sony side is at 3V rather than USB 5V?
  20. There isn’t a shock risk, this flex issue is on the 5V / 3V side. It will be isolated from mains and much less than 50V which is the deemed shock touch voltage. The main issue here is based around the inner insulation splitting and the lack of mechanical strength. The former could cause a short, but I’d expect the output to be short circuit protected (the barrel plug could in theory be shorted by a normal user). In both cases the player won’t work from this supply and the power supply could be damaged. The life of the supply may be extended by some heat shrink (but you probably can’t get any on due to the right angle barrel plug) or self-amalgamating tape. Either way unless some mechanical strength can be added its days are numbered.
  21. Hmm tricky one. I have some like that too at the PSU end. I’ve tried unsuccessfully to open the PSU end in order to re-terminate that end of the cable but the case seems to be heat welded shut. I could Dremel in but then have to glue it back together again. I can see you have the issue at other points in the cable too so it really is suffering the ravages of time. Sorry no other words of wisdom on this one. 😞
  22. Can you post some pics? Maybe start a new thread.
  23. He lives! Welcome back Stephen (I know you were never away, just keeping a watchful eye on us to make sure we didn’t stray…) Any stories for us? 👍
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